The French Wars of Religion were intermittent 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
The bloody religious war in France between Catholics and Protestants began in 1562. She had several superficial reasons and deep reasons. In the 16th century, French society split into two irreconcilable camps - Catholic and Protestant. The new doctrine penetrated the country from Germany. His supporters were in favor of abandoning some of the norms of the Catholic Church (selling indulgences, positions, etc.).
Calvinism has become the most popular Protestant movement in France. His adherents were called Huguenots. The centers of this teaching were scattered throughout the country, which is why the religious war in France was of such a significant scale.
King Francis I became the first monarch to try to stop the spread of a new heresy. He ordered the confiscation of Huguenot writings,with the help of which there was agitation of Catholics. For kings, an attack on the customary faith was an attack on their own power. This is exactly what the Valois reasoned, because of which the religious war began in France.
Infringement of the rights of the Huguenots
Francis's successor Henry II even more zealously undertook the eradication of Protestantism in his country. In 1559, the Cato-Cambrese Peace was signed, which put an end to the long Italian wars. After that, the hands of the king and his army were untied. Now the authorities finally had 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 gestures of the state had no effect on the spread of Calvinism. By 1559, there were 5,000 communities in France in which adherents of this doctrine lived.
With the accession to the throne of the young King Francis II, fire chambers were established at all provincial parliaments. This was the name of the emergency judiciary, which de alt with the cases of Protestants. These institutions were overseen by Giza, powerful relatives of the boy-king. The beginning of the religious wars in France and most of their bloody events lies on their conscience.
Amuaz conspiracy
Guizes (brothers Francois and Charles) were hated by many nobles - some because of their despotism, others because of their religious position. The aristocrats, dissatisfied with the king's relatives, soon after the establishment of the fiery chambers organized a conspiracy. 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 revealed on the eve of execution. Francis and his associates 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 afterwards. Those events of March 1560 were the reason for the outbreak of the religious war in France.
Start of war
Just a couple of months after the failed plot, Francis II died due to his poor he alth. The throne passed to his brother Charles IX, during whose reign the religious wars in France began. The year 1562 was marked by the massacre of the Huguenots in Champagne. The Duke of Guise and his army attacked the unarmed Protestants who were peacefully celebrating. 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 Condé of the Bourbon family. After the incident in Champagne, he captured several cities, making Orléans a stronghold of Protestant resistance to power. The Huguenots entered into an alliance with the German principalities and England - countries where they fought against Catholic influence in the same way. The involvement of external forces in the civil confrontation further exacerbated the religious wars in France. It took years for the country to exhaust all its resources and, drained of blood, finally came to a peace agreement between the parties.
Important featureThe conflict was that there were several wars at once. The bloodshed began, then stopped, then resumed again. So, with short breaks, the war went on from 1562 to 1598. The first stage ended in 1563, when the Huguenots and Catholics concluded the Peace of Amboise. According to this treaty, Protestants received 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 main protagonist of the conflict. The Queen Mother is best known to the modern layman thanks to Dumas' classic historical novels.
Second and third war
Gizes were unhappy with concessions to the Huguenots. They began to look for Catholic allies abroad. At the same time, in 1567, the Protestants, as they had a few years before, tried to capture the king. The incident known as the surprise at Mo ended in nothing. The authorities summoned the leaders of the Huguenots, Prince Condé and Count Gaspard Coligny, to court. They refused to come to Paris, which was the signal for the resumption of bloodshed.
The reasons for the religious wars in France were that the interim peace treaties, involving small concessions to the Protestants, did not satisfy either side. Because of this irresolvable contradiction, the conflict was renewed again and again. The second war ended in November 1567 due to the death of one of the leaders of the Catholics - the DukeMontmorency.
But just a few months later, in March 1568, firing and death cries of soldiers again sounded on the fields of France. The third war mainly took place in the province of Languedoc. The Protestants nearly took Poitiers. They managed to cross the Rhone and force the authorities to make concessions again. The privileges of the Huguenots were extended by the Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed on August 15, 1570. Religious freedom has been established throughout France except for Paris.
Marriage of Heinrich and Margot
In 1572, the religious wars in France reached their climax. The 16th century knew many 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 the Catholics. The tragedy occurred on August 24, 1572, on the eve of the day of the Apostle Bartholomew. Scholars today give varying estimates of how many Protestants were then killed. Calculations give a figure of approximately 30 thousand people - a figure unprecedented for its time.
The massacre was preceded by several important events. From 1570, the religious wars in France briefly ceased. The date of the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain became 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 enlistedsupport of Charles IX. The monarch wanted to annex the Netherlands to his country with the help of the commander. Thus, political motives triumphed over religious ones.
Catherine de Medici also cooled her ardor for a while. There was not enough money in the treasury to lead an open confrontation with the Protestants. Therefore, the Queen Mother decided to use diplomatic and dynastic methods. The Parisian court agreed on the terms of the marriage between Marguerite of Valois (Catherine's daughter) and Henry of Navarre, another Huguenot leader.
St. Bartholomew's Night
The wedding was to be celebrated in Paris. Because of this, a huge number of Huguenots, supporters of Henry of Navarre, arrived in the predominantly Catholic city. The mood in the capital was the most explosive. The common people hated the Protestants, blaming them for all their troubles. There was no unity at the top of the government in relation to the upcoming wedding.
The marriage took place on August 18, 1572. After 4 days, Admiral Coligny, who was traveling from the Louvre, was fired upon from a house that belonged to the Guises. It was a planned assassination. The Huguenot leader was wounded but survived. However, what happened was the last straw. Two days later, on the night of August 24, Catherine de Medici ordered the massacre of the Huguenots, who had not yet left Paris, to begin. The beginning of the religious wars in France struck contemporaries with its cruelty. But what happened in 1572 could not be compared with the previous horrors of battles and battles.
Thousands of people died. Gaspard Coligny, who miraculously escaped death the day before, said goodbye toone of the first in life. Henry of Navarre (the future King Henry IV) managed to survive only thanks to the intercession at the court of his new relatives. Bartholomew's Night was the 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, according to various estimates, about 200 thousand Huguenots fled the country. They moved to the German principalities, England and Poland in order to be as far away as possible from the bloody Catholic power. Valois's actions were condemned by many rulers of that time, including Ivan the Terrible.
Conflict continues
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 stopped looking for a compromise, and the state again became a victim of mutual bloodshed. The fourth war ended in 1573, but in 1574 King Charles IX died. He did not have an heir, so his younger brother Henry III arrived in Paris to rule, who had previously managed to be the autocrat of Poland for a short time.
The new monarch again brought the restless Guises closer to him. Now the religious wars in France, in short, have resumed again, due to the fact that Henry did not control some regions of his country. So, for example, the German count of the Palatinate invaded Champagne, who came to the rescue of local Protestants. Then there was a moderatethe Catholic party, known in historiography as "the malcontents". Representatives of this movement advocated the establishment of religious tolerance throughout the country. They were joined by numerous patriotic nobility, tired of the endless war. In the Fifth War, the "dissatisfied" and the Huguenots acted as a united front against the Valois. Giza again defeated both of them. After that, many "dissatisfied" were executed as 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, aristocrats who wanted to limit the power of the king acted on the side of the league. Religious wars and 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. Their center of influence shifted to the south. The generally recognized leader of the Protestants was Henry of Navarre, after whose wedding there was once a massacre on St. Bartholomew's night.
The king of a small kingdom in the Pyrenees, who belonged to the Bourbon dynasty, became the heir to the entire French throne due to the childlessness of Catherine de Medici's son. Henry III indeedthere were no offspring, which put the monarch in a delicate position. According to dynastic laws, he was to be succeeded by his closest relative in the male line. Ironically, he became Henry of Navarre. Firstly, he also descended from St. Louis, and secondly, the applicant was married to the sister of the monarch Margaret (Margot).
The War of the Three Heinrichs
The dynastic crisis led to the War of the Three Heinrichs. 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 people of Paris rebelled against him, after which he had to flee to Blois. The Duke of Guise has arrived in the capital of France. For several months he was the de facto ruler of the country.
To somehow resolve the conflict, Guise and Valois agreed to hold a meeting of the Estates General in Blois. The duke who arrived there fell into a trap. The king's guards killed Guise himself, the guards, and later his brother. The treacherous act of Henry III did not add to his popularity. The Catholics turned their backs on him, and the Pope cursed him altogether.
In the summer of 1589 Henry III was stabbed to death by the Dominican monk Jacques Clement. The killer was able, with the help of forged documents, to obtain an audience with the king. When the guards made way for Heinrich, the monk unexpectedly thrust a stiletto into him. The killer was mauled on the spot. But Henry III also died from his wound. Now nothing prevented the King of Navarre from becoming the 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 his reign fighting his political rivals, who also claimed power throughout the country.
And only after his victory, Henry in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which secured 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, the long-awaited peace came to 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 the long conflict, but also in the centralization of the state during the reign of the Bourbon dynasty.
