The French Religious Wars: A Summary

Introduction
Sixteenth-century France was a place of strife as factions of Catholics and Protestants fought a series of wars in the name of their religion. As a result, “France was nearly torn apart by forty years of agonizing, destructive civil war.” (Dunn, 1970, 20) This civil war, termed by historians as the French Wars of Religions, or the French Religious Wars, lasted between 1562 and 1598. It consisted of eight major conflicts although fighting never really ceased. While some historians put the end of the wars in 1598 with the conclusion of the Edict of Nantes, Mentzer postulates that “the last of the . . . war of religion centred on the Protestant fortress of La Rochelle” (Mentzer, 2000, 341) in 1629 and ended with the Peace of Alais.

This paper will now attempt to give a context to the wars by looking at the events leading up to them. In doing so, it will also point out the social and political circumstances in France at the point of the outbreak of the first war. Subsequently, this paper will also give a chronological summary of how each of the eight major conflicts began, the important events as well as how it ended. Lastly, the focus will turn to the discussion of the core of the issues, questioning whether the wars were truly about religion, as well as important consequences of the war. In the end, it concludes that while the wars may have begun as a result of religious conflicts, the latter was not the driving force behind the continuous conflicts. It was more a war of politics and power, than of religion.

Background of the wars
“The confessional tensions arising from the Reformation led to conflict in France, as elsewhere throughout Europe.” (Mentzer, 2000, 323) From the early sixteenth century onwards, Lutheranism and later Calvinism started making headways into France and was beginning to attract converts, both in the lower ranks of society as well as within the ranks of nobility. The Calvinist movement provided an avenue for “some nobles . . . wary of the extending reach of the Valois monarchy” (Merriman, 1996, 142) to express their dissent with the monarchy, “which had vigorously embraced the Catholic Reformation.” (Merriman, 1996, 142)

At the same time, the death of the king, Henry II, in a jousting accident in 1559 set the stage for a power struggle between the monarchy and the nobles from the House of Guise and House of Bourbon who represented the Catholics and the Huguenots, as the French protestants came to be known as, respectively. “Religious differences sharpened the rivalry between them for influence.” (Merriman, 1996, 143) Furthermore, France had just ended a war with Spain and with the successors of Henry II, Francis II and Charles IX being only fifteen and ten years old, the monarchy was in no position to control the rivalling factions.

Hence, “the rapid expansion of Protestantism coincided with the marked deterioration of political stability” (Mentzer, 2000, 324) and fast resulted in the period of constant fighting that was to plague France in the next forty years. During this period the “royal house of Valois remained Catholic, although it repeatedly sought a middle course amid the religious turmoil.” (Mentzer, 2000, 325)




The wars
I. The first war
As previously mentioned, though fighting never really ceased, the French Religious Wars were marked by eight main conflicts. The first war took place in 1562 “when Francis, the duke of Guise, (1519 – 1563) ordered the execution of Huguenots whom he and his men had found worshipping on his land.” (Merriman, 1996, 144)

The end to this first full-scaled conflict only ended when a Huguenot assassinated the Duke in 1563. As a result of this war, the Edict of Amboise was decreed, whereby Huguenots were granted the “right to worship in one designated town in each region, as well as in places where the Calvinist congregations had already been established.” (Merriman, 1996, 144)

II. The second war
The second war started in 1567 and lasted till 1568. It had started “over Huguenots apprehensions that a Spanish army marching along the eastern frontier of France would be diverted from its announced goal of suppressing the revolts of the Netherlands.” (Mentzer, 2000, 329) These apprehensions prompted the Prince of Condé from the Bourbon family and Admiral Coligny, a Protestant from the family of Montmercy, to attempt a kidnapping of the king. That was the spark that ignited the fighting though it ended quickly within a year. The result was the Edict of Longjumeau, which “mostly reiterated the earlier Edict of Amboise.” (Mentzer, 2000, 329)



III. The third war
The third war was a logical result of the second war. After the failed kidnapping of the king, “the Cardinal of Lorraine persuaded the royal council to seek the arrest” (Mentzer, 2000, 329) of the two Protestant leaders. The war took place from 1568 till 1569 and ended with the death of Condé. As it was with the previous wars, the end of the war was marked by an edict, in this case the Edict of Saint-Germain, which calls for limited freedom for Protestant worships.

IV. The fourth war
The preceding wars had taken a toll on the rivalling factions as it led to the deaths of the major factional leaders. This gave Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother, an opportunity to return “to her policy of restraint and reconciliation.” (Mentzer, 2000, 330) Consequently, she tried to forge peace by arranging for the marriage between her daughter Marguerite of Valois and Henry of Navarre, who was the leader of the House of Bourbon and “nominal leader of the Huguenots forces.” (Mentzer, 2000, 330) This marriage was to result in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, one of the “most famous bloodbath of the sixteenth century.” [sic] (Mentzer, 2000, 330)

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 began with the murder of Admiral Coligny, on the orders of the Queen Mother after she felt that he was holding too much influence over King Charles IX (Dunn, 1970), and Huguenots guests who were in Paris to attend the wedding. From here on it spread to other French cities that were under Catholic control. In the end it resulted in the “frightful murder of thousands of French Protestants.” (Mentzer, 2000, 330) It was also a decisive point in the Reformation in France, as Mentzer noted,
“The initial confidence, dramatic growth and euphoric expectation of converting France to the true religion vanished. Exhilaration gave way to despair. Numbers declined, energies dissipated and enthusiasm waned. The events of August 1572 marked a decisive point in the French Reformation.” (Mentzer, 2000, 332)


More importantly, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre also marked the beginning of the fourth war of religion. The fourth war did not deviate markedly from the previous ones. It was short, lasting from 1572 to 1573. Secondly, it was inconclusive as it once again ended in a settlement, the Peace of La Rochelle, which “resembled the 1570 Peace of Saint-Germain with the notable exception of the toleration clauses.” (Mentzer, 2000, 332)

V. The fifth war
In 1574, King Charles IX died and was succeeded by his brother, Henry III. The death of Charles IX immediately plunged France into another war. France at this point of time was “on the verge of splintering and the king, while intelligent and cultured, lacked the requisite strength and experience . . . to provide the leadership to restore harmony and unity.” (Mentzer, 2000, 334) His coronation also brought about challenges from his ambitious younger brother Francis, duke of Alençon, who led a group of discontented Catholics and joined forces with united Huguenot forces aided by the German Calvinist Elector of Palatinate.

“Faced with mounting opposition, Henry III and Catherine de Medici yielded and agreed to the Edict of Beaulieu in May 1576 . . . which concluded the fifth war of religion by granting the Huguenots generous concession.” (Mentzer, 2000, 334) This new edict gave Protestants the rights “to worship openly and to build temples anywhere in France except Paris. It also called for the creation of special law courts for Protestant litigants so that they might avoid prejudiced Catholic judges and it awarded the Huguenots eight surety towns, chiefly in southern France.” (Mentzer, 2000, 334)

VI. The sixth war
The sixth war was another short war that began in 1576 and ended quickly in 1577. The most important event that surrounded the sixth was the formation of a Catholic League led by the Guise family. It was formed by Catholics that were unhappy with the king for his compromise with the Huguenots. It was under the pressure of the League that the king went into battle with the Huguenots that began the war.

The end of the war was brought about by the Peace of Bergerac, issued in September 1577, which rolled back the generous terms accorded to the Huguenots in the previous Edict of Beaulieu. However it was not sufficient to placate the “stern demands of dedicated Catholics” (Mentzer, 2000, 335) from the League and only temporarily eased the tension.

VI. The seventh war
The seventh war stemmed from the attempt by Henry of Navarre to capture Catholic cities. Nevertheless, “neither side possessed sufficient resources to maintained a sustained offensive and a truce was arranged by November” (Mentzer, 2000, 335) in 1580, the same year that the war started. This time the end of the war was marked by the Peace of Fleix, which “did little more than confirm existing Protestant political and religious privileges.” (Mentzer, 2000, 335)

VIII. The eighth war
In between the time of the seventh and the eighth war, the heir to the throne, Francis, previously Duke of Alençon and now Duke of Anjou, passed away. This puts Henry of Navarre the leader of the Protestant factions next in line for the throne. This development received a great deal of opposition from the Catholics, as they could not accept a Protestant as king of France. Facing this great unrest, “King Henry attempted unsuccessfully to steer a course between the Huguenots under Navarre’s command and the Catholic League dominated by Duke of Guise.” (Mentzer, 2000, 336)

Following this, the war began again in 1585 with King Henry III of France allied with Henry, Duke of Guise against Henry of Navarre. Things took a turn in 1588 when the king turned on his ally and assassinated Henry of Guise in his chateau at Blois, after the latter lost the support of his patron, Philip II of Spain who was defeat in his own battle against England. (Dunn, 1970) He then allied with Henry of Navarre and turned on the Catholics. The Catholics, infuriated over the death of their leader assassinated the king in his royal camp near Paris in 1589.

With the king now dead, Henry of Navarre successfully ascended the throne and became King Henry IV of France. The war did not end with the death of the Catholic leaders and continued till 1598, when the successes of Henry IV on the battlefield and his conversion to Catholicism finally brought it to a halt. The Edict of Nantes was proclaimed with elaborated details of religious and political structures for both Catholics and Protestants. “While the edict did not give Protestantism complete parity with Catholicism, it did provided a coherent framework for adherents of the two faiths to live together in a semblance of peace.” (Mentzer, 2000, 340)

Analysis of the French Religious Wars
The French collapse in the sixteenth century was “many-faceted. Huguenots battled Catholics, aristocratic factions joined together to opposed the crown, the bourgeoisie strove for new political and religious rights, the Paris mob went wild, and the outer provinces reverted to their medieval autonomy.” (Dunn, 1970, 20) In this section, this paper will now discuss some of the more obvious and important aspects of the French Religious Wars.

The first observation that arose from the study of the French Religious Wars is the recurring pattern in each of the eight conflicts. Firstly, with the exception of the eighth war, all the other wars were short skirmishes that spanned between a few months to about two years. Secondly, each of them ended with a compromised settlement, which satisfied neither side and set the stage for the next round of conflicts. As Mentzer commented, “the peace was at best temporary, a truce or interim that allowed each camp to regroup and renew the fight at a later date.” (Mentzer, 2000, 329)

Another interesting point to note about the French Religious Wars was the role played by foreign powers. “Both Catholics and Protestants sought and received aid in the form of money and troops from their respective foreign supporters: Philip II of Spain on the Catholic side; for the Huguenots Elizabeth of England, various German princes and other lesser powers.” (Mentzer, 2000, 329) More apparently, it was the fear of intervention from the Spanish that the Huguenots started the second war and it was with the support of the Germans that they were able to pose a serious opposition in the fifth. “Although fought on French soil, the wars became the focus of a European clash.” (Mentzer, 2000, 329) Interestingly, it was also the possible of a foreign monarch ascending to the throne of France that had prevented further opposition and helped Henry IV bring peace and the end to forty years of conflict.

In addition, the wars saw the springing up of various ideological developments on both sides in a bid to justify their cause for it. Among the more notable “resistance theories” of the Protestants were “the anonymous Reveille-Matin (1574), François Hotman’s Francogallia (1573), Theodore Beza’s Du droits des magistrates (1574) and the pseudonymous Vindiciae contra tyrannos (1579), probably written by Philippe Duplessis-Mornay.” (Mentzer, 2000, 333) These theories argued that the government was based on a contract made between the king and his subjects and the monarchy had degenerated into a tyranny, hence violating the contract. In its place, they called for a republican system, which would replace the monarchy and bring justice back to the people. “The theory of contract between the king and his people is, beyond any doubt, one of the most fundamental contributions the religious wars made to matters of political law.” (Goosens, 2001, 171)



Conclusion
In the end, the juxtaposition of religion, politics and ideology would point out that the wars, though it began as religious was not all about religion. In the face of pragmatism, King Henry IV had oscillated many times between Catholicism and Protestantism, first when he was held captive in the French court, in his younger days and lastly when he became King, though he was the leader of the Protestant movement. Secondly, there were often times when the Huguenots led by the House of Bourbon counted in their ranks Catholics who were dissatisfied with the monarchy or repelled by the extremist view of the Guise faction. Thirdly, Henry III had himself first allied with the Catholics to fight against the Huguenots before joining forces with the latter to defeat the rising Catholic forces following his successful assassination of Henry of Guise. This implied that religion was not the utmost important considerations since the conflicts were always drawn along religious lines.

Furthermore, even in the field or ideology we saw a similar fashion of oscillation according to political developments. Following the ascension of Henry IV, supporters of his Protestant movement changed the tone of their resistance theories from clamouring for a republican system to supporting the notions of a strong dynastic monarchy.

These brings us to the question of whether the French Religious Wars that had plague France for almost forty years and resulted in the death of thousands of French lives were truly about religion. At the end of the day, it appears that religion, though symptomatic of the wars, was only the justification for political infighting between the three Houses of Valois, Guise and Bourbon for the ultimate political authority of France. The French Religious Wars might have begun as a result of religion, but religion was not to play the most important role in the events that ensued, it was politics.

Lastly, as Richard Dunn posits, “the chief lesson of the French Religious Wars was a political one, that strongly centralized government was the only possible alternative to rebellion and social chaos.” (Dunn, 1970, 31)

References
Dunn, Richard S. 1970. The Age of Religious Wars: 1559-1689. New York: W.W. Norton & Company

Goosens, Aline. 2001. “Wars of Religion: The Examples of France, Spain and the Low Countries in the Sixteenth Century” in Wars, Peace and World Order in European History. eds Anja V. Hartmann and Beatrice Heuser. pp.160-173. London: Routledge

Mentzer, Raymond A. 2000. “The French Wars of Religion” in The Reformation World. ed. Andrew Pettegree. pp.323-343. London: Routledge

Merriman, John. 1996. A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton & Company