French Wars of Religion

I

Introduction

French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), series of political and social upheavals in France caused by the weakness of the Valois monarchy in the face of religious conflict and aristocratic rivalry. The wars saw Roman Catholics, led by the House of Guise, in conflict with Protestant Calvinists, led by the House of Bourbon, and fell into a context of a wider religious quarrel that took place throughout Europe. There were in fact eight wars, intersected by short periods of peace.

II

Origins of the French Wars of Religion

The Protestant Reformation had spread to France from Germany in the 1520s, but had attracted few followers. From the 1540s, however, a programme of evangelism coordinated by a network of preachers sent from the safety of Geneva by John Calvin had won many powerful followers in the nobility and thousands of lower rank and created the doctrine and the institutions of a distinctively French form of Protestantism. In May 1559, by which time approximately 10 per cent of the French population had adopted the new religion, Calvin secretly organized the first national synod of Reformed Churches. This provoked Henry II, who considered Calvinism a threat to royal authority, into outlawing Protestantism, but his sudden death at a tournament in July was interpreted by the Reformers as a sign of divine favour, and conversions multiplied. The throne passed to Henry’s 15-year-old son, Francis II, who was manipulated by the Guise family. The Guises, whose power rivalled that of the Crown itself, planned to continue Henry’s campaign of persecution, but could not avert a Protestant noble plot (the Conspiracy of Amboise) to seize the king in March 1560. They bloodily repressed the plot, and in the aftermath the Protestant nobles responsible were first referred to as Huguenots.

Francis II died in December 1560 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles IX, who was dominated by his mother, Catherine de Médicis, who was named as regent. Along with her chancellor, Michel de l’Hôpital, the devoutly Catholic Catherine was prepared to tolerate the Huguenots, not least because the power of the Bourbons potentially balanced that of the Guises. Subsequently, the Edict of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in January 1562 gave the Huguenots a limited toleration, allowing them to worship in public outside of towns and privately within them. Catholic reaction to this was hostile, and on March 1, 1562, soldiers of François, 2nd Duc de Guise, the leader of the Guises, attacked and massacred worshippers at a Calvinist service in Wassy, Champagne.

III

First French War of Religion

The massacre at Wassy led to the first war of religion. Under pressure from the Guises, the Edict of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was revoked. Protestants armed themselves, seizing control over many towns, including Rouen, Orléans, Tours, Lyon, Nîmes, and Montpellier, and appealed to the Huguenot nobility, led by Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, for protection. There were major battles at Dreux, where Condé was captured, and at Orléans, where in February 1563 François, 2nd Duc de Guise, was assassinated. The war ended in March 1563 with the Peace of Amboise, which was mediated by Catherine de Médicis, who feared that the war would drag on. It gave recognition of the freedom of conscience to the Huguenots, but the limiting of the practice of their worship to some towns and the private homes of the nobility, and the halting of conversions to Protestantism, disappointed urban Huguenot congregations and hardened divisions between the rival faiths.

IV

Second French War of Religion

Catherine de Médicis spent the next four years trying to maintain a shaky peace between factions in the towns and at Court. However, in September 1567 the Huguenots became alarmed by Catherine’s negotiations with Philip II, the Catholic king of Spain, who seemingly wanted to extend his influence over Charles IX. Suspecting Catherine of treachery, Condé attempted to capture Charles, Catherine, and the Court, at Meaux, Brie. When this failed, the Huguenots briefly rose again in revolt. In spite of their defeat at Saint-Denis in November 1567, the Huguenots accepted the Peace of Longjumeau in March 1568, which renewed the Peace of Amboise and the partial toleration allowed them.