The+French+Wars+of+Religion

Taylor Trosper


 * French Wars of Religion (1562-1598)**
 * 1) **Cause:** Henry II died and was succeeded by his sons, who were weak and neurotic
 * 2) **Effect**: Civil Wars caused by confusion
 * **Religious forces**
 * French kings tried to oppress Huguenots (French Calvinists) with little luck (40-50% of French Nobility were Huguenots)
 * **Valois monarchy**=Catholics
 * Catherine de' Medici (regent for sons) looked to religious compromise as a way to defuse tension
 * **Guise family**= Ultra-Catholic; strict opposition to Huguenots
 * Towns and provinces revotled against monarchy
 * **Politiques**--politics before religion; no religion was worth civil war


 * **Cause of Wars**: Duke of Guise massacred a peaceful congregation of Huguenots at Vassey
 * **St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre**: Guise family persuaded King Charles IX and his mother that the Huguenots posed a threat; 3000 killed
 * **Holy League**: formed by Ultra-Catholics; wished to place a true Catholic on the French throne (Henry, Duke of Guise) in place of Henry III
 * **War of the Three Henrys**: Henry Duke of Guise (Ultra Catholic), King Henry III, and Henry of Navarre
 * 1) Henry, duke of Guise seized Paris and forced King Henry III to make him chief minister.
 * 2) Heny III assassinated the duke of Guise and then joined with Henry of Navarre.
 * 3) Henry III assassinated by a monk who was appalled by a Catholic king cooperating with a Protestant.
 * 4) Henry of Navarre claimed throne, and converted back to Catholicism. French Wars of Religion came to end with his coronation.
 * **Edict of Nantes **--acknowledge Catholicism as the official religion of France but guaranteed Huguenots the right to worship, allowed to hold political office