The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629

by Mack P. Holt

• ISBN13: 9780521547505
• ISBN10: 0521547504
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780511131431
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is a new edition of Mack P. Holt's classic study of the French religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on the scholarship of social and cultural historians of the Reformation, it shows how religion infused both politics and the socio-economic tensions of the period to produce a long extended civil war. Professor Holt integrates court politics and the political theory of the elites with the religious experiences of the popular classes, offering a fresh perspective on the wars and on why the French were willing to kill their neighbors in the name of religion. The book has been created specifically for undergraduates and general readers with no background knowledge of either French history or the Reformation. This new edition updates the text in the light of new work published in the last decade and the 'Suggestions for further reading' has been completely re-written.

Table of Contents

List of maps and figures	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
Preface to Second Edition	x
Chronological table of events	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
Prologue: Gallicanism and reform in the sixteenth century	7	(43)
'The beginning of a tragedy': the early wars of religion, 1562--1570	50	(26)
Popular disorder and religious tensions: the making of a massacre, 1570--1574	76	(23)
The rhetoric of resistance: the unmaking of the body politic, 1574--1584	99	(24)
'Godly warriors': the crisis of the League, 1584--1593	123	(33)
Henry IV and the Edict of Nantes: the remaking of Gallicanism, 1593--1610	156	(22)
Epilogue: the last war of religion, 1610--1629	178	(17)
Conclusions: economic impact, social change, and absolutism	195	(28)
Genealogical charts	223	(4)
Brief biographies	227	(5)
Suggestions for further reading	232	(6)
Index	238