The Motivating Factors in the French Wars of Religion - Essay Example

Assess the relative importance of religious loyalty and aristocratic clientage as motivating factors in the French Wars of Religion Introduction: The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) though is commonly interpreted as the conflict between Catholic religious orthodoxy and empowerment of Protestantism in 16th century France, however, judging from the perspective of the nation’s social history the Wars of Religion cater multiple layers of significance in terms of religious loyalty, and changes in social, political and economic scenario due to aristocratic clientage. Jackson J. Spielvogel, while evaluating importance of the Wars of Religion has observed that “By middle of the sixteenth century, Calvinism and Catholicism had become activist religions dedicated to spreading the word of God as they interpreted it. Although this religious struggle [constructs] the core of the religious wars of the sixteenth century, economic, social and political forces also played important roles in these conflicts. Of the sixteenth-century religious wars, none were more momentous or more shattering than the French civil wars known as the French Wars of Religion” (Spielvogel 283). The French Wars of Religion receive draw special attention from historian because irrespective of the religious overtone they also casted considerable impact over social politics and consecutively played an important part in shaping the nature of “early modern European politics” (Nexon 235). Due to the overwhelming impact of the French Wars of Religion not only France’s capacity to operate as a dominant force in the European context was restricted but also the Dutch revolt and catholic militancy under leadership of the Spanish king Philip II received considerable impetus from them: “[The French Wars of Religion] profoundly shaped early modern European politics. They destroyed, for decades, the ability of France to operate as a great power. They also intersected in a number of crucial ways … with the Dutch Revolt and the practice of Spanish hegemony. Thus, the French Wars of Religion provide a stark reminder of the significant political implications of “transitional” religious movements” (Nexon 235). Factors that Inspired the French Wars of Religion: The French Revolution (1789) though is considered as the most radical incident in the context of France’s social history, however, background of the change was gradually being prepared since the early 16th century and outbreak of the French Wars of Religion can be considered as one of the most important indications of the change. Though recognized as the Wars of Religion, however, in reality they were actually French civil wars and religion became a driving engine (Spielvogel 448). In support of this observation, it has further been observed that “… religion was not the only factor that contributed to the French Civil wars. Towns and provinces, which had long resisted the growing power of monarchial centralization, were only too willing to join revolt against the monarchy. This was also true for the nobility, and the fact that so many of them were Calvinists created an important base of opposition to the crown. The French Wars of Religion … presented a major constitutional crisis for France and temporarily halted the development of the French centralized state. The claim to a person’s loyalties by the ruling dynasty was temporarily suspended by loyalty to one’s religious beliefs” (Spielvogel 283). The spread of Protestantism in the 16th century was considered by the French empires as a matter of serious concern. The Huguentos or the French Calvinists mainly hailed from general section of the society and they suffered to the highest magnitude due to arbitrary actions of the monarchy. The strong bond between Catholicism and French monarchy resisted them to seek help from religious institutions and consequently they also searched for such a support that would attempt to address crisis. While the Catholic Church refused to listen to the common people, they were left with no other option than to seek help from Protestantism. The political game between the French aristocracy and French Empire was even deeper. During the late 15th and early 16th century, France was striving to emerge as a centralized power and it was required for the nation to receive complete support from the aristocrats. However, the conflict between French monarchy and aristocracy prevented the nation as well as its monarchial governance to attain the long desired aim: “Although “feudal” power relations declined precipitously in France, they were replaced by regional governors and vertical networks of patronage that linked magnates to local clients. Even as the active intervention of the monarchy in the local governance increased, the monarchy depended upon noble patron-client networks to govern effectively” (Nexon 236). It is not difficult to understand from the situation that the French nobles became aware of the importance of their contribution in the system of governance and consequently became more ambitious to derive more power from hands of the inefficient monarchy. The antagonism of common people toward Catholicism and the emperor of France provided them with an unprecedented opportunity to dominate the monarchy. Roger Mettam and Douglas Johnson have provided accurate information regarding the system of governmental operation in 16th century France: “The king in France was the unlimited author of law, but he relied on … courts to register his edicts and to dispense his justice. In return they were beginning first to be obstructive and soon to make positive demands on him. At the same time the central government was making irregular use of the commissaire, forerunner of the intendant, an official sent out by the king to investigate specific grievances and instances of maladministration and reporting back to Paris” (11). The Valois family always had a special influence over the governmental system of France due to their considerable contribution in the making France a great empire irrespective of its differences from the heterogeneous quality. While the common people of France were supporting Calvinism over Catholicism, almost 40-50 percent of the French noble houses joined the procession and among them one of the most influential noble houses after the Valois, the house of Bourbon played a highly important role in encouraging the movement. The Bourbon house was also a strong contender of the French throne after the Valois (Spielvogel 448): “The conversion of so many nobles made the Heguenots a potentially dangerous political threat to monarchial power. Though the Calvinists constructed only about 10 percent of the population, they were a strong-willed and well-organized minority” (Spielvogel 448). In the context of religious loyalty, however, the Catholic population completely outnumbered the Protestant counterparts. Additionally, the support from Valois house that was staunchly Catholic provided the supporters of Catholicism with a strong foundation to counter any such intervention that could have been considered issues of immediate concern for the monarchy as well as for the Catholic Church. Compared to the appreciation of Protestantism in England during 16th century, the situation was quite different in France and the French kings relied to a great extent over the empowerment that was delivered to them by the Catholic Church in terms of both social and religious: “Thus, the sacres of the kings of France were more than culturally replete symbols of the sacred nature of French kingship denoting a special relationship with God. As the General Assembly of the Clergy declared in 1625, French kings were not only ordained by God, ‘they themselves were gods’. And as the Wars of Religion were to demonstrate, the special powers of these god-kings were accompanied by explicit responsibilities, the foremost of which was combating heresy” (Holt 8). While the combined power of the Catholic Church and French kings was considered to be undisputed and unchallenged within the socio-political of 16th century France, emergence of the Huguenots was clearly regarded as a massive threat. As France was experiencing a situation of unprecedented political turmoil during this period of time and consequently the impact of religious conflict among other European nations was also becoming conspicuous, the majority of French society, under influence of Catholic extremity, was ready to ignore entirely the possibilities for toleration. However, it was not possible for them to adopt the extreme step due to the agreement between mild Catholics and the Edict of Nantes in 1598. As the Catholics wished for social stability more than religious dominance, thus the French Calvinists received adequate opportunity to ensure “… a considerable degree of security in political, administrative, financial, economic, military and religious matters” (Mettam, and Johnson 11). By the time slow attack of the Catholic extremists commenced over Calvinists, the Protestant lords and nobles gathered garnered sufficient provisions to defend such oppression (Mettam, and Johnson 11). Quite soon the Catholic extremists realized that if immediate and extreme measures are not taken it would be difficult to break the resistance of Protestants. In the context of accomplishing their purpose, while on one hand they received complete support from the Valois house, on the other hand, death of Henry II in the year 1559 provided them with additional enthusiasm. The successors of the King Henry II were incompetent and were under complete control of their mother Catherine de’ Medici: “As regent for her sons, the moderate Catholic Catherine looked to religious compromise as a way to defuse the political tensions but found to her consternation that both sides possessed their share of religious fanatics unwilling to make concessions. The extreme Catholic party – known as the ultra-Catholics – favored strict opposition to the Huguenots and was led by the Guise (GEEZ) family. Possessing the loyalty of Paris and large section of northern and northwest France through their client-patronage system, the Guises could recruit and pay for large armies and received support abroad from papacy and Jesuits who favored the family’s uncompromising Catholic position” (Spielvogel 448). The Importance of Religious Loyalty in the French Wars Religion: The evolve of Philip II as the new King of Spain and strongest advocate of Catholic militancy added new color to the 16th century European political scenario. Like the kings of France, Charles V, the father of Philip II expanded his kingdom in different parts of the European continent. As the new king of Spain, his primary duty was to assert his complete control over the lands and he also quite assertively believed that strict conformity to Catholic principles would be effective in order to attain this goal. In 1959, French king Henry II’s urge to make peace with Philip II actually reflects three different dimensions of concern: first, the Valois-Habsburg conflict put the empire into a dreadful financial situation and it did not have the capacity to engage in warfare with such a strong opponent as that of Philip II; second, one of the king Henry II’s prime aims, that is to splinter the Habsburg domain was complete and finally, rapid expansion of Calvinism appeared to be the most alarming threat against power of the French monarchy (Nexon 236-37). It was realized quite aptly by the French monarchy that if the spread of Calvinism cannot be restrained, it would weaken the foundation of Catholicism with due course of time and consequently the hold of French monarchy over common people of the land would also weaken. The power of French Catholic Church and monarchy was complementary and supplementary in nature and the issue of religious loyalty can be classified into three parts: “First, there were those prelates who acted as councilors of the family and who enjoyed a privileged position in the household. Second, there were those who administered ecclesiastical affairs in the localities, a group which included important officials …. In addition, the Guise were significant brokers of the ecclesiastical patronage which ensured that they were continually solicited for favor” (Carroll 85). The impact of religious loyalty in the context of French Wars of Religion has manifold implications. While on one hand the element of tremendous religious orthodoxy inspired the majority of Catholic population not to negotiate with the Calvinist counterparts and also led them to undertake extreme step against them, on other hand, leaders of the Catholic extremism used their power to manipulate feeling of the mass against the Calvinists. They clearly used their command over common people to retain their position in national politics and also maintained their contending position in case of protecting their respective position for controlling nature of the French Monarch: “The cardinals de Lorraine and de Guise were great temporal as well as spiritual lords. The household of the cardinal de Lorraine thronged with sword nobles. Likewise the lay members of the family employed clerics in their household and provided benefices on their temporal lands. The elevated position of the Guise within the French church afforded them a bounty of patronage. The bishopric of Avranches was dominated by two clients families …” (Carroll 85). It becomes clear from the observation that under the disguise of religious loyalty the noble houses were actually using the entire socio-religious system for their own benefit. Dominance of the house of Guise over French monarchy was undisputed in the 16th century and in order to retain the position the Duke not only advocated the policy of Catholic militancy but also during the First War of Religion that commenced through the Massacre of Huguenots in Vassy (1562) he actively participated in the slaughter of innocent Calvinists (Nexon 246). Critics like Francis Knecht has opined that the socio-political turmoil of France that started reaching its culmination during the reign of king Henry II was mainly a narrative of the rivalry between two most influential noble houses, namely the house of Guise and the house of Montmorency (Nexon 243). Each of the houses used the element of religious loyalty only to attain support from mass and exploit it accordingly to exercise their respective command over French politics during 16th century. The house of Guise was considered as an extremely influential political family in the French context and they took complete control over the governance by capitalizing on the incompetency of Francis II, after death of the former king Henry II. The other competing houses for the French throne such as the house of Montmorency and the house of Bourbon did not have any other option than to earn as much of public support to defy the dominance of French monarchy and consequently the Catholic rule. As the majority of French population followed the norms of Catholicism and consequently remained loyal to the king, these two houses came under to pretence of supporting Calvinism that was rapidly rising against arbitrary actions of both French Catholic Church and Monarchy with the intent to alter the course of people’s support for the empire as well as for the rival parties. While the Catholic extremists and their supporters were planning to condemn the evolve of Calvinism as a potential treat both against religious trend and the monarchy, the Protestants were becoming more unified and by the year 1534 they became so strong that they went to the extent of demonstrating their protest against manipulative dominance of the French Catholic Church. Quite logically and poignantly the Calvinist claimed that the way French Catholics are interpreting the Christian religion to common people is actually biased and entirely aimed at earning favoritism of common people in a deceiving manner. They also emphasized that while it is expected religion would serve the purpose of common welfare, the Catholic dominance is actually manipulating people’s religious loyalty, consequently harming them: “By this [mass]the pool people are like ewes or miserable sheep, kept and maintained by these bewitching wolves [Catholic priests], then eaten, gnawed and devoured …. By this mass they have seized, destroyed and swallowed up everything; they have disinherited kings, princes, nobles, merchants and everyone else imaginable dead or alive …. They kill, burn, destroy, and murder … all those who contradict them, for now all they have left is force. Truth in lacking in them, but it menaces them, follows them, and chases them; and in the end truth will find them out. By it they shall be destroyed” (Cited in Holt 18). Quite clearly the manipulative technique of Catholic dominance was exposed by the Protestant supporters and the way the truth of the situation was exposed, it clearly yielded a feeling of immediate crisis among the ruling class. Like their Catholic counterparts, the Protestants empowered by support from certain noble houses of the nation, refused to give up their position. Naturally, the conflict between Catholicism and Calvinism became evident in order to obtain the complete hold over their opponents. The Importance of Aristocratic Clientage in the French Wars of Religion: While the factor of religious loyalty played the most effective part in the French Wars of Religion, on the other hand, involvement of the aristocratic clientage can be interpreted as catalyzing in the entire scenario: “It is undeniable that the aristocracy played a preponderant role in political life, but … the power of the French monarchy in the sixteenth century in practice largely depended on the goodwill of representative institutions and the provincial elites. Power was defuse and the towns and provinces remained largely autonomous of royal control. The king should govern with the consent of and in consultation with his people had gained wide acceptance by the beginning of the Wars of Religion. The religious divisions of the sixteenth century permeated all levels of society and introduced an ideological element to politics. During the civil wars religion and politics, both at court and in the localities, became intertwined” (Caroll 3). In the context of judging the importance of aristocratic clientage during the Wars of Religion, it will not be correct to focus on any individual elite; rather it is more important to explore the entire situation because the situation of clientage was created through output through respective outputs from several aristocrats with different political backgrounds. Prior to the Wars of Religion the influence of aristocratic clientage was only limited to the families and the localities they used to rule but during end of the 16th century spread of aristocratic clientage expanded its scope beyond boundaries of their respective regions. The background of the Wars of Religion in France provides a clear impression of the development of pre-modern political situation in Europe and involvement of aristocratic powers resulted in the inclusion of different political ideologies: “Politics consisted partly of the struggle between magnate affinities of shifting factions based around confessional solidarity …. Political ideology was articulated in terms of religious morality, the defence of traditional rights and Aristotelian ideas of the ‘bien publique’, but new ideas were also developed to justify the political objectives of the Calvinists and later the Catholic League” (Carroll 4). Catering the political ideologies in the forms of religious morality would not have been so effective without intrusion of aristocratic clientage. It was perhaps the main reason that the either parties in the Wars of Religion refused to compromise on their religio-moral disciplines and consequently the Wars of Religion took such a prevailing and devastating form. The marriage of the Henry of Navarre was an important effort to reconcile the conflict between Catholics and Calvinists. Henry of Navarre was also considered as the main political leader of the Calvinists. The event of his marriage was held to a platform for discussion between Catholic extremist leaders and Calvinists. However, the Guise family successfully persuaded the king Charles IX and his mother Catherine de’ Medici that the gathering of Huguenots leaders in Paris is actually a threat against them and it is important to take immediate actions for the purpose of their security. Thus, assassination of the Huguenot leaders by the king’s order resulted in the infamous massacre of Huguenots and also marked the commencement of the Wars of Religion (Spielvogel 449). The aristocratic clientage for Calvinism in 16th century France marked the commencement a new political era in the history of French politics. The French aristocrats refuted tradition of their allegiance to the Catholic religious discipline and supported Protestantism in order to introduce an unprecedented social and political change in the then situation of France: “The traditional view of the French nobility’s decline served historians as an explanation of the social and political conflicts of early modern France. These could be seen as resulting from a conflict between an old declining nobility, and a new rising bourgeoisie. It also helped to explain the rise of the modern absolutist state. Given the assumption that a strong state and a strong nobility were incompatible, the latter’s decline in the sixteenth century was seen as the essential precondition of the triumph of the state and its servants … in the next century” (Knecht 268). Support of the French aristocrats for Calvinism clearly showed that conventional French society was heading for a renaissance in social, political and intellectual contexts. It was during this point of time the French aristocracy was divided into two explicit groups, old and new and consequently the clash became inevitable in terms of obtaining complete control of the state governance (Knecht 269). The aristocratic clientage has also been identified as the protesting response of the French nobility against arbitrary actions of the government that compelled the noble houses to encounter tremendous economic hardships since the mid 15th century. The puppet like existence of the French monarchy within hands of the Catholic extremists was only benefitting a handful of French noble houses. Thus, it was clearly realized by most of the French nobles that time has come to alter the existing system. The aristocratic clientage was not only effective in terms of raising voice against the predominating system but also it helped the 16th century French noblemen to be unified both in terms of their ideological support and their togetherness against the tyranny of French monarchy as well as Catholic extremism: “Calvin appreciated the importance of clientage: he knew that the conversion of a single nobleman could lead to multiple conversions among his relatives and dependants” (Knecht 276). Conclusion: The 16th century France provides such a socio-political situation for a student of history that the traits of change in terms of human consciousness in every aspect of existence can be identified and interpreted separately. The French Wars of Religion, in this context, can be regarded as the commencement of the culmination of the change that continued for more than a century. Though religion emerged as the main driving force for the Wars of Religion, however, there are several issues that actually led to the situation and aristocratic clientage played role of a catalyst in the entire situation. The tremendous change in political ideology that 16th century French society experienced received its manifestation through religious moral. Differences between old political approaches and new trends contradicted. The believers of new political principles rightly identified that conjoint arbitrary actions by Catholic extremism and French monarchy was actually driving the nation to a situation of complete turmoil and also resulted in crisis in terms of existence for people from every layer of the social existence. Their support for Protestantism not only helped them to remain unified against discriminative actions by the government but also incited them to create such a movement that would introduce radical change in the existing political situation. Works Cited Carroll, Stuart. Noble power during the French wars of religion: the Guise affinity and the Catholic cause in Normandy. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press. 1998. Holt, Mack P. The French wars of religion, 1562-1629. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press. 2005. Johnson, Douglas. and Mettam, Roger. French history and society: the wars of religion to the Fifth Republic. London: Taylor & Francis. 1974. Knecht, Robert Jean. The rise and fall of Renaissance France, 1483-1610. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. 2001. Nexon, Daniel H. The struggle for power in early modern Europe: religious conflict, dynastic empires, and international change. Princeton: The Princeton University Press. 2009. Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: A Brief History. 7th Ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. 2010. Spielvogel, Jackson J.  Cengage Advantage Books: Western Civilization. 8th Ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. 2011. Read More