1.
French Wars of Religion
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Approximately 3,000,000 people perished as a result of violence, famine and disease in what is accounted as the second deadliest European religious war. Unlike all other wars at the time, the French wars retained their religious character without being confounded by dynastic considerations. At the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots were granted rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes. The wars weakened the authority of the monarchy, already fragile under the rule of Francis II and then Charles IX, apart from previously mentioned names, the wars have been variously described as the Eight Wars of Religion, or simply the Wars of Religion. However, the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to begin the French Wars of Religion, during this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. Humanism, until the late 1520s, served as a ground for the French Protestant Reformation. The spirit of the Renaissance interested Francis I and he encouraged the study of the classics by establishing royal professorships in Paris, equipping more people with the knowledge necessary to understand the classics. Francis I had no qualms with the religious order. Through the Concordat of Bologna, Pope Leo X increased the power of the king over the church, nomination of clergy depended upon the kings choice, in France, unlike in Germany, the nobles supported the policies and the status quo of their time. The establishment of the college and the spread of the printing press served the purposes of the Reformation. The printing press made mass production of inexpensive and fueled the spread of knowledge in all disciplines. Interest in the classics soared and literature was available to a wider audience. The accessibility coupled with romanticism for the knowledge from the past that built empires, precise language and eloquence were valued among scholars and true understanding of the classics meant studying them from the originals. Theological and religious thoughts were disseminated at an unprecedented pace, ideas about the Reformation were widespread in France by 1519. John Froben, a humanist printer, published a collection of Luther’s works, in one correspondence, he reported that 600 copies of such works were being shipped to France and Spain and were sold in Paris. The humanist perspective on understanding Scriptures had theological and ecclesiastical implications, studying Scriptures in the original flourished in the Renaissance period. This contrasted the heavy reliance of the church on the Vulgate - the Latin translation of the Bible. The Meaux Circle was formed by a group of humanists including Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Guillaume Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux, in the effort to reform preaching, the Meaux circle was joined by Vatable, a Hebraist and Guillaume Budé the classicist and librarian to the king
2.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
3.
Anti-Protestantism
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Anti-Protestantism is bias, hatred or distrust against some or all branches of Protestantism and its followers. The Reformed faith was not recognized until the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, other states, such as France, made similar agreements in the early stages of the Reformation. Poland-Lithuania had a history of religious tolerance. Anabaptism arose as a part of the Radical Reformation, lacking support of the state Lutheranism and Calvinism enjoyed, theological disagreement initially led to a Lutheran-Reformed rivalry in the Reformation. Protestantism in Latin America was largely ostracized until the abolishment of certain restrictions in the 20th century and it spreads with Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism gaining the majority of followers. North America became a shelter for Protestants who were fleeing Europe after the persecution increased, persecution of Protestants in Asia can be put under a common shild of the persecution Christians in the Middle East and northern Africa, dominated by Islam is also a part of this phenomenon. Martin Luthers Proclamation occurred in 1517, by 1540, Pope Paul III had sanctioned the first society pledged to extinguish Protestantism. Christian Protestantism was denounced as heresy, and those supporting these doctrines excommunicated as heretics and this movement was started by the reigning Pope at that time and various political rulers with a more political stake in the controversy then a religious one. Eastern Orthodoxy had comparatively little contact with Protestantism for geographic, linguistic, Protestant attempts to ally with Eastern Orthodoxy proved problematic. In general, most Orthodox had the impression that Protestantism was a new heresy that arose from various previous heresies, the book forecast the end of Protestantism by 1825 and was published in at least 15 editions and several languages. In recent eras Orthodox anti-Protestantism has grown due to aggressive Protestant proselytization in predominantly Orthodox countries, anti-Protestantism originated in a reaction by the Catholic Church against the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Protestants were denounced as heretics and subject to persecution in those territories, such as Spain, Italy and this movement was orchestrated by Popes and Princes as the Counter Reformation. This resulted in wars and eruptions of sectarian hatred such as the St Bartholomews Day Massacre of 1572. In Francos authoritarian Spanish State, Protestantism was deliberately marginalized and persecuted, during the Civil War, Francos regime persecuted the countrys 30,000 Protestants, and forced many Protestant pastors to leave the country. Once authoritarian rule was established, non-Catholic Bibles were confiscated by police and these perceptions are often linked to highly publicized events, such as the decision to endorse same-sex marriage by the United Church of Christ. Some critics have suggested that evangelicals are a kind of fifth column aimed at turning the United States or other nations into Christian theocracies. Cultural progressive activists have indicated fear of a potential Christian theocracy as one of the reasons for their opposition to the Christian Right, many evangelicals reject Dispensationalism and support peace efforts in the Middle East, however. Some Christian groups focused on the Bible have been derided as Bible thumpers, depictions of evangelicals as uneducated rubes or hypocrites are common in Hollywood movies and television shows, such as Saved
4.
Ultramontanism
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Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. The term originates in ecclesiastical language from the Middle Ages, when a non-Italian was elected to the papacy, he was said to be papa ultramontano, that is, foreign students at medieval Italian universities were also referred to as ultramontanes. The word was revived but the meaning reversed after the Protestant Reformation in France, the term was intended to be insulting, or at least to imply a lack of true patriotism. From the 17th century, ultramontanism became closely associated with the Jesuits, in Great Britain and Ireland, it was a reaction to Cisalpinism, the stance of moderate lay Catholics who sought to make patriotic concessions to the Protestant state to achieve Catholic emancipation. The English bishops at the First Vatican Council were characterized by their ultramontanism, in the years of the Kulturkampf in the German Empire and in Switzerland the term was also used for the Catholics opposing the separation of church and state. In the above cases, the ultramontanist movement acted as a counterbalance to growing power of the state in Europe, Roman Catholic apologists argued that if the Pope has ultimate authority in the Church, then national churches would be more immune to interference from their governments. e. Supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the Pope, other Christian groups outside the Catholic Church declared this as the triumph of what they termed the heresy of Ultramontanism. Italian unification under the leadership of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi dissolved the political entity of the Papal States in 1870, the pope called himself a prisoner with all of Rome under the control of his enemies. Liberals across Europe were outraged by the doctrine of infallibility, chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Germany launched a Kulturkampf to destroy the papal influence in his country, but he failed. Papal Magisterium, i. e. Papal teaching authority, was defined in Lumen gentium #25, however, subsidiarity involves the distribution of authority in structures outside of the Churchs clergy and thus does not contradict Ultramontanism. Challenges to Ultramontanism have remained strong within and outside of Roman jurisdiction, Ultramontanism has particularly overshadowed ecumenical work between the Roman Catholic Church and both Lutherans and Anglicans. The joint Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation published The Gift of Authority in 1998 and highlights agreements, the Gift of Authority The dictionary definition of ultramontane at Wiktionary Herbermann, Charles, ed. Ultramontanism
5.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
6.
Habsburg Spain
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Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. The Habsburg rulers reached the zenith of their influence and power and this period of Spanish history has also been referred to as the Age of Expansion. The Habsburg years were also a Spanish Golden Age of cultural efflorescence, in some cases, these individual kingdoms themselves were confederations, most notably, the Crown of Aragon. Isabella and Ferdinand were bestowed the title of Most Catholic Monarchs by Pope Alexander VI in 1496, the Habsburg period is formative of the notion of Spain in the sense that was institutionalized in the 18th century. Her husband Philip I was the Habsburg son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, shortly thereafter Joanna began to lapse into insanity, though how mentally ill she actually was the topic of some debate. In 1506, Philip I was declared jure uxoris king, but he died later that year under mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned by his father-in-law, Ferdinand II. Since their oldest son Charles was only six, the Cortes reluctantly allowed Joannas father Ferdinand II to rule the country as the regent of Joanna, Spain was now in personal union under Ferdinand II of Aragon. He also attempted to enlarge Spains sphere of influence in Italy, as ruler of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and the Republic of Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. The war was less of a success than that against Venice, Ferdinand would die later that year. Ferdinands death led to the ascension of young Charles to the throne as Charles I of Castile and Aragon and his Spanish inheritance included all the Spanish possessions in the New World and around the Mediterranean. Upon the death of his Habsburg father in 1506, Charles had inherited the Netherlands and Franche-Comté, in 1519, with the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Charles inherited the Habsburg territories in Germany, and was duly elected as Holy Roman Emperor that year. At that point, Emperor and King Charles was the most powerful man in Christendom, the accumulation of so much power by one man and one dynasty greatly concerned Francis I of France, who found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories. In 1521 Francis invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy and Navarre, the war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeats at Biccoca, Pavia, and Landriano before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more. Charless victory at the Battle of Pavia surprised many Italians and Germans, Pope Clement VII switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the War of the League of Cognac. Henry VIII of England, who bore a grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the Battle of Ceresole, in Savoy Henry fared better. The Austrians, led by Charless younger brother Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east, with France defeated, Charles went to take care of an older problem, the Schmalkaldic League. The Protestant Reformation had begun in Germany in 1517, the German Peasants War broke out in Germany in 1524 and ravaged the country until it was brutally put down in 1526, Charles, even as far away from Germany as he was, was committed to keeping order
7.
Henry I, Duke of Guise
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Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu, sometimes called Le Balafré, was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna dEste. His maternal grandparents were Ercole II dEste, Duke of Ferrara, through his maternal grandfather, he was a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia and Pope Alexander VI. In 1576 he founded the Catholic League to prevent the heir, King Henry of Navarre, head of the Huguenot movement, a key figure in the French Wars of Religion, he was one of the namesakes of the War of the Three Henrys. A powerful opponent of the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, he was assassinated by the bodyguards of her son and he succeeded his father in 1563 as Duke of Guise and Grand Maître de France. He fought the Turks in Hungary in 1565, and on his return and he fought at the Battle of Saint-Denis in 1567, Battle of Jarnac, successfully defended Poitiers during a siege and fought at the Battle of Moncontour. His love affair with Margaret of Valois in 1570 offended her brother, Charles IX of France and the Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici, but his marriage to Catherine of Cleves restored his fortunes. Considering the Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny the architect of his fathers assassination during the siege of Orléans in 1563 and this was quickly followed by the St. Bartholomews Day Massacre which took place on the occasion of Margarets marriage to the Huguenot, Henry of Navarre. Henry was wounded at the Battle of Dormans on 10 October 1575, with a charismatic and brilliant public reputation, he rose to heroic stature among the Catholic population of France as an opponent of the Huguenots. In 1576 he formed the Catholic League to keep the new heir, Henry of Navarre, the talent and dash of Guise contrasted favorably with the vacillation and weakness of Henry III. He was said to have claimed a Carolingian descent and cast eyes on the throne and this led to the stage of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries. However, at the death in 1584 of Francis, Duke of Anjou and this compact declared that the Cardinal de Bourbon should succeed Henry III, in preference to Henry of Navarre. Henry III now sided with the Catholic League, which war with great success on the Protestants. Guise sent his cousin Charles, Duke of Aumale, to lead a rising in Picardy, the League now controlled France, the king was forced to accede to its demands and created Guise Lieutenant-General of France. But Henry III refused to be treated as a cipher by the League. The following morning at the Château de Blois, Guise was summoned to attend the king, and was at once assassinated by the Forty-five, guises brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, was likewise assassinated the next day. The deed aroused such outrage among the relatives and allies of Guise that Henry III was forced to take refuge with Henry of Navarre. Henry III was assassinated the year by Jacques Clément, an agent of the Catholic League. When deeds fail him, he resorts to words, there is no wedding he does not enliven, no baptism at which he is not godfather, no funeral he does not attend
8.
Charles de Bourbon (cardinal)
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Charles de Bourbon was a French cardinal. The Catholic League considered him the rightful King of France after the death of Henry III of France in 1589 and he was born at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, in what is now the department of Seine-et-Marne, the eighth child of Charles IV de Bourbon, duke of Vendôme. Charles made a career in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. He was bishop of Nevers, bishop of Saintes, archbishop of Rouen, bishop of Nantes, Papal legate in Avignon, in 1551 he was made Lieutenant-General of Paris and Ile de France. On 31 December 1578 he was made the first commander in the Order of the Holy Spirit, however, the senior member of the family, Henry III of Navarre, was a Protestant. The Catholic League, party to the French Wars of Religion, excluded all Protestants from the succession, in the secret Treaty of Joinville of 31 December 1584 he was anointed by the leaders of the league and a representative of Philip II of Spain. Henry III had Charles imprisoned in the castle of Blois on 23 December 1588 and he was transferred from one castle to another, presumably to prevent escape. On Henry IIIs death in 1589, the League proclaimed Charles king, while he was still a prisoner and he was recognized as Charles X by the parliament of Paris on 21 November 1589. His prison was considered too close to Catholic territory, so he was again transferred, the Catholic League issued coins in his name from 2 August 1589 to his death from 15 Mints, including Paris. Charles, however, renounced the title and recognized his nephew Henry IV. He died in the castle of Fontenay-le-Comte, when the Comte dArtois ascended the French throne in 1824, choosing to believe that Charles de Bourbon had never been King, he styled himself Charles X of France
