4.29 Europe: a.d. 1501 to 1600  (Page 15/29)

(Ref. 68 )

The Reformation was somewhat delayed in this country because of a "concordant" with the pope, allowing the king to appoint and control church officials in the nation. This removed the dominance of Rome, which was such a great factor in Germany's revolt.

Nevertheless, by the second half of the century this did become a political issue that led to the Wars of Religion, France's gravest civil conflict since the Hundred Years War.

Wedged between conflicts were the short reigns of Francois II, first husband of Mary Stuart of Scotland and niece of the Guises, to be mentioned below, and Charles IX. Francois II died of tuberculous meningitis in 1560 a year after he was crowned, while his brother Charles IX died of pulmonary tuberculosis at age 24 years, in 1574. (Ref. 260 ) From 1559 to 1598 there were 8 distinct wars, interrupted by treaties, aggravated by massacres - a muddled, chaotic period, which showed that the French are never crueler than when fighting one another. Huguenot Protestants, taking Calvin's doctrines, became more and more powerful so that by 1561 there were 2,000 Calvinistic churches. This was in the reign of the "boy king", Henri II, son of Francois II and ruling from 1549 to 1559. He was a weak monarch, greatly influenced by Anne de Montmorency, his mistress Diane de Poitiers

Three separate factions began to develop in France: The Valois royalists of Catholic faith, who for awhile tried to be tolerant of the new Protestantism; the strong Catholic faction led by Henry Guise of royal blood from Anjou and Lorraine; and finally the faction of Henri de Navarre of the House of Bourbon and of mixed inheritance from Spanish, Basque, French and Austrian ancestry. Henry Guise had a dual purpose in life - to kill all Huguenots and make himself king of France. Henri de Navarre, a nominal Protestant, also was a claimant to the throne. The destinies of these factions were interwoven with the Spanish-English-Dutch conflict at the end of the century, which we have indirectly mentioned when discussing the Spanish Armada. Henri III, a Valois who had been elected king of Poland, returned to France as king in 1574, on the death of Charles XI. He vacillated on the religious issue and let himself in great part be dominated by his mother Catherine de Medici and his cousin the tricky Duke of Guise, champion of the anti-royalist conspiracy known as the "Holy League", serving the religious interests of the papacy. (Ref. 51 , 57 , 229 , 74 , 133 )

The antagonisms of the factions just mentioned culminated in 1585 in the last of the 8 wars and carrying the name "The War of the Three Henris". Confusion reigned supreme as Henri III fled to Blois, hoping to get support from the States-General and finding none, he arranged the murder of Henry of Guise and his brother, a cardinal. In retaliation a new revolt of the Catholic party broke out and Henri fled to the camp of Henri of Navarre among the Huguenots, where he was murdered by the monk, Jacques Clement. This left only the Bourbon, Henri of Navarre, but the Catholic group refused to recognize his succession to king and named another. But Henri besieged Paris, defeating the Duke of Mayenne and the Spanish Duke of Parma and finally, supported by somewhat moderate Catholics who wished a strong national monarchy, he was crowned Henri IV, King of France.