Languet's wager and the anti-Jansenist movement in Paris at the beginning of the 18th century

Jean Joseph Languet de Gergy held office as bishop of Soissons at the parti cularly critical period immediately following the issuance of the papal enc yclical Unigenitus. The King's government was then making an all out effort to get all members of the French clergy, and particularly the episcopacy, to submit to the authority of that decree, seeing to it that new bishops be obedient to it. Because of his connections at court and within the episcop acy, but above all through the information network he built in Paris and in the provinces, Languet became a key figure in the quarrel over the adoptio n of Clement XI's bull. Well-informed about the jansenist's schemes and the court's designs, he could take action at the most appropriate time; thus g aining for himself a notable influence in the Unigenitus crisis. Based on L anguet's passive correspondence held by the Municipal Library of Sens, this paper examines the stretch of this underground antijansenist network at th e time the Regency was attempting to come to an accommodation with both fac tions.