St Barts Massacre

Question 1

What was under significant level of royal control?

Answer 1

The French Gaelic Church in 16th Century.

Question 2

Who were guilty of nepotism?

Answer 2

Francis I and Henry II

Question 3

During Francis’s reign (1515-1547) how many bishops were appointed?

Answer 3

102 of 129 bishops appointed belonged to noble families and those related to the king.

Question 4

During Henry II reign what percentage of the bishops had appropriate qualifications?

Answer 4

Only 23% of bishops appointed had the appropriate qualifications (according to the Concordat of Bologna which set out standards for French bishops).

Question 5

Who became Bishop of Meaux in 1516?

Answer 5

Briconnet

Question 6

What was Briconnet reputation?

Answer 6

he had a reputation for reform and so an intellectual, reform-minded circle grew in the area (Meaux is just outside Paris).
This included not only clerics and scholars but also locals from lower orders of society.

Question 7

Briconnet assigned reforming preachers to do what?

Answer 7

To go to different parts of the diocese in order to further religious renewal.

Question 8

Lefevre d’Etaples published French translation of the gospels in what month and year?

Answer 8

in June 1523

Question 9

When was Briconnet’s circle broken up?

Answer 9

1525

Question 10

When did King Francis I set up a college of higher learning?

Who did he invite to lead it?

Answer 10

in 1517

Erasmus to lead it (he declined).

Question 11

How did King Francis I stop the faculty of
the Sorbonne?
(the people who sought to ensure religious orthodoxy in France)

Answer 11

Stopped them from adding work by Erasmus and Lefevre d’Etaples to the Index of heretical works in the mid 1520s.

Question 12

When was The Placards Affair

Answer 12

1534:

Question 13

What was The Placards Affair

Answer 13

-Protestant propagandists placed inflammatory placards around Paris, with heavy criticism of the role of Bishops
and the mass.

-The attack on the role of bishops was seen as threatening the political hierarchy and structure of France

-and the attack on the mass was seen as an insult to an important social ritual for French
society.

Question 14

When was The death of Francis?

Answer 14

1547

Question 15

Henry set up the
‘Chambre Ardentes’ (the burning chamber)

What was it?

Answer 15

– a chamber devoted exclusively to pursuing heresy.

Question 16

What did John Calvin do?

Answer 16

tried to persuade Francis and then Henry II to give Protestant ideas a hearing but to no avail.

In the 1550s, Calvinist pastors were dispatched into France as part of Calvin’s evangelical campaign to spread the word.

Question 17

What happened in the 1551 Edict of Chateaubriant?

Answer 17

Henry set out a more comprehensive ban on Protestantism.
The Edict encouraged informers and prohibited the sheltering of Protestants, giving officials the right to search properties.

Question 18

When was The accession of the 15 year-old Francis II?

Answer 18

1559

Question 19

The accession of the 15 year-old Francis II caused what?

Answer 19

A clear rift emerges between Huguenots, led by the Bourbons, and the Catholics, led by the Guise.

Question 20

What was attempted in 1560 by the Huguenots?

Answer 20

To kidnap Francis and arrest the Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine.

Question 21

In 1560 what did Charles IX’s accession allow Catherine de Medici to do ?

Answer 21

act as regent.

She got rid of the Guise and signaled her intention to steer a path of toleration by appointing the King of Navarre - a Bourbon - as Lieutenant General.

Question 22

What happened to The Colloquy of Poissy?

Answer 22

convened in an attempt to reconcile the Catholics and Huguenots. It was not successful.

Question 23

What happened January 1562?

Answer 23

The January Edict or the Edict of St-Germain was signed by Catherine. Included an official toleration of the Huguenots.

Question 24

What happened March 1562?

Answer 24

The Massacre of Vassy triggered the French Wars of Religion, which were fought off and on for the next ten years leading up to the massacre.

Question 25

What happened 1570?

Answer 25

The 2nd Edict of St-Germain was signed by Catherine de Medici, renewing the official toleration of Huguenots.

Gaspard de Coligny was invited into the Royal Court at the expense of the Guise, whose influence again declined.

Question 26

What happened 1571?

Answer 26

contempt and violence towards Huguenots across France continued. E.g. 40 massacred in Rouen for refusing to kneel for the host.

Scandal in Paris over the removal of the Gastines Cross from the site of destroyed Huguenot properties.

Question 27

What happened 1572?

Answer 27

The marriage of Princess Marguerite to the Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre, brought all the prominent Huguenot nobles to Paris and promised the beginning of a new era in the Crown’s relations with the Huguenots.

Question 28

Name 3 long term causes of the St Barts Massacre?

Ordinary people, Crown, and Catholics

Answer 28

For ordinary people, Huguenots threatened the fabric of day-to-day life, where the authority of priests, bishops and the mass were central to the way communities operated.

For the Crown, its authority was very much tied up with the authority of the Church - this was more the case in France than any other European state. The Huguenots represented a threat to the Crown’s authority.

For the Catholic nobility, the threat to the established hierarchy was similarly alarming.

Question 29

What did The French Wars of Religion normalise?

Answer 29

extreme violence towards Huguenots.

Massacres took place at Vassy in 1562 and
Rouen in 1571, as well as numerous other examples.

Question 30

What did the death of the two kings result in?

Answer 30

an atmosphere of political instability and weakness, exacerbated by the outbreak of multiple wars of religion. France felt to many like a state on the edge of turmoil, therefore a cauldron of anxiety .

Question 31

Name 3 short term causes of the St Barts Massacre?

Answer 31

Coligny was readmitted to the King’s court in 1571 and was rumoured to have considerable influence over him. This angered Catherine and the out-of-favour Guise faction.

The wedding of Marguerite and Henry of Navarre had caused uproar in some quarters.

The Edict of St-Germain (1570) had made the seizure of Huguenot property illegal. This was unpopular in many parts of France.

Question 32

How did The Role of Catherine de Medici cause the massacre?

Answer 32

Had wavered between a policy of toleration and a policy of aggression, which by 1572 had led to a strong Huguenot movement and a fiercely divided court.

Unclear what exactly her role was in the assassinations in 1572 but certainly can’t have foreseen the popular violence.

Question 33

After the assassinations, how many people died in Paris?

Answer 33

2000

Question 34

Following the wedding, there was an assassination attempt on Coligny. Successful or fail?

2nd attempt success or fail?

Answer 34

Fail

Succes

Question 35

How did violence spread across France?

Answer 35

several thousand more killed in the massacres. The

violence was so terrifying that even notable Catholics, including Henry of Guise, sheltered some Huguenots.

Question 36

Two main consequences of the massacre for the Huguenots?

Answer 36

The number of Huguenots in France plummeted. Not only had many been killed, there were also mass conversions back to Catholicism. In Rouen, numbers fell from 16,500 to 3,000 (only 300 were actually killed there).

The Peace of La Rochelle (1573) restricted Huguenot rights but was largely ignored by the Huguenots, who had become more staunchly anti-monarchical.

Question 37

Positive of the massacre for the Huguenots?

Answer 37

The Huguenot movement was saved from total destruction by division among French Catholics and a weak monarchy.

Question 38

What impact did it have on the Catholics?

Positive

Answer 38

Catholic nobles now had total control and influence over the crown. Many towns across France returned to
being exclusively Catholic.

Question 39

What impact did it have on the Catholics?

Negative

Answer 39

collusion between the Duke of Alencon and the Huguenots forced King Henry III to sign the Peace of Monsieur
which prompted the re-forming of a hard-line Catholic League by Henry of Guise.
The Catholics were now split between the hard-liners of the Catholic League

Question 40

How did Navarre signing of the Edict of Nantes in 1598 impact the division?

Answer 40

secured the toleration of French Huguenots into the next century.

Question 41

How was there was a clear appetite for reform in France?

Answer 41

it had produced one of the leading Protestant reformers in John Calvin, as well as high-profile voices for reform within the Church, such as Briconnet and LeFevre-D’etaples.

Question 42

Three reasons France was uniquely placed during the religious turbulence of the 16th century?

Answer 42

France did not engage with the Council of Trent, aside from showing a brief interest in 1562 when the wars of religion broke out and the prospect of outside help became more appealing.

The French nobility were in constant competition over power and influence. For some, joining the Huguenot movement was a way to advance their own status and to potentially diminish the power of their rivals.

The French Wars of Religion, including the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, could be seen very much as part of a counter-reformation.