French religious wars went on with short breaks from 1562 to 1589. The main parties to the conflict were Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants). The result of numerous wars was the change of the ruling dynasty, as well as the consolidation of the right to freedom of religion.
Background
A bloody religious war in France between Catholics and Protestants began in 1562. She had several superficial reasons and deep reasons. In the XVI century, French society split into two irreconcilable camps - Catholic and Protestant. New teachings entered the country from Germany. His supporters advocated the rejection of certain norms of the Catholic Church (the sale of indulgences, positions, etc.).
The most popular Protestant movement in France was Calvinism. His followers were called Huguenots. The centers of this teaching were scattered throughout the country, which is why the religious war in France was so significant.
King Francis I became the first monarch to try to stop the spread of the new heresy. He ordered the confiscation of the Huguenot writings, with the help of which the agitation of the Catholics took place. For kings, an assault on a habitual faith was an assault on their own authority. That is how Valois argued, because of which the religious war in France began.
Infringement of the rights of the Huguenots
The successor of Francis Henry II even more zealously took up the eradication of Protestantism in his country. In 1559, the Cato-Cambresian peace was signed, which put an end to the long Italian wars. After that, the king and his army got free hands. Now the authorities have finally got free resources that they could throw into the fight against heresy. In his next edict, Henry II threatened the disobedient with burning at the stake. But even these state gestures did not affect the spread of Calvinism. By 1559 in France there were 5 thousand communities in which adherents of this teaching lived.
With the accession to the throne of the infant King Francis II, chambers of fire were established at all provincial parliaments. This was the name of the emergency judicial bodies that tried the Protestants. These institutions oversaw Giza, the powerful relatives of the boy king. The beginning of the religious wars in France and most of their bloody events rests on their conscience.
Amuazian conspiracy
Giza (brothers Francois and Charles) were hated by many nobles - one because of their despotism, the other because of their religious position. Aristocrats, dissatisfied with the king's relatives, soon formed a conspiracy after the establishment of the chambers of fire. These nobles wanted to capture the young Francis and demand from him the right of religious choice (that is, freedom of conscience).
The plot was uncovered on the eve of execution. Francis and his entourage fled to Amboise. Nevertheless, the conspirators did not abandon their plans and tried to capture the king by force right in this city. The plan failed. Many nobles died in battle, others were executed after. Those events of March 1560 became the occasion, because of which a religious war broke out in France.
Start of war
Just a couple of months after the failed conspiracy, Francis II died due to his poor health. The throne passed to his brother Charles IX, during the reign of which had begun the religious wars in France. The year 1562 was marked by the massacre of the Huguenots in Champagne. The Duke of Guise with his army attacked unarmed Protestants who peacefully performed worship. This event was the signal for the outbreak of a large-scale war.
The Huguenots, like the Catholics, had their own leaders. The first of these was Prince Louis de Conde of the Bourbon family. After the incident in Champagne, he captured several cities, making Orleans a stronghold of Protestant resistance to power. The Huguenots entered into an alliance with the German principalities and England - countries where they fought the same with Catholic influence. The involvement of external forces in the civil confrontation exacerbated religious wars in France. Years were required for the country to exhaust all its resources and, bleeding, finally come to a peace agreement between the parties.
An important feature of the conflict was that there were several wars at once. Bloodshed began or stopped, then resumed again. So, with short interruptions, the war went on from 1562 to 1598. The first stage ended in 1563, when the Huguenots and Catholics made the Amboise Peace. According to this agreement, Protestants gained the right to practice their religion in certain provinces of the country. The parties came to an agreement thanks to the active mediation of Catherine de Medici - the mother of three French kings (Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III). Over time, she became the protagonist of the conflict. The Queen Mother is best known to the modern layman thanks to the classic historical novels of Dumas.
Second and third war
Giza were unhappy with the concessions to the Huguenots. They began to look for Catholic allies abroad. At the same time, in 1567, the Protestants, like several years before, tried to capture the king. The incident, known as Mo's surprise, ended in nothing. The authorities summoned the Huguenot leaders - Prince Conde and Count Gaspard Coligny. Those refused to arrive in Paris, which served as a signal for the resumption of bloodshed.
The reasons for the religious wars in France were that interim peace treaties, involving small concessions to the Protestants, did not satisfy either side. Because of this insoluble contradiction, the conflict resumed again and again. The second war ended in November 1567 due to the death of one of the leaders of the Catholics - the Duke of Montmorency.
But just a few months later, in March 1568, the firing and dying cries of soldiers again sounded on the fields of France. The third war mainly took place in the Languedoc province. Protestants nearly took Poitiers. They managed to go over to Ron and force the authorities to make concessions again. The privileges of the Huguenots were expanded according to the Saint-Germain Treaty, signed on August 15, 1570. Religious freedom was established throughout France except Paris.
The marriage of Henry and Margot
In 1572, religious wars in France reached their climax. The 16th century knew a lot of bloody and tragic events. But, perhaps, none of them could compare with Bartholomew’s night. So in historiography was called the massacre of the Huguenots, arranged by Catholics. The tragedy occurred on August 24, 1572 on the eve of the day of the Apostle Bartholomew. Today, scientists give different estimates of how many Protestants were killed then. Estimates give a figure of about 30 thousand people - a value unprecedented for its time.
The massacre was preceded by several important events. Since 1570, religious wars in France ceased briefly. The date of the signing of the Saint-Germain peace treaty was a holiday for the exhausted country. But the most radical Catholics, including the powerful Giza, did not want to recognize this document. Among other things, they were against the appearance at the royal court of Gaspard Coligny - one of the leaders of the Huguenots. The talented admiral enlisted the support of Charles IX. The monarch wanted to join the Netherlands with his commander. Thus, political motives triumphed over religious ones.
Catherine de Medici also for some time cooled her ardor. There was little money in the treasury to conduct an open confrontation with the Protestants. Therefore, the Queen Mother decided to use diplomatic and dynastic methods. The Parisian court agreed the terms of the marriage between Margarita Valois (daughter of Catherine) and Heinrich Navarre, another leader of the Huguenots.
Bartholomew's Night
The wedding was to be celebrated in Paris. Because of this, a huge number of Huguenots arrived in the predominantly Catholic city - supporters of Heinrich of Navarre. The mood in the capital was the most explosive. The commoners hated the Protestants, blaming them for all their troubles. At the top of the government there was no unity in relation to the upcoming wedding.
The wedding took place on August 18, 1572. After 4 days, Admiral Coligny, who was traveling from the Louvre, was fired from the house that belonged to the Giza. It was a planned assassination attempt. The Huguenot leader was injured, but survived. However, what happened was the last straw. Two days later, on the night of August 24, Catherine de Medici ordered to begin the massacre of the Huguenots, who had not yet left Paris. The outbreak of religious wars in France astonished contemporaries with their cruelty. But what happened in 1572 did not compare with the previous horrors of battles and battles.
Thousands of people died. Gaspard Coligny, on the eve of a miracle who escaped death, was one of the first to say goodbye to life. Henry of Navarre (future king Henry IV) managed to survive only thanks to the intercession at the court of his new relatives. Bartholomew’s night was an event that turned the tide of the conflict, known in history as the religious wars in France. The date of the massacre of the Huguenots was marked by the loss of many of their leaders. After the horrors and chaos in the capital, about 200 thousand Huguenots fled from the country, according to various estimates. They moved to the German principalities, England and Poland in order to be as far away as possible from the bloody Catholic power. Valois actions were condemned by many rulers of that time, including Ivan the Terrible.
Continuation of the conflict
The painful Reformation and religious wars in France led to the fact that the country did not know the world for many years. After Bartholomew’s night, the point of no return was passed. The parties ceased to seek a compromise, and the state again became a victim of mutual bloodshed. The fourth war ended in 1573, but King Charles IX died in 1574. He did not have an heir, so his younger brother Henry III arrived in Paris to rule, who until then had managed to stay an autocrat of Poland for a short time.
The new monarch again brought closer the restless Giza. Now, religious wars in France, in short, have resumed again, due to the fact that Henry did not control some regions of his country. For example, the German Count of the Palatinate invaded Champagne, who came to the rescue of local Protestants. Then a moderate Catholic party appeared, in historiography known as "dissatisfied." Representatives of this movement advocated establishing tolerance throughout the country. They were joined by a large patriotic nobility, tired of the endless war. In the Fifth War, the "dissatisfied" and the Huguenots acted as a united front against Valois. Giza again defeated both those and others. After that, many "dissatisfied" were executed as state traitors.
Catholic league
In 1576, Henry de Guise established the Catholic League, which, in addition to France, included the Jesuits, Spain and the Pope. The purpose of the union was the final defeat of the Huguenots. In addition, on the side of the league were aristocrats who wanted to limit the king’s power. Religious wars and the absolute monarchy in France during the second half of the 16th century were the main factors influencing the course of the history of this country. Time has shown that after the victory of the Bourbons, the power of the kings only increased, despite the attempts of the nobles to limit it under the pretext of fighting the Protestants.
The Catholic League unleashed the Sixth War (1576-1577), as a result of which the rights of the Huguenots were noticeably limited. The center of their influence has moved south. The recognized leader of the Protestants was Heinrich of Navarre, after whose wedding there was once a massacre on Bartholomew’s night.
The king of the small kingdom in the Pyrenees, belonging to the Bourbon dynasty, became the heir to the entire French throne because of the childlessness of the son of Catherine de Medici. Henry III really had no offspring, which put the monarch in a delicate position. According to dynastic laws, his closest male relative should have succeeded him. Ironically, he became Henry of Navarre. Firstly, he also came from St. Louis, and secondly, the applicant was married to the sister of the monarch Margarita (Margot).
War of the Three Henry
The dynastic crisis led to the war of the three Heinrichs. The namesakes fought among themselves - the king of France, the king of Navarre and the duke of Guise. This conflict, which lasted from 1584 to 1589, was the last in a series of religious wars. Henry III lost the campaign. In May 1588, the inhabitants of Paris rebelled against him, after which he had to flee to Blois. The Duke of Guise arrived in the French capital. For several months he was actually the ruler of the country.
In order to somehow resolve the conflict, Guise and Valois agreed to hold a meeting of the States General in Blois. Arriving there, the duke was trapped. The guardsmen of the king killed Giz himself, the guard, and later his brother. The treacherous act of Henry III did not add to his popularity. The Catholics turned away from him, and the pope cursed at all.
In the summer of 1589, Henry III was stabbed to death by a Dominican monk, Jacques Clement. The killer was able to use the forged documents to achieve the audience of the king. When the guards parted before Henry, the monk suddenly plunged into that stylet. The killer was torn to pieces. But Henry III died of his wounds. Now nothing prevented King of Navarre from becoming ruler of France.
Edict of Nantes
Henry of Navarre became king of France on August 2, 1589. He was a Protestant, but in order to gain a foothold on the throne, he converted to Catholicism. This act allowed Henry IV to receive absolution from the pope for his former "heretical" views. The monarch spent the first years of rule on the struggle with his political rivals, who also claimed power in the whole country.
And only after his victory, Henry in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which enshrined free religion throughout the country. Thus ended the religious wars and the strengthening of the monarchy in France. After more than thirty years of bloodshed, a long-awaited peace has come in the country. The Huguenots received new rights and impressive subsidies from the government. The results of the religious war in France consisted not only in ending a long conflict, but also in centralizing the state under the rule of the Bourbon dynasty.