Editing French Wars of Religion (section)

== 1562–1570 ==

=== {{anchor|1562–1563|first}} "First" war (1562–1563) ===
{{main|First French War of Religion (1562-1563)}}
[[File:Massacre de Vassy 1562 print by Hogenberg end of 16th century.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''Massacre de Vassy'' by Hogenberg, end of the 16th century]]

Although the Huguenots had begun mobilising for war before the [[Massacre of Vassy|Vassy massacre]],{{Sfn|Knecht|2000|p=86}} many claimed that the massacre confirmed claims that they could not rely on the [[Edict of Saint-Germain|Edict of Saint Germain]]. In response, a group of nobles led by Condé proclaimed their intention of "liberating" the king from "evil" councillors and seized Orléans on 2 April 1562.{{Sfn|Knecht|1996|p=35}} This example was quickly followed by Protestant groups around France, who seized and garrisoned [[Angers]], [[Blois]] and [[Tours]] along the [[Loire]] and assaulted [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] in the [[Rhône River]].{{Sfn|Knecht|1996|p=35}} After capturing [[Lyon]] on 30 April, the attackers first sacked, then demolished all Catholic institutions in the city.{{Sfn|Hamilton|Spicer|2005|p=?}}

Hoping to turn [[Toulouse]] over to Condé, local Huguenots seized the ''Hôtel de ville'' but met resistance from angry Catholic mobs which resulted in [[1562 Riots of Toulouse|street battles]] and over 3,000 deaths, mostly Huguenots. On 12&nbsp;April 1562, there were massacres of Huguenots at Sens, as well as at [[Tours]] in July.{{Sfn|Knecht|1996|p=35}} As the conflict escalated, the Crown revoked the Edict under pressure from the Guise faction.{{sfn|Baird|1880|p=37}}{{sfn|Durot|2012|p=702}}

[[File:Le Sac de Lyon par les Réformés - Vers1565.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Looting of the churches of [[Lyon]] by the Calvinists in 1562, by Antoine Carot]]

The major engagements of the war occurred at [[Rouen]], [[Dreux]], and [[Orléans]]. At the Siege of Rouen (May–October&nbsp;1562), the crown regained the city, but [[Antoine of Navarre]] died of his wounds.<ref>Trevor Dupuy, Curt Johnson and David L. Bongard, The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, (Castle Books: Edison, 1992), p.&nbsp;98.</ref> In the [[Battle of Dreux]] (December&nbsp;1562), [[Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé|Condé]] was captured by the crown, and the constable [[Anne de Montmorency|Montmorency]] was captured by those opposing the crown. In February&nbsp;1563, at the Siege of Orléans, [[Francis, Duke of Guise]], was [[Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1563)|shot and killed]] by the Huguenot [[Jean de Poltrot de Méré]]. As he was killed outside of direct combat, the Guise considered this an [[assassination]] on the orders of the duke's enemy, [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Admiral Coligny]]. The popular unrest caused by the assassination, coupled with the resistance by the city of [[Orléans]] to the siege, led [[Catherine de' Medici]] to mediate a truce, resulting in the [[Edict of Amboise]] on 19&nbsp;March 1563.{{sfn|Knecht|1996|p=37}}

=== {{anchor|1563–1567|1567–1568|second}} "Armed Peace" (1563–1567) and the "second" war (1567–1568) ===

[[File:Print entitled Horribles cruautes des Huguenot en France 16th century.jpg|thumb|Print depicting Huguenot aggression against Catholics at sea, ''Horribles cruautés des Huguenots'', 16th century]]
[[File:Theatre des cruautez des Hereticques de nostre temps.jpg|thumb|Plate from [[Richard Rowlands]], ''Theatrum Crudelitatum haereticorum nostri temporis'' (1587), depicting supposed Huguenot atrocities]]
The [[Edict of Amboise]] was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned, and the Guise faction was particularly opposed to what they saw as dangerous concessions to [[Heresy|heretics]]. The crown tried to re-unite the two factions in its efforts to re-capture [[Le Havre]], which had been occupied by the English in 1562 as part of the [[Treaty of Hampton Court (1562)|Treaty of Hampton Court]] between its Huguenot leaders and [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth&nbsp;I of England]]. That July, the French expelled the English. On 17&nbsp;August 1563, [[Charles IX of France|Charles&nbsp;IX]] was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen ending the regency of Catherine de Medici.<ref>Frieda, 268; Sutherland, ''Ancien Régime'', p.&nbsp;20.</ref> His mother continued to play a principal role in politics, and she joined her son on a [[Royal Entry|Grand Tour]] of the kingdom between 1564 and 1566, designed to reinstate crown authority. During this time, [[Jeanne d'Albret]] met and held talks with Catherine at Mâcon and Nérac.{{sfn|Knecht|2014|pp=102–104}}{{sfn|Cloulas|1979|p=211}}

Reports of iconoclasm in [[Flanders]] led Charles IX to lend support to the Catholics there; French Huguenots feared a Catholic re-mobilisation against them. [[Philip II of Spain|Philip&nbsp;II of Spain]]'s reinforcement of the strategic corridor from Italy north along the [[Rhine]] added to these fears, and political discontent grew. After Protestant troops unsuccessfully tried to capture and take control of King Charles&nbsp;IX in the [[Surprise of Meaux]], a number of cities, such as [[La Rochelle]], declared themselves for the Huguenot cause. Protestants attacked and massacred Catholic laymen and clergy the following day in [[Nîmes]], in what became known as the ''[[Michelade]]''.{{sfn|Baird|1880|p=207}}{{sfn|Holt|2005|p=64}}{{sfn|Tulchin|2006|p=22}}{{sfn|Knecht|2010|p=39}}{{sfn|Thompson|1909|p=318}}

This provoked the second war and its main military engagement, the [[Battle of Saint-Denis (1567)|Battle of Saint-Denis]], where the crown's commander-in-chief and lieutenant general, the 74-year-old Anne de Montmorency, died. The war was brief, ending in another truce, the [[Peace of Longjumeau]] (March&nbsp;1568),<ref name="J. Knecht, p. 40">Knecht 1996, p.&nbsp;40.</ref> which was a reiteration of the Peace of Amboise of 1563 and once again granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants.<ref name="J. Knecht, p. 40"/> News of the truce reached Toulouse in April, but such was the antagonism between the two sides that 6,000 Catholics continued their siege of [[Puylaurens]], a notorious Protestant stronghold in the [[Lauragais]], for another week.<ref>{{cite book|first=Colin Duncan|last=Taylor|title=Lauragais: Steeped in History, Soaked in Blood|year=2018|publisher=Troubador Publishing |language=English| isbn=978-1789015836}}</ref>

=== {{anchor|1568–1570|third}} "Third" war (1568–1570) ===
In reaction to the Peace, Catholic [[confraternities]] and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of 1568. Huguenot leaders such as Condé and Coligny fled court in fear for their lives, many of their followers were murdered, and in September, the [[Edict of Saint-Maur]] revoked the freedom of Huguenots to worship. In November, [[William the Silent|William of Orange]] led an army into France to support his fellow Protestants, but, the army being poorly paid, he accepted the crown's offer of money and free passage to leave the country.{{sfn|Wood|2002|p=22}}{{sfn|Salmon|1975|p=173}}{{sfn|Sutherland|1973|p=92}}{{sfn|Baird|1880|p=290}}

[[File:Battle of Moncontour 1569.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|The [[Battle of Moncontour]], 1569]]

The Huguenots gathered a formidable army under the command of Condé, aided by forces from south-east France, led by Paul de Mouvans, and a contingent of fellow Protestant militias from Germany{{snd}}including 14,000 mercenary ''[[reiter]]s'' led by the Calvinist [[Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken|Duke of Zweibrücken]].{{sfn|Jouanna|Boucher|Biloghi|Thiec|1998|p=181}} After the Duke was killed in action, his troops remained under the employ of the Huguenots who had raised a loan from England against the security of [[Jeanne d'Albret]]'s crown jewels.<ref>Knecht 2000, 151.</ref> Much of the Huguenots' financing came from Queen Elizabeth of England, who was likely influenced in the matter by [[Sir Francis Walsingham]].{{sfn|Jouanna|Boucher|Biloghi|Thiec|1998|p=181}} The Catholics were commanded by the [[Henry III of France|Duke d'Anjou]]{{snd}}later King Henry&nbsp;III{{snd}}and assisted by troops from Spain, the [[Papal States]], and the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]].{{sfn|Jouanna|Boucher|Biloghi|Thiec|1998|p=182}}

The Protestant army laid siege to several cities in the [[Poitou]] and [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]] regions (to protect [[La Rochelle]]), and then [[Angoulême]] and [[Cognac, France|Cognac]]. At the [[Battle of Jarnac]] (16&nbsp;March 1569), the prince of Condé was killed, forcing [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Admiral de Coligny]] to take command of the Protestant forces, nominally on behalf of Condé's 16-year-old son, [[Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé|Henry]], and the 15-year-old [[Henry IV of France|Henry of Navarre]], who were presented by Jeanne d'Albret as the legitimate leaders of the Huguenot cause against royal authority. The [[Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille]] was a nominal victory for the Huguenots, but they were unable to seize control of [[Poitiers]] and were soundly defeated at the [[Battle of Moncontour]] (30&nbsp;October 1569). Coligny and his troops retreated to the south-west and regrouped with [[Gabriel, comte de Montgomery]], and in spring of 1570, they pillaged [[Toulouse]], cut a path through the south of France, and went up the [[Rhone]] valley up to [[La Charité-sur-Loire]].{{sfn|Jouanna|Boucher|Biloghi|Thiec|1998|p=184}} The staggering royal debt and Charles&nbsp;IX's desire to seek a peaceful solution{{sfn|Jouanna|Boucher|Biloghi|Thiec|1998|pp=184–185}} led to the [[Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] (8&nbsp;August 1570), negotiated by Jeanne d'Albret, which once more allowed some concessions to the Huguenots.{{sfn|Roelker|1968|pp=332–341}}