The%20Wars%20of%20Religion

1
The Wars of Religion

• Western Civilization II

2
The Rise of Nation-States

• Medieval feudalism based on idea of 1 Emperor, 1
  religion (Holy Roman Empire)
• In reality, feudalism highly decentralized
• New monarchies attempting to est. sovereign,
  centralized nation-states
• King have to take power away from nobles
• Methods of centralization
• More effective army
• Codification control of laws
• Ability to collect taxes effectively
• Strengthening of bureaucracy
• Control of church

3
The Catholic Huguenot Struggle for France

• Francis II (1559-60) married to Mary, Queen of
  Scots (niece of the Duc de Guise)
• Huguenots led by Louis Bourbon, Prince de Condé,
  Admiral de Coligny
• Massacre at Vassy starts first war (1562-63)
• Crowns cooperation with Spanish suppression of
  Calvinists in Netherlands sparks second war
  (1567-68)
• Third war (1568-70) began with Cardinal
  Lorraines plot to capture Condé Coligny

4
St. Bartholomews Day Massacre, 1572

• Henry of Navarre married Margot de Valois
• Charles IX (1560-74) allowed Coligny other
  Huguenot leaders to be assassinated
• Henry of Navarre arrested forced to convert

Pieter Brueghel, Massacre of the Innocents
5
Henry III (1574-89) Henry IV

• 1576 - Henry of Navarre escaped Edict of
  Beaulieu granted power to Huguenots
• 1584 - Henry of Navarre became heir presumptive
• excommunicated by Pope Sixtus V
• Duc de Guise formed Catholic League
• 1585 - Henry III outlawed Huguenots
• 1588 - Henry III assassinated Duc de Guise
• 1589 king allied with Henry of Navarre vs.
  League assassinated in July by a monk

6
Henry IV and the Catholic League

• Henry IVs siege of Paris relieved by Spanish
  Duke of Parma
• 1593 Estates-General accepted Henry IV after he
  converts to Catholicism
• 1594 Edict of Nantes allows toleration of
  Huguenots
• Henry IV Duke of Sully stabilized France after
  Wars of Religion

7
Henry IV Enters Paris, Spring 1594, by Rubens
8
The 30 Years War (1618-1648)

• War began when Protestant nobles rebelled against
  Emperor Ferdinand II
• Defenestration of Prague (1618)
• Protestant League defeated at White Mountain
  (1620) lost Palatinate (1622)
• Danes intervene under Christian IV but routed by
  Albrecht von Wallenstein (1625-29)
• Swedes intervene under Gustavus Adolphus (1630)
  defeat Wallenstein at Lützen (1632)
• French ally with Swedes (1635) - crush Spanish at
  Rocroi (1643), then defeat Bavarians

9
The Peace of Westphalia (1648)

• Peace of Westphalia effectively ended Holy Roman
  Empire
• All German states got to choose denomination
  (Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist)
• Brandenburg-Prussia begins to emerge