6.3: The French Wars of Religion

The first major religious wars of the period were in France, one of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe, as well as the most populous. Although a dynamic economy existed, the Valois dynasty was weak and kept in check by the powerful nobility. Some of the noblemen had armies as large as that of the king himself, and many Valois kings had little skill for practical politics. For example, the Valois king Henry II ignored affairs of the state in favor of hunting and was killed in a tournament. (During a joust, a splinter from a broken lance flew in through the eye-slit of his helmet, impaling his eye. He died two weeks later from the subsequent infection. There were no modern-day antibiotics.)

France was divided between two major factions:

• the Catholic Guise family advised by the Jesuits and supported by the king of Spain
• Huguenot Bourbon family, who represented the growing numbers of economically dynamic Huguenots concentrated in the south (especially numerous in Navarre, a small independent kingdom between France and Spain)

As of 1560, fully 10% of the people of France were Huguenots, many representing the middle class: merchants, lawyers, and prosperous townsfolk. In addition, between one-third and one-half of the lower nobility were Huguenots. Fearing the power of the Huguenots and detesting their faith, the Guises created the Catholic League, an armed militia of Catholics that included armed monks, townsfolk, and soldiers. In 1562, a Guise nobleman sponsored a massacre of Huguenots that sparked decades of war.

From 1562 to 1572 there was on-again, off-again fighting between the Catholic League and Huguenot forces. King Charles X was a child when the fighting started. Thus, the state was run by his mother, Catherine de Medici, who tended to vacillate between supporting her fellow Catholics and supporting Protestants who were the enemies of Spain, France’s rival to the south. Neither Charles nor Catherine were fanatical in their religious outlook, much to the frustration of the nobles of the Catholic League.

Hoping to end the conflict, Charles and Catherine invited the Huguenot Prince Henry of Navarre, leader of the Protestant forces, to Paris in 1572 to marry Charles’ sister Margaret. Henry arrived in Paris with some 2,000 Huguenot followers, all of whom had agreed to arrive unarmed. However, the Duke of Guise convinced the king that only the death of Henry and his followers would truly end the threat of religious division. With the king’s approval, Catholic forces launched a massacre on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, in which more than 2,000 Protestants were killed. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre would live in infamy in French history as a stark example of religiously-fueled hatred.

Figure 9.2.1: A gruesome depiction of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre painted by a Huguenot.

The events in Paris sparked massacres all over the country with at least 20,000 more deaths. Henry of Navarre survived and half-heartedly “converted” to Catholicism to ensure his safety. Then, he escaped to the south and rallied the Huguenot resistance. In 1574, Charles died, leaving the throne of France to his younger brother Henry, the last male member of his family line. After a lull in the fighting, the war resumed in 1576.

In the years that followed, the French Wars of Religion turned into a three-way civil war pitting the Catholic League against the legitimate king of France (both sides were Catholic) with the Huguenots fighting both in turn. Ironically, the leaders of the three factions were all named Henry - King Henry III of Valois, Prince Henry IV of Navarre, and the leader of the Catholic League, Henry, Duke of Guise. Further assassinations followed, including the Duke of Guise and the King. The only heir to the throne was Henry of Navarre, since he had married into the royal family. In 1594, he was declared Henry IV of France. Realizing the country would never accept a Huguenot king, he famously concluded that “Paris is worth a mass” and converted to Catholicism on the spot.

Henry IV went on to become popular among both Catholics and Protestants for his competence, wit, and pragmatism. In 1598, he issued the Edict of Nantes that officially propagated toleration to the Huguenots, who were allowed to build a parallel state within France with walled towns, armies, and an official Huguenots church. However, they were banned from Paris and from participating in the royal government. Eventually, he was assassinated (after eighteen previous attempts) in 1610 by a Catholic fanatic. Ultimately, the “solution” to the French Wars of Religion was political unity instead of religious unity, a conclusion reached out of pure pragmatism rather than any kind of heartfelt toleration of difference.