RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Huguenots
Guises were thought to be preparing for a wholesale massacre. On the death of Francis II. (Dec.
5, 1560) Catherine assumed the regency on behalf of her young son, Charles IX. She associated with her in the regency Antoine de Bourbon, released Louis de Conde, restored to confidence Montmorency, and made L'Hopital chancellor. The States General assembled on Dec. 13. The Chancellor urged the unification of religion; and Coligny presented a petition of the Evangelicals for toleration. The royal " ordinance of Orleans " (Jan. 28, 1561) suspended persecution. Rash proceedings on the part of the Evangelicals and mob violence on the part of the Catholics intensified the animosity of the parties. Many nobles, had now cast in their lot with the new religion. Vast assemblies, often armed for defense, were held in many places. Coligny, Jeanne d'Albret, and other nobles refused to obey a royal edict (July, 1561) forbidding such assemblies; and at the reassembling of the States General (Aug., 1561), nobles, and third estate demanded toleration and a national council for the settlement of religious difficulties. A suspension of persecution followed; prisoners were released; and fugitives returned. Charles IX. urged the Genevan authorities to withdraw their preachers, and threatened the city. Calvin replied that the city authorities had sent no missionaries and that the work was purely voluntary. Becoming convinced that there was a secret compact between Antoine and Catherine to turn France over to the Huguenots, Montmorency formed a compact with Francis of Guise and St. Andre (Apr., 1561) to thwart the scheme (Triumvirate). A conspiracy, in which the king of Spain was involved, for the destruction of the Calvinists and all the Bourbons; of Geneva, with the massacre of every inhabitant; and ultimately of Protestantism throughout Europe, was reported to have been formed. Riotous outbreaks led the government to prohibit the use of the terms " Papist " and "Huguenot" and the invasion of homes for interfering with religious meetings, though the Parliament of Paris protested against such recognition of the Huguenots.
In pursuance of Catherine's policy of conciliation,
the Religious Conference of Poissy (q.v.) was held
in Sept., 1561, between the Roman
6. First and Catholic bishops and representatives of Second the Evangelicals. A royal edict fol- Wars, lowed (Jan., 1562) requiring the Evan-
1562-68. gelicals to surrender all church buildings that they had appropriated, and forbidding Evangelical meetings inside of walled cities, but permitting them in private houses within the towns and anywhere outside the towns. This compromise was regarded as highly satisfactory by Calvin and by the Huguenot leaders. The peace was broken (Mar., 1562) by a bloody attack on a Huguenot congregation at Vassy, a walled town, by order of the duke of Guise, who was passing through. This was followed by similar attacks in many places. At Toulouse 3,000 Evangelicals were treacherously slain. War was soon raging with Montmorency and Guise at the head of the Catholic forces, and Coligny and Conde as leaders of the Evangelicals. Calvin tried to assuage, as he had tried to prevent, the
religious war. Guise was shot by a Huguenot (Feb., 1563); Montmorency and Conde had been made prisoners; the marshal Saint-Andre and Antoine de Bourbon died during the war. Catherine had abandoned her policy of conciliation; yet she desired peace, and the Edict of Amboise (Mar. 18, 1563) embodied the results of negotiations to this end. To nobles and gentry was accorded the right to practise the " religion which they call reformed " in their own houses. In every bailiwick the Evangelicals could on petition secure one suburban meeting-place. In cities where Evangelical worship was already practised one or two places to be designated by the king might be retained. The Huguenots were to enjoy liberty of conscience, but were to restore Catholic property seized by them, and to dismiss all foreign troops. The nobles were to receive back all honors, offices, and dignities possessed before the war. A papal bull outlawing and turning over to the inquisition heretical prelates and nobles, including Cardinal Odet de Coligny (q.v.) and Jeanne d'Albret, called forth an earnest protest from the royal council. The close relations into which Catherine had been drawn with Philip II. of Spain (he had married her daughter in 1559) through the Duke of Alva (Conference of Bayonne, June, 1565) and the many indignities the Evangelicals were suffering led the latter to break the truce and to enter upon the second war. Coligny, Conde, and other leaders became convinced that a massacre was imminent, and decided to take the initiative. The plan, which came near succeeding, was to arrange a general uprising of Huguenots, to drive from court or capture the cardinal of Lorraine, dispel the Swiss guards, the chief instrument of royal tyranny, and take charge of the king. The Constable Montmorency was killed in the battle of St. Denis. Catherine was from the first anxious for peace, and the Huguenots were treacherously led (Conde and Coligny opposing) to agree to a cessation of hostilities (Peace of Longjumeau, 1568). The government proceeded to put large garrisons in Huguenot cities, quartering the soldiers upon families. Even if the government had had the best intentions toward the Huguenots, it would have been impossible fully to protect them, especially when their zeal led them to acts of iconoclasm and to the use of opprobrious language.
The organization of zealous Catholics into a " Christian and Royal League " (1568) for the extirpation of Protestantism made the
7. Third situation still more critical. Papal,
and Spanish, and Jesuit influences were at
Fourth work. The government had advanced
Wars, to Conde and Coligny funds to pay off
1563-73. the German troops. The ruinous demand for immediate repayment was an effort to array the masses against the Evangelicals. The Huguenots were still further embarrassed (Aug. 1568) by a requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the king. For some time the cardinal of Lorraine and Chancellor L'Hopital had striven for the mastery in the direction of the government. The latter was friendly to the Huguenots; but the cardinal now triumphed. A plot to seize Conde and Coligny was frustrated by their flight to La Rochelle. Seeing
Huguenots