French Wars of Religion

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

-Mass slaying of Huguenots (Calvinists) in Paris, on Saint Bartholomew's Day, 1572. -It started because Catherine de Medici tries to kill Protestant leader, Coligny, but fails so then she convinces her son to kill a bunch of Huguenots, so the Protestants wouldnt throw them off the throne

What were the French Wars of religion? How did they start and end? What was significant about St Bartholomew's Day Massacre?

Catherine De Medici established the January Edict: allows Protestants to worship publicly outside of France. This leads to Guide massacring a bunch of Protestants in the town of Vassay and this leads to the French Wars Of Religion. After fighting, Catherine calms down for a bit then the Protestant leader , Coligny tries to convince Catherine's son to invade the Spanish Netherlands. She is worried this will start a war with Spain so it leads to SBDM. It ended with Henry of Navarre becoming Catholic and tolerance of the Huguenots granted by the Edict of Nantes.

Huguenots

French Protestants

Guise Family

French family who worked to control Francis II. Family members were members of government and religion such as Duke and Cardinals. The family was known for being militants

Henry of Navarre (Henry IV)

Political leader of the Huguenots and a member of the Bourbon dynasty, succeeded to the throne as Henry IV. He realized that as a Protestant he would never be accepted by Catholic France, so he converted to Catholicism. When he became king in 1594, the fighting in France finally came to an end. "Paris is worth a mass"

Catherine de Medicis

Ruled as Queen of France for after Francis II and fought to reconcile French and Protestant relations. She wanted to balance power with the Guise Family so she became allies with Protestants (so she issued the January Edict: allowed Protestants to worship outside towns). It all ended when Guise Family killed a Protestant congregation and began war with Huguenots.

Edict of Nantes

document that granted religious freedom to the Huguenots by Henry of Navarre

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

part of Louis XIV's efforts to have France have only one religion, he closed huguenots churches and schools, banned all their public activities, and exiled those who refused to embrace the state religion