Part 118 (2/2)

By 1500 A.D. France had become a centralized state under a strong monarchy. [31] Francis I, who reigned in the first half of the sixteenth century, still further exalted the royal power. He had many wars with Charles V, whose extensive dominions nearly surrounded the French kingdom.

These wars prevented the emperor from making France a mere dependency of Spain. As we have learned, [32] they also interfered with the efforts of Charles V to crush the Protestants in Germany.

THE HUGUENOTS

Protestantism in France dates from the time of Francis I. The Huguenots, [33] as the French Protestants were called, naturally accepted the doctrines of Calvin, who was himself a Frenchman and whose books were written in the French language. Though bitterly persecuted by Francis I and by his son Henry II (1547-1559 A.D.), the Huguenots gained a large following, especially among the prosperous middle cla.s.s of the towns--the _bourgeoisie_. Many n.o.bles also became Huguenots, sometimes because of religious conviction, but often because the new movement offered them an opportunity to recover their feudal independence and to plunder the estates of the Church. In France, as well as in Germany, the Reformation had its worldly side.

CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE

During most of the second half of the sixteenth century fierce conflicts raged in France between the Roman Catholics and the Huguenots. Philip II aided the former and Queen Elizabeth gave some a.s.sistance to the latter.

France suffered terribly in the struggle, not only from the constant fighting, which cost the lives, it is said, of more than a million people, but also from the pillage, burnings, and other barbarities in which both sides indulged. The wealth and prosperity of the country visibly declined, and all patriotic feeling disappeared in the hatreds engendered by a civil war.

Ma.s.sACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY, 1572 A.D.

The episode known as the ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew's Day ill.u.s.trates the extremes to which political ambition and religious bigotry could lead. The ma.s.sacre was an attempt to extirpate the Huguenots, root and branch, at a time when peace prevailed between them and their opponents. The person primarily responsible for it was Catherine de' Medici, mother of Charles IX (1560-1574 A.D.), the youthful king of France. Charles had begun to cast off the sway of his mother and to come under the influence of Admiral de Coligny, the most eminent of the Huguenots. To regain her power Catherine first tried to have Coligny murdered. When the plot failed, she invented the story of a great Huguenot uprising and induced her weak- minded son to authorize a wholesale butchery of Huguenots. It began in Paris in the early morning of August 24, 1572 A.D. (St. Bartholomew's Day), and extended to the provinces, where it continued for several weeks.

Probably ten thousand Huguenots were slain, including Coligny himself. But the deed was a blunder as well as a crime. The Huguenots took up arms to defend themselves, and France again experienced all the horrors of internecine strife.

HENRY IV

The death of Coligny transferred the leaders.h.i.+p of the Huguenots to Henry Bourbon, king of Navarre. [34] Seventeen years after the ma.s.sacre of St.

Bartholomew's Day, he inherited the French crown as Henry IV. The Roman Catholics would not accept a Protestant ruler and continued the conflict.

Henry soon realized that only his conversion to the faith of the majority of his subjects would bring a lasting peace. Religious opinions had always sat lightly upon him, and he found no great difficulty in becoming a Roman Catholic. ”Paris,” said Henry, ”was well worth a ma.s.s.” Opposition to the king soon collapsed, and the Huguenot wars came to an end.

EDICT OF NANTES, 1598 A.D.

Though now a Roman Catholic, Henry did not break with the Huguenots. In 1598 A.D. he issued in their interest the celebrated Edict of Nantes. By its terms the Huguenots were to enjoy freedom of private wors.h.i.+p everywhere in France, and freedom to wors.h.i.+p publicly in a large number of villages and towns. Only Roman Catholic services, however, might be held in Paris and at the royal court. Though the edict did not grant complete religious liberty, it marked an important step in that direction. A great European state now for the first time recognized the principle that two rival faiths might exist side by side within its borders. The edict was thus the most important act of toleration since the age of Constantine.

[35]

FRANCE UNDER HENRY IV, 1588-1610 A.D.

Having settled the religious difficulties, Henry could take up the work of restoring prosperity to distracted France. His interest in the welfare of his subjects gained for him the name of ”Good King Henry.” With the help of Sully, his chief minister, the king reformed the finances and extinguished the public debt. He opened roads, built bridges, and dug ca.n.a.ls, thus aiding the restoration of agriculture. He also encouraged commerce by means of royal bounties for s.h.i.+pbuilding. The French at this time began to have a navy and to compete with the Dutch and English for trade on the high seas. Henry's work of renovation was cut short in 1610 A.D. by an a.s.sa.s.sin's dagger. Under his son Louis XIII (1610-1643 A.D.), a long period of disorder followed, until an able minister, Cardinal Richelieu, a.s.sumed the guidance of public affairs. Richelieu for many years was the real ruler of France. His foreign policy led to the intervention of that country in the international conflict known as the Thirty Years' War.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARDINAL RICHELIEU (Louvre, Paris.) After the portrait by the Belgian artist, Philippe de Champaigne.]

240. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648 A.D.

RELIGIOUS ANTAGONISMS

The Peace of Augsburg [36] gave repose to Germany for more than sixty years, but it did not form a complete settlement of the religious question in that country. There was still room for bitter disputes, especially over the owners.h.i.+p of Church property which had been secularized in the course of the Reformation. Furthermore, the peace recognized only Roman Catholics and Lutherans and gave no rights whatever to the large body of Calvinists.

The failure of Lutherans and Calvinists to cooperate weakened German Protestantism just at the period when the Counter Reformation inspired Roman Catholicism with fresh energy and enthusiasm.

POLITICAL FRICTION

Politics, as well as religion, also helped to bring about the great conflagration. The Roman Catholic party relied for support on the Hapsburg emperors, who wished to unite the German states under their control, thus restoring the Holy Roman Empire to its former proud position in the affairs of Europe. The Protestant princes, on the other hand, wanted to become independent sovereigns. Hence they resented all efforts to extend the imperial authority over them.

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