The Wars of Religion in France
French Catholics and Huguenots Fought for Over 30 Years.
Catholics, led by the Duke of Guise, waged violent wars against French Protestants, who were called Huguenots. For thirty years the Wars of Religion devastated France.
In France the Protestant Reformation brought turmoil and bloodshed. Known as the Wars of Religion in France, fighting between French Catholics and Protestants lasted thirty years, from 1559 until 1589.
The Guise Family
Calvinism has spread to France during the 1520s. French Calvinists were known as Huguenots. At first the French king, Henri II, tolerated them. Following his death in 1559, the French throne passed to the first of his weak sons. The new king, Francis II was married to Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary’s mother came from the powerful Guise family. Mary’s uncles, Louis the Cardinal of Lorraine and Francis, Duke of Guise, were both ardent Catholics and sought to rid France of all Protestant influence. In 1560, in an effort to thwart the Guise’s power and influence, a group of Huguenots plotted to kidnap the young king. When the plot was discovered, the Duke of Guise ordered the hanging of hundreds of Huguenots, as retribution. The massacre alarmed the Huguenots of the nobility and middle class.
Catherine de Medici
King Francis II died unexpectedly in 1560. The throne passed to his ten-year-old brother, Charles. Charles’ mother, Catherine de Medici became regent, ousting the Guise family. A power-hungry woman, Catherine had been forced to play second fiddle to her husband’s domineering mistress, Diane de Poiters during her entire marriage. In her new role as regent, she relished her new-found power, and would do nearly anything to keep it. She supported whichever religious faction would help her sustain her role as regent. This did little to solve the debate over religious freedom in France. In fact, it exacerbated the situation. Catherine remained in power until the death of Charles in May 1574.
Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
By the time the last son of Henri II came to the throne, France had returned to an almost feudal state of government. The Catholic nobles were led by Henri, Duke of Guise (son of the late Francis), while the Huguenots were led by Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and a young Protestant aristocrat, Henri of Navarre. King Henri III hoped to reconcile the two groups with a marriage between his sister, Margaret of Valois and Henri of Navarre. During the wedding festivities the Duke of Guise, in collusion with Catherine de Medici had Admiral Coligny murdered. The murder was followed by massive rioting and slaughter. It became known as the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, having taken place on the Saint Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, 1572.
Henri of Navarre
For the rest of Henri III reign, religious wars continued. Finally, in 1589, upon the death of Henri III, the throne passed to the first truly strong ruler in thirty years, Henry of Navarre. Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Guise were both dead, and the time was ripe for a fresh start with a strong ruler. In order to bring order to his country, Henri of Navarre made the monumental step of converting to Catholicism, remarking, “Paris is well worth a Mass.” In 1598, Henri passed the Edict of Nantes, which granted Huguenots the right to public worship in over two hundred towns. Henri’s willingness to sacrifice his religious principles to political necessity, helped save the French monarchy, and paved the way for Absolutism in the 1600s.
Sources:
McKay, Hill Buckler. A History of World Societies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1992.
Sider, Sandra. Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe. New York: Facts on File, 2005
Huguenots. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenots on April 9, 2007.
