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The Edict of Nantes is one of the great acts of religerous tolerance. It stemed from the Frence Religious Wars which tore the country apart. The Religious Wars including the eight outbreaks of violence occurred during the reign of Henry III who succeeded Charles IX. The Huguenots led by Henry of Navarre defeated the Catholic forces at Coutras (1587). The Huguenots were aided by infighting among the Catholics. The Duc de Guise was assainated by other Catholics (1588) as was Henry III himself (1589). With Henry's death the House of Valois became extinct and of all people, the Protestant laeder Henry of Navarre became king, the firsr monarch of the Bourbon line. To end the destructive civil wars, Henry converted to Catholocism (1593). He issued the Edict of Nantes granting almost complete religious freedom on the Protestants. With this freedom during the reign of Henry, the Protestants grew to be a major force in France. The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV (1598). This ended the Wars of Religion. Under the terms of the Edict, the Huguenots were permitted to freely practice their faith in 20 specified French "free" cities. France was again became united and a decade of peace followed. Henry IV was murdered (in 1610)
French Protestants became known as Huguenots. German Protesrants are primarily Lutheran. The French Protestants in contrast were mostly Calvinists. French reformer John Calvin (Jean Cauvin) played an important role in the Protestant Reformation, second only to Martin Luther. John was born in Noyon, Picardy (France) (1509) and grew up there. He wrote the influential Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536). It was Calvin who created the “presbyterian” model of church government. Historians describe him as the “organizer of Protestantism" as a result of his pastoral efforts in Strassburg and Geneva. Woking in Geneva he was protected from the Counter Reformation and was able to influence religioys thought in not only Wsitzerland and other countries, but also his native France. Geneva is in the French-speaking area of Switzerland and on the French border. Thus Calvin could easily promote the growth of Protestantism in France. Calvinism had significant appeal in France. The majority of the French population remained Catholic, but a substantial minority converted. This included notable indivifuals among leading French nobel families. Thus the Hugenots acquired an importance out of proportion to their actual numbers. The French Reformed Church was formally established by John Calvin (1550). At the first national synod (council), 15 churches participated (1559). At the second synod over 2,000 churches participated (1561). The term Huguenot is a term of unknown origins was used to describe French Protestants. The first known use of the term appears in court cases in which "heretics" were procecuted by Catholic and Royal officia;s (1550). There are several theories as to the origins of the term. It was at first a derisive term, but over time has come to be the name for a brave people resisting religious persecution.
The Religious Wars including the eight outbreaks of violence occurred during the reign of Henry III who succeeded Charles IX. The percecution and religious intolerance on the part of many Cathloics resulted in reprisals from the the Protestants. The result was a civil war in France. Catholics slew some 1,200 Huguenots at Vassy (1562). This ignited the the Wars of Religion which would last three decades and devestate the country. There were eight outbreaks of fighting separated by formal peace treaties. There was open war, attrocities. brutal acys, assainations, trachery and other acts during the civil war (1562-98). The Huguenot forces were led by Louis I de Boubon Prince de Condé and Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and later Henry de Navarre (Henry IV). The Catholic forces were led by Duc de Guise (Henry I de Lorraine) and Catherine de Médicis and later by Henry III. As in Germany, foreign troops were involved in the fighting. Soldiers from England, Germany, and Switzerland. The Catholics were supported by primarily by Spain. The treaties that end the various outbreaks granted the huguenots various levels of toleration. Afterwards the French royal Government attempted to repudiate or ignore these pledges resulting in renewerd hostilities. The essential problem was both the intolerance of the time and the conviction on the part of Catholic monarchs that Protestants would not be loyal, fully trusted subjects. The most terrible incident durin the religious wars was the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre (1572). Catholics murdered thosands of Protestants, including women and children.
Henry of Navarre was a son of Antoine de Bourbon, Due de Vendome, and Jeanne d'Albret (q.v.), heiress to the throne of Navarre. Henry became King Henry III of Navarre (1572). The last Valois king of France, King Henry III, died (1589). Henry of Navarre became the claimant with the best dynastic ru=ight to the crown. The problem for Henry was his Protestantism.
The Huguenots led by Henry of Navarre defeated the Catholic forces at Coutras (1587). The Huguenots were aided by infighting among the Catholics. The Duc de Guise was assainated by other Catholics (1588) as was Henry III himself (1589). With Henry's death the House of Valois became extinct and of all people, the Protestant laeder Henry of Navarre became king, the first monarch of the Bourbon line. The Catholic were determined to prevent this at all cost. Henry waged a successful war gainst the Catholics and beseiged Paris. The city was on the point of capitylation when Phillip II ordered his army in the Netherlands to relieve the city. It would be the last major Spanish military action in Europe.
Henry won many victories, but he did not have a large enough force to seize Paris. To end the destructive civil wars, Henry converted to Catholocism (1593). With both sides nearing the point of utter fatigue they agreed to a truce. It was not a peace. Hatreds still flared with both sides desiring to exterminate the other. But they were simply unable to continue the fighting. And Henry showing his wisdom and grasp of the situation offered a compromise the Catholics could accept.
Henry was the first Bourbon and is generally considered one of the greatest French monarchs. He was murdered by a religious zealot (1610). Henry was the first in a line of Bourbon kings of France. Henry had five legitimate children and many illegitimate children. One son died without male heirs. The other four were his successor, King Louis XIII, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Christina, and Henrietta Maria, through whose marriages the House of Bourbon was dynastically linked to the royal families of Spain, Savoy, and England.
The Edict of Nantes is one of the great acts of religerous tolerance. Henry issued the Edict of Nantes granting almost complete religious freedom on the Protestants.The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV (1598). This ended the Wars of Religion. Under the terms of the Edict, the Huguenots were permitted to freely practice their faith in 20 specified French "free" cities. France was again became united and a decade of peace followed. The Huguenots gained a degree of religious freedom and political control of specified parts of France. The Catholics remained the official religion of the realm and control over most of the nation.
With the freedom conferred by the reign of Henry and the Edict of Nantes, the Protestants continued to be a major force in France.
Henry is commonly considered one of the great monarchs of France. One serious failure, however, was his failure to develop in his son an enlighted attitude toward religion. Under the influence of his mother, Louis grew up to be devoutly Catholic and intolerant. Louis XIII after the murder of his father, Henry IV, rose to the throne. He sought to create an absolutist monarchy and organized groups like the Hugeunots stood in his way. As a result, new persecutions were conducted and renewed fighting occurred. Hugenots that fell into Louis' hands were sentenced to the galleys. The campign to supress the Hugenots was conducted under the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu. Louis XIII is another important French king. This was not the result of Louis himself, but rather his choice of Richelieu to oversee his reign. Richelieu He focused on the campaign against the Huguenots. He adroit;y suceeded in breaking the political and military power of the Huguenots. After a protracted seige, the great Huguenot stronghod La Rochelle was finally taken (1628). He then attempted to conciliate the Protestants--to a degree. Louis XIV was even more committed to building an absolute monarchy. He is most famous for his statement, "I am the state." To this end, Louis ordered a mercilles percecution of the Huguenots, culminating in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Just as the Edict of Nantes is one of the great acts of religious tolerartion, it's revocation by Louis XIV is one of the great acts of religious intolerance of history. After years of persecution under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, Louis XIV finally took the ultimate step--revoking the Edict of Nantes (1685). As a result of these percecutions life for many Protestants became intolerable in France. It was not just the lack of religious freedoms, but many other matters. The state refused to recognize Protestant marriages leaving the children illegitimate. This affected property rights and inheritannces. Large numbers of Huguenots fled France, leaving for Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the English colonies in America (especially New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina). A s a result, many Americans of French ancestry are Protestants. Except for the Huguenots few French people emmigrated to America. France is one of the few Europrean countries in which large numbers of did not emmigrants to America. Interesting in that the French showed such an enthusiasm for America, No one knows precisely how many French Protestants emigrated. Louis attempted to discourage emigrantion and force them to convert. Estimates range from 0.4-1.0 million. About 1.0 million Protestants remained in France. Many settled in the isolated Cévennes Mountains becoming known as the Camisards. Louis XIV ordered them removed, resulting in the Camisard War (1702-05). It proved to be a disaster to France that would be paid in installments down to the 20th century. France by conservative estimates lost More than 0.4 million of her finest citizens with all their talents and abilitities. It many ways it was comparable to the NAZI campaign against its Jewish citizens--only worse because the Hugenots were a much larger portion of the French population. Those that managed to emigrate would fight Louis in his attempt to take over the Netherlands and subsequently to return James II to the English throne. Their descendens would play a prominant role in the German armies that fought the French down to World War II.
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