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Background of the Huguenot War

The Huguenot Wars generally refer to the French Wars of Religion. The reason for the Huguenot War was the intensification of the contradiction between the kingship and the feudal separatist forces and the intensification of the contradiction between religious sects. In France in the early 16th century, the feudal economy was still dominant, and 90% of the population was engaged in agriculture.

The kingship gradually strengthened from the 11th century onwards and was a positive and progressive force for the unification of France and the formation of the state. However, in medieval France (and even the whole of Europe), the strengthening and establishment of kingship was gradually realized in the tortuous process of struggle against the aristocratic authority and separatist forces.

Within the feudal society, the germs of capitalism emerged, and the emerging bourgeoisie continued to emerge. They became part of the ruling class by purchasing run-down nobles and properties connected to titles, and donating official positions. Their economic and political interests are inseparable from the king’s authority, and they support the king’s power to suppress the power of the nobles internally and expand externally, creating conditions for the development of capitalism.

However, the feudal nobles were not reconciled to the decline of their power, and tried their best to maintain their privileges and control over the king, waiting for an opportunity to challenge the king’s power. As the king gradually became the head of the nobility and the church, the feudal nobility who opposed the royal autocracy split into two major groups, who competed with each other and coveted state power.

One group was the Catholic faction, who gathered around the family of Guise, a close relative of the royal family, and formed a strong Catholic stronghold headed by the Duke of Guise and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, and exerted a decisive influence on the king. Another group was the Protestant Huguenots, represented by members of the Bourbon family, Prince L. Condé, King of Navarre (Henry) and Admiral G. de Coligny.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, humanistic ideas and Calvinism spread rapidly in France.

Eptal, an outstanding representative of humanism, advocated the theory of “faith is saved” and “returned to the Bible”, and actively promoted new ideas with Mocheng as the center. Calvinism emphasizes the salvation of faith, denies the authority of the Holy See and the concept of feudal hierarchy and advocates the abolition of cumbersome religious rituals, abolition of idol worship, pilgrimage and fasting, and the election of clergy by believers to establish simplified, pure and cheap churches.

A large number of handicraftsmen, especially printing workers, small merchants, farmers and lower-class priests, accepted the above teachings and became Calvinist Protestants, known as Huguenots.

It is estimated that in the second half of the 16th century, France had a population of about 18 million, more than 270,000 Protestant courts, and more than 1 million Protestants. Prayer sects are stronger in the south and southwest. Some nobles who were dissatisfied with the despotism of the kingship supported the Huguenots in order to restrain the kingship. The nobles who coveted the throne also took the opportunity to announce their conversion to Protestantism. The prominent representatives of these people were the Bourbon family headed by Navarre.

The immediate cause of the Huguenot War was religious persecution. In the 1640s, Henry II appointed a special court to punish heresy, and a large number of Huguenots were burned at the stake. In 1559, the 15-year-old Prince François II succeeded to the throne, and the real power fell into the hands of the famous Guise family, and the conflict between the old and new sects suddenly intensified.