The Wars of Religion Essay

In 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and put the Edict of Fontainebleau in its place. Because of this document, all religious toleration for Huguenots (previously allowed by the Edict of Nantes) was no longer allowed, leaving them with two options: convert to Catholicism or leave France. Through this law, Louis achieved national religious unity.

This period of fighting saw massacres of Huguenots (French Protestants) by the Catholic monarchs of France, most prominently during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 (where almost 30,000 French Protestants were killed across France in targeted assassinations and mob beatings). Eventually the wars would culminate with the Edict of Nantes in 1598, a treaty issued and signed by King Henry IV of France, who had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism and called for general tolerance.

Arabia to Islam. All practicing Muslims accept belief in the ‘Six Articles of Faith’ and are

Henry IV of France was able to act as a "fox" by evaluating what mattered more to him. When Henry converted to Catholosism out of being a Hugenot during the Saint Bartholomew 's Day Massacre, it was clear that he valued his own life over religion. Even when he coverted back to Calvinism afterwards, he soon relized his valued of being in power over religion would cause him to convert, once again, back into Catholism. “Paris is worth a Mass," he said as he gave into the Roman Catholic Church for the leadership of France. This value of state over religion made him a politique, believing that no religious truth was worth the ravages of cicil war. He kept France from futher civil war by issuing the Edict of Nantes which acknowledged Catholicism as th official religion of France but guaranteed the Hugenots the rights to worship. He was wise to recognize that tolerance can help establish peace in his nation and also to convert to Cathalosism because of their bigger population in France.

Vs"Religion was more important than politics in the failure of the interregnum regimes of 1649-1660" assess the validity of this statement.”

When Catherine de Medicis sons were younger she had control over what happened in France however as they became older they could speak their mind and make their own decisions. However, having listened to their mother their entire life their decisions were usually persuaded by their mother’s opinions quietly and forcefully. According to Williamson and Josephs book “Catherine de Medici” Charles IX was inclined to insane murderous anger and attempted to exorcise murderous fantasies. According to Knechts book “The French wars of religion 1559-1598” the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre can be interpreted as the “cumulation of popular disturbances in Paris.” On August 22nd Admiral Coligny was shot and wounded, Huguenots rushed to his side in worry and fear. In fear that the Huguenots would retaliate the assassination of the Huguenots was ordered. On the night of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Charles was overwhelmed and lashing out. Charles felt betrayed and his mother was attempting to control his decisions. In the midst of his panic he exclaimed “Kill the admiral if you wish; but you must also kill all of the Huguenots so that not one is left to reproach me Kill them all!” (Williamson and Joseph, “Catherine de Medici”) Catherine would have been satisfied with killing only the main leaders of the Huguenots, however she was overjoyed with her son’s

In addition, absolute monarchs attempted to interfere with the religion of the people. The most notable case is in England where monarchs constantly attempted to either keep the Protestant beliefs or convert back to Catholicism. Even before the age of absolutism, this was a cause for much unrest. In fact, when James II came to the throne and made it clear he wished to restore the Catholic faith, England was almost thrown into another civil war. Over in Russia, Peter’s adoption of the Julian calendar did not cause so much civil unrest as it did instability due to the resulting confusion. Louis XIV also allowed mistreatment of French Protestants, also known as Huguenots, by revoking the Edict of Nantes. The Edict granted

She convinced her son Charles IX King of France that the Huguenots lead by Admiral Coligny were attempting to take over the throne. Supporters of the king surrounded Coligny and roughly 3,000 Protestant Huguenot followers in August of 1572 and slaughtered them. Within a week nearly 20,000 Huguenots in France had been executed. This mass execution had an effect not just in France, but also in the rest of Europe. This act was no longer viewed as a struggle for power between three powerful French families, but it had also become something much bigger, it had become a struggle between Catholics and Protestants. Many other nations in Europe were having a similar struggle. The Protestant religion had spread to countries like England, The Netherlands, and Spain. These other nations would struggle, in some cases for centuries, to come to terms with the Catholic vs Protestant question within their own

     For hundreds of years, writers have used religion as a principle issue and point of discussion in their novels. Hawthorne expressed his views in The Scarlet Letter, Garcia Marquez did the same in One Hundred Years of Solitude and in other writings, and even Ernest Hemingway used his writing to develop his own ideas concerning the church. This is fully evident in his novel A Farewell to Arms. Even in a book in which the large majority of the characters profess their atheism, the ideas of the church materialize repeatedly as both characters and as topics of conversations. Religion is presented through reflections of the protagonist "Lieutenant Henry," and

In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, the main character, Lieutenant Fredric Henry, undergoes a dramatic change in perspective over the course of the novel. It is most interesting to see how the Lieutenant's views on religion change as he becomes more involved in the war.

King Louis XIV distrusted the Protestants and everything they stood for. Because of that, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and

French parishioners were coming out of church, they had found a large piece of paper from Switzerland posted on the church door condemning the mass. This led to the royal repression, where the French government went around arresting or killing as many French protestants as they could (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, Hsia & Smith, 2009).

The debate between whether religion cause war or not based on their impression of religion; furthermore, it is unreasonably clear about what does and does not permit like a religion. Countries such as Islam are fated while certain others, like nationalism, are subjectively ignored. Authors used different theories such as absolutist, divisive, and absurd to explain why religion is so predisposed to violence. Sometimes authors combine these arguments to make their case.

Religion is the basis of belief for humans, it is a belief that there is a higher being that watches over us guiding us, a belief that there is life after death and if we follow these beliefs we shall enter heaven the most beautiful place. However religion has also played a role in wars, religious conflicts in Ireland (Protestants and Catholics). Israelis and Arabs (Holy Land) and the Holy Crusades of the eleventh century (recapturing the Holy Land).

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is” (Mahatma Gandhi). Though many politicians of the day say that government should be in a separate category than religion, it still plays an important role. Religion may not be big in countries like America, but it weighs heavily on many other countries all around the world. That is why when doing anything, a business deal, or a diplomatic trip, there needs to be cautionary measures taken. Two authors go over the subject of one country understanding another: Journalist Thomas Friedman in his text “The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention”, and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright in her text “Faith and Diplomacy”. In both texts the authors stem off