THE PERSISTENT WIDOW.

This article focuses on Renée Chevalier, a noblewoman in late 16th-century France who notably pursued justice against soldiers' violence during the Wars of Religion (1562–1598). Despite widespread impunity for military abuses under royal amnesties, Chevalier successfully prosecuted Mathurin Delacanche, a military captain responsible for atrocities on her lands, culminating in his execution by the Parlement of Paris after the Edict of Nantes (1598) had ordered forgetting past conflicts. Her persistent legal battles extended beyond this trial, as she repeatedly defended her financial independence against relatives and husbands, illustrating the active role some noble widows played in seeking justice and managing property amid the era's social and religious turmoil. Chevalier's life challenges traditional narratives of passive widows and highlights how peace in post-war France was also shaped through legal means and local agency.