Calvinism Dbq

The French civil wars occurred from 1562 to 1598. One of the main reasons for the fighting was the concerning growth of the popularity of Calvinism, a type of Protestantism. These French Calvinists were called Huguenots, who came from all the levels of society. It is estimated that roughly forty to fifty percent of the French nobility were Huguenots, which included the house of Bourbon. The house of Bourbon stood next to the Valois in the royal line of succession and ruled the southern French kingdom of Navarre. Because much of the nobility had converted to Huguenots, they became a dangerous political threat to the power of the monarch.

The Calvinists were far outnumbered by the Catholic majority. The ruling Valois monarchy was almost completely Catholic, and it controlled the Catholic Church which did not help them to look favorably on Protestantism. When King Henry II was accidentally killed in 1559, a series of weak sons succeeded him. Catherine de Medici, a moderately Catholic regent for two of the sons, looked to religious compromise as a way to cool down

the political tension, but both the Huguenots and Catholics stood their ground and refused to compromise. The Guise family led the ultra-Catholics who favored strict opposition to the Huguenots. The Guises controlled the loyalty of Paris and large areas of northern and northwestern France, and through their client-patronage system, the Guises could recruit and afford huge armies and receive support from the papacy who liked the family’s unwavering Catholic position.
However, religion was not the only contributing factor that went into the civil wars.

The towns and provinces of France were against the growing power of monarchical centralization, so the people were very willing to join in the revolt against the monarchy. The nobility agreed with the thinking of the people, and because much of the nobility were Calvinists, they formed an important, strong foundation for the opposition of the monarchy. The wars temporarily halted the development of the French centralized territorial state, and a person’s loyalty to their religion overcame a person’s loyalty to their state’s ruling family. In all this religious conflict emerged a group that placed politics above religion, and this group believed that no religion was worth the side effects of a civil war. The politiques eventually prevailed, but it was too late as both sides had lost a great number of

people.
The French Civil Wars eventually ended in 1594 with Henry of Navarre’s coronation. Henry was originally a Protestant, but understood that he would never be accepted by Catholic France. As a result, Henry made the decision to once again convert to Catholicism. However, even though the religious civil wars were over, the religious problems continued until the Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598. This edict declared that Catholicism would be the official religion of France. In addition to this, the Edict of Nantes guaranteed the Huguenots the right to worship in certain places in all the districts, and they were allowed to have all political privileges, which included holding public offices. The Edict of Nantes did recognize the rights of the Protestant minority and the principle of religious toleration. However, the edict only did this because of political necessity, not because of conviction.
The French Civil Wars were more about religion than politics. Although politics did play a significant role in the wars, it took a backseat to religion in the sense of importance. Religious differences in the nobility caused political problems in the kingdom with the Huguenots wanting to regain power. During the civil wars, it seemed as if nobody involved with the Catholics or the Huguenots cared if the country’s unity was destroyed so long that each side received their religious rights. This tells me that religion was more important in these wars because if politics had been the main concern, then both parties could have resolved the problem peacefully.