French Wars of Religion, Phillip II, Elizabeth I, Thirty Years' War
Politiques
Politiques were intellectuals of the 1500s who criticized the religious strife between Catholics and Protestants.
They were rulers who urged tolerance and moderation, becoming indifferent to religion.
Elizabeth I of England was the most successful politique.
Background to the French Wars of Religion
French Protestants were known as Huguenots.
Francis I of France initiated the first wave of Protestant persecution in 1525.
In 1534, Protestants were arrested, and leader John Calvin was exiled.
The Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540 subjected Protestants to the Inquisition.
Later, the Bourbon and Montmorency-Chatillon families became sympathetic to the Huguenots.
Appeal of Calvinism
John Calvin gained favor with powerful aristocrats like the Prince of Conde, who converted to Calvinism.
This created a powerful combination of political and religious dissidents (the Huguenots) in Catholic France.
The Medicis and the Guises
Catherine de Medicis unsuccessfully attempted to reconcile the differences between the Protestants and the Catholic Guises (the dominant radical Catholic family of Eastern France) through religious toleration.
The Duke of Guise massacred Protestant worshippers in Champagne, sparking the French Wars of Religion.
Medici and her young king son fell under the control of the Guises.
The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Three wars of religion ended with the deaths of the Duke of Guise, Protestant military leader Conde, and a Huguenot victory.
The peace treaty acknowledged the Protestant nobility, granting Huguenots religious freedom and the right to fortify their cities.
Catherine, who had previously supported the Protestants, turned to the Guises, fearing that Protestant leader Coligny would draw France into a war with Spain that her son could not handle.
The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
Catherine attempted to broker peace by marrying dauphin Margaret to Henry of Navarre (a Huguenot).
The Guise family convinced her to eliminate the Huguenots at the wedding.
Catherine then convinced her son, King Charles IX, that a Huguenot coup was imminent.
On August 24, 1572, Coligny and 3,000 Huguenots were massacred in Paris; within three days, 20,000 other Protestants were killed in France.
The Protestant cause became one of survival.
Henry of Navarre
Henry III (third son of Catherine de Medici), a politique, attempted to compromise between the warring religions to save the nation (placing national unity above religious concerns).
The two Henrys were forced into an alliance against the Guises, but Henry III was assassinated, and Henry of Navarre became Henry IV, a Protestant as King of France.
Henry IV, a politique, converted to Catholicism, horrifying the Huguenots.
The Edict of Nantes
A formal religious settlement that granted Protestants religious freedoms within their own towns and territories.
Violence ceased, but hostilities remained.
A Catholic fanatic assassinated Henry IV in 1610. Henry IV is credited with “bringing peace to France.”
Phillip II of Spain
Phillip II's empire, “Empire where the sun never sets” began with Spain and included the Philippines (named after him).
He was the most powerful man in Europe until the Spanish Armada in 1588. After that France and then England became the most powerful.
Wealth from bullion and gold in the New World created an economic gap between the wealthy and the peasants.
Castilian peasants were the most heavily taxed people in Europe.
He had an efficient bureaucracy and military.
A sea battle in the Mediterranean Sea against Turkey resulted in the deaths of 30,000 Turks and Spanish control of the sea.
He suppressed resistance in Portugal.
State bankruptcies occurred in 1557, 1560, 1569, 1575, and 1596.
Revolt in the Netherlands
The Netherlands consisted of 17 provinces: 10 Catholic in the South (which became Belgium) and 7 Protestant in the North.
They had some autonomy because Charles V was dealing with the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) and Spain. When he abdicated, he left Spain and the Netherlands to his son Phillip II.
Phillip II wanted to purge all Protestantism and control the wealthy Netherlands (while Spain was bankrupt).
The Netherlands had been very tolerant.
William the Orange (William the Silent), a powerful Calvinist, came into power.
There were Catholics, centrists, and hardline Calvinists.
Phillip II’s mercenaries were not being paid consistently and attacked the people, both Catholic and Protestant (referred to as the Spanish Fury).
In 1584, William the Orange was assassinated.
The Peace of Westphalia (1648) resulted in a permanent split of the North and South, recognizing Calvinism and Catholicism.
Independence for the Netherlands
William the Orange came out of exile in Germany and led the independence movement of the Netherlands against Spain.
The Spanish Fury involved Spanish mercenaries who, unpaid, left 7,000 people (Catholic and Protestant) dead on November 4, 1576. This massacre united Protestant and Catholic Netherlands against Spain under the Pacification of Ghent.
Spain signed the humiliating Perpetual Edict, calling for the removal of all Spanish troops from the Netherlands.
Southern provinces, afraid of Protestant domination, made peace with Spain in the Union of Arras and made one last effort to control the country.
William of Orange was assassinated and replaced by his son Maurice, who, with the help of England and France, finally defeated Spain.
Spain first signed a truce in 1609 and recognized full independence of the Netherlands in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia.
Mary I of England
Mary I was very hostile to Protestants, executing Protestant leaders and burning hundreds at the stake, while others fled to the Continent.
She married into militant Catholicism by wedding Philip II of Spain.
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I settled religious differences by merging broadly defined Protestant doctrine with traditional Catholic ritual, later resulting in the Anglican Church.
All anti-Protestant legislation was repealed, and the Thirty-Nine Articles were issued in 1563, making moderate Protestantism the official religion of the Church of England.
Growing animosity developed between England and Spain over dominance of the seas.
Catholic and Protestant Extremists
Radical Catholics wanted to replace Elizabeth I with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
Puritans were Protestants who wanted to purify the church of any “popery” and had two grievances about Elizabeth:
The retention of Catholic ceremony in the Church of England.
The continuation of the Episcopal system of church governance.
Presbyterians were Puritans who advocated for the creation of an alternative national church of semiautonomous congregations governed by representative presbyteries.
More extreme Puritans, Congregationalists wanted every congregation to be autonomous.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary was the Catholic ruler of Scotland who was later forced to abdicate the throne and flee to England to her cousin Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth put Mary under house arrest, fearing a Catholic uprising, and uncovered plots against her life.
Mary was executed by Elizabeth, ending all Catholic hopes of a bloodless reconciliation with Protestant England and leading to the invasion of the Spanish Armada.
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Sir Francis Drake of England shelled the Spanish port of Cadiz and raided Portugal, delaying the invasion of the Spanish Armada.
A huge Spanish fleet of 130 ships and 25,000 sailors was crushed by the swifter defending British navy (one-third of the Armada never returned to Spain).
Protestant resistance everywhere was given hope, and Spain never regained status as a world power.
Preconditions of the Thirty Years' War
The fragmented (360+ semi-autonomous states) Holy Roman Empire was the battleground.
Initially, it was Catholics vs. Lutherans and Lutherans vs. Calvinists – RELIGION.
Ultimately, it became about hurting Habsburg power - POLITICS.
New Problem: Calvinism in Palatinate
Calvinism was unrecognized as a legal religion by the Peace of Augsburg.
Lutherans felt the Palatine Calvinists threatened the Peace of Augsburg and the existence of Lutheranism itself.
Maximilian I of Bavaria countered the Palatine with the Catholic League.
Bohemian Period of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1622)
(Area of Czech Republic today).
Catholics named Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor, who immediately revoked religious freedom to Bohemian Protestants.
Bohemians defiantly named Palatine, Protestant Frederick V, their king.
Spain joined the HRE, defeating Frederick’s troops (Frederick had to borrow an army) and taking over Bohemia and Palatine (Ferdinand II).
Defenestration of Prague
Protestant Bohemians met with Catholic messengers of Ferdinand II—the Bohemians then threw them out the window.
Ferdinand II's Next Steps
Ferdinand II wants to totally end Protestant resistance turns to Wallenstein (Protestant Mercenary).
Ferdinand II putting out fires across HRE, seems somewhat successful
Danish Period of the Thirty Years’ War (1625-29)
The HRE humiliated Protestant forces in Germany under Lutheran Danish king Christian V and forced them to return to Denmark.
Emperor Ferdinand gained an ally in the mercenary Protestant Albrecht of Wallenstein, who destroyed the Danes.
Ferdinand II ordered the Edict of Restitution (1629), reasserting the Peace of Augsburg (all Catholic lands lost since 1552 revert to Catholic control—churches, abbeys, etc.). Lutherans could still practice, but other Protestants were excluded.
Recap of Ferdinand II's Power
Ferdinand II won against Bohemia.
Ferdinand II won against the Danes.
Lutherans are still allowed to practice their faith.
Ferdinand became confident and fires Wallenstein, believing (probably correctly) that Wallenstein wants to set himself up as a king, AND issues the Edict of Restitution.
BUT- Europe (Fr and Swed get involved, hope to hurt HRE b/c they viewed it as too powerful
Swedish Period of the Thirty Years’ War
Cardinal Richelieu of France worried about Habsburgs in Spain and the HRE surrounding France and desired to weaken them. He joined with Protestant Sweden, who also felt threatened by the HRE.
France primarily provided funding, not direct combat support, during this phase.
Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden led the Swedish forces.
Sweden and France achieved a decisive victory at Breitenfield—Ferdinand II recalled Wallenstein.
Adolphus was killed in battle, after which Wallenstein was assassinated by Ferdinand, who feared Wallenstein’s growing independence.
Peace of Prague – German Protestant states reached a compromise with Ferdinand; however, the war continued elsewhere.
Fourth and Final Period: The Swedish-French Period (1635-48)
French, Swedish, and Spanish mercenaries attacked and looted the HRE—population went from 21 million in 1618 to 13.5 million in 1648. Catholics fought Catholics due to political motivations.
The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 ended the war, which had killed one-third of Germany’s population. The treaty:
Rescinded the Edict of Restitution and reinstated the Peace of Augsburg.
Officially recognized Calvinists.
Granted independence to the Swiss Confederacy, the Netherlands, and Bavaria.
Made Brandenburg-Prussia the most powerful German state.
Spain and France
Spain and France continued to war until 1659, when France emerged victorious.
France became Europe’s dominant power, while Habsburg Spain never recovered.