Editing History of France (section)

=== Protestant Huguenots and wars of religion (1562–1629) ===
{{Main|French Wars of Religion}}
[[File:Henry IV of france by pourbous younger.jpg|thumb|[[Henry IV of France]] was the first French [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] king.]]

The [[Protestant Reformation]], inspired in France mainly by [[John Calvin]], began to challenge the legitimacy and rituals of the [[Catholic Church in France#Renaissance Church and Protestantism|Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wernham |first=R. B. |title=The New Cambridge Modern History |date=1968 |isbn=978-0-5210-4543-8 |volume=3 |pages=91–93|publisher=CUP Archive}}</ref> French King [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] severely persecuted Protestants under the [[Edict of Chateaubriand]] (1551).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=T.H.L. |title=John Calvin: A Biography |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-7459-5228-4 |pages=161–164 |orig-date=1975}}</ref> Renewed Catholic reaction — headed by the powerful [[Francis, Duke of Guise]] — led to a massacre of Huguenots at [[Wassy|Vassy]] in 1562, starting the first of the [[French Wars of Religion]], during which English, German, and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant ("Huguenot") and Catholic forces.

King [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] died in 1559 in a jousting tournament; he was succeeded in turn by his three sons, each of whom assumed the throne as minors or were weak, ineffectual rulers. Into the power vacuum entered Henry's widow, [[Catherine de' Medici]], who became a central figure in the early years of the Wars of Religion. She is often blamed for the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]] of 1572, when thousands of Huguenots were murdered in Paris and the provinces of France.

The Wars of Religion culminated in the [[War of the Three Henrys]] (1584–98), at the height of which bodyguards of the King [[Henry III of France|Henry III]] assassinated [[Henry I, Duke of Guise|Henry de Guise]], leader of the Spanish-backed [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic league]], in December 1588. In revenge, a priest assassinated Henry III in 1589. This led to the ascension of the Huguenot [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]]; in order to bring peace to a country beset by religious and succession wars, he converted to Catholicism. He issued the [[Edict of Nantes]] in 1598, which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants, thereby effectively ending the civil war.<ref name="autogenerated2005">{{Cite book |last=Holt |first=Mack P. |title=The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1394-4767-6 |edition=2nd}}</ref> Henry IV was assassinated in 1610 by [[François Ravaillac|a fanatical Catholic]].

When in 1620 the Huguenots proclaimed a constitution for the 'Republic of the Reformed Churches of France', the chief minister [[Cardinal Richelieu]] invoked the entire powers of the state to stop it. Religious conflicts therefore resumed under [[Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]] when Richelieu forced Protestants to disarm their army and fortresses. This conflict ended in the [[Siege of La Rochelle]] (1627–28), in which Protestants and their English supporters were defeated. The following [[Peace of Alais]] (1629) confirmed religious freedom yet dismantled the Protestant military defences.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliott |first=J. H. |title=Richelieu and Olivares |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-0674-1 |pages=100+ |author-link=John Elliott (historian)}}</ref>

In the face of persecution, Huguenots dispersed widely throughout Europe and America.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sparks |first1=Randy J. |title=Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora |last2=Van Ruymbeke |first2=Bertrand |date=2003 |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-5700-3484-8}}</ref>