Topic 6: Late 16th century: Conflicts and Coexistence

Question 1

French Wars of Religion

Answer 1

• Huguenots VS catholics - series of eight wars - religion and politics intertwined.
• First crisis - St. Bartholomew’s day massacre of 1572.
• After Huguenot Henry of Navarre became the presumptive heir to the throne in 1584, the catholic league emerged as a major force, creating a three-way power struggle.
• Henry of Navarre became king only after converting to Catholicism, which helped end the wars of religion with the Edict of Nantes in 1598.

Question 2

Religion and Politics in the Dutch Revolt

Answer 2

• Three axes - Politics (Dutch/Spanish) Religion (Calvinist/Catholic) and Doctrinal Rigour (Strict/Liberal)
• Philip II (Spain) sent Duke of Alva to punish 1566 Iconoclastic Fury perps. Prompted Dutch Resistance (William of Orange)
• Between 1572 and early 1580s Militnat Calvinists and William of Organse took much of Low Countires from Spanish
• Dutch gains in the North meant creation of United Provinces of the Netherlands in 1579
• Calvinist Militancy in South led to Catholic backlash and Spanish reposession by 1585.
• Calvinism became official but not imposed church of Dutch Republic leading to de facto Dutch Relativism.

Question 3

Elizabethan England: Protestants, Puritans, and Catholics

Answer 3

• Elizabethan religious settlement - protestant in doctrine, traditionalist in worship and discipline.
• Puritans didn’t like the compromise
• During elizabeth’s long reign, the number of english catholics dwindled despite missionary effort
• Zealous puritans criticized the elizabethan church and committed catholics rejected it, but ingrained habits of obedience to authority helped hold it together.

Question 4

Confessionalisation in Germany

Answer 4

• Confessionalisation - parallel christian traditions and identitieswere created and strengthened
• Despite political recognition in the peace of augsburg (1555), Lutheranism was hampered by serious problems in germany in the late sixteenth century. conflict with Philippists, and lack of training/literacy
• Beginning in the 1560s, a number of lutheran princes embraced calvinism and sought to impose it in their territories.
• After the peace of augsburg (1555), catholicism recovered in germany.
• Confessionalisation reveals state dominance of churches, the hardening of confessional divisions, and the limits of institutional power in early modern europe.