The
Wars of
Religion
(1560s-1648)
Ms. Susan M. Pojer, Debra Solomon
Horace Greeley H. S.
Chappaqua, NY
Civil War
In France
(1562-1598)
Religious Riots and Civil War in
France 1559-1598
• 1559: Power shift from France to
Spain:Henry II, last powerful
Valois King, dies at marriage
tournament
• Daughter Elizabeth of Valois
married Phillip II of Spain
• Connects two Catholic powers
• Because of monarchial weakness,
2/5-1/2 French nobles become
Calvinist
The Valois Family:
The Beginning of the End
After Henry II’s death,
Three weak sons followed:



Francis II
Charles IX
Henri III
 Catherine de Medici controlled the sons:

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Was mother to the boys
Played both sides in the civil war
Developed a reputation for cruelty
Catherine de Medici
Francis II & His Wife, Mary
Stuart
First War of Religion 15621563
• Begun by Massacre at Vassy
in 1562
• Duke of Guise stopped in a
Calvinist worship service at
Vassy
• Catholic Servants argued with
Huguenots
• Guise factions fired on unarmed
Huguenots
–Burned the church
–Killed much of the congregation
–Series of small battles/sieges
follow
–Duke of Guise assassinated
The French Civil War
 There were two sides:
 Guise family led Catholics in North
 Bourbon family led Huguenots in South
-Navarre, Coligny, Conde, Montmorency
 Fighting for the royal inheritance
 Catherine supported the Guises in the first phase.
 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
 August 24, 1572
 20,000 Huguenots were killed
 Henri of Navarre, a Bourbon, survived
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
1572
• To solve religious issues,
Catherine de Medici arranged a
wedding: Aug 17, 1572: Henri de
Navarre married Margot de Valois
• Festivities last until Aug. 23
• Aug 22: Admiral de Coligny shot
by assassin--
• Suffers broken arm, severely
wounded
• Suspected the Guises
• Huguenots wanted justice from
King; and they wanted Coligny
to flee
• The king holds a meeting at
the Louvre
At the Louvre
• Charles IX, Catherine de
Medici, Henri d’Anjou,
encouraged by the Guises,
decide to kill Coligny and
Huguenots
• Charles IX: “Well kill them all
that no man be left to reproach
me.”
• Charles’ soldiers go to
Coligny’s door; shot guard; ran
through the house; dragged
Coligny from bed—stabbed
him thru/ threw body from
window
• Duc de Guise mocked the
body/kicked in face/said it was
King’s will
• Militia/general population went
on rampage, sanctioned by
church and king:
• Wore white crosses on hats
• Butchered their neighbors
• Killing lasted 3 days in Paris,
but much longer in the
provinces.
Henri de Navarre
• Slept in bridal suite in Louvre
• His entourage of 40
Huguenots killed
• Henri de Navarre/Henri de
Conde dragged before King
Charles IX and threatened
w/death unless they converted
to Catholicism
• Both converted; Navarre
became prisoner of court for 4
years
• In Provinces: massacres
lasted for months
1572-1576
• Several more wars occur,
and Henri of Navarre and
his cousin escape the
court. They are
excommunicated
5th War (1576)
• 1574--Charles IX died “sweating
blood and tormented w/guilt for
Massacre”
• Henri d’Anjou, Charles IX’s
brother, becomes King Henri III
• He has lots of problems
• Henri III’s brother, Duc d’Alencon,
began anti-royalist campaign that
portrayed himself as an alternate
king: more fair and tax-cutting
• They formed a strong alliance:
Catherine de Medici could not
counter it—20,000 troops invade
France under Jan Casimir
• Casimir’s troops met up
w/additional armies and Catherine
forced to negotiate.
• Edict of Beaulieu (Peace of
Monsieur) signed in May
–Great settlements for leaders:
–Navarre made governor of
Guyenne
–Conde—governor of Picardy
–Alencon—Duc d’Anjou and
given many titles
–Jan Casimir—crown paid for his
mercenaries
–Henry III angry; Parlament of
Paris did not register the
settlement; some towns ceded
to Protestants did not let them in
• Several more wars occur,
but the culmination is the
War of the Three Henries
War of the 3 Henries (1584-1589)
• Crown was Catholic
• Role of “Most Christian
King”
• Fundamental ideals for
France
• Henry III begs Henry de Navarre
to convert to make the throne
legitimate
• Navarre not ready: needed
current base of support in the
South
• Duc de Guise revived Catholic
League: To prevent a heretic from
coming to the throne
Dec 1584: Treaty of Joinville
• Signed between Guises,
Catholic League, and Philip
II of Spain
• Spain gives enormous sum
to Catholic League and
Guise pockets for 10 years.
Treaty of Nemours 1585
• Revoked all previous edicts
–Reformed religion banned
–No Protestants in Royal offices
–Evacuation of all garrisoned
towns
–All protestants abjure faith in 6
months or be exiled
• Catholic League (Guises) hold
N/E
• Navarre & Conde hold S/W—they
look for aid from Germans and
Queen Elizabeth I
• 1587—Jan Casimir leads German
mercenaries to France; he is
defeated by Guise armies
• Navarre defeats Henry III’s army
at Coutras
• In Paris: growing dissatisfaction
w/Henry III failure to suppress
Protestants
• 1588: Paris uprising: Barricades
in streets
• Henry III leaves Paris, but there is
much fear of a Guise king
• Dec. 24, 1588: Henry III invites
the Duc de Guise to visit him in
his quarters: archers lined stairs;
40 men in waiting room—Guise
entered and doors bolted; Guise
cut to pieces; body burnt; bones
dissolved; ashes scattered;
Cardinal de Guise suffered same
fate
Result of Guise murders
• Duc de Mayenne (Guise)
becomes Catholic League
leader
• revolutionary tracts printed
• The Sorbonne—taught it was
just and right to depose Henry
III, or commit regicide
• The Catholic League sent
army against Henry III
• Henry III turns to Henry de
Navarre for help, and they
reclaim Paris
July 1589
• Jacques Clement, monk, begs
audience w/King Henry III
• Puts long knife into his spleen:
wound festered
• On his deathbed, he calls for
Navarre and named him heir to
the French throne
Wars of the League 15891598
• Henry IV (Navarre) delicate
position
• Catholic League staged coups
in principle cities; really it was a
reign of terror: political correctness of
citizens: moderate Catholics,
Protestants, suspicious people hung
• 9/1589: Henry IV and Catholic
armies meet and Catholics
defeated
• Throughout winter, Henry IV
takes town after town
• 3/1590 League suffered
crushing defeat at Ivry;
Cardinal de Bourbon died
• Spring/Summer 1590—Henry IV
reduces Paris to severe hunger;
Allows women and children to
leave
• Philip II of Spain alarmed
–Sent Duke of Parma to relieve
the siege of Paris
–Parma re-supplied the City
–Henry IV forced to withdraw.
Startling turn of Events
• Catholic League looks for an
alternative Catholic King
• Henry IV abjured his faith in July,
1593— “Paris is worth a mass.”
• Coronated in Chartres, not
Reims, b/c it was still in the hands
of the Catholic League
The French Civil War
 Catherine started supporting the Bourbons.
Catholic
League
CIVIL
WAR
Protestant
Union
 Henri of Navarre defeated Catholic League &
becomes Henry IV of France.
 Effects of Civil War:



France was left divided by religion
Royal power had weakened
Valois family now replaced by Bourbons
Triumphal Entry of Henry IV Into
Paris – Peter Paul Reubens
Henry IV of France
 Ended Spanish interference in
France
 Converted to Catholicism :



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Did this to compromise and make
peace
Paris is worth a mass.
This was an example of politique
[the interest of the state comes
first before any religious
considerations]
Fighting for the royal inheritance
 Passed Edict of Nantes in 1598:


Granted religious rights to
Huguenots
Did not grant religious freedom for
all
• 1598: Edict of Nantes:
granted Huguenots liberty of
conscience and public
worship in 150 fortified
towns; paved way for
absolutism by restoring
internal peace in France
The
Thirty Years
War
(1618-1648)
1618-1648
Characteristics of the Thirty
Years War
 The Holy Roman Empire was the
battleground.
 At the beginning  it was the
Catholics vs. the Protestants.
 At the end  it was Habsburg power
that was threatened.
 Resolved by the Treaty of Westphalia
in 1648.
The Bohemian Phase: 1618-1622
 Ferdinand II inherited Bohemia.

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The Bohemians hated him.
Ferdinand refused to tolerate Protestants.
Defenestration of Prague May, 1618
Bohemia named a new king, Frederick II.
 Ferdinand II becomes Holy Roman
Emperor.


Frederick II borrowed an army from
Bavaria.
Frederick lost his lands in the fighting.
 The rebellion in Bohemia inspired others.
Bohemian Phase
The Danish Phase: 1625-1629
 Ferdinand II tried to end all resistance.



Tried to crush Protestant northern Holy
Roman Empire.
Ferdinand II used Albrecht von Wallenstein
for the army.
Wallenstein defeated Protestants in north.
 Edict of Restitution (1629):


Restored to Catholics all lands lost since 1552.
Deprived all Protestants, except Lutherans,
of their religious and political rights.
 German princes feared Ferdinand  he
fired Wallenstein in effort to calm them.
Danish Phase
Albrecht
von
Wallenstein
The Swedish Phase: 1630-1635
 France & Sweden now get involved.



Both want to stop Habsburg power.
Sweden led the charge.
France provided support.
 Gustavus Adolphus invaded the HR Empire.


Ferdinand II brought back Wallenstein.
Swedish advance was stopped.
 German princes still feared Ferdinand II.
 Wallenstein assassinated to appease them.
Swedish Phase
Gustavus
Adolphus
The French Phase: 1635-1648
 France & Sweden switched roles.
 All countries in Europe now participated.
 This phase was most destructive!

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
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German towns decimated.
Agriculture collapsed  famine resulted.
8 million dead  1/3 of the population
[from 21 million in 1618 to 13.5 million in
1648]
Caused massive inflation.
Trade was crippled throughout Europe.
Loss of German Lives in 30
Years’ War
The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
 Political Provisions:

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Each Ger. prince became free from any kind of
control by the HR Emperor.
The United Provinces [Dutch Neths.] became
officially independent  so. part remained a Sp.
possession.
Fr. rcvd. most of the Ger-speaking province of
Alsace.
Sweden  got lands in No. Ger. on the Baltic &
Black Sea coasts.
Switzerland became totally independent of the
HR Emperor  Swiss Confederation.
Sweden won a voice in the Diet of the HR Emp.
Brandenburg got important terrs. on No. Sea &
in central Germany.
The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
 Religious Provisions:
Calvinists would have the same privileges
as the Lutherans had in the Peace of
Augsburg.
 The ruler of each state could determine
its official religion, BUT [except in the
hereditary lands of the Habsburgs], he
must permit freedom of private
worship.

Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
1688-1700
Nobody Was Happy!
 Many Protestants felt betrayed.
 The pope denounced it.
 Only merit  it ended the fighting in a
war that became intolerable!
 For the next few centuries, this war
was blamed for everything that went
wrong in Central Europe.
What were the
long-range
effects of the
Thirty Years’
War?