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AP European History Notes
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these are AP book notes from chapters 11 and 12 from the AP Style Western Heritage book
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Wars of Religion (France)● By the middle of the sixteenth century, Calvinism and Catholicism had become activist
religions dedicated to spreading the word of God as they interpreted it. Although this
struggle for the minds and hearts of Europeans is at the heart of the religious wars of the
sixteenth century, economic, social, and political forces also played an important role in
these conflicts
● Of the sixteenth-century religious wars, none were more momentous or shattering than
the French civil wars known as the French Wars of Religion
● Valois - french kings
● Francis I
○ 1540 - Edict of Fontainebleau
■ Illegal for Protestants to worship in France
■ Called Protestants heretics
● Guise were catholic, and the Bourbons were Heuguenots
French Wars of Religion (1562-1598)
● French Protestants were originally outlawed in France. The Edict of Fontainebleau
(1540( brought a tribunal called the Inquisition to persecute them. But Calvinism spread
in France after 1550. French Calvinists were known as Hugueots
● In 1559 King Henry was succeeded by his 15-year old son Francis II. When he died a
year later, his mother Catherine de Medici became regent of France for her infant son
Charles IX
● Under Catherine:
○ Religious compromise (to defuse the political tensions) became difficult as
Catholic and Calvinist (Huguenot) rivals emerged who were unwilling to make
concessions.
○ Three powerful families saw the uncertainty as an opportunity to rule
○ The Guises (a militant Catholic family) soon established control, with support of
Mary Stuart (widow of Francis and niece of the Guises)
● The massacre of Huguenot worshippers by Henry of Guise at Vassy in 1562 sparked
the bloodshed known as the French Wars of Religion
Massacre of Vassy
● Religion was the engine that drove the French civil wars of the sixteenth century.
Concerned by the growth of Calvinism, the French kings fried to stop its spread by
persecuting Calvinists but had little success
● In the Edict of Fontainebleau (1540) King Francis I had changed from a policy of
tolerance to one of persecution of Protestantism and the “Protestant heresy” was
grounds for “high treason against God and mankind” (and so deserved the appropriate
punishments of torture, loss of property, public humiliation and death)
● The Treaty of Nantes in 1598 ended the War of Religion
France: Appeal of Calvinism
● John Calvin had gained supporters with powerful French aristocrats (like the Prince of
Conde) who converted to Calvinism. They were known as Huguenots in France
, ● The powerful combination of now political and religious dissidents (the Huguenots made
up about 40-50% of the French nobility) mad Calvinism a viable religion in Catholic
France
● Ambitious aristocrats joined the Calvinists to oppose the Guise family’s Catholic
domination
● Huguenots hoped to gain territorial sovereignty (“cuius regio eius religio”) as guaranteed
to Lutherans at the Peace of Augsburg
Catherine de Medici (1519-1598)
● In 1562, Catherine de Medici issued the January Edict, to give Protestants freedom to
worship publicly outside towns and privately within them
● But Catherine and her son Charles IV were
The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
● Although the outbreak of religion seemed unlikely in France, the collapse of the strong
monarchy with the death of Henry II unleashed forces that led to a series of civil wars.
● Coligny (Huguenot leader) and 3,000 Huguenots are massacred in Paris
● Within three days, 20,000 other protestants…
● The massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day (1572) was directed against Huguenots in
France
France: the Medicis and Guises
● Catherine, who once supported the Protestants, turned to the Guises, fearing Protestant
military leader Coligny would draw France into a war with Spain that could not be
handled by her son
● Three wars of religion ended with a Huguenot victory following the deaths of the duke
of Guise (assassination) and the Protestant military leader (Condé)
The rise of the politiques
● The wars of Religion in France helped to coin the term politique to refer to pragmatic
rulers who:
○ Emphasized the success and well-being of their state above all else, including
religious differences
○ Urged religious tolerance and moderation or showed outright indifference to
religion
● Famous politiques included Catherine de midici…
Edict of Nantes (1598)
● A formal religious settlement from Henry IV the Edict of Nantes gave Protestants
religious freedoms within their own towns and territories. The edict of nantes:
○ Allowed protestants the right to worship, gather in assembly, and gain admission
to public office and universities
○ Laid foundation for the transformation of france into an absolute monarchy
○ Lasted only until 1685 when king louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes
○ Brought an end to violence, although hostilities remained (a “cold war”)
○ Henry IV granted Huguenots religious and civil freedoms in the Edict of Nantes
(1598)
Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European political leaders generally viewed religious
toleration as leading to dangerous civil disorder
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