HIST 1010
Chapter 12 Summary: The Age of Religious Wars
o Age of Religious Wars – bloody conflict of Protestants and Catholics across
Europe
o 2 half of 16 century – Calvinists fought Catholic rulers for right to govern
their own territories and practice chosen religion
o 1 half of 17 century – Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics against one another
in 30 Years’ War
o Mid 17 century – English Puritans successfully revolted against Stuart
monarch and Anglican Church
Renewed Religious Struggle
o 1 half of 16 century – religious conflict confined to central Europe –
Lutherans vs. Zwinglians to secure rights/freedoms
nd
o 2 half of century – focus shifted to Western Europe
o After Peace of Augsburg (1555) Lutheranism became legal religion in Holy
Roman Empire
o Peace of Augsburg did not extend recognition to non-Lutheran Protestants
o Anabaptists, etc. – scorned as heretics and anarchists
o Calvinists not strong enough to gain standing
o Council of Trent adjourned in 1563 – Catholics began Jesuit counteroffensive
against Protestants
o Presbyters – elders
o Stressing unquestioning obedience to person at the top
o Look within themselves for religious truth, no longer to churches and creeds
o Outbreak of 30 Years’ War 1618 – made international dimension of religious
conflict clear
French Wars of Religion
o French Protestants – Huguenots
o Protestants plastered Paris and other cities with anti-Catholic placards on
Oct 18. 1534
o French King Henry II, mortally wounded – brought sickly son to throne; only
reigned a year
o Monarchy weakened, three powerful families saw change to control France
o Bourbons – power lay in south and west
o Montmorency-Chatillons – controlled center of France
o Guises – dominant in eastern France
Appeal of Calvinism
o 1561 – more than 2,000 Huguenot congregations existed throughout France;
majority populated in Dauphine and Languedoc
o Held important geographic areas and were heavily represented among the
more powerful segments of French society o Calvinism inspired political resistance, while resistance made Calvinism a
viable religion in Catholic France
Catherine de Medicis and the Guises
o Catherine tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the Protestant and Catholic
factions
The Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
o First French war of religion – April 1562- March 1563
o Duke of Guise assassinated
Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
o Catherine lent her support to Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of
Protestants
o Only the swift execution of Protestant leaders could save the corwn from a
Protestant attack on Paris
o August 24, 1572
o Coligny and 3,000 fellow Huguenots were butchered in Paris
o Within 3 days, coordinated attacks across France killed estimated 20,000
Huguenots
Protestant Resistance Theory
o John Knox – Blast of the Trumpet against the Terrible Regiment of Women
(1558) – declared that the removal of a heathen tyrant was not only
permissible, but also a Christian duty
o Franco-Gallia (1573) – justified the correction and even the over throw of
tyrannical rulers by lower authorities
o Defense of Liberty against Tyrants (1579) – admonished princes, nobles, and
magistrates beneath the king, as guardians of the rights of the body politic, to
take up arms against tyranny in other lands
The Rise to Power of Henry of Navarre
o English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588
o Philip II – hoped to place his eldest daughter on French thron
o Henry had the wit and charm to neutralize the strongest enemy in a face-to-
face confrontation
o July 25, 1593 – publically abandoned the Protestant faith and embraced the
traditional and majority religion of his country
o Huguenots – horrified, Pope Clement VII skeptical of Henry’s sincerity; most
French church and people rallied to his side
Edict of Nantes
o April 13, 1598, Henry IV’s famous Edict of Nantes proclaimed a formal
religious settlement
o May 2, 1598 – Treaty of Vervins ended hostilities between France and Spain o 1591 – Henry IV assured the Huguenots of at least qualified religious
freedoms
o Edict of Nantes – recognized minority religious rights; religious truce; had
created only a state within a state
o Henry IV’s political and economic policies laid foundation for the
transformation of France into the absolute state
Pillars of Spanish Power
o Philip II – heir to the intensely Catholic and military supreme western
Habsburg kingdom
Increased Population
o Europe became richer, but also more populous
o Economically and politically active towns – pops 3x/4x larger by 17 century
o Europe’s pop. by 1600 =
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