European History Guide
... France. Catherine de Medicis and the Guises Queen; son was Charles IX. Issues the January Edict, which was a measure that granted Protest freedom to worship publicly outside towns and to hold synods. Beginning of French wars of religion royal toleration came to an abrupt end when the Duke of Guise surprised a Protestant Congregation at Vassy in Champagne. Massacre of Vassy marked the beginning of French Wars (1562). She alternated her support between Catholics and Huguenots. The Pease of Saint-Germain-En-Laye Conde was killed and Huguenot leadership passed to Coligny: better military strategist. The Pease of Saint-Germain-En-Laye ended the 3rd war and granted the Huguenots religious freedom within their territories and right to fortify their cities. Catherine wanted a Catholic France she sought Guises support. Coligny used his position of influence to win the King of France over to plan a French invasion of the Netherlands in support of the Dutch Protestants. The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Plot to kill Coligny; Catherine convinced Charles that a Huguenot coup was afoot and that only the swift execution of Protestant leaders could save the crown from a Protestant attack on Paris. Coligny and 3000 Huguenots were butchered later 20000 Huguenots were killed. Pope Gregory XIII and Philip II of Spain rejoice the news because by throwing France into civil war, the massacre ended the French opposition plan to subdue the Netherlands. Protestant Resistance Theory Lutherans had published a highly influential defense of the right of lower authorities to oppose the emperors’ order that all Lutherans return to the Catholic fold. Calvin taught that the lower magistrates had the right and duty to oppose tyrannical higher authority. John Knox declared that the removal of a heathen tyrant was not only permissible, but a Christian Duty. The Rise to Power of Henry of Navarre Henry III- French Crown. The Peace of Beaulieu granted the Huguenots almost complete religious and civil freedom. The kind truncated the Peace of Beaulieu and circumscribed areas of permitted Huguenot worship. King Henry of Navarre in alliance after assassination of the duke and Cardinal of Guise. He became Henry IV. He was liked by the public, believed that a royal policy of tolerant Catholicism would be the best way to achieve peace. Wars ended when Henry IV abjured the Protestant faith and embraced the traditional and majority religion of his country. Edict of Nantes Recognized Calvinist religious freedom. Treaty of Vervins ended hostilities between France and Spain. Edict of Nantes recognized and sanctioned minority religious rights within what was to remain an officially Catholic country. Huguenots got freedom of public worship, the right of assembly, admission to public offices and universities and permission to maintain fortified towns within their own towns/territories. The economic policies laid the foundations for the transformation of France into the absolute state it would become under Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV. Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The Thirty Years’ War War of religion. Catholic vs. Protestant, Lutherans vs. Calvinists Fragmented Germany There were independent secular principalities; ecclesiastical principalities; numerous free cities; and castle regions dominated by knights. Political decentralization and fragmentation characterized Germany as the 17th century opened. After the Council of Trent, Protestants in the empire suspected the existence of an imperial and papal conspiracy to recreate the Catholic Europe of pre-Reformation times. The imperial diet demanded strict observance of the constitutional rights of Germans. Religious Division Catholics demanded that all ecclesiastical princes, electors, archbishops, bishops, and abbots who had deserted the Catholic for the Protestant side be immediately deprived of their religious offices and positions and that their ecclesiastical principalities be promptly retuned to Catholic control. Lutherans gained political control in some Catholic areas, as they had been more successful in securing their rights to worship in Catholic lands than Catholics had been in Lutheran lands. Calvinism and the Palatinate Frederick III became elector Palatine and made Calvinism the official religion of his domain. Heidelberg became a German Geneva: both great intellectual center of Calvinism and a staging area for the Calvinist penetration into the Empire. Palatine Calvinists seemed to the Lutherans directly to threaten the Peace of Augsburg by their bold missionary forays into the empire. Maximilian of Bavaria and the Catholic League Staunchly Catholic Bavaria, supported by Spain, became militarily and ideologically for the Counterreformation what the Palatinate was for Protestantism. Maximilian, duke of Bavaria organized a Catholic League to counter a new Protestant alliance. The Bohemian Period Habsburg Ferdinand was determined to restore the tradition faith throughout Austria, Bohemia, and Poland. He revoked the religious freedoms of Bohemian Protestants Broaden by Emperor Rudolf II in his Letter of Majesty in 1609. Became Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand II. The Bohemians deposed him and declared Frederick V their overlord. The Danish Period The Lutheran King Christian IV of Denmark was eager to extend Danish influence over the coastal towns of the North Sea. Military success made Maximilian stronger and more difficult to control. Ferdinand II sought a more pliant tool for his policies by hiring a powerful, complex mercenary Albrecht of Wallenstein. Edict of Restitution dramatically reasserted the Catholic safeguards of the Peace of Augsburg. It reaffirmed the illegality of Calvinism, ordered the return of all church lands acquired by the Lutherans. The Swedish Period French minister Cardinal Richelieu, whose foreign policy was to protect French interests by keepings Habsburg armies tied down in Germany. The Protestant victory at Breitenfeld so dramtically reversed the course of the war that it has been regarded as the most decisive engagement of the long conflict. Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish King, bro...