Discussion

HIST 2312 Conflict in the Age of Religious Reform

 

 

1. ENGLAND

2. Henry VIII married to Catherine of Aragon for eighteen

years and only has one living child with her, a daughter

Mary Tudor.

3. Henry wants sons to succeed him on the throne so he

asks the pope for a divorce from Catherine.

4. This is problematic because Catherine’s nephew is the

very powerful Hapsburg ruler Charles V. The pope,

Clement V, refuses Henry’s request for a divorce.

5. Henry goes around the Catholic Church and asks the

English Parliament to “reform” the English Church. In

1534, Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy making

Henry VIII the “sole head” of the English Church.

6. The average English person would see no difference

between the old Catholicism and the new Anglican

Church. The only real difference is that Henry has

replaced the Pope as the head of the church.

7. As a matter of fact, in 1539, Parliament passed the Six

Articles of Faith, which kept much of the doctrines of

Catholicism:

8. affirmed transubstantiation

9. acknowledged the sacrament of Confession

10. kept the practice of private mass

11. upheld the sanctity of the Eucharist cup

12. maintained that clergy must be celibate

13. exhorted vows of celibacy for the congregation

14. Henry married six times and had three children, Mary

Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor and Edward Tudor. All three

children came to the throne.

 

1. Henry died in 1547 and he was succeeded by his son

Edward VI (1547-1553). Since Edward was only nine

years old when he became king, he was under the

control of his very strict Protestant guardians.

2. Under Edward’s reign England turned towards a more

strict and Lutheran style of Protestantism.

3. The Six Articles of Faith were repealed. Clergy were

allowed to marry.

4. Catholic prayer books were replaced with the Book of

Common Prayer and church services were now

conducted in English instead of Latin.

5. All images and altars were removed from churches.

6. No sacraments were recognized except for baptism and

marriage.

7. Before this severe style of Protestantism could really

take hold however, Edward dies in 1553 at the age of

fifteen.

 

1. Henry’s oldest child, Mary Tudor, takes the throne as

Mary I (1553-1558). Since Mary was raised Catholic, the

new monarch tries to undo the Protestant Reformation

in England.

2. She earns the nickname “Bloody Mary” because

hundreds of Protestant leaders are executed during her

short reign. Even though this is nothing compared to

what is happening on the European continent, it is

enough to make her unpopular at home.

3. Increasing her unpopularity is her marriage to her

cousin Phillip II of Spain. At the time, Spain was

England’s biggest rival.

4. Mary pressured Parliament to vote to return to

Catholicism, but Protestantism was too entrenched in

England.

5. Like her half-brother, Mary dies after a short reign. This

ensures that England does not revert to Catholicism.

 

1. After Mary’s death, Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the last of

Henry’s living children, comes to the throne. The irony is

that it is not Henry’s son, but his daughter, that

becomes one of England’s greatest rulers.

2. Elizabeth settles the religious differences in England by

incorporating a moderate form of Protestantism that

both Catholics and Protestants can live with.

3. She incorporates both Protestant and Catholic traditions

into the Anglican Church.

4. A new Article of Faith is passed in which the monarch is

the “sole guardian” of the Church of England, instead of

the “head”.

5. Elizabeth is also lenient towards Catholics in England.

 

1. FRANCE

2. In 1559, Henry II of France died, leaving behind his wife,

Catherine de Medici and four sons. Although France was

primarily a Catholic nation, Protestantism did make

inroads: the Huguenot were French Protestants. The first

of Henry II sons’ to take the French throne was Francis II

(1559-1560).

3. Francis II had married the young Mary, Queen of Scots

(who was actually half French and grew up at the French

court).

4. Francis, however, was fragile in health and died after

only 17 months on the throne. Since he was fifteen

years old and in poor health, he and Mary had no

children.

5. Real power during his reign rested in the hands of the

Guise family, who were staunch Catholics. Mary, Queen

of Scots, now Queen of France, was a member of this

family (her mother was a Guise).

6. Opposing the Catholic Guise were the Bourbons of

Navarre, who were cousins of the king and descended

from past kings of France. Prominent Bourbon leaders

had converted to Protestantism.

7. After Francis’ death, Mary, Queen of Scots returned to

Scotland and ten year old Charles became king.

 

1. Charles IX (1560-1574) was the third son of Henry II and

Catherine de Medici. His mother was declared his regent

because of his young age.

2. It was during Charles’ reign that the wars of religion

between Catholics and Huguenot really began. The

Guise, afraid of losing power, were responsible for the

Massacre of Vassy in 1562.

3. The Guise forces attacked a Huguenot church and

village in the Champagne region of France, killing over

sixty people.

4. Keep in mind that the major families of France had their

own private armies at this time. Therefore, small wars

could break out between the great noble families.

5. The Bourbon faction felt it was their duty to protect

religious freedom and the Huguenot. The Prince of

Conde, the leader of the Bourbons, fortified Huguenot

churches in the Loire Valley.

6. Skirmishes and assassinations were common between

Catholics and Protestant forces.

7. Meanwhile, Catherine de Medici, who didn’t want either

the Guise nor the Bourbon having the upper hand, tried

to play both sides.

8. In 1572, Charles arranged a marriage between his

sister, Marguerite of Valois and Henry of Bourbon (who

was the heir to the throne of Navarre). Henry of Bourbon

was also the leading Huguenot leader in France.

9. Major Catholic and Huguenot leaders came to Paris for

the wedding.

10. It was supposed to unite the religions but a week after

the ceremony, Catholics turned on the Huguenot and

the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre started. For four

days, the massacre consumed Paris.

11. The massacre also spread to the rest of France. In total,

about 10,000 Huguenot were killed during the

massacre.

12. Catherine de Medici was thought to have taken part in

the massacre (not personally, but royal troops were

ordered to hunt down prominent Huguenot).

13. Henry of Bourbon managed to escape Paris, but the

Huguenot cause in France was set back.

14. Also, this made the Protestant Huguenot in France much

more militant and willing to fight.

15. Charles IX, already in declining health, was traumatized

by the massacre and died soon after. Although he had

married, he only had one daughter, who could not

succeed to the throne according to French law.

 

1. Henry III (1574-1589), the fourth son of Henry II and

Catherine de Medici, came to the throne after his

brother’s death. He succeeded during a time of

heightened religious tension between the Catholic Guise

faction and the Protestant Huguenot Bourbon Faction.

2. Henry wants peace and tolerance in France after the

years of religious conflict in France.

3. He works with both moderate Catholics and Protestants

who want a stable France.

4. In 1587, the War of the Three Henry’s breaks out. The

three Henry’s are the king, Henry III, Henry of Bourbon,

and Henry of Guise.

5. In late 1588, the king has Henry of Guise killed. A few

months later in early 1589 a fanatical Catholic month

assassinates the king.

6. This really makes no sense because the king has no

children and his heir is his cousin, Henry of Bourbon, the

Huguenot leader.

7. With the death of Henry III, the Valois dynasty comes to

an end and the Bourbon family comes to the throne of

France.

 

1. Henry IV (1589-1610), was the first Bourbon ruler of

France. He divorced Marguerite of Valois and married

Marie de Medici.

2. Henry IV was a Huguenot, but he understood that he

needed to be Catholic to rule a majority Catholic

country. He converted to Catholicism in 1593, saying

“Paris is worth a Mass”.

3. Henry’s conversion was for political reasons, not

religious.

4. Although he converted to Catholicism, he issued the

Edict of Nantes, which made the Huguenot a protected

religious minority in France. This ended the Wars of

Religion in France.