The French Religious Wars 1562-1598

by KNECHT, ROBERT

• ISBN13: 9781841763958
• ISBN10: 1841763950
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-06-25
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

The eight French Wars of Religion began in 1562 and lasted for 36 years. Although the wars were fought between Catholics and Protestants, this books draws out in full the equally important struggle for power between the king and the leading nobles, and the rivalry between the nobles themselves as they vied for control of the king. In a time when human life counted for little, the destruction reached its height in the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre when up to 10,000 Protestants lost their lives.

Author Biography

Robert J. Knecht is Emeritus Professor of French History at the University of Birmingham, where he taught from 1956 until 1994. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has been Chairman of the Society for the Study of French History and of the Society of Renaissance Studies. He has written extensively on sixteenth-century France, especially the reign of Francis I. His latest book is The French Civil Wars (London, Pearson, 2000).

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(9)
Chronology	9	(2)
Background to War
Religious dissent and aristocratic discontent	11	(11)
Warring sides
The Crown and the Huguenots	22	(7)
Outbreak
The first war (2 April 1562-12 March 1563)	29	(9)
The fighting
From the `Surprise de Meaux' to the siege of Rouen	38	(32)
Portrait of a soldier
Two soldier-writers, one Huguenot captain	70	(5)
The world around war
The impact of the Wars of Religion on France's neighbours	75	(5)
Portrait of a civilian
A lawyer, a surgeon, and a pastor	80	(3)
How the war ended
Henry IV's conversion	83	(6)
Conclusion and consequences	89	(3)
Further reading	92	(2)
Index	94