AP Euro Chapter 15 #1-19

War of the Three Henrys

Henry III arranged the assassination of Henry, Duke of Guise. Mere months later, Henry III was assassinated himself by a fanatic Catholic friar, and Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV, became the new king of France. His rule, however, was vehemently opposed by the still Guise-controlled Catholic League, who claimed that Henry IV's uncle, a Catholic, should be king. Their opposition forced Henry IV to reclaim France by waging a military campaign. He was able to recapture most major cities, but not Paris. Henry IV finally gained full power of France by converting to Catholicism, saying "Paris is worth a Mass," allowing him to retake Paris.

Francis I

A French king. Francis continued the policies of centralization and was a great patron of Renaissance art, but spent more money than he raised. He employed Leonardo da Vinci and Cellini, began the art collection for the Louvre, and funded the construction of lavish palaces such as Fontainebleau, which had a fountain that gushed wine! His military endeavors usually wound up in failure, but he did succeed in capturing Milan and forming the Franco-Ottoman alliance. His main rivals were Henry VIII and Charles V, and he was allied with Suleiman the Magnificent in the Franco-Ottoman Alliance. During the Habsburg-Valois Wars, Francis sold public offices and signed the Concordat of Bologna (1516) to raise money because the wars had been so costly. The Concordat recognized the supremacy of the papacy in return for the right to appoint French bishops. The king of France from 1515 to his death in 1547. He also funded explorers to the New World such as Verrazano and Cartier, and encouraged the settlement of Canada. Francis I was a devout Catholic, but was initially tolerant of the Protestants. However, after the Affair of the Placards, he persecuted them and killed thousands, thereby beginning the French Wars of Religion.

Henry of Navarre (Henry IV)

After emerging victorious from the War of the Three Kings (Henrys) and converting to Catholicism, Henry of Navarre became the king of France. Soon after he gained power in 1589, Henry IV declared the Edict of Nantes (1598), granting some rights and 150 fortified towns to the Huguenots. During his reign, he brought relative peace to the kingdom and became one of the most popular French kings in history. He regulated the economy, promoted agricultural development, funded public works, encouraged education, started reforestation programs, balanced the budget in only three years, and promoted the arts. Henry IV also funded the expeditions of several explorers and the settlement of Port Royal and Quebec in Canada. He was assassinated in 1610. Interesting fact: In 1793, revolutionaries sacked his grave and the head of his body went missing! It was not found until 2010, in the attic of a retired tax collector. A series of tests proved that it was, in fact, the head of Henry IV, and it was reunited with his body in 2011 after a national mass.

Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

August 1572, the death of over 20,000 Huguenots occurred. This then led to more civil strife between Protestants and Catholics. The massacre began two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. A group of men, led by Henry, Duke of Guise, attacked de Coligny in his hotel, stabbed him, and threw his body out of the window before beheading him. Starting on August 23rd, 1572 (the eve of the feast of Bartholomew the Apostle with murders on orders of the king of a group of Huguenot leaders including Coligny, the massacres spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks, the massacre extended to other regions. This massacre crippled the Huguenots, as many of their followers were either killed or discouraged.

Catholic League

Formed in the Holy Roman Empire with the purpose of defending the Catholic religion and to counter the Protestant Union, it helped exacerbate tensions in the HRE between the religions, helping to lead to the Thirty Years' War. It was dominated by the Jesuits, who were quite uncompromising in their quest to halt Protestantism.

Henry II

Francis I's son, he continued many of his father's policies. He burned Huguenots at the stake or cut out their tongues for uttering heresies. He was married to Catherine de Medici at the age of 14. In foreign affairs, Henry concluded the 60-years of warfare, mostly fought in Italy, against the English and Spanish in 1559 when he signed the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis. He died by being hit in the head by a lance at the marriage festivities between his daughter and Philip II of Spain.

Henry III

Henry III was crowned the king of France following the death of his brother, Charles IX. He soon signed an agreement granting many rights to the Protestants in France. This prompted Henry I, Duke of Guise, who was a devout Catholic, to form the Catholic League. Many of the Protestants' new rights were renounced later on by Henry III due to pressure from the Catholic League. In 1788, Henry III had Henry I, Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Guise, assassinated, infuriating many French Catholics. In 1589, on the day before Henry III planned a siege to reclaim Paris, he was assassinated by a fanatical friar. Because he had no heirs, he was the last of the Valois family to rule. Henry was very intelligent, cultivated, and erratic. He split much of his attention between his bisexual needs and frantic acts of repentance. He showed an interest in marrying Elizabeth I, but it didn't work out and he called her a "putain!" He spent almost all of his reign fighting Huguenots and fighting rivals for his throne, including Henry of Guise and Henry of Navarre. He was assassinated in 1589, allowing Henry of Navarre to seize the throne.

Ferdinand II (HRE)

In 1617, he was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His deep belief and faith in Catholicism caused immediate turmoil in his non-Catholic subjects, especially in Bohemia. He did not respect the religious liberties granted by the Letter of Majesty, signed by a previous emperor, which had guaranteed the freedom of religion to the nobles and the inhabitants of the cities as long as they agreed to stop seizing Catholic property. Additionally, Ferdinand was an absolutist monarch and infringed upon several historical privileges of the nobles. Ferdinand defeated Frederick V at White Mountain in 1620. After Frederick's flight to the Netherlands, Ferdinand ordered forced conversion to Catholicism in Bohemia and Austria, causing Protestantism there to nearly disappear in the following decades, and he reduced the Bohemian Diet's (Congress') power.

Fredrick V

In 1618, the Protestant estates of Bohemia rebelled against the Holy Roman Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II, threw his ministers out a window, and offered the crown of Bohemia to Frederick V, choosing him since he was the leader of the Protestant Union, a military alliance founded by his father. Frederick duly accepted the crown, which triggered the outbreak of the Thirty Years War. He is nicknamed the "Winter King" because he only held the kingship until 1620, when he was forced out of power when the Bohemian protestants lost the Battle of White Mountain.

Edict of Nantes

Is the 1598 orders issued by King Henry IV of France that established rights for the Huguenots. The goal of the edict was to create civil unity and finally end 45 years of religious warfare between the Huguenots and the Roman Catholics in France. Huguenots were given 150 fortified towns to worship in. Unfortunately, the ability to maintain fortified towns created a "state within a state," and the next king after Henry IV, Louis XIII, was determined to break Huguenot power.

Battle of White Mountain

It was an early battle of the Thirty Years' War, and began in November of 1620. 15,000 Bohemians under Christian of Anhalt and Frederick V fought the combined armies of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and the Catholic League. Frederick lost and the battle marked the end of the Bohemian phase of the Thirty Years' War.

Charles IX

Only ten when he succeeded the throne, he was heavily influenced by his mother. He and his mother were best known for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (Aug. 24, 1572), when thousands of Huguenots were massacred during the wedding celebration of Charles' sister, Margaret, and Henry of Bourbon (Henry of Navarre). Fighting broke out after the wedding choreographer refused to include the chicken dance as part of the reception.

Cathrine de Medici

She dominated Charles IX's reign. She was the widow of Henry II. After Henry II's death, she played a large role in the brief reign of Francis II, and then ruled as the regent for her ten year old son, Charles IX. She also played a large part in the rule of her third son, Henry III, when he rose to power. She chose to harshly persecute the Huguenots, and was responsible for the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed across France. Her motives were almost always political; for example, she warred against another Catholic dynasty, the Guise family, to keep the Valois in power, while also fighting the Huguenots.

Bourbon Family

The French royal family that began with Henry IV and ruled France from 1589 until 1848. With the exception of Henry IV, they were a Catholic dynasty. One of the three powerful families in France, they struggled to gain power. After the death of Henry III's heir, a Bourbon named Henry of Navarre was next in line for the French throne. However, the Guise wanted the throne, and Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot. Using religion as a front, the Guise did anything in their power to prevent Henry of Navarre from ascending to the throne, causing the War of the Three Henrys (near the end of the French Wars of Religion). Eventually, Henry of Navarre gained control of France through force, and through his conversion to Catholicism.

Guise Family

The Guise family was one of the three politically prominent families vying for power in France, along with the Bourbons and the Valois. The Guises used a front of devout Catholicism to combat the moderate policies of Valois line of kings, Henry III in particular. They played a large part in causing the wars of religion, helped to organize the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and catalyzed the Catholic revolt in Paris on the Day of Barricades. In the end, they were successful in ending the reign of the Valois family, when Henry III was assassinated while preparing to retake Paris. But, it was at the cost of losing their own leader, Henry I, Duke of Guise, and the Bourbons, not the Guise, replaced the Valois.

Francis II

The eldest of the three weak sons of Henry II. He married Mary Queen of Scots at the age of 14, but died at 16 of an ear infection!

Bohemian Phase

This is when Calvinists demanded more freedom from the Catholic Hapsburg emperor. Occurring during this time was the Defenestration of Prague, and the Bohemian rebels were defeated at the Battle of White Mountain. As a result of all the fighting, Bohemia became Catholic by 1635.

Defenestration of Prague

Two ministers for the emperor, who were destroying or seizing Protestant property, were thrown out a window at a meeting over land disputes in Prague in 1618. Many in the room later claimed that they thought the two ministers were only going to be arrested, but by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late. The ministers were thrown out the window, 70 feet up. They, according to Protestants, landed on a large pile of horse manure in a dry moat and survived. Catholics countered with the story that angels helped the men land softly on the ground. Yeah, angels!

Thirty Years' War

Was one of the most destructive conflicts ever. Initially, the war was fought largely as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, although disputes over the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire played a significant part. The fight all started after the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. This agreement allowed Lutheran and Catholic princes to determine what the religion of their subjects. It did not, however, include Calvinists. The Protestants in Germany were backed by the English, French, and the Dutch. Spain and the Hapsburg Empire supported Catholic Germany. The war began after Calvinists demanded more freedom from the Catholic ruler. The fighting continued through four phases of the war; Bohemian (Defenestration of Prague, Battle of White Mountain), Danish (Denmark defends Northern German Protestants, HRE defeats Danish opposition, Calvinism outlawed and Lutherans required to return all Catholic property seized), Swedish (Sweden intervenes to help protect Protestants, Sweden's King, Adolphus dies in battle and ends their effectiveness, France provides aid to Sweden) Swedish/French (most destructive phase of the war, Catholic French want to destroy Hapsburg power so they side with the Protestants, Treaty of Westphalia happens, ending the war).