The French Civil Wars, 1562-1598 (Modern Wars in Perspective)

The French Wars of Religion tore the country apart for almost fifty years. They were also part of the wider religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants which raged across Europe during the 16th century. This new study, by a major authority on French history, explores the impact of these wars and sets them in their full European context. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of maps Preface List of abbreviations Introduction 1. France around 1559 The frontiers Population The economy Society The mid-century crisis Government Taxation The army The nature of monarchy 2. Crown and nobility Defining the nobility The concept of honour The great nobles The provincial nobility The nobility in crisis? 3. The rise of Protestantism John Calvin The threat from Geneva Calvinism in France The social distribution of Calvinism in France The Genevan missionaries French Calvinism: geographical distribution and population Henry II and Calvinism 4. Opening shots (1559–1562) The Tumult of Amboise (March 1560) The growth of Calvinism The Catholic backlash The search for concord The massacre of Vassy (1 March 1562) 5. The first civil war (April 1562–March 1563) Mobilizing for war The Huguenot take-over of towns Foreign intervention Mobilizing the king’s army The siege of Rouen (28 May–26 October 1562) The search for concord The battle of Dreux (19 December 1562) Funding the war The Peace Edict of Amboise (19 March 1563) 6. The armed peace (March 1563–September 1567) Opposition of the parlements Le Havre recaptured (30 July 1563) Charles IX’s majority declared (17 August 1563) Enforcing the peace Charles IX ’s 'grand tour’of France 7. The second and third wars (1567–1570) The phoney peace Funding the war The Peace of Longjumeau (23 March 1568) The third war (September 1568–August 1570) The royal artillery in 1568 The battle of jarnac (13 March 1569) The war in the south The Peace of Saint-Germain (8 August 1570) 8. St Bartholomew’s Day and after (1572–1575) Catholic anger The massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August 1572) Effects of the massacres 9. From La Rochelle to Beaulieu (1572–1576) The war in the south Fraternal discord The fifth civil war (November 1574–May 1576) The defection of Montmorency-Damville (13 November 1574) The provinces of the union Funding the Huguenot war effort Alençon’s flight from court (15 September 1575) The Peace of Monsieur (6 May 1576) 10. The sixth war (December 1576–September 1577) The League of Peronne (1576) The Estates-General of Blois (1576) The sixth war (December 1576–September 1577) 11. The Catholic League (1578–1589) Henry III: a controversial monarch Anjou and the Netherlands Provincial anarchy The Catholic League The War of the Three Henrys (1587–1589) The Day of the Barricades (May 1588) The Estates-General of Blois (1588) The assassination of Henry III (1 August 1589) 12. The conquest of the kingdom (1589–1592) The battle of Arques (21 September 1589) Mayenne and the League The battle of Ivry (14 March 1590) The siege of Paris (7 April–30 August 1590) The problem of the succession The siege of Rouen (November 1591–March 1592) The provincial stalemate (1592) 13. Conversion and peace (1592–1598) Henry IV’s conversion (25 July 1593) The war against Spain The siege of Amiens (April–September 1597 The Edict of Nantes (13 April 1598) The Peace of Vervins (2 May 1598) The assassination of Henry IV (14 May 1610) The last religious war (1610–1629) Conclusion Bibliographical essay Genealogies The later Valois The house of Guise-Lorraine The house of Montmorency The house of Bourbon-Vendome List of provincial governors, 1559–1598 Glossary Index "The French Civil Wars is not just an account of battles and sieges. Civil wars, like family quarrels, are bitter; their causes are usually complex and deep-rooted. R. J. Knecht shows that religion was a genuine enough issue, but demonstrates that there were other causes as well, notably an unemployment crisis among the nobility combined with a catastrophic decline in royal authority following the accidental death of Henry II." "Civil wars differ from foreign wars: they resemble forest fires which break out in many places at once. In sixteenth-century France their savagery was exemplified by a series of massacres and political assassinations. As the technology of war developed so did its cost. Unable to pay for it out of its traditional sources of income, the crown was driven to make unsatisfactory peace treaties which repeatedly broke down. As artillery developed, sieges became more common than pitched battles." "This is an exciting and important new account explaining both conflicts and the attempts for peace in early modern France."--BOOK JACKET.