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Third War Of Religion

Third War of Religion

The French Wars of Religion were a series of conflicts fought between Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants) from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598, including civil infighting as well as military operations. In addition to the religious elements, they involved a struggle of influence over the ruling of the country between the powerful House of Guise (Lorraine) and the Catholic League, on the one hand, and the House of Bourbon on the other hand. In 1560, Catherine de Medici became regent for her young son Charles IX. Catherine felt that she had to steer the throne carefully between the powerful and conflicting interests that surrounded it. Although she was a sincere Roman Catholic, she was prepared to deal favourably with the Huguenot House of Bourbon in order to have a counterweight against the overmighty House of Guise. She nominated a moderate chancellor, Michel de l'Hôpital, who urged a number of measures providing for toleration of the Huguenots. She therefore was led to support religious toleration in the shape of the Edict of Toleration (1562), which allowed the Huguenots to worship publicly outside of towns and privately in town. On March 1, however, the Guise faction attacked a Huguenot service at Wassy and committed a general massacre. The Edict was revoked, under pressure from the Guise faction. This provoked a response from the Bourbons, who, led by Condé, organised a kind of protectorate over the Protestant churches and began to garrison strategic towns along the Loire. Here, at Dreux and at Orléans, there were the first major engagements; at Dreux, Condé was captured by the Guises and Montmorency, the governent general, by the Bourbons. At Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise was assassinated, and Catherine's fears that the war might drag on led her to negotiate a truce and the Edict of Amboise (1563). This was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned, the Catholics in particular being uneasy about what they regarded as unwise concessions to the heretics. The political temperature of the surrounding lands was rising, as unrest grew in the Netherlands. The Huguenots became suspicious of Spanish intentions when the latter reinforced their strategic corridor from Italy north along the Rhine and made an unsuccessful attempt at taking control of the king. This provoked a further outburst of hostilities which ended in another unsatisfactory truce, the Peace of Longjumeau (March 1568). In September of that year, war again broke out and Catherine and Charles decided to throw in their lot with the Guises. Religious toleration was once more at an end, and the Huguenots, along with a contingent of some fellow Protestant militias from Germany and Switzerland, fought the Catholics to another standstill — signalled by the Regent's Edict of Saint-Germain (8th August 1570), which once more allowed some religious toleration of the Huguenots. Despite this shaky truce, massacres of Huguenots at the hands of enraged Catholic mobs continued in 1571, in cities such as Rouen, Orange and Paris. Matters became complicated thereafter as Charles IX warmed to the Huguenot leaders — especially the Admiral of France, Gaspard de Coligny — while Charles' mother became suspicious and eventually alarmed. When it became clear that the king was bent on a full-scale alliance with England and the Dutch rebels, Catherine plotted the assassination of de Coligny. The first attempt was made on August 22 1572. It failed, and Charles was persuaded that the Huguenots would take revenge against the crown. In fact, many Huguenots were in Paris for the marriage of Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre on August 28. Told that it was a necessary pre-emptive strike, Charles approved the massacre of the Protestants, beginning with the Admiral. This event became known to history as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Throughout August 23 Huguenots were slaughtered in the thousands (probably around 3,000) in Paris and, in the days that followed, many more in the provinces. Both Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII declared themselves well pleased with the outcome, which was naturally viewed with horror by their religious opponents throughout Europe. In France, it solidified Huguenot opposition to the crown. Charles IX died in May of 1574 and Henry III succeeded him. Henry soon found himself with the same problem of trying to maintain royal authority in the face of the competing factions. The Guises, who had formed the Catholic League, had the unwavering support of the Spanish superpower and were therefore in a very strong position throughout the 1580s. The Huguenots, however, had the advantage of a regional power base in the southwest — they were supported in principle by outside Protestant forces, but in practice the other Protestant powers, such as England or the German states, could bring no useful forces to bear. Things came to a head again in 1584, with the death of Henry's younger brother, François, duke of Anjou and Alençon, who was the heir to the throne, as Henry III had no children. Disastrously, from the Catholic perspective, that left Henry of Navarre, the leader of the House of Bourbon, as heir. As the head of the Guise family was also a Henry, the ensuing period of the wars, 1585 — 1589, is called the "War of the Three Henries". The king at first tried to put himself at the head of the Catholic League, while remaining in favour of a moderated settlement. This was anathema to the Catholic extremists, who wanted the Huguenots completely suppressed. In May 1588, Paris rose against the king and in favour of the Guises; the king left the city. The Guises then proposed a settlement with a cipher as heir and demanded a meeting of the States General, which took place at Blois in December of that year. At Blois, Henry of Guise was lured into a trap and assassinated, on the orders of the King. The Catholic League went into a frenzy and the Sorbonne declared it a pious act to assassinate the king, a declaration reminiscent of the Papal bull Regnans in Excelsis against Elizabeth I. In July 1589, Henry was assassinated by a fanatic monk, but lived long enough to name Henry of Navarre as heir to the throne. The situation on the ground in 1590 was that King Henry IV of France, as Navarre had become, held the south and west, and the Catholic League the north and east. The new king knew that he had to take Paris if he stood any chance of reuniting the kingdom. Paris was besieged, but the siege was lifted with Spanish support. Realising that there was no prospect of a Protestant king succeeding in fanatically Catholic Paris, Henry, with the famous phrase Paris vaut bien une messe (Paris is worth a mass), announced his conversion to the old faith and was crowned at Chartres in 1594. The League fought on, but enough moderate Catholics were won over by the conversion to make their party ultimately one of extremists only. The Spanish withdrew from France under the terms of the Peace of Vervins. Henry was faced with the task of reuniting France under a single authority. The essential first step in this was the negotiation of the Edict of Nantes, which, rather than being a kind of genuine toleration, was in fact a kind of permanent truce between the religions, with guarantees for both sides. The Edict can be said to mark the end of these civil wars.

External links

- [http://www.lepg.org/wars.htm The Wars of Religion, Part I]
- [http://www.lepg.org/wars2.htm The Wars of Religion, Part II]

References

- The French Wars of Religion 1559–1598 (Seminar Studies in History) by R.J. Knecht ISBN 058228533X Category:History of France Category:History of Catholicism in France Category:Protestantism ko:위그노 전쟁 ja:ユグノー戦争

Catholic

Catholic (literally meaning: according to (kata-) the whole (holos) or more generally "universal" in Greek) is a Christian religious term with a number of meanings:
- The term can refer to the notion that all Christians are part of one Church, regardless of denominational divisions. This "universal" interpretation is often used to understand the phrase "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" in the Nicene Creed, the phrase "the catholic faith" in the Athanasian Creed, and the phrase "holy catholic church" in the Apostles' Creed.
- It can refer to the members, beliefs, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Though many identify Roman Catholicism exclusively with the Latin Rite, its variety is seen in its more than twenty particular Churches or Rites, all in full communion with the Pope, and also in its liturgical rites, of which the Roman Rite is only one.
- It can be used to refer to those Christian Churches which maintain that their Episcopate can be traced directly back to the Apostles, and that they are therefore part of a broad catholic (or universal) body of believers. Among those who regard themselves as Catholic but not Roman Catholic are members of the various Eastern Orthodox Churches (such as the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox), the Oriental Orthodox, Anglo-Catholics (also known as High Anglicans), the Old, Ancient and Liberal Catholic Churches, and the Lutherans (though the latter prefer the lower-case "c"). The various Churches that regard themselves as part of a broad Catholic Church are distinguished by their use of the Nicene Creed, in which believers acknowledge the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church." The Nicene Creed is of course also used by the Roman Catholic Church.
- It can mean the one Church founded by Christ through Peter the Apostle, according to Matthew 16:18-19: "And I tell you, you are Cephas (which means rock), and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’" Early Christians, such as Saint Ignatius of Antioch (who was martyred in about 110, used the term to describe the whole Church - the word's literal meaning is universal or whole - as opposed to the local Church, and excluding adherents of sects or heretical groups. Methodists and Presbyterians believe their denominations owe their origins to the Apostles and the early Church, but do not claim descent from ancient Church structures such as the episcopate. Neither of these Churches, however, denies that they are a part of the catholic (meaning universal) Church.

Present-day usage

While the term is usually associated with the Roman Catholic Church, whose over one billion adherents are about half of the estimated 2.1 billion Christians, other Christian denominations also lay claim to the term "catholic", including the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Protestant Churches possessing an episcopate (bishops). In countries that have been traditionally Protestant, Catholic will often be included in the official name of a particular parish church, school, hospice or other institution belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, to distinguish it from those of other denominations. For example, the name "St. Mark's Catholic Church" makes it clear that it is not an Episcopal or Lutheran church. This usage of the term "Catholic" has a long history. A millennium before the Protestant Reformation, Saint Augustine wrote: :"In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15-19), down to the present episcopate. :"And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house. :"Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should ... With you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion... For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church." : — St. Augustine (AD 354–430): Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith[http://www.ccel.org/pager.cgi?&file=fathers/NPNF1-04/augustine/bk_fundamental/bk1.html&from=CHAP4&up=] Earlier still, St Cyril of Jerusalem (circa 315-386) urged those he was instructing in the Christian faith: "If ever thou art sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God" (Catechetical Lectures, XVIII, 26).[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310118.htm] Those who apply the term "Catholic Church" to all Christians indiscriminately find it objectionable that a term that they see as designating the whole Church as an invisible entity should be used to refer to one communion only. However, the Roman Catholic Church, which normally refers to itself simply as the Catholic Church, publishing in 1992 a "Catechism of the Catholic Church", can basically be traced historically to the original Catholic or universal Church, from which various groups broke away over the centuries. It holds that there can be no such thing as the Church as an "invisible entity" only. Since the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Protestants (those who protest) have sought to restore a more primitive expression of the Church, with goals and beliefs that they believe to be more consonant with the early Church, based primarily on Scriptural texts. However, there was a more than a millennium between the "early Church" and the "Reformation", during which both Scripture and Christian teaching were maintained. As well as the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches all see themselves as the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed. Others too who do not recognize the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and rank him only as an equal among Patriarchs, such as the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, use the term Catholic to distinguish their own position from a Calvinist or Puritan form of Protestantism. They include "High Church" Anglicans, known also as "Anglo-Catholics". Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches in general do not view the Anglican Churches as truly "Catholic", Anglicans themselves claim to have all the qualifications needed to be Catholic.

Catholic Epistles

"Catholic Epistles" is another term for the General Epistles of the Christian New Testament in the Bible, which were addressed not to a particular city but to all in general. It is thus, strictly speaking, not an ecclesiastical term, being employed in the original broad sense of the Greek word from which "catholic" is derived. The epistles in question are [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm#james James]; [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm#1peter First] and [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm#2peter Second Peter]; [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm#1john First], [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/2john/2john.htm Second], and [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/3john/3john.htm Third John]and [http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/jude/jude.htm Jude].

Capitalization

Capitalization is no sure guide to denominational affiliation. It may indicate formal affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church or it may not. Capitalization may merely indicate a wish to stress the holy and solemn nature of the spiritual body of believers and a desire for all Christians to be one. It would be anachronistic to attribute significance to capitalization or lack of capitalization in printings of texts dating from before the last few centuries or in translations of those texts, since the originals were written in unmixed majuscule or minuscule letters. Translations even of modern texts into English often follow the usage of the original language. For instance, since French normally capitalizes only the first word of the title of an entity, the adjective "catholique", following the noun "Église", has a lower-case initial. Texts in Latin generally follow this usage, not the English practice.

Avoidance of usage

Some Protestant Christian Churches avoid using the term completely. The Orthodox Churches share some of the concerns about Roman Catholic claims, but disagree with Protestants about the nature of the Church as one body. For some, to use the word "Catholic" at all is to appear to give credence to papal claims.

External links

- [http://www.vatican.va The Holy See] the official Vatican web site
- [http://www.catholicfiles.com/ Catholic Files] free Catholic downloads
- [http://www.catholic.com Catholic Answers] Catholics Answers
- [http://www.thecatholicguide.com TheCatholic Guide] The Catholic Guide
- [http://www.catholicity.com CatholiCity] free catholic CDs and books
- [http://catholicapologeticsofamerica.blogspot.com Catholic Apologetics of America]
- [http://www.catholicexchange.com/ Catholic Exchange] non-profit charity
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ Catholic Encyclopedia]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/summa/ Summa Theologica]
- [http://www.fisheaters.com Fish Eaters: The Whys and Hows of Traditional Catholicism]
- [http://www.malach.org Polish Catholic service Malach - service of Głogów city]
- [http://www.scripturecatholic.com/ Scripture Catholic; Defending Roman Catholicism with its Sacred Scriptures]
- [http://www.mycatholic.com myCatholic.com] — A customizable Catholic web portal.
- [http://www.americancatholic.org/UpdateYourFaith/default.asp Catholic Church FAQs from American Catholic]
- [http://www.stblogsparish.com/bloglist.html Catholic Blogs & Resources] Category:Roman Catholic Church Category:Christianity Category:Anglicanism ko:카톨릭 ja:カトリック教会

Huguenot

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, or historically as the French Calvinists.

Origin of the name

Used originally as a term of derision, the derivation of the name Huguenot remains uncertain. It may have been based on the name Besançon Hugues, or a French corruption of the German word Eidgenosse, meaning a Swiss person - Geneva, Switzerland was John Calvin's adopted home and the center of the Calvinist movement. In Geneva, Hugues was the leader of the "Confederate Party", so called because it favored an alliance between the city-state of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation. This theory of origin has support from the fact that the label Huguenot was first applied in France to those conspirators (all of them aristocratic members of the Reformed Church) involved in the Amboise plot of 1560: a foiled attempt to usurp power in France from the influential House of Guise, a move which would have had the side-effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, Hugues plus eidgenot becomes Huguenot, with the intention of associating the Protestant cause with some very unpopular politics. Another theory is offered by O.I.A. Roche, who writes in his book The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots that "Huguenot" is :"a combination of a Flemish and a German word. In the Flemish corner of France, Bible students who gathered in each other's houses to study secretly were called Huis Genooten, or 'house fellows', while on the Swiss and German borders they were termed Eid Genossen, or 'oath fellows', that is, persons bound to each other by an oath. Gallicized into 'Huguenot', often used deprecatingly, the word became, during two and a half centuries of terror and triumph, a badge of enduring honor and courage."

Religious beliefs

Huguenot predecessors included the pro-reform and Gallican Roman Catholics, like Jacques Lefevre. Later, Huguenots followed the Lutheran movement, and finally, Calvinism. They shared John Calvin's fierce reformation beliefs which decried the priesthood, sacraments and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. They believed in salvation as an act of God as much as in creation as an act of God, and thus that only God's predestined mercy toward the elect made them fit for salvation. Some see this dual emphasis on creation and on salvation, and God's sovereignty over both, as a cornerstone principle for Huguenot developments in architecture, textiles and other merchandise. Above all, Huguenots became known for their fiery criticisms of worship as performed in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the focus on ritual and what seemed an obsession with death and the dead. They believed the ritual, images, saints, pilgrimages, prayers, and hierarchy of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward redemption. They saw Christian faith as something to be expressed in a strict and godly life, in obedience to Biblical laws, out of gratitude for God's mercy. Like other Protestants of the time, they felt that the Roman church needed radical cleansing of its impurities, and that the Pope represented a worldly kingdom, which sat in mocking tyranny over the things of God, and was ultimately doomed. Rhetoric like this became more fierce as events unfolded, and stirred up the hostility of the Catholic establishment. Huguenots faced periodic persecution from the outset of the Reformation; but Francis I (reigned 1515–1547) initially protected them from Parlementary measures designed for their extermination. The Affair of the Placards of 1534 changed the king's posture toward them: he stepped away from restraining persecution of the movement. Still, Huguenot numbers grew rapidly between 1555 and 1562, chiefly amongst the nobles and city-dwellers. During this time, their opponents first dubbed the Protestants Huguenots; but they called themselves reformés, "Reformed". They organized their first national synod in 1558, in Paris. By 1562, they had a total membership estimated at at least a million, especially numerous in the southern and central parts of the country. The Huguenots in France likely peaked in number at approximately two million, compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the same period. Violently opposed to the Catholic Church, the Huguenots attacked images, monasticism, and church buildings. Most of the cities in which the Huguenots gained a hold saw iconoclast attacks, in which altars and images in churches, and sometimes the buildings themselves were torn down. Bourges, Montauban and Orleans suffered particularly.

Wars of Religion

In reaction to the growing Huguenot influence, and the aforementioned excesses of Protestant zeal, Catholic violence against them grew, at the same time that concessions and edicts of toleration became more liberal. In 1561, the Edict of Orléans, for example, declared an end to the persecution; and the Edict of Saint-Germain recognized them for the first time (January 17, 1562); but these measures disguised the growing strain of relations between Protestant and Catholic. These bonds of peace became the knots of war; when violence unleashed them, the divisions became all the more irreconcilable. Tensions led to eight civil wars, interrupted by periods of relative calm, between 1562 and 1598. With each break in peace, the Huguenots' trust in the Catholic throne diminished, and the violence became more severe, and Protestant demands became more grand, until a lasting cessation of open hostility finally occurred in 1598. The wars gradually took on a dynastic character, developing into an extended feud between the Houses of Bourbon and Guise, which — in addition to holding rival religious views — both staked a claim to the French throne. The crown, occupied by the House of Valois, generally supported the Catholic side, but on occasion switched over to the Protestant cause when politically expedient. The French Wars of Religion began with a massacre at Wassy on March 1, 1562, in which at least 30 (some sympathetic sources say 1000 or more) Huguenots were killed, and about 200 were wounded. The Huguenots transformed themselves into a definitive political movement thereafter. Protestant preachers rallied a considerable army and a formidable cavalry, which came under the leadership of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Henry of Navarre and the House of Bourbon allied themselves to the Huguenots, adding wealth and holdings to the Protestant strength, which at its height grew to sixty fortified cities, and posed a serious threat to the Catholic crown and Paris over the next three decades. In what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August – 17 September, 1572, Catholics killed many Huguenots in Paris; similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following, with an estimated total death toll of 70,000. An amnesty granted in 1573 protected the perpetrators. The fifth holy war against the Huguenots began on February 23, 1574, and conflict continued periodically until 1598, when Henry of Navarre, having converted to Catholicism and become King of France as Henry IV, issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted the Protestants equality with Catholics under the throne, and a degree of religious and political freedom within their domains. The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in the Catholic-controlled regions. Note the difficulty of the French vocabulary of the day, depending on the point of view. Protestants considered themselves to practice a "reformed" religion (religion réformée) — which of course implied that the Catholic religion was in need of reforms. In opposition, Catholics, when talking in polite terms, called the Protestant religion the "allegedly reformed religion" (religion prétendue réformée, or RPR) — with an obvious pejorative undertone of "pretense".

Flight

Under King Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715), chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, who held real power during the king's minority up to his death in 1661, resumed persecution of the Protestants using soldiers to inflict dragonnades that made life so intolerable that many fled. The king revoked the "irrevocable" Edict of Nantes in 1685 and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. After this, huge numbers of Huguenots (with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 500,000) fled to surrounding Protestant countries: England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Prussia — whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. On December 31, 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Barred from settling in New France, many Huguenots moved instead to the 13 colonies of Great Britain in North America, the first in 1624 (in 1924 a commemorative half dollar, known as the Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar, was coined in the United States to celebrate the 300th anniversary of this settlement), among them a silversmith called Apollos Rivoire, who would later anglicize his name to Paul Revere. He would, still later, give his name and his profession to his son, Paul Revere, the famous United States revolutionary. Huguenot immigrants founded New Paltz, New York, where is now located the oldest street in America with the original stone houses, New Rochelle, New York (named after the town of La Rochelle in France), and a neighborhood in New York City's borough of Staten Island was named "Huguenot" after them. Some of the settlers chose the Virginia Colony, and formed communities in present-day Chesterfield County and Powhatan County just west of Richmond, Virginia, where their descendents continue to reside. The Huguenot Memorial Bridge across the James River was named in their honor, as were many local features including several schools. Many Huguenots also settled in the area around the current site of Charleston, South Carolina. In 1865, Rev. Elie Prioleau from the town of Pons in France settled in what was then called Charlestown. He became pastor of the first Huguenot church in North America in that city. That church is the oldest continuously active Huguenot congregation in the United States today. A leading Huguenot theologian and writer who led the exiled Huguenot community in London, Andre Lortie (or Andrew Lortie), became known for articulating Huguenot criticism of the Holy See and transubstantiation. Huguenot refugees flocked to Shoreditch, London in large numbers. They established a major weaving industry in and around Spitalfields (see Petticoat Lane and the Tenterground), and in Wandsworth. The Old Truman Brewery, then known as the Black Eagle Brewery, appeared in 1724. Huguenot refugees fled Tours, France virtually wiping out the great silk mills they had built. Some of them took their skills to Northern Ireland and assisted in the founding of the Irish linen industry. The exodus of Huguenots from France created a kind of brain drain from which the kingdom would not fully recover for years. The French crown's refusal to allow Protestants to settle in New France was a factor behind that colony's slow population growth, which ultimately led to its conquest by the British. By the time of the French and Indian War, there may have been more people of French ancestry living in Britain's American colonies than there were in New France. A third of American Presidents have some proven Huguenot ancestry, as do Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and other leading statesmen, and (according to an oft-repeated belief) one quarter or more of all Englishmen. Frederick the Great of Prussia, a strong believer in the separation of church and state, invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendents rose to positions of prominance in Prussia. The last Prime Minister of the (East) German Democratic Republic, Lothar de Maiziere, was a scion of a Huguenot family. Persecution of Protestants ended in 1764, and the French Revolution of 1789 finally made them full-fledged citizens.

External link

- [http://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org Huguenot Society of America]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk Huguenot Society of London(Now Huguenot Society of Great Britain & Ireland)]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk Huguenot Society of Great Britain & Ireland]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org Huguenot Society of South Carolina]
- [http://pages.prodigy.com/VRHZ10A/ressegui.htm History Of The French Huguenots In America] Category:Protestantism Category:Religion in France ja:ユグノー

Sixteenth Century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. See also: 16th century in literature

Events

- 1501: Safavid dynasty rules Iran until 1736.
- 1509: The Battle of Diu marks the beginning of Portuguese dominance of the Spice trade.
- 1514: The Battle of Orsha halts Muscovy's expansion into Eastern Europe.
- 1515: The Ottoman Empire wrests Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids after the Battle of Chaldiran.
- 1516-17: The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and gain control of Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant.
- 1517: The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Saxony.
- 1519-21: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
- 1520-66: The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent marks the zenith of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1521: Belgrade is captured by the Ottoman Empire.
- 1523: Sweden gains independence from the Kalmar Union.
- 1524-25: Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1526: The Ottomans conquer the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács.
- 1526: Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, rules India until 1857.
- 1527: Sack of Rome is considered the end of the Italian Renaissance.
- 1529: The Siege of Vienna marks the Ottoman Empire's furthest advance into Europe.
- 1531-32: The Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes King Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
- 1532: Francisco Pizarro leads the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
- 1534: Jacques Cartier claims Quebec for France.
- 1534: The Ottomans capture Baghdad.
- 1543: The Nanban trade period begins after Portuguese traders make contact with Japan.
- 1552: Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan.
- 1553: Macau founded by Portuguese in China.
- 1555: The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company.
- 1556: The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake.
- 1556: Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate.
- 1556-1605: During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests and is considered the greatest Mughal emperor.
- 1558-1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
- 1558-83: Livonian War between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.
- 1558: After 200 years, England loses Calais to France.
- 1559: With the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis, the Italian Wars conclude.
- 1562-98: French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots.
- 1566-1648: Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands.
- 1568-1600: The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
- 1569: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin which lasts until 1795.
- 1577-80: Francis Drake circles the World and claims California for England.
- 1580: After the struggle for the throne of Portugal, the Portuguese Empire comes to an end and the Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years.
- 1582: Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs.
- 1584-85: After the Siege of Antwerp, many of its merchants fled to Amsterdam.
- 1585-1604: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
- 1588: England repulses the Spanish Armada.
- 1589: Spain repulses the English Armada.
- 1592-98: Korea and China repel two Japanese invasions during the Seven-Year War.
- 1598-1613: Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles.
- 1600: British East India Company chartered.

Significant people

British East India Company]
- Nicolaus Copernicus, developed the heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory using scientific methods (1473 - 1543).
- Henry VII of England, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Introduced ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation which restored the kingdom after a state of virtual bankruptcy due to the effects of the Wars of the Roses (1457 - 1509).
- György Dózsa, leader of the peasants' revolt in Hungary (1470 - 1514)
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 - 1564).
- Thomas More, English politician and author (1478 - 1535).
- Martin Luther, German religious reformer (1483 - 1546).
- Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador (1485 - 1547).
- King Henry VIII of England, founder of Anglicanism (1491 - 1547).
- King Francis I of France, considered the first Renaissance monarch of his Kingdom (1494 - 1547).
- Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Conqueror and legal reformer (1494 - 1566).
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first to reign as King of Spain. Involved in almost constant conflict with France and the Ottoman Empire while promoting the Spanish colonization of the Americas (1500 - 1558).
- Cuauhtémoc becomes last Tlatoani of the Aztec, leads the native resistance against the Spanish and is finally defeated in the siege of Tenochtitlan. He is hanged on February 26, 1525 (1502 - 1525)
- Mary I of England. Attempted to counter the Protestant Reformation in her domains. Nick-named Bloody Mary for her Religious persecution (1516 - 1558).
- King Philip II of Spain, self-proclaimed leader of Counter-Reformation (1527 - 1598).
- Queen Elizabeth I of England, central figure of the Elizabethan era (1533 - 1603).
- Oda Nobunaga , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. First ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1534 - 1582).
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. Second ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1536 - 1598).
- Admiral Yi Sun-sin , respected as one of the greatest admirals and military leaders in world history. (1545 - 1598).
- Edward VI of England, notable for further differentiating Anglicanism from the practices of the Roman Catholic Church (1537 - 1553).
- Lady Jane Grey, Queen regnant of England and Ireland. Notably deposed by popular revolt (1537 - 1554).
- Queen Mary I of Scotland, First female head of the House of Stuart (1542 - 1587).
- Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547 - 1616).
- King Henry IV of France and Navarre, ended the French Wars of Religion and reunited the kingdom under his command (1553 - 1610).
- William Shakespeare, English author (1564 - 1616).
- John Donne, English metaphysical poet (1572 - 1631)
- Miyamoto Musashi, famous warrior in Japan, author of The Book of Five Rings, a treatise on strategy and martial combat. (1584 - 1645)
- Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Somali Imam and general (1507 - 1543).
- Ivan IV of Russia, first Russian tsar (1530-1584).

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

List of 16th century inventions
- The Columbian Exchange introduces many plants, animals and diseases to the Old and New Worlds.
- Introduction of the spinning wheel revolutionizes textile production in Europe.
- Modern square root symbol (√ )
- Copernicus publishes his theory that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun (1543)
- Gregorian Calendar adopted by Catholic countries (1582)
- 1513: Juan Ponce de León sights Florida and Vasco Núñez de Balboa sights the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean.
- 1519-22: Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano lead the first circumnavigation of the World.
- 1540: Francisco Vásquez de Coronado sights the Grand Canyon.
- 1541-42: Francisco de Orellana sails the length of the Amazon River.
- 1597: Opera in Florence by Jacopo Peri

Decades and years

Category:16th century Category:Centuries ko:16세기 ja:16世紀 th:คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 16

1598

Events

- January 7 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I
- April 13 - Edict of Nantes - Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics. Considered the end of the French Wars of Religion.
- May 2 - Peace of Vervins - End of war between France and Spain.
- September 22 - Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter.
- September 25 - Battle of Stångebro. The Catholic King Sigismund of Sweden and Poland is defeated in his attempt to resume control of Sweden by the Protestant forces of his uncle, Charles Albert. Sigismund is deposed shortly thereafter.
- November 19 - At the Battle of Noryang Point,a Korean-Ming joint navy ambushes the Japanese navy,and defeats them.
- Philosopher Tommaso Campanella organizes an uprising in Calabria against the rule of Spanish viceroy - he is captured and sentenced for 27 years in jail
- Irish rebellion against the English rule - rebel victory at battle of the Yellow Ford
- Parliament of England passes an act that allows transportation of convicts to colonies

Births

- April 17 - Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian astronomer (died 1671)
- April 23 - Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (died 1653)
- July 31 - Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (died 1654)
- August 7 - Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (died 1672)
- September 23 - Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1655)
- November 7 - Francisco Zurbarán, Spanish painter (died 1664)
- November 28 - Hans Nansen, Danish statesman (died 1667)
- December 7 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor (died 1680)
- Bonaventura Cavalieri, Italian mathematician (died 1647)
- Johan van Galen, Dutch naval officer (died 1653)
- Ralph Hopton, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (died 1652)
- Marmaduke Langdale, Royalist in the English Civil War (died 1661)
- Baldassarre Longhena, Venetian architect (died 1682)
- Jean Nicolet, French explorer (died 1642)
- Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1677)
- William Strode, English parliamentarian (died 1645)
- Åke Henriksson Tott, Swedish soldier and politician (died 1640) See also :Category:1598 births.

Deaths

- January 6 - Tsar Feodor I of Russia (born 1557)
- January 9 - Jasper Heywood, English classicist and translator (born 1553)
- May 3 - Anna Guarini, Italian singer (born 1563)
- August 4 - William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
- September 13 - Philip II of Spain (born 1526)
- September 18 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese warlord (born 1536)
- November 19 - Yi Sun-sin, Korean naval leader (killed in battle) (born 1545)
- December 15 - Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (born 1538)
- Johann Georg, Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (born 1525)
- Abdulla Khan, Uzbek/Turkoman ruler
- Jacopo Mazzoni, Italian philosopher (born 1548)
- Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (born 1527)
- Nicolas Pithou, French lawyer and author (born 1524) See also :Category:1598 deaths. Category:1598 ko:1598년 simple:1598

Catholic League (French)

The French Catholic League was created by Henry of Guise, in 1576 during the French Wars of Religion. Pope Sixtus V, the Jesuits, Catherine de' Medici, and Philip II of Spain were all members of this intransigent ultra-Catholic party, bent upon extirpating the Protestant heresy in France once and for all. The Valois king, Henry III of France feared the power of the Guise faction and thus accepted the existence of the league but made himself its commander, eventually disbanding it in 1577 after using it to win several victories over the Huguenots. Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne won battles for the Catholic League. In 1588, after the murder of Henry of Guise, the league rose up against the king in favor of the imprisoned Cardinal de Bourbon, whom they proclaimed "Charles X" (the next person to claim this title was Charles X of France, brother of Louis XVI). However, King Henry allied with the third faction, Henry of Navarre, in April 1589, and together they besieged Paris. Henry III was assassinated during the siege. This struggle in the French Wars of Religion is often known as "War of Three Henries." The League was eventually forced to acknowledge the kingship of Henry of Navarre (after his conversion to Catholicism), and eventually died out under his rule.

1560

Events

- February 27 - The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland
- The first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands.
- July 6 - Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland. This largely ends the "Auld Alliance" between France and Scotland, and ends the wars between England and its northern neighbor.
- August 17 - the Roman Church is overthrown and Protestantism was established as the national religion in Scotland.
- Jean Nicot introduces tobacco in the form of snuff to the French court.
- Solihull School was founded.
- The great age of piracy in the Caribbean starts around this time.

Births

- January 17 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (died 1624)
- June 25 - Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (died 1634)
- August 7 - Erzsébet Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (died 1614)
- August 10 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (died 1629)
- November 3 - Annibale Carracci, Italian painter (died 1609)
- December 3 - Jan Gruter, Dutch critic and scholar (died 1627)
- Felice Anerio, Italian composer (died 1614)
- Jacobus Arminius, Dutch theologian (died 1609)
- Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (died 1621)
- Dominicus Corea, King of Kotte of Ceylon (died 1596)
- James Crichton, Scottish scholar (died 1582)
- Lieven de Key, Dutch architect (died 1627)
- Hector MacLean of Dowart, Scottish Lord of the Clan MacLean (died 1630)
- Ishida Mitsunari, Japanese samurai
- Niall Garve O'Donnell, Irish nobleman (died 1626)
- Katarzyna Ostrogska, Polish noblewoman (died 1579)
- John Owen, epigrammatist (died 1622)
- Anton Praetorius, German pastor (died 1613)
- Krystyna Radziwill, Polish noblewoman (died 1580) See also :Category: 1560 births.

Deaths

- January 1 - Joachim du Bellay, French poet
- February 7 - Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Florentine sculptor (born 1493)
- February 16 - Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat
- April 19 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (born 1497)
- September 29 - King Gustav I of Sweden (born 1496)
- September 30 - Melchior Cano, Spanish theologian (born 1525)
- November 25 - Andrea Doria, Italian naval commander (born 1466)
- December 5 - King Francis II of France (born 1544)
- Anastasia of Russia, wife of the first Russian Tsar
- Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland and regent for her daughter Mary I of Scotland (born 1515)
- Barbara Kola, Polish noblewoman (born 1480)
- Jan Laski, Polish Protestant evangelical reformer (born 1499)
- Amy Robsart, English noblewoman
- John Sheppard, English composer and organist (born 1515)
- Imagawa Yoshimoto, Japanese daimyo
- Ii Naomori, Japanese warrior See also :Category: 1560 deaths. Category:1560 ko:1560년

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici (April 13, 1519, Florence – January 5, 1589, Blois), born in Italy as Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici, and later lived in France under the name Catherine de Médicis, was Queen of France as the wife of King Henry II of France, of the Valois branch of the kings of France, and mother of three further kings of that branch. Born in Florence, Italy, she was a daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and a French princess, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. Having lost both her parents at an early age, Catherine was sent to a convent to be educated; she was only fourteen when she was married (on October 28, 1533), at Marseille, to the duke of Orléans, whose elder brother François was alive at the time, but who would become King Henry II of France. Her uncle was Pope Clement VII (the pope who refused to grant Henry VIII a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon). Although Clement VII always addressed Catherine as his niece, he was in fact a first cousin of her grandfather. It was the pope who arranged her marriage negotiating with Henry's father Francis I of France. Francis, still engaged in his lifelong struggle against Charles V, was only too glad of the opportunity to strengthen his influence in the Italian peninsula, while Clement, ever needful of help against his too powerful protector, was equally ready to hold out some bait. During the reign of Francis, Catherine exercised little influence in France. She was young, a foreigner, in a country that had great weight in the world of politics, of unproven ability, and over-shadowed by more important persons. For ten years after her marriage, she had no children. In consequence, whispers of a divorce began at court, and it seemed possible that Francis, alarmed at the possible extinction of his royal house, would listen to such a proposal. But Catherine did produce children, and Francis lived long enough to see his grandchildren before he died. When her maternal aunt the Duchess of Albany died, Catherine inherited the County of Auvergne. During the reign of her husband (1547–1559), Catherine lived a quiet and passive life but observed what was going on. Henry being completely under the influence of his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine had little authority. In 1552, when the king left the kingdom for the campaign of Metz, she was nominated regent, but with very limited powers. This continued even after the accession of her sickly son Francis II of France at age 15. His wife, Mary, Queen of Scots, little disposed to meddle with politics on her own account, was managed by her uncles, the cardinal of Lorraine and the duke of Guise. The queen-mother, however, soon grew weary of the domination of the Guises, and entered upon a course of secret opposition. On April 1, 1560 she named as chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital, who advocated a policy of conciliation. Catherine unwittingly had vast influence on fashions for the next 350 years when she enforced a ban on thick waists at court attendance during the 1550s. For nearly 350 years, women's primary means of support was the corset, with laces and stays made of whalebone or metal. They forcefully shrank women's waists from their natural dimensions to as little as 43, 38, or even fewer centimetres (17, 15, or fewer inches). She has also been said to have been one of the most "influential people in culinary history" [http://www.annamariavolpi.com/caterina_de_medici.html]. corset On the death of Francis (December 5, 1560), Catherine became regent during the minority of her second son, Charles IX of France, and found before her a career worthy of the most soaring ambition. She was then forty-one years old, but, although she was the mother of nine children, she was still vigorous and active. She retained her influence for more than twenty years in the troubled period of the French Wars of Religion. At first she listened to the moderate counsels of l'Hôpital to avoid siding definitely with either party, but her character and the habits of policy to which she had been accustomed tended to be at odds with this stance. She was zealous in the interests of her children, especially of her favourite third son, the duke of Anjou. Like many of that time, she looked upon statesmanship in particular as a career in which finesse, lying, and assassination by poisoning were also one of her most famous if not admirable, traits. Rumors of a hidden or trap door to dispose the bodies of her victims does bring to light a more sinister side of the renaissance queen. By habit a Catholic, but above all fond of power, she was determined to prevent the Protestants from getting the upper hand and almost equally resolved not to allow them to be utterly crushed, in order to use them as a counterpoise to the Guises. This trimming policy met with little success: rage and suspicion so possessed men's minds that she could not long control the opposing parties, and one civil war followed another toward the end of her life. In 1567, after the Enterprise of Meaux, she dismissed l'Hopital and joined the Catholic party. Having failed to crush the Protestant rebellion by arms, she resumed, in 1570, the policy of peace and negotiation. She conceived the project of marrying her favourite son, the duke of Alençon, to Queen Elizabeth I of England, but that did not come about. She was successful in marrying her eldest daughter, Elisabeth (b. April 1545), to Philip II of Spain and then her third daughter, Marguerite, to Henry of Navarre. To this end she temporarily reconciled with the Protestants and allowed Coligny to return to court and to re-enter the council. Of this step she quickly repented: Charles IX conceived a great affection for the admiral and showed signs of taking up an independent attitude. Catherine, thinking her influence menaced, sought to regain it, first by the murder of Coligny, and, after that failed, by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. However, although Catherine is blamed for the start of that war, in fact she was not the initiator. After the death of Charles in 1574 and the succession of her son, Henri III, Catherine pursued her old policy of compromise and concessions, but as her influence was nothing compared to her son's, so it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. She died on January 5, 1589, a short time before the assassination of Henry and the end of the House of Valois. In her taste for art and her love of magnificence and luxury, Catherine was a true Medici; her banquets at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau in 1564 were famous for their sumptuousness. In architecture, especially, she was well versed, and Philibert de l'Orme (Philibert of the Elm) relates that she discussed with him the plan and decoration of her palace of the Tuileries. Catherine's policy provoked a crowd of pamphlets, the most celebrated being the Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions et diportemens de la reine Catherine de Medecis, in which Henri Estienne undoubtedly collaborated. Catherine died at the Royal Château de Blois, France, where today, visitors to the castle can see her poison cabinets. She was interred with her husband in a cadaver tomb in the Saint Denis Basilica. On her death, her possessions, including the County of Auvergne, were merged into the French royal domain by her last surviving son, Henry III. See also: Medici family

Books

- Leonie Frieda, (2004). Catherine de Medici - A biography. ISBN 1-84212-725-X - [http://www.leoniefrieda.com/review.htm Website]

References

- Category:Queen consorts Category:Queen mothers Category:Regents Category:1519 births Category:1589 deaths Category:Medici ja:カトリーヌ・ド・メディシス

Charles IX of France

Charles IX (June 27, 1550 – May 30, 1574) was born Charles-Maximilien, the son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de Medici. He was born in the royal chateau at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. After the death of his elder brother, Francis II, in 1560, he inherited the throne and was crowned King of France in 1561 in the cathedral at Reims. The politics of that era was greatly influenced by the power of the ambitious Catherine de Medici and the Guises. During the reign of Charles IX a new product was introduced, designed to cure ulcers and heal wounds along with other such benefits. Tobacco soon gained wide acceptance. On November 26, 1570 he married Elisabeth of Austria. They had one daughter, Marie-Elisabeth (October 27, 1572 – April 9, 1578). In 1572, Charles IX oversaw the massacre of thousands of Huguenots (Protestants) from in and around Paris in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Charles IX died at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne in 1574 and was succeeded by his brother, Henri III. Charles IX had an illegitimate son from his mistress, Marie Touchet: the Duc d'Angoulême.

Huguenot

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, or historically as the French Calvinists.