In the middle of the XVI century the monarchy in France was going through hard times. The Italian wars, which ended in defeat, caused a severe crisis of power and economy. French feudal lords, counting on high posts, new lands and military booty, were very disappointed and annoyed by such a failure. All their accusations fell on the king and his courtiers. After the war, the aristocracy was almost ruined. Therefore, the nobility, as soon as the Huguenots movement arose, immediately began to support and use it against the central government, trying to thereby achieve concessions for themselves. So who are the Huguenots in France? You will find the answer to this question in the article.
Catholics and Protestants
Residents of Western Europe professed Catholicism, but by the beginning of the sixteenth century discontent among believers about how the affairs of the Church were going on began to grow. They were sure that the Pope and his entourage were only thinking how to strengthen their power and become even richer. Demonstrating their greed and acquisitiveness, the clergy thereby set a bad example for the parishioners. These grievances led to the emergence of a new movement called the Reformation. His goal was to change the policies of the Christian church. The people who joined this movement were called Protestants, as they did not agree with the current state of affairs.
The emergence of a new trend
Huguenot is a French Protestant of the 16th-17th centuries. The very first of them were called Lutherans in honor of the German monk Martin Luther, who lived in the city of Wittenberg. In 1517, he made a list of 95 items, which he hung on the door of his church. This document not only denounced individual clergy, but also was a kind of protest against the wrong policies of the entire Roman Catholic Church.
Luther was convinced that everyone had the right to self-study scripture. To do this, he translated the Bible from Latin into German. He was the first, and after him the Scriptures began to be published in other languages.
As expected, the Catholic Church condemned Luther. To his great surprise, he was supported not only by ordinary people, but also by some rulers in Europe. So, the English king Henry VIII decided to divorce his wife and get married to Anna Boleyn. But the Pope did not give permission for this, so the ruler of England ceased relations with the Vatican, and then declared himself the head of the Church in his country.
Following the German monk, other powerful personalities began to appear who shared the ideas of the Reformation. As a result, several trends appeared in Protestantism. If in Germany such believers were called Lutherans, then in France the Huguenot is a Calvinist. Faith got its name from Jean Calvin (1509-1564). He was a well-known French theologian, and in his writings he was able to expound openly all the main aspects of the Christian faith.
I must say that after this separation, Catholic believers began to torture and even hang Protestants, while others, in turn, began to attack the adherents of the Pope. But they were all sure: by making their enemies suffer, they save their souls from the eternal torment of hell.
Over time, Protestantism began to spread throughout France. At first, the Huguenot is a believer who shared the views of the new religion. He could be a representative of the plebeians or the bourgeoisie, as well as a native of the nobility or feudal nobility. Later, the concept expanded. In the 60s of the XVI century. and in the 20s of the XVII century. Huguenot is no longer just a believer, he belonged to a whole religious and political group of Calvinist Protestants.
Division into two camps
The outbreak of hostilities in France contributed to the weakness of the heirs of Henry II. His sons - Francis II, who ruled the whole year (1559-1560), Charles IX (1560-1574) and Henry III (1574-1589), often became an instrument of intrigue, which the feudal nobility wove against each other.
Charles IX ascended the throne at the age of ten, and his mother, Catherine de Medici, who ruled along with her favorites, became the regent. By the sixties, all the major feudal lords were divided into two powerful religious and political groups. One part of the nobles was on the side of the Giza. They professed Catholicism. Catherine de Medici, an Italian by origin, also appeared on their side. Another part of the nobility belonged to the opposition and represented the Huguenot party, headed by the Bourbons, Admiral Coligny and the king of Navarre. I must say that at the court there were also such politicians who did not join any of the warring parties. They tried to reconcile the enemies, which were the Huguenots and Catholics.
The beginning of wars
On March 1, 1562, in the small town of Wassi, the Duke of Guise, with his armed supporters, suddenly attacked the people gathered for prayer. These were the Huguenots who managed to repulse the treacherous Catholics. After the armed incident, an open confrontation began. It was called the Huguenot Wars (1562-1598 gg.). They killed Antoine de Bourbon and Francois de Guise. From that moment on, the war, in which irreconcilable enemies participated - Huguenots and Catholics - turned into a series of tragic events that plunged France into real chaos.
Temporary Truce
Another armed conflict ended in 1570. It was a religious and political confrontation that shocked the whole country. The end of the war was laid by the Saint-Germain peace. According to him, the French Huguenots received freedom of religion, as well as control over a number of powerful fortresses.
The ceasefire brought satisfaction to the tormented country and its people, but caused strong discontent on the part of the noble Catholics, in particular, the Giza family - an ancient French family descending from the Carolingians.
Strengthening the influence of the court
The Protestant leader was Admiral de Coligny. Huguenot by conviction, he was included in the Council of State, acting under Charles IX of Valois. De Coligny, whose influence at the court was huge in order to further strengthen such a long-awaited peace, convinced the king to arrange a marriage between Margarita de Valois and Henry of Navarre.
Admiral Coligny was an excellent politician and diplomat, wishing his country prosperity. He wanted France to become powerful, but Catholic Spain, which at that time was considered the queen of the seas, did not allow this to be done. The admiral advised the king to provide military assistance to the Dutch Protestants fighting for their independence. He knew that if Charles IX agreed, then war with Spain could not be avoided. But Coligny also understood that this would unite the Huguenots and Catholics, since national interests are above all others.
Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), the mother of the young king, was very unhappy that the influence of the Huguenots at court was growing. She did not want a war with the Spanish Catholics. The Queen Mother believed that such actions would provoke a national catastrophe. In the event of war, the Pope and all of Catholic Europe would take up arms against France.
The reasons for the bloody massacre
In 1572, another attempt was made to reconcile the two warring parties. They came up with a plan according to which the sister of King Charles IX - Margarita de Valois - was to marry the Protestant Heinrich of Navarre. Thus, this marriage could put an end to the bloodshed in France, and the war of the Huguenots and Catholics would end there.
The wedding was supposed to take place on August 18. All the noble Huguenots gathered on it. Most of them temporarily settled in the center of Paris, where the homes of Catholic nobles were located. The Protestant nobility looked simply luxurious compared to them, and this caused great discontent among urban residents who, due to high taxes and food prices, could not live as well. The rich wedding was a cause of discontent, because a lot of money was spent on its organization, taken, of course, from the purses of taxpayers who were not so rich. Therefore, the situation in Paris gradually grew tense until it reached its zenith.
The assassination of Admiral de Coligny
The situation in the city was tense, and the Giza family was not slow to take advantage of it. Together with Catherine de Medici, they organized a conspiracy to kill de Coligny. On August 22, 1572, the admiral drove past the house of Gizov, he was wounded in the arm with a shot fired directly from the window. The attempted murder failed this time. But Catholics were not going to abandon their plans. On the night of August 24, a mob of furious armed men broke into the house, where Admiral Huguenot Coligny was brutally killed. It was this crime that laid the foundation for events that swept across the country. Thus began the bloody night of the Huguenots.
Bartholomew's Night
Supporters of Heinrich of Navarre, who arrived at the wedding in Paris, were brutally killed on the night of August 23-24, 1572. This wild massacre of the Huguenots in France claimed the lives of about 3 thousand people.
And it all started with the fact that Catherine de Medici was able to convince the young king of the conspiracy organized against him by the Protestants. She told him that it was necessary to destroy all the nobles who were involved in this. The king succumbed to the entreaties of his mother. Immediately followed by an order to bring to full alert the entire guard, as well as to close the city gate.
As soon as it became known about the murder of Coligny, the alarm rang out over Paris. He served as a signal for the Catholics to begin action. Everyone ran out into the streets with guns, and the night of the Huguenots began. Crowds of furious citizens broke into houses and killed everyone who did not want to be a Catholic. This night , not only the Protestants suffered. Debtors killed their creditors, and those who wanted revenge carried out their sentence. Husbands, taking advantage of the moment, got rid of their wives bored by them, and lovers - from the men who prevented them. The reason for this was the Huguenots, Bartholomew’s night for which was the last in their life. Everything dark that was hidden deep in human souls suddenly burst out and swept the city with a bloody veil.
Since the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris took place on the night before St. Bartholomew’s day, this event went down in history under the name of Bartholomew’s Night.
Bacchanalia
With the dawn, the killings did not stop. Catherine de Medici did not expect such a development. She planned to destroy only the most active Huguenot leaders, but everything went wrong. Pogroms and robberies began in the city. Ordinary respectable residents died in the tens of hundreds, and this no longer depended on their religion. All killers, thieves and robbers left their dens, feeling impunity.
There was no power in the city, so the bacchanalia lasted for a whole week. Guards along with criminals robbed everyone. The only exception was the soldiers of the guard, who remained faithful to the law and the king, but they were clearly not enough to restore order in the city.
The consequences of Bartholomew’s night
The unrest and unrest in the capital caused a chain reaction. Huguenots and Protestants were massacred not only in Paris, but throughout France - in Bordeaux, Orleans, Lyon, Rouen and other cities.
In order to restore law and restore order in the country, by order of King Charles IX of France, a document was sent to all provinces and cities. It said that the murder of Protestant leaders occurred with his consent, and supposedly this helped to prevent a certain anti-state conspiracy. In addition, it was officially stated that religious freedom is not abolished.
Many Huguenots and Protestants, fleeing the reprisals, left the territory of France, as a result of which their influence in the country was weakened.
Having married Margarita de Valois, Heinrich of Navarre survived. But in order to save his life, he had to adopt Catholicism. Henry Conde followed his example.
During the atrocities, at least 5 thousand people were killed. But, according to historians, this figure is many times larger, and amounts to about 30 thousand. I must say that the exact number of deaths is still unknown.
War of the Three Henry
After the massacre of the Huguenots, the war did not stop. They broke out with even greater force, as a result of which the western and southern lands separated from the north of France. A new union state of the Huguenots was created there, governed by governors from the local nobility. They most of all also benefited from such "autonomy".
By the mid-70s, in contrast to the Protestants in the north of France, an alliance was organized, called the Catholic League. Heinrich Guise became its head. This League had control over the government, located in Paris, and in every way impeded the intention of King Henry III to conclude a truce with the Huguenots.
In the mid-80s, the confrontation between the two irreconcilable religious parties escalated again. A new conflict broke out between the heirs of the throne, called the War of the Three Heinrichs (1585-1589), as King of France Henry III (Valois), Henry Bourbon (Navarre) and Henry Guise took part in it.
The reason for their quarrel was the latter's statement that his family has more rights to the throne than the rest, since its ancestor is Charlemagne himself. The fact is that Henry III never got an heir, so the League participants demanded that he recognize Giza as the official successor to the throne. It got to the point that in 1588 the king began to pull all the troops loyal to him to the capital. Their goal was the arrest of Heinrich Guise and his supporters. The Ligovians learned about this and organized an uprising in Paris against the king himself.
Henry III had to flee to Chartres. There he conceived an insidious plan: to invite Giza allegedly for the purpose of reconciliation. The League leader arrived at the king on December 22, 1588, but was stabbed to death by soldiers. Upon learning of such treachery, the capital refused to obey Valois and turned into a city-republic. Others followed her example.
The king realized that he was losing the country, and immediately declared Heinrich of Navarre his successor. Having secured mutual support and having concluded an agreement among themselves, the two kings and their troops went to Paris. But Henry III never returned to the capital - he was killed on August 1, 1589. With his death, the Valois dynasty ceased to exist. King of Navarre ascended the throne, who became the new ruler of France - Henry IV. With his coming to power, brutal wars between Catholics and Protestants ended.
Now, to the question of who the Huguenots are, in France they can simply answer that they were people of a different faith, significantly different from Catholicism. Protestants rejected the worship of relics, icons, condemned the issuance of church indulgences. The Pope and his clergy could not endure such an attitude, therefore they declared the Huguenots to be heretics and accomplices of Satan. The persecution began, which became the cause of such destructive and bloody wars, which lasted for many decades.