Editing French Wars of Religion (section)

===Regency of Catherine de' Medici===
[[File:Catherine de Médicis - entourage de François Clouet.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Queen regent [[Catherine de' Medici]], {{circa|1560}}]]

When [[Francis II of France|Francis II]] died on 5 December 1560, his mother [[Catherine de' Medici]] became regent for her second son, the nine year old [[Charles IX of France|Charles&nbsp;IX]].{{Sfn|Knecht|1996|p=27}} With the state financially exhausted by the Italian Wars, Catherine had to preserve the independence of the monarchy from a range of competing factions led by powerful nobles, each of whom controlled what were essentially private armies.{{Sfn|Knecht|1996|p=29}} To offset the Guise or "Guisard", she agreed a deal in which Antoine of Navarre renounced any claim to the regency in return for Condé's release and the position of [[Lieutenant-General (France)|Lieutenant-General]] of France.{{Sfn|Bryson|1999|pages=111}}

Catherine had several options for dealing with "heresy", including continuing Henry's II's failed policy of eradication, an approach backed by Catholic [[Ultramontanism|ultras]] such as [[François de Tournon]], or converting the monarchy to Calvinism, as preferred by de Bèze.{{sfn|Holt|2005|pp=41–42}} A middle path between these two extremes was allowing both religions to be openly practised in France at least temporarily, or the Guisard compromise of scaling back persecution but not permitting [[Religious tolerance|toleration]].{{Sfn|Thompson|1909|p=44}} For the moment she held to the Guisard line.{{Sfn|Roelker|1996|pp=252–256}}

Before his death, Francis II had called the first [[Estates General of 1560-1|Estates General]] held since 1484, which in December 1560 assembled in [[Orléans]] to discuss topics which included taxation and religion. It made little progress on the latter, other than agreeing to pardon those convicted of religious offences in the prior year.{{Sfn|Thompson|1909|p=79}} Since this was clearly unacceptable to Condé and his followers, Catherine bypassed the Estates and enacted conciliatory measures such as the [[Edict of 19 April]] 1561 and the [[Edict of July]].{{Sfn|Roelker|1996|pp=252–256}} This recognised Catholicism as the state religion but confirmed [[Edict of Romorantin|previous measures]] reducing penalties for "heresy".{{Sfn|Castelnau|1724|p=112}}

The Estates then approved the [[Colloquy of Poissy]], which began its session on 8 September 1561, with the Protestants led by de Bèze and the Catholics by [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine]], brother of the Duke of Guise. The two sides initially sought to accommodate Protestant forms of worship within the existing church but this proved impossible.{{Sfn|Castelnau|1724|p=110}}{{Efn|Catholic opponents of toleration were split between [[Ultramontanism]], those who backed the supreme authority of the [[Pope]] such as [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine]], and [[Gallicanism]]. The latter viewed an independent but Catholic monarchy as an important guarantee of political freedom and distinguishes them from the "Politiques".{{Sfn|Roelker|1996|pp=59–67}}}} By the time the Colloquy ended on 8 October, it was clear the divide between Catholic and Protestant theology was too wide to be bridged.{{Sfn|Knecht|2000|pp=78–79}} With their options narrowing, the government attempted to quell escalating disorder in the provinces by passing the [[Edict of Saint-Germain]], which allowed Protestants to worship in public outside towns and in private inside them. On 1&nbsp;March, Guise family retainers attacked a Calvinist service in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]], leading to what became known as the [[massacre of Vassy]]. This seemed to confirm Huguenot fears that the Guisards had no intention of compromising and is generally seen as the spark which led to open hostilities between the two religions.{{Sfn|Guérard|1959|p=152}}