- In 1516, the King of France, Francis I, obtained unprecedented power over the Church of the kingdom from Pope Leo X:the Concordat of Bologna. From then on, the king had nothing to gain by letting Protestantism spread, quite the contrary; the persecutions against the Huguenots started quickly with the “case of the cupboards” in 1534.
- The successors of François I st will be without mercy for the Huguenots, and the massacres of Protestants multiply. King Henry II intends to eliminate Calvin's "heresy" which proliferates in France, now affecting nobles and bourgeois. On his death in 1559, he left power to François II, who relied on the very Catholic family of Guise, which played a leading role in the religious wars that followed. In 1560, the Huguenots fomented a plot in the conspiracy of Amboise, foiled by the family of Guise:it marked the beginning of the wars of religion.
- This type of conflict has existed throughout Europe to varying degrees since Luther's Reformation in 1517, especially in the north, and the great powers are getting involved.
1562 - 1598
Characters
Catherine de Medici
Francis II
Charles IX
Henry III
Louis of Bourbon
Henry of Navarre
Philip II of Spain
Elizabeth of England
Procedure
On the death of François II in 1560, Catherine de Médicis became regent in the name of her second son Charles IX and attempted a policy of appeasement; it gives the Reformed the right to worship outside the towns. But in 1562, the Guise family attacked Reformed people who were praying in a town:it was the massacre of Wassy, which launched the first war of religion.
From 1562 to 1563
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé leads the Huguenots against the Catholics of François de Guise; massacres are committed on both sides until Catherine de Medici negotiates peace with the Edict of Amboise on March 19, 1563. Peace lasts 4 years, during which Charles IX tries to negotiate with the very Catholic Philippe II d Spain; but the Prince of Condé tried to kidnap him in 1567 and started the second war.
From 1567 to 1568
Despite great victories in the south, the Huguenot army is defeated in Paris. The Edict of Longjumeau in March 1568 gave a brief peace.
From 1568 to 1570
The Duke of Anjou, future Henry III, leads the Catholic troops supported by Spain against the Huguenot troops of the Prince of Condé, supported by England. The death of the Prince of Condé in Jarnac marked the Catholic victory:Catherine de Medici had the Peace of Saint-Germain signed in August 1570, giving the Reformers freedom of worship and strongholds in France.
From 1572 to 1573
Charles IX wishes to make peace with the Huguenots and marries his sister to the Protestant Henri de Navarre; but on August 24, 1572, after political intrigues, the Guise family organized the massacre of Protestants in the main cities of France, causing 3,000 deaths in Paris alone. This is the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
Without Huguenot leaders, the ensuing war is a bloody popular revolt; the peace, signed at the Treaty of La Rochelle in 1573, was once again short-lived.
From 1574 to 1577
Henri III succeeded his brother Charles IX in 1574, but the youngest of the Valois, Duke François d'Alençon, took the lead of the Malcontents movement, which included Huguenots and Catholics. The war is interrupted by the brief "Peace of Monsieur", which strengthens the Protestants.
The furious Catholics therefore united in the League and resumed the war until the "King's Peace" in 1577, which canceled the advantages of the Protestants.
From 1579 to 1580
Henri de Navarre resumed the war with the Huguenots, while the monarchy was threatened by the ambitions of the Guise family. In 1584, the death of the Duke of Alençon when Henry III had no successor left the Huguenot Henri de Navarre as heir to the crown. The Guises, Philip II and Pope Sixtus V unite against Henry of Navarre and Henry III is forced to follow them.
From 1585 to 1588
This is how the war of the three Henrys began:Henry III, Henry of Navarre and Henry of Guise. As Henry of Navarre advanced north, Henry of Guise triggered Barricades Day in May 1588 and forced King Henry III to leave Paris. He then gains in power and arrives at the head of the League. Henri III therefore allies himself with Henri de Navarre to put an end to the threat of Guise and has him executed. This angers the Catholics, and Henry III is assassinated by a Jesuit.
From 1589 to 1598
Henri de Navarre inherits the crown of France against the advice of the pope and becomes Henri IV. He sets out to reconquer his kingdom, but quickly understands that a Protestant will not be accepted at his head. He was therefore consecrated in Chartres and finally returned to Paris in 1594. He then drove back the Spanish army, thus signing peace with Philip II and the Pope.
Consequences
- On April 13, 1598, he signed the Edict of Nantes, which gave Protestants freedom of conscience and worship, and was a symbol of religious tolerance at the time.
- The country and the economy are devastated by 36 years of civil war, but Henry IV is strengthened in his kingdom by the image of a reasoned king, although the struggles and plots have weakened the monarchy.
- During the next century, the situation will remain tense between Catholics and Protestants, leading again to political and religious wars.