1. European Wars of Religion
French Wars of religion and the thirty years war

2. Objectives
We will be able to identify the causes and consequences of religious conflict in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

3. 16th Century French Wars of Religion
Protestant Huguenots rebelled against Catholic domination in 1572.
This set off a civil war in France that would last until the turn of the century.

4. Early 16th Century France
France was divided by law, customs, languages and traditions.
However, the majority of France was Catholic
Nobles were resisting the expansion of King Francis I power.
These divisions, along with the Protestant Reformation reaching France in the mid 1500s, would ultimately lead to civil war.

5. Protestantism in France
Followers of John Calvin arrived in France in the 1550s and 1560s.
They attracted many converts.
Henry II, a catholic, began a religious repression that created many martyrs, further encouraging Protestant dissent.
Authoritarian French rulers faced Protestant noble challenges, which further increased tensions.

6. The Wars……
For thirty years, fighting broke out between Catholics and Protestant Huguenots.
The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre is a microcosm of the wars themselves.
Text Pg. 448.
De Thou – Primary Source Analysis
Total Casualties…. 2 mil – 4 mil

7. The Edict of Nantes
In 1589, King Henry IV, issues the Edict of Nantes.
The edict granted official toleration of Huguenots, along with two hundred towns with troops.
Henry IV also brought Huguenots into his administration.
Henry believed that the king was all powerful and should be obeyed regardless of his religion.

8. The Thirty Years War
The most devastating conflict of the seventeenth century.
Total Casualties 3 mil – 11.5 mil
War had religious and dynastic elements.
Catholic militants fighting protestant militants throughout central Europe.
Certain families allied with each other as well.
The war began in Bohemia, with the Defenestration of Prague (126), and spread throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
Every major power in Europe was involved as some point.
Bohemian phase, Danish phase, Swedish phase, and French phase.

9. The Nature of the War The war was incredibly brutal.
The population of the Holy Roman Empire fell by 15 to 20 percent.
Certain areas, like Bohemia and the Baltic coast, saw population fall by 50 percent.
A first hand account of the destruction of Magdeburg.

10. Peace of Westphalia In 1648, the war came to an end.
The most lasting aspect of the Peace of Westphalia was it allowed states within the Holy Roman Empire to choose their own state religion.