Chapter 12: Wars of Religion

French Wars of Religion

Focus Question

• What were the deeper political motivations behind the French wars of religion?

Set the stage…• 1559 Henry II is unexpectedly killed when

a lance pierced his visor during a joust

• Francis II - His 15 yr old son takes the throne

• Under the regency of his mother Queen Catherine de Medici

Henry Catherine

“Boy Kings”

Francis II (1559–1560)

Charles IX (1560–1574)

Henry III (1574–1589)

ProtestantRepression in France

• French Protestants were known asHuguenots

• Emperor Charles V started the first wave of Protestant persecution in 1525

• 1534 – Protestants arrested and leader John Calvin sent into exile

ProtestantRepression in France (cont.)

• 1540 – Edict of Fontainebleau makes Protestants subject to the Inquisition

• 1551 – Edict of Chateaubriand establishes more measures against the Protestants

Guises vs Bourbons

• Lacking a strong King, French politics becomes a power struggle between 2 aristocratic factions:

Guise (CATHOLIC) and the Bourbon (PROTESTANT)

Appeal of Calvinism

• In the second half of 1500’s between almost ½ of nobility became Calvinist.

• For the upper class religion was an excuse to grab for power.

The Medici’s and the Guises

• Catherine de Medici unsuccessfully attempts to reconcile the differences between the Protestants and the Catholic Guises

The Medicis and the Guises (cont.)

• The Duke of Guise massacres Protestant worshippers in Vassy(1562), causing the French wars of religion

• Medicis and her young king son (Charles IX) go under the control of the Guises

The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1570)

• Three (of many) wars of religion end with the deaths of the duke of Guise, Protestant military leader Conde, and a Huguenot victory

Conde

The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1570)

• Peace treaty acknowledges the Protestant nobility and grants Huguenots religious freedom and the right to fortify their cities

Huguenot Influence Grows

• King Charles IX falls under the influence of Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny

Huguenot Influence Grows

• Coligny wants to support the Protestants in the Netherlands. But this support would put France on a crash course with Spain.

Huguenot Influence Grows

• Catherine convinces her son King Charles IX that a Huguenot coup was about to happen (she’s freaking out about losing power)

The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

• Response is on August 24, 1572 –Coligny and 3,000 Huguenots are massacred in Paris

• Within three days,

20,000 other

Protestants are

also killed in

France

The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (cont.)

• Protestant cause becomes one of sheer survival

• In response, Protestant writers call for an active defense of religious rights

John Calvin

War of the Three Henry’s

• Henry III, a politique, attempts to compromise with the warring religions to save the nation (which was more important to him than religion)

• Ultra Catholics want to replace him with Henry, duke of Guise

• Henry III assassinated the duke

Henry of Navarre

• Henry III allies himself against the Guises with Henry of Navarre, who had married his sister

• Henry III is assassinated and Henry of Navarre becomes Henry IV, a Protestant, as King of France

Henry of Navarre (cont)

• Henry IV, basically a politique, converts to Catholicism, horrifying the Huguenots

Henry of Navarre (cont)

• “Paris is worth a mass”

The Edict of Nantes, 1598

Gave the well over 1 million Huguenots…

•Freedom of public worship

•The right of assembly

•Admission to public offices and universities

•Permission to maintain fortified towns

The Edict of Nantes, 1598

• Significance – created a state within a state. This problem would not be solved until Louis XIV

• The violence stops, but hostilities remain

• A Catholic fanatic assassinates Henry IV in 1610

Focus Question

• What were the deeper political motivations behind the French wars of religion?