Read complete books and articles on: French Wars of Religion

Religion, Wars Of - 1562–98, series of civil wars in France, also known as the Huguenot Wars.

The immediate issue was the French Protestants' struggle for freedom of worship and the right of establishment (see Huguenots). Of equal importance, however, was the struggle for power between the crown and the great nobles and the rivalry among the great nobles themselves for the control of the king. The foremost Protestant leaders were, successively, Louis I de Condé, Gaspard de Coligny, and Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV); the Catholic party was dominated by the house of Guise. A third party, called the Politiques and composed of moderate Catholics, sided with the Protestants, while Catherine de' Medici and her sons, Charles IX, Henry III, and Francis, duke of Alençon, vainly sought to maintain a balance of power by siding now with the Catholics, now with the Huguenots.

The Conspiracy of Amboise (1560), by which the Huguenots attempted to end the persecutions suffered at the hands of Francis II, was a prelude to the first three civil wars (1562–63, 1567–68, 1568–70). The Treaty of Saint-Germain (1570), ending the wars, gave the Protestants new liberties and the wardenship of four cities, including La Rochelle. The fourth civil war (1572–73) began with the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day, a general slaughter of Protestants throughout France. The fifth civil war (1574–76) ended with the Peace of Monsieur (named for Francis of Alençon, who then sided with the Huguenots), which, ratified by the Edict of Beaulieu, granted freedom of worship throughout France except Paris.

When the Catholics retorted by forming the League (1576) and persuaded Henry III to repeal the edict of toleration (1577), the Huguenots revolted once more and sought the aid of foreign Protestant states. This sixth civil war ended with the Peace of Bergerac (1577), which renewed most of the terms of the Peace of Monsieur; this Henry III never carried out. A seventh war (1580) was inconsequential, but in 1584 the recognition by Henry III of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as his heir presumptive led to the renewal of the League by Henri de Guise and to the War of the Three Henrys (1585–89).

After the assassination of Henri de Guise (1588) and of Henry III (1589), the League, now headed by the duc de Mayenne, invoked the aid of Spain against Henry's successor, Henry IV. Henry, after his victories at Arques (1589) and Ivry (1590) and his conversion to Catholicism (1593), entered Paris in 1594.

With the Edict of Nantes (see Nantes, Edict of), which granted freedom of worship throughout France and established Protestantism in 200 towns, and with the Treaty of Vervins with Spain (both in 1598), Henry IV brought the Wars of Religion to as successful a conclusion as the Protestants could desire. This result, however, was completely reversed in the 17th cent. by Cardinal Richelieu, who broke the political power of the Protestants, and by Louis XIV, who destroyed their religious privileges by his revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes.

See study by J. W. Thompson (1958).

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: French Wars of Religion

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris » Read Now
by Barbara B. Diefendorf. 288 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library

The religious conflicts of sixteenth-century France, particularly the St. Bartholomew's Day massacres of 1572, continue to draw a good deal of attention from historians. What started as a limited coup against the Huguenot leadership became instead a conflagration that left two thousand or more...
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The religious conflicts of sixteenth-century France, particularly the St. Bartholomew's Day massacres of 1572, continue to draw a good deal of attention from historians. What started as a limited coup against the Huguenot leadership became instead a conflagration that left two thousand or more Protestants dead in the streets and ushered in a series of bloody religious battles. Until now, however, historians have been preoccupied with the political aspects of the conflicts, and histories have focused on the roles of the king and high noblemen in the assassinations that sparked the massacres, rather than the mass violence. In this compelling and unique study, Diefendorf closely examines popular religious fanaticism and religious hatred. She focuses on the roots and escalation of the conflicts, the propaganda of Catholic and Protestant preachers, popular religious beliefs and rituals, the role of the militia, and the underground activities of the Protestant community after the massacres. Drawing on a wide array of published and unpublished sources, Beneath the Cross is the most comprehensive social history to date of these religious conflicts.
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2.

`Reduced to Cinders': The Impact of the French Religious Wars, in History Review » Read Now
by David Mckinnon-Bell. 6 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
3.

The Age of Catherine de Medici and Essays in Elizabethan History (Chap. 3 "The Massacre of St Bartholomew" and Chap. 4 "The Close of the Religious Wars") » Read Now
by J. E. Neale. 276 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
4.

Renaissance and Reformation: A Survey of European History between 1450 and 1660 (Chap. 15 "The French Wars of Religion") » Read Now
by V. H. H. Green. 469 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
5.

Politics, Religion & Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe (Includes discussion of the French Wars of Religion in multiple chapters) » Read Now
by Malcolm R. Thorp, Arthur J. Slavin. 356 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library

Contents: De Lamar Jensen Renaissance Man & Scholar; The First Permanent Embassy Outside Italy: The Milanese Embassy at the French Court, 1464-1949; Most Brutal Madness: Warfare in the Works of Machiavelli and Leonardo; Jacob Sturm and the Siezure of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel by the Schmalkaldic...
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Contents: De Lamar Jensen Renaissance Man & Scholar; The First Permanent Embassy Outside Italy: The Milanese Embassy at the French Court, 1464-1949; Most Brutal Madness: Warfare in the Works of Machiavelli and Leonardo; Jacob Sturm and the Siezure of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel by the Schmalkaldic League, 1542-1545; Lords, Peasants, and the Introduction of Calvinist Preaching in Holland's Noorder-Kwartier; The Birth of the Dutch Nation; Some Jesuit Counter-Reformation Strategies in East Central Europe, 1550-1585; The Two Faces of Rome: The Fate of Protestantism in France; War or Peace: A French Pamphlet Polemic, 1604-1606; The impact of the French Wars of Religion on a Frontier Province: Problems of Confrontation in Catalonia; After the Armada: The Cuatro Villas de la Costa and Philip's Brittany Campaign; The Politics of Philip II; The Development of Spanish Naval Strategy and Tactics in the Sixteenth Century; The Converso Lineage of Rodrigo Calderon; Spanish Secret Diplomacy at the Court of James; Daniel Rogers in Copenhagen, 1588: Mission and Memory; Elizabethan Diplomacy: The Subtle Revolution; William Cecil and the Antichirst: A Study in Anti-Cahtolic Ideology; Religious Toleration During the Age of Reformation; Index.
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6.

Politics and Religion in Sixteenth-Century France: A Study of the Career of Henry of Montmorency-Damville, Uncrowned King of the South » Read Now
by Franklin Charles Palm. 320 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
7.

Moral Purity and Persecution in History (Chap. 2 "Purity in the Religious Conflicts of Sixteenth-Century France") » Read Now
by Barrington Moore Jr. 158 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

The intellectual scope and courage to contend with the largest puzzles of human existence and organization distinguish great social thinkers. Barrington Moore's Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy was a foundational work of historical sociology that influenced a generation of social...
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The intellectual scope and courage to contend with the largest puzzles of human existence and organization distinguish great social thinkers. Barrington Moore's Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy was a foundational work of historical sociology that influenced a generation of social scientists and, decades later, continues to be widely read and taught. Here, Moore takes up the same tools of historical comparison to investigate why groups of people kill and torture each other. His answer is arrestingly simple: people persecute those whom they perceive as polluting due to their "impure" religious, political, or economic ideas.Moore's search begins with the Old Testament's restrictions on sexual behavior, idolatry, diet, and handling unclean objects. He argues that religious authorities seeking to distinguish the ancient Hebrews from competing groups invented, along with monotheism, the association of impure things with moral failure and the violation of God's will. This allowed people to view those holding competing ideas as contaminated and, more important, contaminating. Moore moves next to the French Wars of Religion, in which Protestants and Catholics massacred each other over the control of purity, and the French Revolution, which perfected terror and secularized purity. He then combs the major Asian religions and finds--to his surprise--that violent efforts to eradicate the "impure" were largely absent before substantial Western influence.Moore's provocative conclusion is that monotheism--with its monopoly on virtue and failure to provide supernatural scapegoats--is responsible for some of the most virulent forms of intolerance and is a major cause of human nastiness and suffering. Moore does not say that the monotheist tradition was the primary source of Nazism, Stalinism, Maoism, violent Hindu fundamentalism, or ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, but he does identify it as an indispensable cause because it justified, encouraged, and spread vindictive persecution throughout the world.Once again, Moore has drawn on his comprehensive understanding of history and talent for speaking directly to readers to address one of the most crucial questions about human past and future. This book is for anyone who has ever heard the word genocide and asked why.
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8.

The European Dynastic States, 1494-1660 (Chap. 3 "Europe in the Age of the Wars of Religion, 1559-1618") » Read Now
by Richard Bonney. 696 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Rich in detail and original in approach, The European Dynastic States, 1494-1660 studies diverse themes in this time period of history, such as Reformation, witchcraft, diplomacy, population structure, the growth of capitalism, wars of religion, and wars of expansion. Bonney includes in his study...
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Rich in detail and original in approach, The European Dynastic States, 1494-1660 studies diverse themes in this time period of history, such as Reformation, witchcraft, diplomacy, population structure, the growth of capitalism, wars of religion, and wars of expansion. Bonney includes in his study the Scandinavian countries and Russia, areas frequently neglected by historians. Notes, maps, a chronology, and a guide to further reading will make this indispensable for students of early modern Europe.
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9.

Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1589-1610 (Chap. 1 "France in the 1580s and 1590s") » Read Now
by S. Annette Finley-Croswhite. 222 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This book is the first serious study of Henry IV's relationship with the towns of France. Rejected by a majority of his subjects because of his Protestant faith, Henry spent the early years of his reign conquering his kingdom through the use of force, persuasion, bribery, and conciliation. By...
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This book is the first serious study of Henry IV's relationship with the towns of France. Rejected by a majority of his subjects because of his Protestant faith, Henry spent the early years of his reign conquering his kingdom through the use of force, persuasion, bribery, and conciliation. By reopening the lines of communication between the crown and the towns, he strengthened the French monarchy. Thus while this book is not a biography of the King, it offers an in-depth analysis of a crucial aspect of his craft of kingship.
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10.

The French Religious Wars in English Political Thought » Read Now
by J. H. M. Salmon. 216 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
11.

Mary Queen of Scots and the French Connection: Alexander Wilkinson Considers What the French Made of the Controversial Royal Who Played a Pivotal Role in the French Wars of Religion, Both as Queen of Scots and Queen of France, in History Today » Read Now
by Alexander Wilkinson. 7 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
12.

The Development of Protestantism in 16th Century France: Graham Noble Investigates the Causes of the Rise and Fall of French Protestantism, in History Review » Read Now
by Graham Noble. 6 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library
13.

The Massacre in History (Chap. 3 "Hidden Transcripts: Secret Histories and Personal Testimonies of Religious Violence in the French Wars of Religion") » Read Now
by Mark Levene, Penny Roberts. 312 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Chronologically and geographically broad in scope, The Massacre in History provides in-depth analysis of particular massacres and themes associated with them from the 11th century to the present.
14.

The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Philip II (1909) » Read Now
by James Westfall Thompson. 691 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Entire Library