Navarre (son of Anton, king of Navarre) with the sister of Charles IX., Margaret of Valois. Henry of Navarre saved his life by a pretended conversion to Catholicism. Over 3,000 Huguenots were slain in the capital, in the whole of France about 30,000. This bloody deed led to the

1572-1573. Fourth Civil War. La Rochelle, besieged by Henry, duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX., made a brave defense. The election of the duke of Anjou to the crown of Poland brought about a compromise. Edict of Boulogne (July 8, 1573) ended the war favorably to the Huguenots.

Charles IX. died May 30, 1574. His brother, who fled from Poland, became king.

1574-1589. Henry III., a debauched weakling.

The fifth civil war, during which Henry of Navarre re-assumed the Protestant faith, was concluded (1576) by conditions more favorable to the Huguenots than those of any previous peace. Peace of Chastenoy (Paix de Monsieur, after the duke of Alençon) May 6, 1576. Hence dissatisfaction among the Catholics. Origin of the Holy League (1576) which in alliance with Philip II. of Spain purposed the annihilation of the reformed party, and the elevation of the Guises to the throne. The king, out of fear of the League proclaimed himself its head and forbade the exercise of the Protestant religion throughout France. The Protestants and moderate Catholies had joined forces in 1575 by the confederation of Milhaud (politique-Huguenot).

Sixth Civil War, wherein the Huguenots were defeated, but obtained favorable terms at the peace of Bergerac (or Poitiers, Sept. 17, 1577), as the king was unwilling to let the League become too powerful. In spite of the renewal of the treaty of peace, not one of its articles was executed. This caused the

Seventh Civil War (La guerre des amoureux) (1580), which was

ended in the same year by the treaty of Fleix (near St. Foy), Nov. 26, in which the conditions granted the Huguenots in former treaties were confirmed. The death of Francis, duke of Alençon (since the accession of Henry III., duke of Anjou), the younger brother of the king, in 1584 rendered the extinction of the house of Valois certain. As it was the intention of the League to exclude from the throne Henry of Navarre, who belonged to the reformed religion, and to give the crown to the latter's uncle, the Cardinal of Bourbon, and as the League meantime induced the king to revoke the concessions granted to the Huguenots, there broke out the 1585-1589. Eighth Civil War called the War of the Three

Henrys (Henry III. of Valois, Henry of Navarre, Henry of Guise). The Catholic party triumphed in spite of the victory of Coutras (Oct. 20, 1587), gained by Henry of Navarre. Formation of the League of Sixteen at Paris, which purposed the deposition of the weak king. Guise entered Paris, was received with acclamation ("King of Paris"); the timid resistance of the king was broken by a popular insurrection (day of the Barricades, May 12,

1588). Henry III. fled to Blois, where he summoned the estates of the kingdom (États-Généraux, States General). Finding no support among them against the League, he caused Henry, duke of Guise, and his brother, Louis the Cardinal, to be murdered (Dec. 23, 1588). At this news, a revolt of the Catholic party broke out, headed by the brother of the murdered men, the duke of Mayenne. Henry III. fled to Henry of Navarre in the Huguenot camp, where he was murdered before Paris, at St. Cloud, by the monk Jacob Clément (July 31, † Aug. 2). Death of Catharine de' Medici (Jan. 5, 1589), Michael Montaigne, 1533-1592.

1589-1792. (1830.) House of Bourbon

descended from St. Louis IX.'s younger son Robert, count of Clermont, husband of Beatrice of Bourbon.

1589-1610. Henry IV.

The Catholic party refused to recognize Henry and made the old cardinal of Bourbon king under the name of Charles X. († 1590). Some wished the duke of Mayenne to be his successor, while others joined themselves to Philip II. of Spain, who laid claim to the throne of France on behalf of his daughter by his third marriage with Elizabeth of Valois, sister of Henry III. Victory of Henry IV. over the duke of Mayenne at Arques (1589) and at the

1590. Battle of Ivry.

March 14.

Henry besieged Paris, which was relieved by Mayenne and the duke of Parma. Henry abjured the reformed religion at St. Denis (1593) and was crowned at Chartres (1594). Brissac having thereupon surrendered Paris to him, the power of the League was broken. Not, however, until Henry, after public penance, by his ambassadors at Rome, had been freed from the papal ban, was he generally recognized (by Mayenne too). The civil wars of religion were ended by the

1598. Edict of Nantes,

April 15.

which gave the Huguenots equal political rights with the Catholics, but by no means secured them entire freedom of religious worship. The edict granted the exercise of the reformed religion to nobles having the right of criminal jurisdiction (seigneurs hauts justiciers), and to the citizens of a certain number of cities and towns, but prohibited it in all episcopal and archiepiscopal cities, at the court of the king, and in Paris, as well as within a circle of twenty miles around the capital. Public offices were opened to the Huguenots and mixed chambers were established in four Parliaments (Paris, Toulouse, Grenoble, Bordeaux). The Huguenots obtained some fortified towns, and were recognized, to a certain extent, as an armed political party. The Edict of Nantes was registered by the Parliament only after a long delay. Treaty of Vervins (May 2, 1598) with Spain; restoration of all conquests to France.

Adoption of measures looking to the improvement of the finances

and the general prosperity, which had gone to decay, especially by Rosny, afterwards duke of Sully (1560-1641). Fantastic plan of the king's (?) to establish a universal Christian republic in Europe, comprising six hereditary monarchies (France, England, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Lombardy), five elective monarchies (the Empire, Papacy, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia), and four republics (Switzerland, Italy, Venice, Belgium), which probably would have turned out to be a league against the too great power of the house of Hapsburg. Question of Cleves-Jülich succession. Henry IV. supported the claims of Brandenburg. In the midst of great preparations for war, Henry was assassinated at Paris, 1610 (May 14), by the fanatic (François) Ravaillac. He was succeeded by his minor son,

1610-1643. Louis XIII.,

nine years old. Regency of his mother, Mary de' Medici (1610-1617). Sully removed from office; the Italian Concini (Maréchal d'Ancre) was placed in control of affairs. Louis XIII., declared of age in 1614, was in fact all his life under the guidance of others. Summons of the States-General, 1614, being the last before the Revolution of 1789. Arrest and murder of Concini; the queen mother banished to Blois (1617). The king under the influence of his favorite, the duke of Luynes. By the mediation of Armand-Jean du Plessis (born 1585, in Poitou, 1607 bishop of Luçon, 1622 cardinal), duke of Richelieu, a treaty was concluded between Luynes and the queen mother (1619). New civil war. Contest of the crown with the nobility and the Huguenots. After the death of Luynes (1621) Mary de' Medici and her favorite, Richelieu, obtained control of affairs. The influence of the latter soon became supreme, and the queen-dowager quarreled with him.

1624-1642. Administration of Richelieu, whose influence over the king was henceforward unbroken. Numerous conspiracies against Richelieu instigated by Gaston of Orléans, the king's brother.

1625. Revolt of the Huguenots under the dukes of Rohan and Soubise.

1627-1628. Siege of La Rochelle, under the personal supervision of Richelieu. In spite of the dispatch of three fleets from England to the aid of the Huguenots, the city surrendered Oct. 28, 1628, after a heroic resistance of fourteen months. Defeat of the duke of Rohan, and complete subjugation of the Huguenots, who hereafter were no longer an armed political party, but only a tolerated sect. War in Italy with Spain; subjugation of Savoy, Richelieu at the head of the army. Treaty of Cherasco (April 6, 1631). France renounced all conquests in Italy, but by a secret treaty with Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, Pignerol was surrendered to France (negotiators of these treaties, Richelieu's confidant, Father Joseph and the Pope's agent, Mazarin).

A final attempt of Mary Medici to overthrow the cardinal ignominiously failed (Nov. 11, 1630, the "Day of Dupes "). Mary died at Cologne, 1642.

Conspiracy of Gaston and the duke of Montmorency.

1632, Oct. 30. Defeat of the allies and execution of Montmorency. Foundation of the French Academy (1635).

1631-48. Participation of France in the Thirty Years' War. See p. 314.

1641. Conspiracy of Henri d'Effiat, marquis of Cinq-Mars ("Monsieur le Grand "). Secret treaty with Spain. The plot was exposed by Richelieu.

1642. Dec. 4. Death of Richelieu.

The effect of Richelieu's administration had been to break the power of the nobles and make the crown independent of the parliaments. He restored French influence in Italy, in the Netherlands, in Germany (311), and established it in Sweden. Richelieu laid the foundation of the power of Louis XIV.

Louis XIII. died May 14, 1643.

§ 6. ITALY.

The duchy of Milan, since 1556 (p. 306) an appanage of the Spanish crown, was held, nominally, as a fief of the empire.

Venice.

The discovery of the new route to the Indies struck at the root of the commercial prosperity of Venice, and her power was steadily declining during this period. The danger which threatened the republic from the League of Cambray (1508), between the Pope, the emperor Maximilian, Louis XII., and Ferdinand the Catholic, passed away as the Pope, Julius II. withdrew from the League in 1510, made his peace with the Venetians and induced Ferdinand the Catholic to join the Holy League, which had for its object the expulsion of the French from Italy. On the other hand the Turkish power confined Venice to the coasts of the Mediterranean. In 1570 the Turks attacked Cyprus, of which Venice had acquired possession in 1489 (p. 262). The victory of Lepanto, gained by Don John of Austria (p. 331), retarded the progress of the Turks but little. In 1573 Venice was forced to deliver Cyprus to them, and at the close of this period retained of all her possessions in Grecian waters, Candia, Paros, and the Ionian Islands only.

Genoa.

Genoa freed herself in 1529 from French supremacy, under the doge, Andrea Doria, who gave the republic a new constitution. Unsuccessful conspiracy of Fiesco (Jan. 2, 1547). Gianettino Doria, the nephew of the doge, was murdered, and Andrea Doria was compelled to fly. The conspirators had got possession of nearly the whole city, when Fiesco was accidentally drowned. Return of the doge, restoration of the constitution.