French Wars of Religion


| style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;" | History of France
Chronological
Gaul
Franks
Middle Ages
Ancien Régime
French Revolution
First Empire
Nineteenth century
Third Republic
Vichy France
Modern France
Topical
Economic history
Military history
Social history
Timeline .
The French Wars of Religion were a series of conflicts fought between the Catholic League and the Huguenots from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598. In 1560, Catherine de Medici became regent for her young son Charles IX. Catherine felt that she had to steer the throne carefully between the powerful and conflicting interests that surrounded it. Although she was a sincere Roman Catholic, she was prepared to deal favourably with the Huguenot House of Bourbon in order to have a counterweight against the overmighty House of Guise. She nominated a moderate chancellor, Michel de l'Hôpital. Huguenots. She therefore was led to support religious toleration in the shape of the Edict of Toleration (1562), which allowed the Huguenots to worship publicly outside of towns and privately in town. On March 1, the Guise faction attacked an Huguenot service at Vassy and committed a general massacre. The Edict was revoked, under pressure from the Guise faction. This provoked a response from the Bourbons, who, led by Condé, organised a kind of protectorate over the Protestant churches and began to garrison strategic towns along the Loire. Here, at Dreux and at Orléans, there were the first major engagements; at Dreux, Condé was captured by the Guises and Montmorency, the governent general, by the Bourbons. At Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise was assassinated, and Catherine's fears that the war might drag on led her to negotiate a truce and the Edict of Amboise (1563). This was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned, the Catholics in particular being uneasy about what they regarded as unwise concessions to the heretics. The political temperature of the surrounding lands was rising, as unrest grew in the Netherlands. The Huguenots became suspicious of Spanish intentions when the latter reinforced their strategic corridor from Italy north along the Rhine, and made an unsuccessful attempt at taking control of the king. This provoked a further outburst of hostilities which ended in another unsatisfactory truce, the Peace of Longjumeau (March 1568). In September of that year, war again broke out, and Catherine and Charles decided to throw in their lot with the Guises. Religious toleration was once more at an end, and the Huguenots fought the Catholics to another standstill signalled by the Regent's Peace of St Germain (August 1570) which once more allowed some religious toleration of the Huguenots. again. Matters became complicted thereafter as Charles IX warmed to the Huguenot leaders, especially Gaspard de Coligny, while his mother became suspicious and eventually alarmed. When it became clear that the king was bent on a full-scale alliance with England and the Dutch rebels, Catherine plotted the assassination of Coligny. The attempt was made on August 22 1572. It failed, and Charles was persuaded that the Huguenots would take revenge against the crown. In fact, many Huguenots were in Paris for the marriage of Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre. Told that it was a necessary pre-emptive strike, Charles approved of a massacre of the Protestants. This became known to history as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Throughout August 23 Huguenots were slaughtered in their thousands (probably around 3,000) in Paris, and, in the days that followed, many more in the provinces. Both Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII declared themselves well pleased with the outcome, which was naturally viewed with horror by their religious opponents throughout Europe. In France, it solidified Huguenot opposition to the crown. Charles IX died in May of 1574, and Henry III succeeded him. Henry soon found himself with the same problem of trying to maintain royal authority in the face of the competing factions. The Guises, who had formed the Catholic League, had the unwavering support of the Spanish superpower and were therefore in a very strong position throughout the 1580s. The Huguenots, however, had the advantage of a regional power base in the south west - they were supported in principle by outside Protestant forces, but in practice the other Protestant powers such as England or the German states could bring no useful forces to bear. The leader of the House of Bourbon, Henry of Navarre, was the next in line through a claim through his grandmother, the sister of Francis I. Things came to a head again in 1584, with the death of Henry's younger brother, the Duke of Alencon, who was the heir to the throne, as Henry had no children. Disastrously, from the Catholic perspective, that left Henry of Navarre as heir. As the head of the Guise family was also a Henry, the ensuing period of the wars, 1585 — 1589, is called the "War of the Three Henries". The king at first tried to put himself at the head of the Catholic League, while remaining in favour of a moderated settlement. This was anathema to the Catholic extremists, who wanted the Huguenots completely suppressed. In May 1588, Paris rose against the king and in favour of the Guises; the king left the city. The Guises then proposed a settlement with a cipher as heir, and demanded a meeting of the States General, which took place at Blois in December of that year. At Blois, Henry of Guise was lured into a trap and assassinated, on the orders of the King. The Catholic League went into a frenzy and the Sorbonne declared it a pious act to assassinate the king, a declaration reminiscent of the Papal bull Regnans in Excelsis against Elizabeth I. In July 1589, Henry was assassinated by a fanatic monk, but lived long enough to name Henry of Navarre as heir to the throne. The situation on the ground in 1590 was that King Henry IV of France, as Navarre had become, held the south and west, and the Catholic League the north and east. The new king knew that he had to take Paris if he stood any chance of reuniting the kingdom. Paris was besieged, but the siege was lifted with Spanish support. Realising that there was no prospect of a Protestant king succeeding in fanatically Catholic Paris, Henry, with the famous phrase "Paris vaut bien une messe" (Paris is worth a mass), announced his conversion to the old faith and was crowned at Chartres in 1594. The League fought on, but enough moderate Catholics were won over by the conversion to make their party ultimately one of extremists only. The Spanish withdrew from France under the terms of the Peace of Vervins. Henry was faced with the task of reuniting France under a single authority. The essential first step in this was the negotiation of the Edict of Nantes, which, rather than being a kind of genuine toleration, was in fact a kind of permanent truce between the religions, with guarantees for both sides. The Edict can be said to mark the end of these civil wars.

References

Category:History of Catholicism in France de:Hugenottenkriege et:Hugenotisõjad eo:Francaj militoj pri religio fr:Guerres de religion
rench Wars of Religion Fench Wars of Religion Frnch Wars of Religion Frech Wars of Religion Frenh Wars of Religion Frenc Wars of Religion FrenchWars of Religion French ars of Religion French Wrs of Religion French Was of Religion French War of Religion French Warsof Religion French Wars f Religion French Wars o Religion French Wars ofReligion French Wars of eligion French Wars of Rligion French Wars of Reigion French Wars of Relgion French Wars of Reliion French Wars of Religon French Wars of Religin French Wars of Religio rFench Wars of Religion Fernch Wars of Religion Frnech Wars of Religion Frecnh Wars of Religion Frenhc Wars of Religion Frenc hWars of Religion FrenchW ars of Religion French aWrs of Religion French Wras of Religion French Wasr of Religion French War sof Religion French Warso f Religion French Wars fo Religion French Wars o fReligion French Wars ofR eligion French Wars of eRligion French Wars of Rleigion French Wars of Reilgion French Wars of Relgiion French Wars of Reliigon French Wars of Religoin French Wars of Religino French Wars of Religio FFrench Wars of Religion Frrench Wars of Religion Freench Wars of Religion Frennch Wars of Religion Frencch Wars of Religion Frenchh Wars of Religion French Wars of Religion French WWars of Religion French Waars of Religion French Warrs of Religion French Warss of Religion French Wars of Religion French Wars oof Religion French Wars off Religion French Wars of Religion French Wars of RReligion French Wars of Reeligion French Wars of Relligion French Wars of Reliigion French Wars of Religgion French Wars of Religiion French Wars of Religioon French Wars of Religionn rench wars of religion fench wars of religion frnch wars of religion frech wars of religion frenh wars of religion frenc wars of religion frenchwars of religion french ars of religion french wrs of religion french was of religion french war of religion french warsof religion french wars f religion french wars o religion french wars ofreligion french wars of eligion french wars of rligion french wars of reigion french wars of relgion french wars of reliion french wars of religon french wars of religin french wars of religio rfench wars of religion fernch wars of religion frnech wars of religion frecnh wars of religion frenhc wars of religion frenc hwars of religion frenchw ars of religion french awrs of religion french wras of religion french wasr of religion french war sof religion french warso f religion french wars fo religion french wars o freligion french wars ofr eligion french wars of erligion french wars of rleigion french wars of reilgion french wars of relgiion french wars of reliigon french wars of religoin french wars of religino french wars of religio ffrench wars of religion frrench wars of religion freench wars of religion frennch wars of religion frencch wars of religion frenchh wars of religion french wars of religion french wwars of religion french waars of religion french warrs of religion french warss of religion french wars of religion french wars oof religion french wars off religion french wars of religion french wars of rreligion french wars of reeligion french wars of relligion french wars of reliigion french wars of religgion french wars of religiion french wars of religioon french wars of religionn

Search box

More info