Early Modern Europe: French Wars of Religion

background

Rising tension between Protestants and Catholics

• Huguenots (French Protestants) were gaining power as a political bloc

Succession crisis

• Henry II dies in a jousting accident in 1559

• His son, Francis II becomes king aged 15: inexperienced and sickly

  • Catherine de’ Medici asks relatives of Francis’s wife (Mary Queen of Scots), the Guise brothers, to help him run things

  • The Guises isolate him from court, which leads to a kidnapping attempt by Protestants in 1560

• Francis II dies in 1560, his brother, Charles IX, succeeds to the throne and Catherine takes control over the king

In 1561, Jeanne d’Albret, the Queen of Navarre, publicly converts to Protestantism and outlaws Catholicism

kingdom of navarre

Independent kingdom north of the Pyrenees (small)

Jeanne d’Albret (1528-1572) inherited the kingdom from her

father in 1555

• Married Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (France)

  • 2 children: Catherine and Henry

1561: Jeanne publicly converts to Calvinism and makes it the state religion, banning Catholicism from Navarre

1561: Catherine de’Medici appoints Antoine Lieutenant General of France

• Antoine goes on to support the Catholic faction in the wars of religion

1572: Jeanne dies, her son Henry becomes Henry III of Navarre

1589: Henry becomes Henry IV of France, uniting the kingdoms of France and Navarre

valois dynasty (royal family)

three sons become king

Henry II (1519-1559) and Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589)

• Francis II, King of France (19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560). Married Mary, Queen

  of Scots, in 1558.

• Elisabeth (2 April 1545 – 3 October 1568). Married Philip II, King of Spain, in 1559.

• Claude (12 November 1547– 21 February 1575). Married Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, in 1559.

• Louis, Duke of Orléans (3 February 1549 – 24 October 1550). Died in infancy.

• Charles IX, King of France (27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574). Married Elizabeth of Austria

  in 1570.

• Henry III, King of France (19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589). Married Louise of Lorraine in 1575.

• Margaret (14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615). Married Henry, King of Navarre, the future Henry IV of France, in 1572.

• Hercules, Duke of Anjou (18 March 1555 – 19 June 1584), renamed Francis when he was confirmed.

• Victoire (24 June 1556 – 17 August 1556). Died in infancy.

• Jeanne (24 June 1556). Stillborn

hugenots

French Calvinists: political movement opposed to the royal family and the Guises

• Popular in the middle class, but include nobles and peasants

• politically powerful

• supported initially by henry IV

• Publications denouncing the catholic mass, physical attacks on catholic clergy, statues

Concentrated in southwestern France

Noble supporters: Jeanne d’Albret, Princes of Condé, Henry IV (initially)

Huguenot uprisings in Orléans, Bourges, and Montauban

• Iconoclasm: destroying graven images

• Attacking Catholic clergy

Attacks on Huguenots

• Preachers attacked on the road

• St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (August 1572)

official attitudes to protestants

The Royal Family is Catholic

• Francis I was restrained from persecuting Protestants by his sister, Marguerite de Navarre

  • Institutes state persecution in response to anti-Catholic placards → this is when Calvin leaves France

• Henry II persecuted Protestants without restraint, but the movement continued to grow

• Francis II is under the sway of the Guise family

• Charles IX and Henry III take a more conciliatory approach

• Queen mother manages the king

  • Charles 9th and henry 3rd are more approachable to protestants, can't crush movement

The Guises are anti-Protestant zealots

• Vassy Massacre: Francis, Duke of Guise, heard the church bells in Vassy ring at a time when Mass didn’t take place → Protestant service

  • Guise’s men tried to disperse the meeting but, when met with resistance, massacred the worshippers and left at least 50 dead

  • This is considered an inciting incident of the war

phases of the wars

Pattern: situation will escalate, retaliations, high profile killings -> treaty, deescalates

• Not able to address key issues, tensions between catholic and protestants

• Ex. Forgives past crimes, represses religious expression

• Back and forth: appeals, cyclical wars

• Wars of religion: caused by same underlying problem

1st War: 1562-1563 → Louis de Bourbon takes Orléans and declares it Protestant, Francis de Guise is assassinated, Antoine de Bourbon dies at Rouen, Treaty of Amboise officially ends the war but hostility persists

2nd War: 1567-1568 → Huguenots attack Catholics fearing reprisals for the first war

3rd War: 1568-1570 →Battles and atrocities continue, Louis de Bourbon executed, Elizabeth I helps the Huguenots, La Rochelle becomes a Huguenot stronghold

Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye agrees that Jeanne’s son Henry will marry Catherine’s daughter Marguerite in 1572

4th War: 1572-1573 → St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in the aftermath of Henry & Marguerite’s wedding, ends with Edict of Boulogne which forgave Protestants for “past crimes” but restricted their religious expression

5th War: 1574-1576 → Charles IX dies, his brother Henry returns to assume the throne, his younger brother Francis sides with the Huguenots, ends with Edict of Beaulieu that restores religious freedom to Protestants

6th War: 1576-1577 → Formation of the Catholic League, repeals Edict of Beaulieu

7th War: 1579-1580 → Protestant reprisals against repression, Francis, Duke of Anjou dies

8th War (War of the Three Henrys): 1585-1589 → Death of Henry III, succession crisis, Henry of Navarre wins

Violence continues until Edict of Nantes (1598)

St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

3rd war

18 August 1572: Marriage of Henry III of Navarre and Marguerite de Valois in Paris

Henry is a Huguenot → prominent Huguenots gather in Catholic Paris for the festivities

22 August 1572: Failed assassination attempt on Admiral de Coligny (Huguenot but once again in the king’s good graces following the Peace of St. Germain)

• Conspiracy theories about the culprit (was it the Guises? The Catholic Duke of Alba? Catherine?)

Huguenots demand justice, Catholics fear retaliation → the Crown decides to eliminate Protestant leadership

• The king’s Swiss mercenaries have a kill list (although it isn’t clear who made it) and begin slaughtering Huguenot leaders in the street and in their quarters in Paris

• Ordinary people began to hunt and murder Protestants as well

Ends with treaty of st germain en lait: proof of cease hostiliy, mariage of margerite de valois and henry of navarre

catholic league

Founded by Henry I of Guise in 1576 for all Roman Catholics

Power centred on the Guise family and their favourites

• lots of power,anti-protestants

Aimed at eradicating Protestantism in France → Opposed the Crown’s attempts at compromise and mediation

Supported by King Phillip II of Spain and the Pope

factions: crown, hugenots, catholic league (oppose royal family and hugenots)

War of Three Henrys 1585-1589

Who are the Henrys?

• Henry III, King of France

• Henry III, King of Navarre

• Henry I de Guise → Led the Catholic League, turned Paris against the king for his failure to defeat Protestants

1584: Francis, Duke of Anjou dies → Henry III of France has no heir except his distant cousin Henry III of Navarre

• Henry III of Navarre is a Huguenot! Not acceptable!

• Henry de Guise and the Catholic League try to block Henry III of Navarre from being heir → renewed hostilities

May 1588: Paris revolts against Henry III of France (instigated by Henry I de Guise) and the king flees the city

• Now both Henry III of France and Henry III of Navarre are trying to capture the city

September 1588: Henry III of France has Henry I de Guise assassinated during a meeting in Blois

New leader of the Catholic League denounces Henry III of France, so he teams up with Henry III of Navarre to re-take Paris

July 1589: Henry III of France assassinated by a Dominican friar on orders of the Catholic League, names Henry III of Navarre his heir on his deathbed

henry iv

Becomes king on the death of Henry III

1589-93: series of successful campaigns against the Catholic League

Paris is heavily fortified and will never accept a Protestant king

Conversion to Catholicism in 1593: “Paris is worth a Mass.”

Edict of Nantes: legal freedom of religion

Tensions remain → 1610 assassination by a Catholic zealot

Despite Henry IV’s success in bringing the wars to an end, the monarchy’s authority is weakened by the conflict

• Succeeded by his son Louis XIII and eventually his grandson Louis XIV who both work to reassert royal authority

edict of nantes

Signed by Henry IV in April 1598

Granted Protestants substantial rights, including

• Freedom of conscience and right to practice their religion

• The right to hold public office

• The right to maintain Huguenot militias

• The right to travel freely in France

• The right to Protestant schools, universities, and cemeteries

Revoked in the Edict of Fontainbleu, 1685, by Henry IV’s grandson, Louis XIV

France remains quite religiously divided after this

impact of ordinary people

Approximately 2-4 million people die due to the wars and their impact

• We cannot know the true death toll, or number of displaced and missing people

Faith is a matter of personal conviction → anyone could be a secret Protestant/Catholic

• Families turn on each other

• Horrible injuries caused by improvised weaponry

Multiple civil wars mean many towns ransacked and looted, cities besieged, and fields destroyed with no real opportunity to recover between wars → famine

Armies do not travel light → mercenaries typically took their families and servants with them + all the camp followers (tavern-keepers, cobblers, smiths, sex workers, etc.)

Soldiers on the march + displaced people = spread of disease

Emigration: Many skilled tradespeople (Huguenots) leave for Protestant areas in Germany, the Netherlands, England, Southern Africa, and North America

historians’ sources

Legal documents: treaties, lawsuits, wills, etc.

Parish records: births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Court documents: petitions, official correspondence, etc.

Ecclesiastical documents: sermons, etc.

Personal documents: letters, personal notes,

personal libraries, etc.

Literary sources: essays, plays, satires, etc.

There were no newspapers at this period

Michel de Montaigne 1533-1592

Aristocrat, philosopher, inventor of the essay

Motto: Que sais-je?

• What do I know?

Famous for his Essais, which were an attempt to understand himself and human nature

• Revised them all his life

• Critical of himself and the world around him

Catholic, but was known for being one of the very few people who could work with both Catholics and Protestants

• 2/3 Henrys endorsed him

• Elected Mayor of Bordeaux in 1581 as a moderating force