Antoine Marcourt

Who is Antoine Marcourt?

Antoine Marcourt was a Protestant pastor of the 16th century. He was from the French region of Picardy, and became the first pastor of Neuchâtel.

In 1533, he published a satyrical work about Catholic practices, such as the cult of Saints and pilgrimages, entitled Le livre des Marchans, in a style reminiscent of Gargantua and Pantagruel. He used the penname "Pantople". The work was published by Pierre de Vingle, who was also to publish the first Bible in French in 1535, called the Bible d'Olivetan.

He was the main protagonist of the "Affair of the Placards", on the night of 17 October 1534, in which notices appeared on the streets of Paris and other major cities denouncing Mass. A notice was even posted on the door to the king's room, and, it is said, the box in which he kept his handkerchief. Antoine Marcourt, was responsible for the notices.

On January 13, 1535, Antoine Marcourt again published a pamphlet entitled Petit traité très utile et salutaire de la saincte eucharistie de nostre Seigneur Jesuschrist.

These publications and notices led the king, Francis I, to take a progressively stronger stance against Protestantism and other diversions from the Roman Catholic faith.