Un cannibale peut en cacher un autre

A cannibal may hide an other

Abstract

The core of « Des cannibales » consists of three extensive descriptions
interlaced with commentaries. The arguments preceding the core are bound by a
shared theme: relationships between old and new. The chapter’s final paragraph
proposes coordinates which should constitute an obvious ploy in the eyes of
Montaigne’s preferred reader. He would then be led to associate the presence of
Cannibals with Charles IX’s official political stance: the necessary reconciliation of
the catholic and protestant parties. Thereafter, the ubiquitous massacres inspired by
the religious conflicts would determine the value re-read into the old / new relation
and the commentaries, one of which vividly recalls this butchery.

Keywords : Des cannibales, Bordeaux 1565, pacification edict, religious wars