The General Significance of the Wars of Religion in France. Causes of long-term turmoil. — Protestantism in France. - The events of the early sixties and the States General. - The religious question under the laws of 1560, 61 and 62. - Wars of Religion and Edicts of Toleration. - Peace of Saint Germain. - Coligny and Catherine de Medici. - Bartholomew night. Henry III. - League and States 1576 - Feudal-municipal reaction and the doctrine of democracy. - The question of succession to the throne and the "war of the three Henrys." - King Henry IV. - Conspiracies on the life of Henry IV and his attitude to Catholicism. - Henry IV and the Huguenots.

Portrait of Catherine de Medici. Artist Francois Clouet

The history of the religious wars in France, like the history of the Dutch revolution, is included in common history the struggle of Catholicism with Protestantism of the time of Philip II, who, as you know, intervened in the French unrest. But this confusion has another meaning. In general political history epoch, we have here one of the cases of the struggle of subjects against royal absolutism, in which - which makes this case especially curious - the opposition marched under the banner of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdemocracy, proclaimed not only by Calvinists, but also by Catholics, although with this desire for political freedom in the spirit new ideas combined here feudal and municipal reaction. Both this reaction and the political opposition failed, and absolutism was established in France. However, the victory of Catholicism in this country was not accompanied by a Catholic reaction, and French absolutism, at least for most of the 17th century, differed from Spanish absolutism in its more secular character. As for the establishment of absolutism, prepared by the entire previous history of France, it became a kind of political necessity in view of the anarchy into which the said feudal and municipal reaction plunged France. The internal pacification of France by granting the Protestants freedom of religion and the establishment of a strong state power in the country, but without reactionary aspirations in the religious question, had a very great importance in the first half of the 17th century, when a new attempt at a pan-European Catholic reaction was made.

In its place, it was already indicated that Calvinism made its first serious successes in France in the second half of the fifties, at the end of the reign of Henry II, who died in 1559. From his marriage to Catherine de Medici, an admirer of Machiavelli, who wrote his father for her “ Sovereign", Henry II had four sons, of whom three reigned one after the other: they were Francis II (1559-1560), the husband of Mary Stuart, then Charles IX (1560-1574), during which there was Bartholomew's night, and finally Henry III (1574–1589), during the life of his brother, he was elected to the Polish kings, but later fled from Poland to France. The fourth son of Henry II, Francis, who first bore the title of Duke of Alençon, and then of Anjou, died, as we know, in 1584. Both Francis II and Charles IX, due to their youth, could not independently manage the state, and power became a subject of dispute between the power-hungry schemer queen mother, the dukes of Guise, Francis and Charles, uncles (maternally) of Mary Stuart, wife of Francis II, and relatives of the royal house of Bourbons, Antoine, married to the heiress of Bearn and Navarre, John D "Albret, and his brother Louis Conde The rivalry that arose between Catherine de Medici, the Guises and the Bourbons was further complicated by the fact that some (the Queen and the Guises) were Catholics, others were Calvinists. IX, greatly offended the French nobility, who now decided to take advantage of the youth of both kings in order to start a feudal reaction against the absolutism that had intensified under Francis I and Henry II. Some cities, dissatisfied with the loss of municipal liberties, followed the nobles. The political opposition of this era also expressed itself in the desire (under Charles IX and Henry III) to limit the royal power to the States General, and for this, suitable ideas were given by the then political ideas, which were preached by both Calvinists and Jesuits. The struggle of the Guises and the Bourbons for power, which passed in the eighties of the XVI century. in the struggle for succession to the throne, as a result of the termination of the Valois dynasty, was thus complicated by political opposition against royal power with the character of a feudal-municipal reaction, with which, moreover, new ideas of democracy were combined. The internal French turmoil, which thus had its causes, besides the enmity of the two religions, the desire of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie to destroy the established absolutism and the struggle of the Guises and the Bourbons, first for influence on the government, and then for the crown itself, could not, of course, stay away from the ways , which was the policy of Philip II. With the antagonism that existed between France and Spain, Philip II benefited from the weakening of France by internal strife, while his general policy, of course, required him to interfere in French affairs and in the interests of Catholicism, especially since the victory of Protestantism in France would threaten Catholicism and power Philip II in the Netherlands: and from this side, it means that Philip II was not indifferent to what was happening in the neighboring country. Such were the causes of the religious wars in France; of which there were four under Charles IX and four under Henry III. It must also be added that the Jesuits, who took a very active part in polemics with Protestants, in court intrigues, and in internecine wars, during which they directly preached regicide, contributed a lot to religious exasperation in France. The Tridentine decrees adopted by the French government, which greatly interfered with the supporters of religious freedom, also had their significance.

Under Francis I and Henry II, Protestantism was terribly persecuted in France: the royal authorities, the legists, the Sorbonne, and the masses, who called the Calvinists Huguenots, and did not trust the new teaching due to its connection with noble aspirations, were against the Calvinists. We have already pointed out that Protestantism in France took on an aristocratic character, since, in addition to people of different classes who went over to the side of the new doctrine out of conviction, it was accepted by a significant part of the nobility, who thought, among other things, to profit from the secularization of church property in France, following the example of their brethren in the Protestant countries. The transition of the nobles to Calvinism gave the latter the significance of a political force that could conduct an armed struggle: already at first, the multiplying Protestants by force freed their co-religionists from prisons, sometimes even tearing them out of the hands of the soldiers who led them to execution, etc. In 1560 the Protestant party planned to capture the young king in order to transfer him under the tutelage of Antoine Bourbon, but this (“Amboise”) conspiracy was discovered, and Guise brought Louis Conde to the ordinary court for participating in the conspiracy, contrary to his right, as a prince of the blood, to sue only in parliament ; it was a kind of threat to the other nobles as well. Only the death of Francis II and the transfer of power to Catherine de Medici saved the Prince of Conde: he was immediately released. The cunning Italian wanted to stay in power, not giving an advantage to either the Guises or the Bourbons, and therefore the Guises were left by her in their posts. A young king on the throne, a foreign queen at the head of the government, engaged in intrigues, currying favor with all parties, unable to force some not to attack the established religion, and others to respect the freedom of conscience of their fellow citizens - all this played into the hands of feudal reaction, which formulated its ideas thus: “What kind of a king is this? we ourselves are kings, and this young king can still be flogged with rods.

Such a time was also favorable for the revival of the States General, which had not been assembled for a long time. And before, when troubles occurred in the state, France resorted to the States General, which at one time even were in the hands of the royal power a powerful weapon in the fight against feudal fragmentation. Now again they considered it necessary to resort to this means. The first meeting of the states-general took place according to the thought of the intelligent, honest and religiously tolerant Chancellor Lopital (L "Hospital or L" Hopital), in Orleans, in 1560; in 1561, another meeting of deputies of the secular estates was held in Pontoise, while the clergy gathered separately in Poissy, where Lopital arranged a religious dispute between Catholics and Protestants. The chancellor acted in a generally conciliatory spirit and urged the Orleans states to “leave the diabolical nicknames (ces mots diaboliques) of the Lutherans, Huguenots, Papists and not change Christian name to others." In the Assembly of the States the persecution of heretics was demanded by the clergy; in the same sense, some of the nobles spoke out, while the other was in favor of religious tolerance; in the latter respect, the townspeople were at one with her, expressing the desire that the persecution be stopped until the solution of religious disputes by the ecumenical council. The Pontoise meeting of 1561 of secular ranks even more decisively exposed the need for tolerance and even raised the question of selling church property to meet state needs. As for the dispute in Poissy, where Beza and the Cardinal of Lorraine (Charles of Guise) opposed each other, then, of course, no agreement took place on it. The only result of the states in 1560 was the so-called Orleans Ordinance, by which L'Hopital carried out some of the desires expressed in the vast draft of reforms drawn up by the states. And in 1560, the representatives of the estates expressed and in 1561 once again repeated the desire that the states-general be a permanent institution, meeting at certain dates; in 1561 it was added very emphatically that the king should share his power with the states. After this, however, the states did not meet again for fifteen years, but in the seventies and eighties the idea of ​​periodic states-general with their direct participation in the supreme power became even more popular in France.

In the early sixties, Lopital thought of settling the religious question with a whole series of measures. An edict of 1560 (édit de Romorantin) established episcopal jurisdiction over cases of heresy to prevent the introduction of the Inquisition into France, and only parliaments could pronounce death sentences. Another edict (1561) replaced the death penalty for heresy with exile, except in cases of violation of public peace. In addition, L'Hopital, in particular cases, stopped persecutors who were overzealous and mitigated the fate of the accused. Finally, in 1562 the government found it necessary to make a new concession to the Protestants, legalizing their existence in the state under certain conditions. Namely, according to the Edict of Saint-Germain of 1562, Calvinists received the right to celebrate their worship, although not otherwise than outside the cities, and without the right to convene the synods of their church. They were, however, dissatisfied with these restrictions on their religious freedom, and the Catholics were indignant at the concession to heresy. However, this edict was not carried out, since in the same year the first religious war took place in France.

In 1562, Duke Francis of Guise, with a large retinue, passed through the town of Vassy, ​​where he and his entourage heard the singing of Protestant hymns by the Huguenots, who had gathered in a barn for worship. The persons accompanying the duke tried to disperse the meeting, but, meeting resistance, attacked the unarmed Huguenots and many of them were wounded and killed. After this incident, in Paris, which at that time was distinguished by its special devotion to Catholicism, Guise was received with enthusiasm, and he completely took possession of the king and regent. Then the Prince of Conde gathered the Huguenots in Larochelle, from where they turned to Elizabeth of England for help. The war began, interrupted and resumed several times. The forces of the opponents were almost equal, the advantage did not lean to either side, but the more fiercely they fought among themselves, not stopping before beating innocent victims and secret murders and ruining other people's churches; everything that anyone had against other people, now, under the reign of anarchy, could freely manifest itself in a bloody settling of scores. At the same time that the nobles were fighting against state power, the peasants were rising up against their lords. In this struggle, Antoine Bourbon, Francis of Guise, killed by one Huguenot, the Prince of Condé, perished one after another. Soon these leaders of both warring parties were replaced by new ones: Henry of Guise (son of Francis) and Admiral Coligny from the Protestant family of Châtillons, an honest and convinced Calvinist, who, like William of Orange, fought not against the king, but against the persons who possessed the king. He became the chief leader of the young Henry of Navarre, son of Antoine Bourbon, who was now placed at the head of the Protestants. Foreigners were subsequently involved in this French civil strife by the warring parties themselves: Elizabeth of England and Philip II of Spain, the Dutch Geuzes and German landsknechts, Swiss (Catholic), Italian and Spanish mercenaries. The strength of the Protestants was so significant that the government was forced to make concessions to them, although it itself was powerless to maintain peace. Therefore, the Huguenots began to demand from the king the transfer of several fortresses to them, where they could feel safe: the Huguenots agreed with the king, as a completely independent belligerent. The first war ended in peace in Amboise in 1563. According to the Amboise edict, freedom of Protestant worship was allowed, but with some class restrictions, a very characteristic feature of French Protestantism: the high nobility, who had the right to a criminal court on their estates (hauts justiciers), could build in them, Protestant churches not only for themselves and their household servants, but also for all subject to their court (justiciables), while only their households could attend worship among the lower nobility, for all other Huguenots from non-nobles, one city was appointed in each district, in the vicinity of which only Protestant worship was allowed. This edict was confirmed after the second peace war (1567–1568) at Longjumeau. The third war (1569-1570), which was especially successful for the Huguenots (Coligny went straight to Paris), ended in peace in Saint-Germain (Sain-Germain en Laye), according to which the Calvinists were given freedom of conscience and the right to worship at home throughout the state, the right public cult on the estates of the higher and lower nobility, with the prohibition, however, of any worship, except for the Catholic, in Paris, its environs, and in any residence of the king; further they were granted the right to hold all sorts of posts and enter universities and other schools; even in litigation with Catholics, Protestants were allowed to remove a certain number (4, 6, 8) of judges in the chamber of parliament that decided the case; at the same time, however, they had to pay tithes to the Catholic clergy on the old basis. In order to ensure all these rights, the Huguenots received four fortresses for two years (Larochelle, Montauban, Cognac and Lacharite). This was a further development of the Amboise Edict, and all later peace negotiations in the following wars were conducted on the basis of this treaty. The Edict of Nantes itself, which concluded the era of religious wars 28 years after that, was in its essential features modeled on the Edict of Amboise. But the same thing happened with the Treaty of Saint-Germain as with the previous treaties: the Catholics did not want to submit to the terms of the world, and therefore, as soon as the Huguenots laid down their arms, they were immediately attacked by fanatics, incited from outside, while the government with Catherine de Medici the head stood first on one side, then on the other.

In fact, the “eternal and irrevocable” edict of St. Germain was followed in a fairly short time by a new war, caused by the famous Bartholomew’s night. The Huguenots won, among other things, thanks to German soldiers and English money. The Peace of Saint Germain irritated Pope Pius V and Philip II, the King of Spain, especially since the success of the French Protestants encouraged his Dutch subjects to resist, who about the same time raised the banner of rebellion and in the spring of 1572 already had considerable success. France again passed, in addition, into the camp opposite to the Habsburgs; approached the German princes, with England, with the disgruntled Dutch. At the court of Giza, they lost their former importance, and the twenty-year-old Charles IX brought Admiral Coligny (1571) closer to him, even making him his adviser. Catholics were extremely dissatisfied with the new policy of the government. Among the masses of the urban population, irritation against the Huguenots was very strong: in some places outbreaks of fanaticism had already occurred, but violence against Protestants was severely punished. At this time, there was already a significant party of Catholics who wanted religious tolerance: they tried to counteract the resumption of religious wars, and for this they called her "politicians." Charles IX, who was not distinguished by a stable character, meanwhile completely fell under the influence of Coligny, who advised him to adhere to a national, anti-Spanish policy and even to provide armed assistance to the Netherlands. The young king still rushed about with the idea of ​​taking Milan and Navarre south of the Pyrenees from Spain, in order to return this country to Henry of Bourbon, to whom he wanted to marry his sister Margarita. The Catholics, led by the king's brother Henry of Anjou, together with the ambassadors of Spain and the pope, tried to counteract these plans, but were unsuccessful. External circumstances were, however, unfavorable to these plans. Although the brother of William of Orange, Louis of Nassau, who took possession of Mons in Belgium, was given little military assistance, the Spaniards prevailed; the German Lutherans did not even want to think about an alliance with the Dutch and French Calvinists; Elizabeth of England, for her part, did not want the strengthening of France at the expense of Belgium; the Turks, the former allies of France, after the defeat at Lepanto (1571) no longer had the same strength, Catherine de Medici, who understood that the Protestants would always be only a party in the state, that the people would remain not only Catholic, but also hostile to Protestantism, dissatisfied, moreover , the loss of influence on her son, began to oppose Coligny. Quite thoroughly, she saw in him her personal enemy: he himself did not hide his hostile feelings for the queen and even advised Charles IX to remove both her and Henry of Anjou from affairs. In his opinion, it was necessary to choose between external or internal war; the first in his eyes was preferable, but meanwhile Henry of Anjou, his mother's favorite, could easily excite the second. This choice for Charles IX was tantamount to choosing between a "heretic" and a mother. The queen has finally won. On August 9, 1572, Charles IX announced that he would not break peace with Spain. “God willing,” exclaimed Coligny, learning of this decision, “God willing, that another war does not arise, which the king will not be able to avoid!” These words were interpreted in the sense of a threat. Meanwhile, several thousand Protestant nobility gathered in Paris for the wedding of Marguerite with Henry of Bourbon. Catherine, who saw this as a great danger, decided to get rid of the admiral by murder, but a shot from around the corner only wounded him (August 22). The queen mother began to fear revenge on his part, and the Huguenots gathered in Paris assumed a threatening position towards her. Then Catherine, who had been advised even earlier by Spanish diplomats to put an end to the Huguenots with one blow, decided to immediately exterminate the people dangerous to her; moreover, she knew that the Parisian population, devoted to Catholicism, would provide her with a sufficient number of helpers. This was the origin of Bartholomew's Night: the old idea of ​​the whole affair, as if it had been prepared in advance and, moreover, by secret agreement with Spain, has to be left in mind of new historical works on this issue. The weak-willed Charles IX was convinced of the necessity of the planned business and hastily instructed the Parisian merchant foreman to organize gangs of murderers. On the night before St. Bartholomew (from 23 to 24 August) and in the following days there was a massacre of two thousand Huguenots in Paris. A similar reprisal against heretics took place in the provinces, where, on the secret orders of the distraught Charles IX (who also fired from the palace window on the night of August 24), up to 30 tons of Huguenots were killed. Henry of Bourbon and his cousin, the Prince of Conde, were saved only by the adoption of Catholicism. Following this blow, Protestantism was banned in France. In memory of the event, a medal with the inscriptions: "Virtus in rebelles" and "Pietas excitavit justitiam" was knocked out. In Madrid and Rome, the news was greeted with wild joy and solemnly celebrated. Pope Gregory XIII also knocked out a medal with his portrait on one side and with the image on the other of an angel holding a cross in his hand and striking the Huguenots, around was the inscription: "ugonottorum strages, 1572".

Morning of Bartholomew night. Catherine de Medici examines the bodies of the murdered Huguenots at the gates of the Louvre. Painting by E. Deba-Ponsant, 1880

Bartholomew's Night was followed by a new (fourth in the reign of Charles IX) religious war. This time, the banner of revolt was raised by the inhabitants of Larochelle and other cities, with whom the remnants of the Calvinist nobility, which had not been exterminated at the end, united. Gottmann's pamphlet "De furoribus gallicis" became the manifesto of this uprising. This war was short-lived (1572 - 1573). Henry of Anjou, who was at the head of the Catholics, went to Poland, which elected him in 1573 to their kings; his younger brother, the Duke of Alençon, who hated him and dreamed of marriage with Elizabeth of England, joined the "politicians"; the government itself was frightened by the claims of Philip II to European hegemony. In the midst of such circumstances, Charles IX died (1574) and was succeeded, in the name of Henry III, by the Duke of Anjou, who secretly left Poland to take the French throne. He was still quite a young man, pampered and frivolous, but he did not go through his mother's school for nothing. The Catholics thought that the hero of St. Bartholomew would be the real king of their party, and were going to completely subordinate him to their influence. However, they were wrong in their calculations. The new king wanted to keep in all inviolability the rights of his crown, and he understood that by the complete extermination of the Huguenots, he would only strengthen the Guises. The course of action he adopted was to give no preponderance to either the Guises with the Catholics or the Bourbons with the Calvinists. On the other hand, at that time there was some rapprochement between the Huguenots and the "politicians": some saw that they could not impose their religion on the whole of France, others realized that Protestantism could not be destroyed. Converging on the need for a religious peace, both parties at the same time desired the convocation of the states-general.

The accession of Henry III to the throne took place during a new civil strife, when the king's younger brother stood at the head of the uprising, in alliance with the Bourbons and with German (Count Palatine of the Rhine) military and English financial assistance. The new peace, which was hastened to end the war, was beneficial for the Protestants: having approved its previous concessions, the government agreed that there should be mixed chambers in the parliaments to deal with litigation between Catholics and reformers, and that the latter could gather for synods, but only in the presence of the government delegate. To enforce the treaty, the government gave the Huguenots twelve fortresses. The princes of the opposition received a reward, Francis of Alencon - Berry, Touraine and Anjou in their management and a pension of one hundred thousand ecu; the prince of Condé - Picardy to govern, etc. And after that, as we will see more than once, the royal power in France repeatedly paid off the aristocratic opposition by distributing money, profitable places or entire provinces to govern. This testified not only to the weakness of the government, but also to the mercenary nature of the opposition, which really took advantage of religious unrest or popular discontent only to start a rebellion and then sell its obedience for material benefits.

Huguenots and "politicians", having obtained concessions from the government and a promise to convene the States General, showed the Catholics how to deal with the government. Already Cardinal of Lorraine at the end of his life (d. 1574) insisted on the need for a stronger organization of Catholics. The concessions of Henry III to the heretics now forced the papists to conclude a league among themselves, at the head of which was Henry of Guise. The king, for his part, found it necessary to get closer to the league, in the hope that it would help him emerge victorious from the struggle that was bound to arise between him and the states-general, where "politicians" and Huguenots would begin to carry out measures unpleasant to him. The League, which had begun to fanatize the people again, won the elections for the Estates General, and this outcome of the elections forced the "politicians" and the Huguenots to refrain from participating in the assembly. The estates general of 1576, sitting in Blois, were extremely fanatical: they demanded the complete destruction of Protestantism in France and the abolition of all benefits given to the Huguenots in the last peace. The government, perhaps, was ready to act in their spirit in the religious question, but politically, the zealous Catholics wanted the same thing that the Calvinists were striving for, i.e., restrictions on royal power. For example, the states began to make a distinction between the laws of the king and the laws of the kingdom, between the temporary orders of the state power and the decrees of the states general, which could not be repealed by anyone except the states themselves, and would not need royal approval if the estates were unanimous. There were even voices demanding the participation of the states in the appointment of members of the Privy Council, i.e. king's ministers. The Third Estate demanded the restoration of municipal liberties, which had fallen into decay with the strengthening of the royal administration. The government by a special ordinance (ord. de Blois) satisfied various other requests of the estates, but the political ideas that were preached in the states directly forced both the king and his mother to recoil from the league. Now everything pointed to the fact that behind the aristocratic opposition, which assumed the character of feudal reaction, there was also beginning a democratic opposition, which was a municipal reaction against royal absolutism. Just as the nobles were made predominantly by Calvinists, and the political ideas of Calvinism gained increasing popularity in their camp, in the same way Catholicism counted the largest number of defenders in cities, where the ideas of democracy were also spread, but only in a Catholic shell. The cities with Paris at the head mainly kept the “holy” league. Among its members in general, and especially among the urban population of northern France, the teaching of the Jesuits about the right of peoples to depose kings and kill tyrants was in full swing. There was even (mainly in the eighties) a literary defense of political freedom against absolutism in this spirit, so that, simultaneously with the Calvinistic treatises on the subject of democracy, the same idea was defended in a whole series of pamphlets by extreme Catholics. Catholic democracy did not want to recognize any other true sovereign, except for God and his vicegerent on earth, the pope, and denied its obedience to monarchs disobedient to the church. The preachers of the league declared such sovereigns to be tyrants who should be killed. The idea of ​​democracy was adopted by the general states of this era. On the other hand, however, under Henry III, the feudal and municipal life of the Middle Ages was revived with its usual anarchy: the governors became independent of the central government and dreamed of princely independence; the lords restored their old rights over the population and arrogated to themselves the right to war; municipal authorities took charge of the militia, refused to obey the parliaments in a judicial respect, did not want to give an account of city finances to anyone, the robbed and oppressed peasants rebelled and demanded that they be shown in the Bible where it is said that they could be oppressed in this way.

The revival of medieval anarchy and the intensification of the fury of the religious war was greatly facilitated by the fact that with the death of the younger brother of the king (1584), while he himself was childless, the crown of France was to pass to Henry of Bourbon, who again converted to Protestantism. The Catholic League, supported by Spain, could not, of course, allow the French crown to go over to a heretic. The head of the league, Henry of Guise, who considered himself a descendant of Charlemagne, sought to become king himself; in order to get the support of the nation, he promised the restoration of everything that had been destroyed in the political life of France by the strengthening of royal power. In fact, the league was not finally organized until 1585, when a formal alliance was concluded at the castle of Joinville between Guise and Philip II to suppress heresy in the Netherlands and France. After this, Henry of Guise became the real head of Catholic France. Henry III lost all meaning. Catholics and Huguenots, led by two Henrys (Guise and Bourbon), did not pay any attention to the third Henry (king), who also took part in the war, which was called the "war of the three Henrys." In 1588, an uprising took place in Paris itself. Its population organized itself into a fighting force under the so-called "league of sixteen", a revolutionary government of 16 members according to the number of city blocks (ligue des seize) and acting on the instructions of Heinrich of Guise. Agitation was going on in the city against the "politicians" and the king, who "offended God" by yielding to heretics; in the secret meetings of the league they spoke directly about the deposition of Henry III. The king was even forced to take some measures to protect his personal safety, but the legists took them for a threat and called Heinrich Guise to Paris. Despite the royal prohibition, the duke came to this call. An attempt by Henry III to surround his residence, the Louvre, with loyal troops caused the famous "day of the barricades" (May 12). The matter could have ended in the deposition of the king, if Henry of Guise had wanted it, but he only demanded that he be appointed lieutenant géneral du royaume, that the states general be convened to confirm him in this rank, and that Henry of Bourbon be declared deprived rights to the throne. During the negotiations caused by these demands, Henry III fled Paris, and the capital of the state remained in the hands of Guise. In October 1588, meetings of the states-general were opened in Blois. They were dominated by Catholics who shared the political views of Catholic democracy. They demanded the transfer of all supreme power to the states and stood for the complete domination of Catholicism in France: the states were not even averse to placing Henry of Guise at the head of the state. The king then got rid of a dangerous rival by assassination (in December 1588), but this aroused a new uprising against himself under the leadership of the Parisian "league of sixteen", which managed to become a real government for the cities of northern France. For its part, the Sorbonne announced that, as a result of Henry III's treacherous act to the detriment of the Catholic Church, the French people were released from their oath of allegiance to the king and were entitled to take up arms against him. Thus, eight years after Philip II was deposed by the Protestants of the Netherlands, by virtue of the doctrine of the right of peoples to deprive bad rulers of power, the same doctrine was now applied in France, but already by extreme Catholics; only the Sorbonne's motive was different - not tyrannical behavior in relation to civil freedom, but a betrayal of the interests of Catholicism. This right was also proved by the ligist Boucher in his treatise On the Just Deposition of Henry III. In his essay, Bush, as it were, repeated only the arguments of the Calvinists in favor of the idea that the sovereign receives his power from the people, that there is an agreement between the sovereign and the people, and that if this agreement is violated by the sovereign, the people are released from the oath. Therefore, Boucher argued that the states general can judge the king, that the people even have the right of life and death over the king, and that even everyone has the right to kill a tyrant who has illegally seized power, and even a lawful sovereign who tyrannically exercises power if the representatives of the people declare him an enemy. society. This treatise had not yet been completed when Boucher received news of the murder of Henry III himself, and he then glorified in his work the “inspired by Christ and moved by love” avenger, who resumed the case of Judith against Holofernes and David against Goliath.

Henry III, abandoned and rejected by almost everyone after the assassination of Guise - both by the States General, who ceased their meetings, and by the ambassadors of Philip II and Sixtus V, who left his court - decided on peace with Henry of Bourbon. At Plessis-le-Tour they made an agreement between themselves, which had the result that the Catholics who remained loyal to the king united with the Huguenots against the rebellious papists. The League appointed the Duke of Mayenne as its commander-in-chief. At the same time, the pope began to threaten the king with excommunication if he did not justify himself, and the Sorbonne announced that anyone could kill a tyrant who harmed religion. Having concluded an alliance, both Henrys approached Paris and laid siege to it, but soon the king was killed by the Dominican monk Jacques Clement, apparently sent by the Duchess of Montpensier, sister of Henry of Guise. The young Dominican was given a letter to the king; with a poisoned knife hidden under his cassock, he came to the enemy camp, asked for a meeting with Henry III, who generally favored the monks, and inflicted a mortal wound on his stomach. A few hours later, Henry III died, having appointed Henry of Bourbon (1589) as his successor before his death.

In the Catholic camp, the joy over the murder of the "tyrant" was great, and in the churches they commemorated the regicide as a martyr who was put to death. Supporters of "Bearntz" hastened to proclaim him king under the name of Henry IV. The Catholics, of course, did not want to recognize his rights to the crown. Sixtus V announced that he would not allow him to reign even if he renounced heresy; Philip II even moved into France a whole army under the command of Alexander of Parma; the league also continued to fight and in 1593 gathered the States General in Paris. The Spanish envoy offered them to give the French throne to the daughter of Philip II from his marriage with "Elizabeth of Valois, so that the future queen would marry one of the Austrian archdukes or one of the Guises. This proposal was not, however, accepted, since even the most fanatical Catholics did not want to go under the rule of the Spanish king.

Henry IV continued to fight courageously for his royal right, relying on the Huguenots and supported by England. He was helped a lot by general fatigue, and the fear of Spanish aspirations and the fragmentation of France among the leaders of the Leagues, and the strengthening of the "politicians" party, which conducted pamphlet propaganda, which opened the eyes of the nation to the true state of affairs. But only the transition of Henry IV to Catholicism (1593) opened the gates of the capital for him (1594) and lifted (1595) papal excommunication from him. In 1598, Spain was forced to make peace with Henry IV. We will return to how Henry IV restored royal power in France, finally suppressing the feudal-municipal reaction, but here we will confine ourselves to considering the attitude of the new king to the Catholic world and his Edict of Nantes, by which he established freedom of the Protestant religion in his state.

The conversion of Henry IV to Catholicism was a measure of a purely political nature, since "Paris was worth it to go to mass" (Paris vaut une messe). It is understandable that the most zealous Catholics did not trust the sincerity of the king's conversion and plotted against his life. The first of them dates back to 1593, but it was opened in time. In 1594, a 19-year-old Jesuit pupil, Jean Chatel, made an attempt on the life of Henry IV, but only wounded him in the upper lip; since the investigation showed that the Jesuits were involved in the case, they were then expelled from France. Subsequently (1604), however, they were returned, because Henry IV considered it more convenient to keep the Jesuits even at court than to be in danger of secret murder. Other conspiracies were made on the life of Henry IV, and he died at the hands of an assassin who acted, as the French were at least convinced, at the suggestion of the Spanish government. The fact is that Henry IV returned France to an anti-Habsburg policy, and the extreme representatives of Catholic reaction looked at him as the most dangerous enemy. It was very important for the plans of Henry IV that even Pope Clement VIII himself began to lean on his side, seeking his support against Spanish claims. By agreeing to the divorce of Henry IV from Margaret of Valois, the pope even married his niece Marie de Medici to him. Tensions continued between Spain and France and under Philip III, Henry IV helped Holland and thereby forced the Spanish king to conclude a truce with her in 1609. At the end of his life, Henry IV wanted to unite the German, Dutch, Scandinavian and Italian opponents of the Spanish into one large coalition. - Austrian rule. Sully, an associate of Henry IV and his first assistant in government, reports in his memoirs a whole plan for the reorganization of Europe, allegedly meant by the king. Its essence was to divide the whole of Western Europe into 15 states (six hereditary monarchies, five electoral monarchies and four republics) with the establishment of religious equality and eternal peace between them by resolving international disputes at a pan-European congress. At present, however, the reliability of this news is refuted by historians who have investigated the issue. What is certain is that in 1610 France was on the eve of a war against the main representative of Catholic reaction, and, moreover, in alliance with the Protestants. Ravaillac's dagger struck Henry IV at just the right moment for Catholic reaction.

Henry IV was the first sovereign of modern times who put the state idea above religious exclusivity and limitation and tried to arrange peaceful cohabitation of citizens of different faiths in the same state, even if in this matter he had predecessors in the person of Lopital or "politicians", and the Edict of Nantes he issued, in its essential features, only reproduced the previous edicts on tolerance. In the case he conceived, he had both Catholic and Protestant intolerance against him, but the best people of both confessions were for him. He himself did not make any distinction between Catholics and Protestants when appointing them to important positions, so that contemporaries were even surprised to see the Calvinist Sully as the main assistant to the Catholic king. The transition of Henry IV himself to Catholicism naturally had to alarm the Protestants, although about 200 fortified places remained in their hands. In 1594 they created their own special organization, something like a Huguenot republic in the French kingdom, and some of them even dreamed of having a special "protector", even if one had to be found in England or Holland. When Henry IV renounced Protestantism, negotiations began between him and the leaders of the Huguenots, during which the latter demanded admission to all positions on an equal basis with Catholics, maintenance of the Protestant clergy and schools at public expense, permission to publicly conduct reformed worship everywhere, an equal number of Catholic and Calvinistic members in parliaments and other courts and granting himself two hundred fortified places with garrisons, maintained, however, at public expense. While agreeing to the first two requirements, Henry IV pointed out that in some cities a public Protestant cult was positively impossible, since it would immediately cause a Catholic uprising, and that Calvinists, constituting a tenth of the population, could not claim half the seats in parliaments. To this he added that even earlier edicts had never given the Protestants so many fortresses as they now demanded. The dissatisfied Huguenots were ready to turn to the mediation of England and Holland, but there was no unanimity among them: the Calvinist clergy did not want to obey the nobles, who, as seigneurs, played a role in church administration, and on the other hand, between the Huguenot aristocracy and the bourgeoisie there were strife

Literature: In addition to the literature on the history of the reformation in France indicated on pages 12-13 and other works related to the era, Lacretelle. Hist. de France pendant Ies guerres civiles. - Bouillé . Hist. des ducs des Guises. - De Croze. Les Guises, les Valois et Philippe II. - Forneron. Les ducs des Guises et leur epoque . – Lacombe. Catherine de Medicis entre Guise et Conde. - Reumont. Die Jugend Catharina "s de Medici (cp. article Kudryavtseva in "Works" based on this book). - Jules Tessier. L "amirai Coligny. - Jules de Laborde. Gaspard de Coligny. - E. Bersier. Coligny avant les guerres civiles. - Erich Marcks. G. von Coligny, sein Leben und das Frankreich seiner Zeit. - taillandier. Recherches historiques sur L "Hospital - Dupre Lasal. Michel de l'Hospi ial. – Geuer. Die Kirchenpolitik L "Hospitals. - Amphux. M. de L "Hospital et la liberté de conscience au XVI siecle. - Atkinson. Michel de L "Hospital (English). - Klupffel. Le colloque de Poissy. - Schaeffer. Les huguenots du XVI siècle. - Baumgarten. Vor der Bartholomaeusnacht. - Remusat. La Saint Barthelemy. - H. While. Massacre of St. Bartholomew preceeded by a narrative of the religions wars. - De la Ferriere. La Saint Barthelemy. -Labitte. De la democratie chez les predicateurs de la Ligue. - DeCrue. Le parti des Politiques au lendemain de la Saint-Barthelemy. - A. de ruble. Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d "Albret - Challe. Le Calvinisme et la Ligue. - Vitet. La Ligue . - Stahelin. Der Uebertrit Heinrichs zur römischen Kirche. Literature on the States General: A. Thierry. Essai sur l "histoire du tiers état . – Picot. Histoire des états generaux. Previously, Pico wrote about the same Rathery, Thibaudeau And Boullee. see also De Maulde de Claviere. Les origines de la revolution française au XVI siecle. La veille de la reforme, as well as Art. Houser"A. La réforme et les classes populaires en France au XVI siècle (in Revue d "histoire moderne et contemporaine for 1899). Cp. latest (1913) work L. Romer. Les origines des guerres de religion.

The name "Huguenots" has been explained in various ways. It used to be thought that it comes from the name of some fabulous king Hugon, who wandered at night, but then the opinion was established that "huguenots" is a corrupted German "Eidgenossen", as the party in Geneva was called, sympathizing with closer unity with the Swiss Union (Eidgenossenschaft ), but recently it has been proposed to derive this word from the Dutch hjuisgenoot or the German Hausgenosse in the sense of a cohabitant, fellow.

Cm. Philippson. Westeuropa, II, 255-259. - TOervynde Lettenhove. Document relatifs à l "hist. du XVI siecle (I, 157 ff.) and the second volume of Huguenots et gueux, as well as Baumgarten in Hist. Zeitschr. (N.F., XIV: Nachtrag zur Geschichte der Bartholomaeusnacht). Polenz thinks that the plan was conceived a maximum of ten days before execution.

Anonymous (by the Jesuit Reynalds, who wrote under the pseudonym Rosseus) Op. De justa reipublicae christianae in reges impios authoritate. Boucher's pamphlets: De justa Henrici tertii abdicatione a Francorum regno and Sermons. De la simulée conversion et nullite de l "absolution de Henri de Bourbon. Compare what is said above (p. 240 et seq.) About the "monarchs".

Moritz Ritter. Die Memoiren Sullys und der grosse Plan Heinrichs IV. - Roit. Henri IV, les Suisses et l "Italie.

And his brutal suppression of Giza. After Francis II came to power, the Guise family, headed by the Duke Francois de Guise and his brother, Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, began to exercise actual leadership of the country, who increased the persecution of the Huguenots by introducing the death penalty for secret religious gatherings. The Calvinist A. de Boer (1559), an adviser to the Paris Parliament, was convicted and hanged. Among the highest French aristocracy there was very strong dissatisfaction with Guise. In 1560, the opposition formed a conspiracy led by the Perigord nobleman La Renaudie. They wanted to capture the king and arrest the Guises. These events went down in history as the Amboise conspiracy. Upon learning of the coup attempt, Giza made concessions: on March 8, they passed a law prohibiting religious persecution. But soon Giza rescinded the Edict of March and brutally cracked down on the conspirators. The Prince of Condé was arrested and sentenced to death. He was saved only by the sudden death of Francis II on 5 December. The essence of the conspiracy itself was that, irritated by the influence of Guise on the young king Francis II and Queen Mary Stuart (who was from Guise by mother), the Huguenots, led by Prince Condé, planned to steal the monarch directly from the Amboise castle.

The minor king Charles IX ascended the throne, and the actual power was in the hands of his mother Catherine de Medici. Giza began to lose influence, and Louis Conde was released and brought closer to the court. Antoine of Navarre was appointed lieutenant general of the French kingdom. Catherine tried to pursue a policy of tolerance and reconciliation between all religious denominations (States General in Orleans and Pontoise, dispute in Poissy 1561). In January, the Saint-Germain (January) Edict was issued, according to which the Huguenots could practice their faith outside the city walls or in private city houses. But Giza and supporters of the former government, dissatisfied with the concessions to the Protestants and the growing influence of Conde, formed the so-called. "triumvirate" (F. de Guise - Montmorency - Saint Andre). The triumvirs began negotiations with Catholic Spain on a joint struggle against the Protestants.

Fourth war 1572-1573

Bartholomew's Night in Paris

In the time since the Peace of Saint-Germain, Coligny had gained the king's confidence, which irritated both the Queen Mother and the Guises. The marriage of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois turned into a terrible massacre of the Huguenots on the streets of Paris and other cities, which went down in history as Bartholomew's Night. Coligny was among the victims of the violence. Attempts to drive the Huguenots out of Sancerre and La Rochelle, however, ended in vain. In 1573, an edict was issued confirming the right of the Huguenots to celebrate Protestant rites in La Rochelle, Montauban and Nîmes.

Fifth war 1574-1576

The war broke out again after the death of Charles IX and the return to France from Poland of his brother Henry III, who brought himself closer to Guise by marriage to Louise of Lorraine. The new king did not control the regions: Count Palatinate Johann invaded Champagne, Henri de Montmorency was self-righteously in charge of the southern provinces. In order to stabilize the situation, the king approved the Peace of Monsieur in 1576, which granted the Huguenots freedom of religion outside of Paris.

Sixth war 1576-1577

The lull was extremely short-lived and was used by the Guises to rally the "faithful" under the banner of the Catholic League. The states-general in Blois were unable to resolve the accumulated contradictions. Under pressure from the league, Henry III, in the Treaty of Bergerac of 1577, withdrew from the concessions made to the Huguenots the year before.

Seventh War 1579-1580

The key figure in the seventh war was the king's brother, François of Anjou, who, with the support of William of Orange, proclaimed himself Count of Flanders and Duke of Brabant and intervened in the revolt of Dutch Protestants against the Spanish crown on the side of the former. Meanwhile, the young Prince of Condé had taken possession of La Fère in Picardy. The fighting officially ended the Peace of Fleux (1580).

"The War of the Three Heinrichs" 1584-1589

Demonstration of the Catholic League in Paris (1590)

The death of the Duke of Anjou and the childlessness of Henry III made the head of the Huguenots, Henry of Navarre, heir to the French throne, excommunicated by the pope. Since he was not going to change his faith, Henry of Guise, with the support of the Catholic League and Catherine de Medici, began to prepare the ground for the transfer of the throne into his own hands. This led to his break with the king, who intended to keep the crown in the hands of the descendants of Capet at all costs.

The war of three Heinrichs unfolded - the king, Bourbon and Guise. Under Coutra, the royal commander-in-chief Anne de Joyeuse died. In May 1588 (the "day of the barricades"), the Parisians rebelled against the indecisive king, who was forced to flee the capital. Catherine de Medici reached a compromise with the league on the transfer of the throne to the last Catholic among the Bourbons - Cardinal de Bourbon, imprisoned by the king in the castle of Blois.

After Guise organized the invasion of Saluzzo by the troops of the Duke of Savoy, at the end of 1588 and the beginning of 1589, a wave of assassinations swept through France, the victims of which were the main characters - Henry of Guise and his brother Cardinal de Guise, Catherine de Medici and King Henry III. The aged Cardinal de Bourbon, whom the league saw as the new king, Charles X, also died, having abdicated in favor of Henry of Navarre.

"The conquest of the kingdom" 1589-1593

The king of Navarre accepted the French crown under the name of Henry IV, but in the early years of his reign he had to defend his rights to the throne from the remaining Guises - the Duke of Mayenne, who held Normandy in his hands, and the Duke of Merker, who, hiding behind the rights of his wife, tried to restore sovereignty Brittany.

In March 1590, the new king won an important victory at Ivry, but attempts to take Paris and Rouen did not bring success due to the opposition of the Spaniards, led by Alessandro Farnese, who, contrary to the Salic order of succession, tried to place Henry II's granddaughter in the female line, Infanta Isabella, on the throne Clara Eugene.

By 1598, France was finally united under the scepter of Henry IV. The Spanish crown recognized this by the Treaty of Vervain. In the same year, the famous Edict of Nantes was issued, recognizing freedom of religion and ending the religious wars. After the death of Henry IV, they will be resumed by Cardinal Richelieu with his confrontation with Henri de Rogan at the walls of La Rochelle.

Bibliography

• pierre miquel, Les Guerres de religion, Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1980 (reedition). Chronologie detaillee, Index detaille, bibliographie (27 p). $596
• James Wood The king's army: warfare, soldiers, and society during the wars of religion in France, 1562-1576, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
• Arlette Jouanna (dir.), Histoire et dictionnaire des guerres de religion, 1559-1598, Robert Laffont, coll. "Bouquins", 1998 (ISBN 2-221-07425-4);
• Jean Marie Constant, Les Français pendant les guerres de Religion, Hachette Littératures, 2002 (ISBN 2-01-235311-8) ;
• Denis Crouzet:
  • Dieu en ses royaumes: Une histoire des guerres de religion, Champ Vallon, Paris, 2008. (ISBN 2876734944)
  • Les Guerriers de Dieu. La violence au temps des troubles de religion (v. 1525-v. 1610), Champ Vallon, collection "Époques", 2005 (1re édition 1990) (ISBN 2-87673-430-3)
  • La Genese de la Reforme française 1520-1562, SEDES, coll. "Histoire moderne" #109, Paris, 1999 (1re édition 1996) (ISBN 2-7181-9281-X) ;

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1562 1594, see Huguenot Wars (see HUGUGUENOT WARS) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Wars of Religion in France- (French Wars of Religion), nine religiously watered conflicts in France that proceeded intermittently between 1562 and 1598. They were headed by a feud, the nobility, who sought to limit the power of the Valois dynasty, it was supported, on the one hand, by the Protestants ... ... The World History

Wars of Religion A series of armed clashes in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries between Protestants and Catholics. Contents 1 Reasons 2 History 2.1 XVI century 2.2 ... Wikipedia

WARS OF RELIGION in France in 1562-94 (or 1562-98), between Catholics and Huguenots. The feudal nobility (who sought to limit royal power) headed both camps: the Catholic Dukes of Giza, the Huguenots Antoine Bourbon (soon, however, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

"Holy War" redirects here. See also other meanings. Religious wars are armed conflicts between representatives of various religious groups, including within one state, under religious slogans. Examples: ... ... Wikipedia

- (Huguenot wars) wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots) in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Contemporaries called them civil wars. At the head of the Catholic camp stood the Dukes of Giza, at the head of the Calvinists were members of the side line ... ... Historical dictionary

In France (Huguenot wars) wars between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots) in the 2nd half. 16th century, for religion. the complex struggle of various social forces was hidden behind the shell of the krykh. Contemporaries called R. v. civil wars, this is the name. often… … Soviet historical encyclopedia

religious wars- Cloue Francois. Portrait of Francis II Clouet Francois. Portrait of Francis II Wars of Religion () Wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists () in the second half of the 16th century. Contemporaries called them civil wars. At the head of the Catholic camp ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"

Huguenot wars, wars in France between Catholics and Calvinists (Huguenots (See Huguenots)) in the second half of the 16th century; Behind the religious shell of these wars was a complex struggle of various social forces. In historical literature... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Material from the Uncyclopedia

The Reformation, which began in Germany, immediately received a response in France. But here it was supported so far only in large cities by university students, artisans, apprentices. A new stage began in the 1940s. 16th century, when the ideas of John Calvin, the French reformer, who fled to Geneva, which eventually became the capital of a new creed, Calvinism, began to spread in the kingdom. It brought together merchants and entrepreneurs, nobles and educated officials. Calvinists were intolerant of dissidents, whether they were "papist" Catholics or atheists.

In 1547, Henry II became king. He, like his predecessor, believed that betraying the old religion would betray the king. Under him, the Guise family, the Dukes of Lorraine, enjoyed great influence. France was drawn into a new round of endless wars for Italian lands. The pope acted as an ally of the king. This largely explains the intensification of persecution of heretics. At the Parisian Parliament (Supreme Court), a special "Fire Chamber" was created.

Nevertheless, the number of Huguenots (from him Eidgenossen - comrade, as the Swiss reformers called themselves) grew every day. Under their banners flocked aristocrats, torn from the throne by the “rootless” Guises (the Lorraine were not directly related to the king); seniors, deprived of their former feudal power by the royal administration; townspeople, dissatisfied with the increase in taxes and the loss of former liberties.

There was not enough money for the war with Spain, and after lengthy negotiations in 1559 a peace was concluded. France lost all its Italian conquests, thousands of embittered nobles returned to the country, who received neither land nor salaries and were ready to take up arms again: the opposition was gaining strength. Having ended the war, the king intended to deal with internal enemies. But the unexpected happened: during the tournament on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter with the Spanish king, Henry II was mortally wounded by a fragment of a spear. His 15-year-old son, Francis II, came to power, married to the niece of the Guises (Mary Stuart), whose influence on the king was absolute.

The Huguenot nobles, led by the Bourbons, the closest relatives of the royal house, plotted against the usurpers. The coup attempt failed, its ordinary participants were executed in the city of Amboise. However, the triumph of Guise was short-lived - Francis II died in 1560.

He was succeeded by his underage brother Charles IX. Queen Mother Catherine de Medici preferred to maneuver between the powerful Guise and Bourbon clans. In January 1562, the "Edict of Tolerance" was issued - the Huguenots were allowed to worship outside the city walls. But the government could not eradicate mutual hatred: the Catholics persecuted the Calvinists, and the Huguenots, where they were in the majority, the Catholics. On March 1, 1562, François Guise broke up a prayer meeting of the Huguenots in the city of Vassy. Catholic Paris enthusiastically met the defender of the faith. For the Huguenots, the massacre of unarmed noble families served as a signal for a long-prepared uprising - they captured Lyon, Rouen, Orleans, Bordeaux and other cities. The country was embroiled in protracted religious wars (1562-1594).

At the first stage (1562-1570), the British and German princes helped the Huguenots, Pope and King Philip II of Spain helped the Catholics. The provinces relatively recently annexed to France, poorer, but retaining greater rights and freedoms, became the base of the Huguenots. Calvinists never exceeded a tenth of the population, but they were distinguished by organization and determination. They happened to suffer defeats, but quickly managed to recover - and a new army, recruited from the southern nobles, again threatened Paris.

However, aristocrats - "political Huguenots" had other goals than pastors - "religious Huguenots"; nobles and townspeople suspected each other of conspiring with Catholics, zealous Calvinists from among artisans and merchants tried to wrest power from the "fathers of the city", accusing them of betraying the cause of faith. There were even more contradictions in the Catholic camp - the leaders were openly at enmity with each other, and the main task of the king was to nullify the results of the military victories of his rivals. The government continued to adhere to the old tactics, fearing that one of the parties would become too strong.

After several wars under a treaty concluded in 1570, the Huguenots, who had recently suffered a series of defeats, nevertheless strengthened their positions. They were allowed to hold services on the outskirts of large cities, their authority was recognized over several fortresses in the south and over the port of La Rochelle. The Huguenots pinned great hopes on Admiral Coligny, who was called to court. He proposed a plan to resolve the conflict - to rally the militant nobility in the royal national army, which would move to the aid of the Netherlands, who had rebelled against Philip II. Catherine de Medici decided to reinforce the peace treaty by marrying her daughter Marguerite to the Huguenot leader Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre. The queen wanted to weaken the influence of the Guises, keep the Bourbons under control and attract the rebellious nobility to the court.

The wedding was attended by the entire color of the Huguenot nobility. Arriving in the capital as victors, they faced the deaf hatred of the Parisians. Already after the wedding, an attempt was made on Admiral Coligny, the traces indicated the involvement of the Guises in the conspiracy.

On the night of August 24, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, the alarm sounded - noblemen, supporters of Guise and other Catholic princes, together with armed Parisians, began beating the Huguenots, whose houses had been marked with crosses the day before. The number of victims exceeded a thousand people - the nobles who arrived for the wedding, the bourgeois suspected of Calvinism, their wives and children. Henry of Bourbon was saved by renouncing the faith. The killings continued for several more days, spreading to the provinces. On August 26, the government sent letters explaining that the king had suppressed an attempted Huguenot conspiracy.

These events made a huge impression on contemporaries. It was not only a matter of treachery or cruelty (such pogroms had happened before, for example, in 1566 on the night of St. Michael, the Huguenots of the city of Nimes massacred all Catholics), but that the established order had been violated from the century. Religious zeal turned out to be stronger than class boundaries - some nobles killed others, uniting with the plebeians, and all this was done with the consent of the king. It is believed that the queen started the massacre, wanting to eliminate the dangerous Coligny, to end the Huguenots with one blow. But St. Bartholomew's night was not a court intrigue. Hundreds of thousands of Parisians were blinded by fear. They were afraid of the Huguenots, because they remembered what atrocities they did in the district of Paris during the wars; they thought that these arrogant southerners, having penetrated into Paris, would open the gates to mercenaries in order to avenge their co-religionists. They were afraid of God: the Huguenots smashed churches, smashed statues of the Virgin Mary; preachers shouted that heavenly wrath would fall on the city where the wicked marriage of a Catholic woman with a heretic was concluded. The Huguenots were seen as rebels responsible for the incalculable calamities of war. Heinrich of Guise, famed as the defender of the faith and patron of Paris, skillfully took advantage of the mood of the townspeople to stay in power. The government proved powerless against the massive outbreak of hatred and fanaticism, but felt it was better to be known as treacherous than helpless.

Be that as it may, it was not possible to stop the religious wars. In their second stage (1572-1576), the Huguenots acted even more decisively. They declared the king a tyrant who wanted to destroy the best people countries. And the fight against a tyrant is a sacred right and duty of the people, that is, the nobles. So wrote numerous Huguenot pamphleteers, calling for the return of the times of the first kings, when neither rulers nor their officials encroached on freedom - on the feudal rights of lords and the liberties of cities. The Huguenots managed to create an independent confederation in the south of the country.

At the coronation in Reims (1575), the crown fell from the head of Henry III, who succeeded his deceased brother. Contemporaries saw this as a bad sign. Indeed, the position of the king was difficult. The Huguenots, led by Henry of Bourbon, who returned to Calvinism, became masters of almost a third of the country. The royal governors refused to reckon with the government. In 1576, the nobles and cities of the North united in the Catholic League, which was headed by Henry of Giese. The goal of the league is to fight for the preservation of the faith, since the government proved unable to cope with the Huguenots; struggle for the restoration of old liberties, for the abolition of unjust taxes. At the third stage of the war (1577-1594), the royal power had to fight on two fronts - against the Huguenot confederation and against the Catholic League, which resembled each other both in terms of requirements and composition of participants.

Henry III, in order to neutralize the Catholic League, declared himself its head. He issued formidable edicts against the Huguenots, raised money to fight them, waged wars, but at the same time, he least of all wanted their complete defeat, seeing them as a counterbalance to the Catholic feudal lords. At the same time, the king acted like a zealous Catholic - he patronized new orders and brotherhoods, established the Order of the Holy Spirit and awarded them to the nobles whom he wanted to bring closer to him. The king was generous to his favorites from among the provincial nobles, handed out pensions, arranged magnificent balls and holidays. Like Catherine de Medici, he sought to turn obstinate lords into obedient courtiers. Henry III undertook major monetary and financial reforms, created new positions for officials, and tried to get his proteges into the municipalities. These measures were designed to strengthen the base of royal power, to weaken the forces hostile to absolutism - feudal groups, the power of the lords, the freemen of the cities, but this required a lot of money, which he borrowed from Italian financiers, giving them all the new taxes to farm out (they were the harder the smaller area remained under the control of the king).

The number of dissatisfied grew every day - the king was openly called a tyrant, a hypocrite who condoned heresy, a weak-willed toy in the hands of depraved favorites and Italian swindlers. In 1584, when the younger brother of Henry III died, Henry of Bourbon became the heir to the childless king. Characteristically, the Huguenot pamphleteers immediately stopped calling for a fight against tyrants, but the Catholic League again raised its head. Parisian bourgeois, priests, university doctors, some officials created their own league, trying to keep up with the nobles. The council, which included representatives of sixteen districts, was preparing an uprising. It began on May 12, 1588, when the king brought troops into the city, thus violating the old privilege of Paris. The streets were blocked by barricades, the quarters were patrolled by the city militia. Those on whom the king counted also took to the streets - urban solidarity was so far stronger than devotion to the king. Henry III fled the capital, nobles and officials went over to the side of the league, the convened States General refused the king money, but forced him to declare war on the heir

Finally the king made up his mind - Heinrich of Guise was killed. The treacherous murder caused a storm of indignation. Most of the cities refused to obey, and the University of Paris called for a holy war against "ungodly tyranny." The "Council of Sixteen" arrested the king's supporters in Paris. Henry III had no choice but to unite with Henry of Bourbon. At the beginning of the summer of 1589, the army of the king and the Huguenots laid siege to Paris and burned its suburbs. On August 1, 1589, the king was mortally wounded by the young fanatical monk Jean Clement, who in Paris hastened to be declared a holy martyr for his faith.

The new king was not just a Huguenot, but a man who had already changed his faith twice. The French faced a choice between the principle of protecting the faith and the principle of legitimate monarchy. Never before has royalty been so severely tested. The Parisians were resolute: "If the Bourbon heretic enters the city, he will cruelly avenge the St. Bartholomew's night." Even the monks took up arms. The "Council of Sixteen" managed to withstand the terrible starvation blockade of Paris in 1590. Only the help of the Spanish detachment saved the city then. Zealous Catholics said that a Spanish king is better than a heretic king. Radical ligers attacked moderates and even executed the President of the Parlement of Paris. More and more often voices were heard that not only heretics were to blame, but in general all the nobility who unleashed the war, rich merchants and officials who shifted the burden of wars onto the shoulders of the people, who cared about their position more than about saving the faith. Isn't it time to determine a person's place in society not by his wealth or origin, but by zeal in serving the common cause?

The peasants had the worst of it: the country was flooded with bands of mercenaries. Trade froze, famine reigned. The worst days of the Hundred Years' War seemed to be back. As then, the peasants began to defend themselves - an armed movement of "crocans" - partisans, unfolded in the country.

Nobles, bourgeois and officials began to understand that only the king can guarantee their power and safety, and only he can save the country from foreign enslavement. The scales began to tip in favor of Henry IV. This brave commander turned out to be a wise politician, realizing that the cruelty and fanaticism of the war cannot be stopped. A general amnesty was declared, and yesterday's opponents were brought into the royal service. After the king once again converted to Catholicism, Paris opened the gates (1594). Other cities followed suit. The resistance of the Huguenot and Catholic aristocrats was broken by promising them pensions and ranks. In 1598 the Edict of Nantes was signed. He declared Catholicism the official religion, but the rights were reserved for the Protestants, they were given fortresses in the south. It was a compromise, it did not suit everyone, but the only way to get out of protracted wars.

Religious or Huguenot wars - a series of protracted civil wars between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots), who tore apart France under the last kings of the Valois dynasty, from 1562 to 1598. The Huguenots were led by the Bourbons (Prince Condé, Henry of Navarre) and Admiral de Coligny, and the Catholics were led by Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and the powerful Giza. Its neighbors tried to influence the course of events in France - Elizabeth of England supported the Huguenots, and Philip of Spain supported the Catholics. The wars ended with the accession of Henry of Navarre to the French throne and the issuance of the compromise Edict of Nantes (1598).

1 war: 1560-63

The reason for the first war was the Amboise conspiracy and its brutal suppression by Giza. After Francis II came to power, the Guise family, led by the Duke Francois de Guizomi and his brother Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, began to actually lead the country, who increased the persecution of the Huguenots by introducing the death penalty for secret religious gatherings. The Calvinist A. de Boer (1559), an adviser to the Paris Parliament, was convicted and hanged. Among the highest French aristocracy there was very strong dissatisfaction with Guise. In 1560, the opposition formed a conspiracy led by the Perigord nobleman La Renaudie. They wanted to capture the king and arrest the Guises. These events went down in history as the Amboise conspiracy. Upon learning of the coup attempt, Giza made concessions: on March 8, 1560, they passed a law prohibiting religious persecution. But soon Giza rescinded the Edict of March and brutally cracked down on the conspirators. The Prince of Condé was arrested and sentenced to death. He was saved only by the sudden death of Francis II on December 5, 1560.

The minor King Charles IX ascended the throne, and the actual power was in the hands of his mother Catherine de Medici. Giza began to lose influence, and Louis Conde was released and brought closer to the court. Antoine of Navarre was appointed lieutenant general of the French kingdom. Catherine tried to pursue a policy of tolerance and reconciliation between all religious denominations.

In January 1562, the Saint-Germain (January) Edict was issued, according to which the Huguenots could practice their faith outside the city walls or in private city houses. But Giza and supporters of the former government, dissatisfied with the concessions to the Protestants and the growing influence of Conde, formed the so-called. "triumvirate" (F. de Guise - Montmorency - Saint Andre). The triumvirs began negotiations with Catholic Spain on a joint struggle against the Protestants.

On March 1, 1562, the Duke of Guise attacked the Huguenots who were worshiping in the town of Vassy in the province of Champagne. Several people were killed and about 100 participants of the assembly were wounded. The triumvirs captured Charles IX and Catherine de Medici in the town of Fontainebleau and forced them to cancel the January Edict. After that, Condé and his associate François d'Andelot took Orleans, turning the city into the capital of the Huguenot resistance. An alliance was concluded with England, where at that time Queen Elizabeth I ruled, who actively supported the Protestants throughout Europe, and the German Protestant princes. The triumvirs took Rouen (May-October 1562), preventing the unification of the forces of the British and the Huguenots in Normandy; during these battles, Antoine of Navarre died. Soon, reinforcements from Germany arrived at Conde, the Huguenots approached Paris, but unexpectedly returned back to Normandy. December 19, 1562 at Dreux, Prince Condé was defeated by the Catholics and captured.

Admiral Coligny, who led the Huguenots, returned to Orleans. Guise laid siege to the city, but unexpectedly for everyone was killed by the Huguenot Poltro de Mere. After the death of Giza, the parties sat down at the negotiating table. Weakened by the loss of their leaders, both parties sought peace. Queen Mother Catherine de Medici also aspired to this, after the death of King Francis, she entrusted the administration of the state to the moderate Chancellor Michel de L'Hopital. In March 1563, the leaders of the Huguenots and Catholics, through the mediation of Catherine de Medici, signed the Treaty of Amboise, which guaranteed the Calvinists freedom of religion in a limited number of areas and possessions. His terms basically confirmed the Edict of Saint-Germain.

Catholics. The wars ended with the accession of Henry of Navarre, who converted to Catholicism, to the French throne and the issuance of the compromise Edict of Nantes (1598).