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1559–1562 French political crisis
French Political and Religious Crisis 1559-1562 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1559–1562 French political crisis was induced by the death of the king Henri II in July 1559. With his death, the throne fell to François II who though not a minor, lacked the ability to command authority due to his young age. Actual power fell to two of Henri II's favourites, the duc de Guise (duke of Guise) and cardinal de Lorraine who quickly moved to assert a monopoly of their authority over the administration of the kingdom. Royal patronage would flow to them and their clients, with those of their rival, Constable Montmorency quickly starved of royal favour. Having been left with ruinous debts by Henri, they undertook a campaign of aggressive austerity which further alienated many grandees and soldiers who were not shielded from its effects (as the clients of the Lorraine brothers were). They also continued the persecution of Protestantism that had transpired under Henri II, though with the young François on the throne the Protestants felt emboldened to resist.
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To this end aggrieved Protestants and political opponents of the Lorraine brothers administration formulated a conspiracy to assume control of the king and end the Lorraine administration. This manifested in an attempted conspiracy at Amboise in March 1560. Guise and Lorraine were able to suppress the conspiracy, crushing it brutally. They suspected that the Protestant prince du sang (prince of the blood) prince de Condé was the architect of the conspiracy, and Condé thus departed from court shortly after the conspiracy under a cloud of suspicion. He joined with his brother, the premier prince du sang the king of Navarre at Navarre's southern court of Nérac and the two spent the summer plotting against the crown. While Amboise had been suppressed at the court, its aftershocks continued to be felt across France, with various disorders, particularly in the south of France. The Lorraine administration attempted to crush the embers of the revolt. At the same time they abandoned the persecutory policy of Henri II and differentiated 'heresy' from 'sedition' for the first time. An Assembly of Notables was called to advise on the kingdoms problems in August and it resolved on the convoking of an Estates General and a national church council. At the assembly, Montmorency's nephew Admiral Coligny established himself as a leading voice of the Protestants, representing several of their petitions, much to the annoyance of the Lorraine government. Navarre and Condé were absent from the meeting and after further evidence of their involvement in an attempted coup at Lyon was uncovered they were summoned to the court. They arrived in October for the upcoming Estates General and Condé was arrested for treason. Shortly before the Estates General could meet in December, the young king François died, ending the Lorraine government.
Catherine de' Medici, the young king's mother, moved to the centre of the political stage as de facto regent for her second son Charles IX. To assume this position she negotiated with Navarre, who as premier prince du sang had a right to the regency. He was bought out of the position in return for the release of his brother Condé from captivity, the position of lieutenant-general of the kingdom and several other concessions. The new administration decided to go further than the Lorraine government in moving towards implicit toleration of Protestantism. In opposition to their alienation from the government and the toleration of Protestantism, Guise, Montmorency and another favourite of Henri II, Marshal Saint-André entered into an agreement in April 1561 that has become known to history as the 'Triumvirate'. They agreed to support the preservation of Catholicism and support one another during the current political crisis. 1561 was a major year of growth for Protestantism, and the Protestants became increasingly bold as they saw favour from the crown. As a result, there was much disorder in the kingdom throughout late 1561, particularly in the south of the kingdom, where a state of civil war emerged between Protestants and Catholics. The crown attempted to pacify these troubles with further religious edicts that continued to wind down the persecution of Protestantism without legalising the religion explicitly, however these failed. In late 1561 the colloquy of Poissy attempted to achieve a religious synthesis between Protestantism and Catholicism, however it devolved into acrimony and in the wake of this failure, Guise, Lorraine and many of the other grandees departed from court in October. Around this time there was also an attempt to kidnap Catherine's third son the duc d'Orléans. By the beginning of 1562 Catherine, and her chancellor Michel de L'Hôpital had resolved that formal toleration of Protestantism would be necessary to sooth the troubles in the kingdom, and to this end published the Edict of Saint-Germain on 17 January. The publishing of the edict finished the alienation of the lieutenant-general Navarre from the government of which he was part, and he aligned himself with the 'Triumvirate'. He summoned Guise to come to court and aid in the opposition to the edict. Guise was at this time at Saverne meeting with the duke of Wűrttemberg and upon his return he perpetrated the massacre of Wassy, which shortly preceded the outbreak of the first French War of Religion.