The French Religious Wars 1562-1598, Knecht - B

         "At the beginning of the 16th century France was among the most powerful kingdoms in Western Europe. By the end, it had become perhaps the weakest." The reason was three and a half decades of civil wars. The country was not yet fully formed but was relatively prosperous. There were 16 million people in France with about 300,000 in Paris. Part of the king's coronation oath was to "root out heresy." "A number of Frenchmen, known as Christian humanists, were already thinking along the same lines as Luther.  "John Calvin formulated a more extreme version of Protestantism from his perch in Geneva. Protestantism appealed to all social strata, and was particularly strong south of the Loire. It is estimated that 10% of the population was Huguenot. 

          "In 16th-century France the religious wars began as a conflict between two groups of French nobles, one consisting of Catholics loyal to the king and the other Protestants, who wished to secure religious freedom for themselves and their followers. Over the half century or so that the Wars of Religion lasted patterns of motivation changed and new warring sides came into being, prompted by some new political crisis or other." The uprising in 1562 began when Protestant Louis prince de Conde attacked and occupied Orleans. Tours, Blois, Lyon and other towns in the south fell to the Huguenots. Both sides attacked and marched throughout the country and came to a decisive battle at Dreuz in December. The Crown prevailed as the Huguenots withdrew. A peace in March 1563 allowed limited Protestant rights to worship. Neither side was happy with the outcome but peace prevailed for four years. In 1566, a Calvinist uprising in the Netherlands spread to France. The fighting was brief and ended at year end with no change in the status quo. The third war broke out two years later with the Protestant side aided by German troops. At Moncontour in October, the king again prevailed. The following year the Huguenots recovered and marched north toward Paris. The Peace of Sant-Germain in August provided expanded rights of worship for the Protestants. Violence returned in 1572. Both sides were depleted and the fighting was on a much smaller scale. When this outbreak was settled, the Huguenots were provided the right to worship throughout the realm, with the exception of Paris. After another round of campaigning, peace came to France in 1577 for eight years.

           "The last of the French Wars of Religion was prompted by a succession crisis." Henry III died without an heir and Henri de Navarre, the next in line, was Protestant. Henry IV received help from England, Switzerland, and Germany in his battles with the Catholic League. Henry prevailed in the field but was unable to capture Paris. The country was exhausted and starving. Henry resolved matters by converting to Catholicism, suppressing the Huguenots, and making peace with the invaders. The wars highlighted the weakness of the monarchy and only partially resolved the country's religious challenges. Indeed, in the next century under Louis XIV, the revocation of Protestant rights set in motion a mass exodus.