France Notes

Background:

• Huguenot persecution

  • Huguenots = Calvinists who lived in France

    • 1 in every 20 people are Huguenots in France

    • amongst nobles, 2 out of 5 are Huguenots

  • series of events lead to Huguenot persecution

    • shift towards religious intolerance

    • Affair du Placards (1534)

      • begin spreading posters advocating for iconoclasm

        • iconoclasm = destruction of religious statues

      • seen as a threat = Huguenots begin getting persecuted

• Edict of Fountainbleu (1540) and Edict of Chateaubriand (1551) restricted French Protestants

  • generally increase violence towards Huguenots

• Henry II dies while jousting

  • Catherine de Medicis

    • wife of Henry II

    • three sons together

      • Francis II

      • Charles IX

      • Henry III

    • regent for the kings of France

      • regent = someone who is appointed to rule because the monarch is a minor

    • two goals:

    1. protect her sons

    2. protect the royal family

Failed Attempts at Tolerance:

• Catherine de Medici shifted alliances between powerful noble families

  • Guise (radical Catholic)

    • strongest and wealthiest

    • biggest threat to kings of France

  • Montmorency de Chatillion (radical Huguenot)

  • Bourbon (moderate Huguenot)

  • Valois

• January Edict → Massacre at Vassy

  • January Edict = peace agreement

  • Massacre at Vassy = reason for failure of January Edict

    • Francis of Guise kills Huguenots

    • Catherine allies with Huguenots because Guise are too strong

• Peace of St. Germain—en—Lay → St. Bartholmew’s Day Massacre

  • Peace of St. Germain sealed with marriage of Henry of Navarre (Bourbon) and Margret of Valois

    • Henry of Navarre

      • high ranking member of Bourbons

      • Huguenots

    • married in Paris

• St. Bartholmew’s Day Massacre

War of Three Henry’s:

• three Henry’s:

  • Henry of Navarre (Bourbon)

  • Henry III (Valois)

  • Henry of Guise (Guise)

• Henry of Guise decides to invade Paris forcing Henry III to flee

  • Henry III allies with Henry of Navarre

  • Henry III kills Henry of Guise

  • supporter of Henry of Guise kills Henry III

• Henry of Navarre next in line to become French king

  • must convert to Catholicism because Huguenots are not legally allowed to rule

  • became Henry IV when he succeeded Henry III

  • “Paris is worth a Mass”

  • politique

  • issues Edict of Nantes in 1598

    • religious tolerance for Huguenots

    • permission to fortify their towns so they would feel secure

      • effectively creating private armies

    • willing to sacrifice some of his own power to stabilize France