The French Wars of Religion France at 1550

The French Wars of Religion

France at 1550 • Fragmented: 18 million people in 300 distinct areas with own legal systems • Major areas (Brittany, Burgundy, Provence, Languedoc) had autonomy, laws, courts, etc • Kings already distanced from Pope, so Lutheranism offered them no nationalist appeal • Protestantism then became more radical than in Germany: Calvinist Huguenots

Final Valois Monarchies • • • Catherine de Médici: wife of Henry II, and power behind throne of her sons Henry II died in horrible jousting accident Sons of Henry II: Francis II (died of earache), Charles IX, Henry III Moderately Catholic Catherine tried to balance Huguenots against fervent Catholic Guise family More than a third of nobles were Protestant: influenced peasants on their lands Weak kings, courtly infighting: even small towns maintained armies for protection from looters Charles IX

Civil War and Henry IV • • • Henry of Navarre married Henry II’s daughter 1572: St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: during marriage celebration, Catherine ordered massacre of Paris Huguenots: 3, 000 killed, then 20, 000 throughout France Henry IV = “Politique” concerned with pragmatic ruling of state, not extremism This era saw rise of the idea of absolute “state” maintained through moderation and compromise 1593: Henry IV abjured Protestant faith and returned to Catholicism

Edict of Nantes: 1598 • • Legalized Protestant faith in France, allowing worship in Protestant towns Forbade Protestantism from Paris or other Catholic French towns Allowed fortified Protestant towns Allowed for equal civil rights for Protestants and Catholics King had to enforce Edict: local Catholic populations refused to recognize Protestants Unlike Germany, France was not fragmented; instead, compromise between populations Repealed by Louis XIV in 1685 to unify country under Catholicism