The Age of Religious Wars

Chapter 12

EQ: How did the Protestant Reformation create all out war in Europe in the late 16th/early 17th

centuries?

Religious Struggles Conflicts were largely confined to central and northern

Europe, as states began to parlay power between Catholic and Protestant citizens…the main focus was whom to appease

Protestants had begun to gain rights and recognition in many states, with that came political power

Calvinism appealed to rulers who sought to decentralize and remove absolutist ideas form their kingdoms (Germany, England, Netherlands) whereas Catholicism remained strong in areas where absolutism was meant to maintain the notion of “one king, one law, one faith” only (France and Spain)

In certain nations, war was eventually avoided when rulers (politiques) tended to put the successes of their state above religious turmoil (Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Henry IV of Navarre)

Other leaders chose not to compromise and cause conflict (Philip II, Mary I of England, Oliver Cromwell of England) and each saw their political ambitions fail

The French Wars of Religion

Protestantism in France found adherents under the leadership of Besancon Hugues, leader of the Huguenots…the French crown however was able to keep them at bay (arrests, exiles, etc.) as France was at war with the Hapsburgs

However, despite the end to the wars with the Hapsburgs, turmoil still comes to France in a strange way…the king of France, Henry II is killed in a jousting accident! His young sick son Francis II becomes king under the regency of mom, Catherine de Medici…this weakness opens the door for a “Family Feud” in France over the French crown between the Guises, the Montmorency-Chatillons (under Gaspard de Coligny) and the Bourbons (under Louis I, Prince of Conde)

The Huguenots find an ally in the Bourbon family, while the Guises have the full weight of Catholic support on their side…Catherine de Medici played off this rivalry…she wanted a Catholic France BUT NOT under Guise power

The French Wars of Religion

When Francis I died in 1560, the throne passed to the next son, Charles IX (still under the regency of Catherine de Medici…this event along with the sudden repeal of the January Edict (which gave Protestants rights) in March 1562 AND a massacre led by the Duke of Guise on a Protestant church brought war to France

There were 3 phases fought between 1562-1570 From April 1562 – March 1563, the first phase saw an

internationally supported force from German states that killed the Catholic Duke of Guise (there was also a second phase with no clear result from 1567-1568)

The Third Phase from September 1568 – August 1570 was the most bloody, with the death of the Bourbon prince of Conde and the rise of Gaspard de Coligny, who would become King Charles IX’s closest advisor

The Peace of Saint Germain en Laye brought an end to hostilities, however, Catherine de Medici, who feared the influence of Coligny on her son, began to plot with the Guises

The French Wars of Religion On August 22, 1572, Gaspard de Coligny was wounded by an

assassin…this act was orchestrated by Catherine plotting with the Guise family…she then planted a seed in the mind of her son, that because of this act, the Huguenots would attempt a coup and overthrow him

Catherine’s plotting led to the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of August 24, 1572 a day in which Coligny and his 3,000 followers in Paris were butchered along with over 20,000 in other areas of France (Think “Revenge of the Sith” when the Jedi were all killed)

Catholic reaction was one of rejoice…the Pope sanctioned festivals celebrating this massacre…Philip II of Spain was happy that the French would now be distracted from his exploits in the Netherlands (more in a moment)

These events shocked the Protestant world and turned this struggle from regional into international war

The Protestants Strike Back Charles IX died of TB (and emotional shock from the St.

Bart’s Massacre)…his younger brother Henry III came to the throne with the Catholic Guise faction and vengeful Huguenots still at each other throats…Henry’s notion was to steer France down the middle path

Again another treaty was issued (The Peace of Beaulieu) to grant Protestants rights and freedoms and AGAIN the Catholics (Catholic League) forced the king to repeal it…the Protestant faction readied for war under the leadership of the Bourbon Prince of Conde, Henry of Navarre

The Catholic League gained great power in Paris, too much even for Henry III…on May 12, 1588 (The Day of the Barricades), Henry attempted to stymie the Catholic League…he failed and was forced to flee Paris…while in exile, and thanks to the defeat of the Spanish Aramada, Henry III aligned with Henry of Navarre to defeat the Guises

Sadly, while preparing to attack, Henry III was stabbed to death by a Dominican friar…as a result, Henry of Navarre immediately succeeded to the throne of France

The Reign of Henry IV (of Navarre)

The accession of Henry of Navarre scared the Catholic establishment…he was Protestant! Henry, being the compromiser, renounced his Protestant faith and returned to practicing Catholicism…though the Huguenots were mortified, this allowed the Catholic League to be dispersed and prevented further conflict

On April 13, 1598, Henry made his Protestant brothers happy by issuing the Edict of Nantes…it sanctioned Protestant rights within France within their own towns and territories

The reaction…1) it essentially created a cold war between Catholics and Protestants that would last until Louis XIV repeals the Edict in 1685…2) It got Henry IV assassinated

Despite being remembered for his edict, it was Henry IV that actually set in motion the policies that would allow France to rise to international power under his successors

The Reign in Spain Charles V son Philip II was the most powerful

monarch of the late 16th century (until demoralized in 1588 at the hands of the English)…Philip was not only the heir to the throne of Spain but also the Hapsburg lands of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary

Philip had wealth and riches from Spain’s exploits in the New World (silver trade from Potosi and Mexico) which were used to arm his military and hire mercenaries (although the debt and inflation of the exploits ultimately also weakened Spain)

In Spain Philip ruled with an iron fist…Spain became more socially divided by rich and poor, and the poor were subjugated by high taxes and high prices that only lined the pockets of Spain’s elite…he was also a patron of the arts and built the Escorial which was a combination of an art gallery, a church, a tomb and a monastery

Aside from New World exploits, Philip’s Spain also had its hand in gaining control of the Mediterranean world, holding the invading Turks at bay at the Battle of Lepanto…Philip also annexed and conquered short time world rival Portugal in 1580

BUT Philip’s glory would not last forever…

Revolt in the Netherlands Protestantism had grown strong in the Netherlands, a

state which was under the domain of the Catholic Hapsburgs of Spain

Philip II wanted to keep the Netherlands in check, so he appointed his friend Antoine, later Cardinal Granvelle, to check Protestant power and reinstate a Catholic political hierarchy…unfortunately, he faced opposition from the Count of Egmont and William I of Orange, who succeeded in having him removed from church office somehow…when Philip II tried to force the outcomes of the council of Trent on the Netherlands, rebellion almost broke out

A rebellion did not fully materialize and the nobility failed to support it…Philip II also sent an army under the Duke of Alba to occupy and Netherlands and impose harsh taxes and persecution on Protestants

William I, now in exile, was able to gain foreign Protestant support, began insurrections in Dutch towns (the dikes were flooded, oh my!), the Duke of Alba was humiliated, the Spanish massacred citizens in Antwerp

The resulting peace eventually split the Netherlands into an independant Protestant north (The United Provinces of the Netherlands) and a Catholic south (later Belgium) still under Spanish control

England versus Spain Mary I, daughter of Catherine and Henry VIII came to the throne

of England in 1553 (by deposing and executing Lady Jane Grey, the 9 Day Queen)…Mary proceeded to re-Catholicize England and align herself with Philip II of Spain…Thomas Cranmer was executed as a heretic as were several other Protestants in the Marian Executions and other Protestants fled to the rest of Europe

Bloody Mary died painfully of TB in 1558…her half sister Elizabeth, who Mary had almost executed, acceded to the throne…she took up as her adviser Sir William Cecil (as in Cecil County, MD), and began to once again reassert the Protestant wishes of her father’s reign

In 1559 another Act of Supremacy along with an Act of Unity by parliament and the issuance of the 39 Articles on Religion once again re-established the Church of England as a Protestant church

There were extremists who hoped to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with Mary (Queen of Scots) Stuart who was devoutly Catholic…unfortunately a scandal involving her lover killing her legal husband (and her subsequent marriage to that lover) forced Mary to flee to her cousin Elizabeth in 1568…Elizabeth’s own advisors then discovered an assassination plot by the Spanish ambassador in 1583 and “falsely” tied Mary to that plot…Elizabeth was begrudgingly forced to have Mary executed in 1587

England versus Spain SPAIN WAS FURIOUS! The Death of a devout Catholic

monarch at the hands of a Protestant was a holy atrocity to Philip II…an invasion of England was planned…it was delay however by Sir Francis Drake who kept the Spanish royal port of Cadiz at bay in 1587

In May of 1588 the Spanish Armada of 130 ships set sail for England…the fleet never made it thanks to a divine wind that wreck over 33% of the ships…the rest were easily defeated by a unified English and Dutch fleet

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada signified a change in the balance of power in Europe…France became the continental power (particularly after the death of Philip II and the ensuing wars of Succession for Spain)…England and The Netherlands become the new world powers (trade and commerce)

Elizabeth I dies without a direct heir in 1603 (James I was the son of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots), however her nation was now one of the most powerful in all of Europe

The Thirty Years War The Thirty Years War was the last war of this era (1618-

1648) and was mainly concentrated amongst the many states within the Holy Roman Empire (parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Bohemia, and Sweden)

Fragmented Germany (over 300 small states) had become a battleground…The Peace of Augsburg had created so many states that they each levied their own taxes, created their own coins, and enforced high trade tariffs as protectionist measures against each other

Continued religious conflict accentuated these divisions, as the German population was almost equally divided between Protestant and Catholic loyalties

In 1609 the spark to the eventual fire came when Maximilian of Bavaria formed a Catholic league to counter a Protestant league formed by Frederick IV of Palantine…when both raised armies to face off against each other, war was an inevitability

The Thirty Years War – The Four Periods

The Bohemian Period Served as the main period of battle…Ferdinand of Styria became

king of Bohemia…a Hapsburg Catholic, he began to persecute Protestants and revoke their rights…the Protestant nobles responded by throwing Ferdinand’s ministers “out the window” in what became known to as the “defenestration of Prague”…then they overthrew Ferdinand and installed Frederick V of Palantine

Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and came back with an army to regain and Re-Catholicize Bohemia…and Palantine was captured too

The Danish Period Hostilities shifted northward from 1625 -1629 as the Danish King

Christian IV attempted to extend his influence southward…only to be instantly humiliated by Maximilian of Bavaria’s army…Ferdinand, worried that Maximilian had become too powerful, sent Albrecht of Wallenstein into Denmark instead…Denmark was crushed as were the Protestants, allowing Ferdinand to institute an Edict of Restitution in 1629, reasserting Catholic control in Germany and making Calvinism illegal

The Thirty Years War – The Four Periods The Swedish Period

King Gustavus Adolphus, with backing from Cardinal Richelieu of France, came into the fray to keep the Hapsburgs from gaining too much power…he gained several stunning victories before losing his own life…Albrecht of Wallenstein had now become so powerful that Ferdinand became distrustful of him and he was assassinated (this event also proves that greed and politics, not religion were really at the heart of the 30 Years War)…German states once again gained Protestant peace upon his death

The Swedish French Period The French entered the war in 1635…by this

point, however, the war had become an opportunity for several foreign nations to raid and loot weaker German states

German could do nothing but sit and watch as 1/3 of their population was annihilated by conflict (the worst loss of life since the Black Death)

The Peace of WestphaliaIn Munster in 1648, the peace treaty to the Thirty Years War was negotiated and solved several issues

It rescinded Ferdinand’s Restitution and reasserted the Augsburg Peace, allowing rulers to determine the religion of their landsThe Calvinists received political recognitionSwitzerland and Holland were fully recognized as legally independent statesBavaria and Prussia became Germany’s power statesSweden and France were still able to meddle in German affairs

France and Spain continued to fight over territory for several years after the end of the Thirty Years WarThe treaty however continued to perpetuate German disunity, and only 2 German regions gained international power: Austria and Prussia