French Wars of Religion:

France had strong kings who were good rulers and held control over their territory. They were noble and no one disputed their right to the kingship. No one thought about war as a threat until a weak king gained the kingship. He did not hold very strong control over France.

French Calvinists from all parts of society were called Huguenots. Huguenots were looked down upon by all other religions. Even though they were not a very large group, they had better organization than their opponents. They could not take over the country because they were too few in number, but their opponents could not destroy them either.

The Catholics had many allies and when the two main Catholic leaders began to threaten each other, the nation began to be divided against itself. King Philip of Spain supported the Catholics and Queen Elizabeth of England supported the Huguenots. When they began to believe that religion was more important than country unity, a religious civil war was unavoidable.

During the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August twenty-forth in 1572, eager Catholics attacked and slaughtered three thousand Huguenots starting in Paris and spreading outwards. The king allowed the killing since he could not stop it. A few Huguenots escaped and fled to other countries. But most of the Huguenots were killed and their houses were plundered.

Eventually a Catholic king came to the throne and stopped the wild rebellions. The Edict of Nantes brought an end to the war and declared Catholicism as the religion of France, but Huguenots were tolerated.

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