The
Affair of the Placards was an incident in which anti-
Catholic posters appeared in public places in
Paris and in four major provincial cities:
Blois,
Rouen,
Tours and
Orléans, overnight during 17 October 1534. One was actually posted on the bedchamber door of King
Francis I at
Amboise, an affront and an alarming breach of security that left him shaken. The
Affaire des Placards brought an end to the conciliatory policies of Francis, who had formerly attempted to protect the
Protestants from the more extreme measures of the
Parlement de Paris, and also of the public entreaties for moderation of
Philip Melanchthon.