L’événement de l’État. La manifestation d’une évidence politique par les élites administratives dans l’Europe de la première modernité

The lecture provides a detailed examination of the State's phenomenology during the Wars of Religion (1560–1620), with a particular emphasis on the reinvention of forms of power in the context of confessional crises.It demonstrates how the administrative society emerged as the conflict reached its zenith, driven by secretaries and pre-bureaucrats who gradually imposed a new written order. Drawing upon the works of Jean-François Bayart, James C. Scott, Niklas Luhmann and Andrew Abbott, the lecture underscores the state's capacity to redefine itself and render society 'legible'.The secretaries thus became a genuine 'third body of the king', separate from the carnal and mystical body, thereby ensuring monarchical continuity despite opposition.The analysis places significant emphasis on the role of writing and visual practices, demonstrating that authority is not only represented but also constructed. The conference thus unfolds a close-up history of power, sensitive to the experiences and discourses that the administration develops about itself.It also proposes to reconsider the concept of 'mysteries of the state' as proposed by Kantorowicz, by linking it to the performativity of the written word and to bureaucratic procedures.Implicitly, it reveals the possibility of a European republic of offices, where technical and political exchanges transcend confessional rivalries. Finally, this expanded phenomenology of the state calls into question the manner in which the administration, in times of civil war, invents a new order while rethinking sovereignty through writing.