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Home / Periods / Renaissance & Early Modern Europe / French Wars of Religion

War

French Wars of Religion

1562–1598 CE

The spread of Calvinism created substantial Protestant communities known as Huguenots, while powerful noble houses competed for influence over the French crown. Religious division and dynastic rivalry repeatedly produced civil war.

Royal marriages, foreign alliances and local massacres made the conflict international as well as domestic. The wars ended after Henry IV converted to Catholicism and issued the Edict of Nantes.

A Column of Fire follows English and French characters whose loyalties and espionage work are shaped by these conflicts.

Related people for French Wars of Religion

Anne Boleyn1501–1536 Catherine de’ Medici1519–1589 Catherine of Aragon1485–1536 Charles IX of France1550–1574 Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne1554–1611 Diane de Poitiers1499–1566 Edward Staffordc. 1552–1605 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Francis, Duke of Guise1519–1563 Francis II of France1544–1560 Francis Walsingham1532–1590 Gaspard II de Coligny1519–1572 Giordano Bruno1548–1600 Henry I, Duke of Guise1550–1588 Henry III of France1551–1589 Henry II of France1519–1559 Henry IV of France1553–1610 James VI and I1566–1625 Jeanne d’Albret1528–1572 Louise of Savoy1476–1531 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy1480–1530 Margaret of Valois1553–1615 Marguerite de Navarre1492–1549 Mary, Queen of Scots1542–1587 Mary I1516–1558 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Thomas Heneage1532–1595

Series

Series about French Wars of Religion (2 series)

The Joubert Family Chronicles in Order

by Kate Mosse 4 books 4.2(48,428)

The Joubert Family Chronicles follows generations of a Huguenot family from the French Wars of Religion into the maritime and colonial worlds of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The Burning Chambers begins in Carcassonne in 1562; The City of Tears carries the family into the St Bartholomew’s Day…

Medici Trilogy in Order

by Jean Plaidy 3 books 4.0(6,796)

The Medici Trilogy centres on Catherine de’ Medici and the Valois monarchy during the French Wars of Religion. From her arrival as an Italian bride to her struggle to preserve the crown for her sons, the sequence explores court faction, dynastic marriage and the violence dividing Catholic and…

Books

11 Best Novels About the French Wars of Religion

Non-Fiction

3 Best Non-Fiction Books About the French Wars of Religion

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.