1. The French Wars of Religion

2. France at 1550
Fragmented: 18 million people in 300 distinct areas with own legal systems
Major areas (Brittany, Burgundy, Provence, Languedoc) had autonomy, laws, courts, etc
Kings already distanced from Pope, so Lutheranism offered them no nationalist appeal
Protestantism then became more radical than in Germany: Calvinist Huguenots

3. Final Valois Monarchies
Catherine de Médici: wife of Henry II, and power behind throne of her sons
Henry II died in horrible jousting accident
Sons of Henry II: Francis II (died of earache), Charles IX, Henry III
Moderately Catholic Catherine tried to balance Huguenots against fervent Catholic Guise family
More than a third of nobles were Protestant: influenced peasants on their lands
Weak kings, courtly infighting: even small towns maintained armies for protection from looters
Charles IX

4. Civil War and Henry IV Henry of Navarre married Henry II’s daughter
1572: St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: during marriage celebration, Catherine ordered massacre of Paris Huguenots: 3,000 killed, then 20,000 throughout France
Henry IV = “Politique” concerned with pragmatic ruling of state, not extremism
This era saw rise of the idea of absolute “state” maintained through moderation and compromise
1593: Henry IV abjured Protestant faith and returned to Catholicism

5. Edict of Nantes: 1598
Legalized Protestant faith in France, allowing worship in Protestant towns
Forbade Protestantism from Paris or other Catholic French towns
Allowed for fortified Protestant towns
Allowed for equal civil rights for Protestants and Catholics
King had to enforce Edict: local Catholic populations refused to recognize Protestants
Unlike Germany, France was not fragmented; instead, compromise between populations
Repealed by Louis XIV in 1685 to unify country under Catholicism