Vers une iconologie protestante au temps des guerres de religion ? Le cas des marques d’imprimeurs-libraires réformés français (1560-1630)

The aim of this article is to look at French protestant printer devices from an iconological and semeiological point of view. During the religious wars, the religious inspiration predominates in the protestant printers’ devices reflecting their readings and the main issues of the Calvinism : the importance of work, the defence of faith, the Divine Election and Punishment, the good Christian behaviour, the martyrdom and the eschatological judgement. Brought together those devices constitute a coherent semeiological group. Imposed by the law, they are for their possessors an important place of freedom which they use as means of resistance to claim their faith, their ideals and rules of living while staying within the limits of the official orthodoxy.