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The Catholic League of France (), sometimes referred to by contemporary (and modern) Catholics as the Holy League (), was a major participant in the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
. The League, founded and led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, intended the eradication of Protestantism from Catholic France, as well as the replacement of the French King Henry III, who had acquiesced to Protestant worship in the Edict of Beaulieu (1576). The League also fought against Henry of Navarre, the Protestant prince who became presumptive heir to the French throne in 1584. Pope Sixtus V,
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
, and the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
were all supporters of this Catholic party.


Origins

Local confraternities were initially established by French Catholics to counter the Edict of Beaulieu in 1576. King Henry III placed himself at the head of these associations as a counter-balance to the ultra-Catholic League of Peronne. Following the repudiation of that edict by the Estates General, most of the local leagues were disbanded. In June 1584, the illness and death of Henry III's heir François, Duke of Anjou made the Protestant Henry of Navarre the new heir presumptive under
Salic law The Salic law ( or ; ), also called the was the ancient Frankish Civil law (legal system), civil law code compiled around AD 500 by Clovis I, Clovis, the first Frankish King. The name may refer to the Salii, or "Salian Franks", but this is deba ...
. Faced with the prospect of a Protestant king, Catholic nobles gathered at Nancy in December 1584, and the League drew up a treaty with Philip II's ambassadors at
Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...
. Following this agreement, the Catholic confraternities and leagues were united as the Catholic League under the leadership of Henry I, Duke of Guise. The Catholic League aimed to preempt any seizure of power by the
Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
, who made up nearly half of the French nobility, and to protect French Catholics' right to worship. The Catholic League's cause was fueled by the doctrine '' Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus''. It feared that the House of Valois would weaken the Catholic position by attempting to appease the Huguenots. The League was also inspired by the writings of the English Catholic refugee Richard Verstegan, who published accounts of the suffering of English, Welsh, and Irish Catholic Martyrs under the Protestant monarchy of England. In 1588, Verstegan was briefly imprisoned by Henri III at the insistence of the English ambassador Sir Francis Walsingham, but soon released at the insistence of the Catholic League and the Papal Nuncio. By this time "the League in Paris had fallen from its first ideals into mere partisanship", and the Duke of Guise increasingly used it not only to defend the Catholic cause, but as a political tool in an attempt to usurp the French throne. Catholic Leaguers saw their fight against Calvinism (the primary branch of Protestantism in France) as a
Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
against
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
and to defend French Catholics from Elizabethan-style persecution. The League's pamphleteers blamed any natural disaster as God's way of punishing France for tolerating heretics. Both the League and the hardline Calvinists scorned Henry III's attempts to mediate peaceful coexistence between Catholics and Protestants. The League also opposed the pragmatic French
jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...
s and intellectuals known as Politiques, who recoiled from the murderous sectarian loathing and sought a strong monarchy to rise above religious differences.


History

The League immediately began to exert pressure on King Henry III and his heir Henry of Navarre. Faced with this mounting opposition, the King canceled the Peace of La Rochelle, re-criminalizing Protestantism and beginning a new chapter in the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
. However, Henry III also feared the growing power of the Duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic League. On the Day of the Barricades, Henry III was forced to flee Paris, leaving Guise as de facto ruler of France. To recover the King's position, on 23 December 1588 royal guardsmen assassinated the Duke and his brother Louis II, while the Duke's son Charles of Lorraine was imprisoned in the Bastille. This move did little to consolidate the King's power and enraged both the surviving Guises and their followers. The King again fled Paris to join Henry of Navarre, and began building an army to besiege the capital. On 1 August 1589, as the two Henrys sat before the city preparing for their final assault, Jacques Clément, a Dominican lay brother with ties to the League and enraged by the killing of the Duke, infiltrated the King's entourage dressed as a priest, and assassinated him. As he lay dying, the King begged Henry of Navarre to convert to Catholicism, calling it the only way to prevent further bloodshed. The King's death threw the army into disarray and Henry of Navarre was forced to lift the siege. Although Henry of Navarre was now the legitimate King of France, the League's armies forced him to retreat south. Using arms and military advisors provided by Queen Elizabeth I of England, he achieved several military victories. However, he was unable to overcome the superior forces of the League, which commanded the loyalty of most Frenchmen and had the support of Philip II of Spain. On 21 November 1589 the League attempted to declare the Cardinal of Bourbon, Henry's uncle, as king Charles X of France. However, the Cardinal was under guard by Henry's men, and he refused to usurp the throne from his nephew; he died in May 1590. The Catholic jurist and poet Jean de La Ceppède, a Politique supporter of Henry of Navarre, was arrested in 1589 when
Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...
fell to the League's armies. After a failed attempt to escape disguised as a shoemaker, he was released on the orders of an admirer who was a senior member of the League. Keith Bosley (1983), ''From the Theorems of Master Jean de La Ceppède: LXX Sonnets'', p. 5. In the estates general of 1593, the League was unable even to unite behind a single candidate for the French throne, splitting between several candidates including the Spanish princess Isabella. The League's position was further weakened, but they still securely held Paris. The stalemate was finally ended when Henry of Navarre was received into the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
on 25 July 1593, and was welcomed into Paris as King Henry IV on 27 February 1594. The Catholic League, now lacking the threat of a Calvinist king, continued to disintegrate. The last remaining senior leader of the League was Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, who, with Spanish backing, was also fighting to restore the political independence of the Duchy of Brittany under his own rule. With reinforcements sent from England, King Henry at last marched against the Duke of Mercœur in person, but instead received his submission, as the last remaining military leader of the Catholic League, at
Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
on 20 March 1598. King Henry IV then assured his dynasty's future inheritance of Brittany by arranging the marriage of his illegitimate son, César Duc de Vendôme, to Mercœur's daughter Francoise. In April 1598, the King issued the
Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was an edict signed in April 1598 by Henry IV of France, King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinism, Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantl ...
, granting religious toleration and limited autonomy to the Huguenots, while retaining the Catholic Church in France as the Established Church of the realm, and finally ended the civil war.


Assessment

Historian Mack Holt argues that historians have sometimes overemphasised the political role of the League at the expense of its religious and devotional character:


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Counter-Reformation History of Catholicism in France Religion in the Ancien Régime 1576 establishments in France French Wars of Religion