The French Wars of Religion.
The treatment of the religious wars in France will differ slightly from that of the Thirty Years’ War, as it becomes necessary in this connection to introduce a few facts about Calvinism. This need not involve much more than the briefest possible statement of what Calvin taught, pointing out how his teachings appealed to the intellect and the understanding rather than to the emotions, as did those of Luther. As a result the Huguenots counted among their numbers some of the best families of France. The personal element can be made very prominent in these struggles, as it was largely the intrigues of two families, the Guises and the Bourbons, aided and abetted by the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, which kept France embroiled for all these years. Here, too, is to be noted the same situation which prevailed in Germany, namely, the apparent powerlessness of the French people to solve their own religious and dynastic troubles alone without the interference of outside nations, notably England and Spain. Selfish and dynastic interests seem to have decidedly the upper hand here as contrasted with Germany. Much can be made of such dramatic episodes as the massacre of St. Bartholomew and the conversion of the Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre. The edict of Nantes and its effect upon France should be contrasted with the religious clauses in the Treaties of Westphalia. The great problem which this settlement raised of a state within a state, made necessary the work of Richelieu, whose career can now be rounded out by showing how he was laboring for one and the same end in his treatment of the Huguenots at home and his support of the Protestants abroad. French history is thus brought down to the age of Louis XIV.