The Wars of ReligionThe Wars of Religion

1525 – 1688

Causes:

• Attempts to enforce religious uniformity• Religion as an excuse for rebellion

Revolt in the Netherlands• Ruled by Philip II of Spain• Mostly Protestant• Rebelled in 1568 over paying high taxes for

Spain’s wars and religious persecution• 1579 Union of Utrecht – seven northern

provinces declare their independence from Spain (Dutch Republic)

• Religious freedom allowed – although Catholics were not allowed to build churches

France• French Huguenots

become a political power• War between Huguenots

and Catholics• St. Bartholomew’s Day

Massacre – Aug., 1572 – over 10,000 Huguenots killed

Catherine de Medici inspects the results of the massacre

outside the palace

• Protestant Henry of Navarre becomes king in 1589

• “Paris is worth a Mass”

• Edict of Nantes – gives Protestants some religious freedom in specific parts of France

King Henry IV

Thirty Years War• Holy Roman Empire 1618 – 1648 • Peace of Augsburg (1555) granted some

religious freedom to Catholics and Lutherans

• Followers of Calvin want the same freedoms

• Begins as a war for religious freedom; ends as a war for political domination of Habsburg Empire

The Defenestration of Prague

1618

• 10 million died; 1/3 German population• Nearly every nation in Europe involved• Treaty of Westphalia –

– Ends the war– Calvinism recognized as a religion – Holy Roman Empire loses territory to Sweden

and France– Holy Roman Empire will no longer be a major

political power in Europe

England• Elizabethan Settlement –

everyone worships in Anglican Churches

• Catholics not persecuted until after several rebellions to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne

• Penal Laws – anti-Catholic laws in England

The Gunpowder Plot

• 1605 plot by Catholics to blow up Parliament, kill King James I and put his Catholic daughter Elizabeth on the throne

• Discovered before anything happened

Guy Fawkes

English Civil War• 1641 – 1651• High Church Anglicans vs. Puritans• Monarchists vs. Parliamentarians• Religion was more of an excuse than a

cause of this war• King Charles I was executed• Results in a Puritan Commonwealth under

Oliver Cromwell until 1660, when Charles II became king

The Glorious Revolution

• To depose Catholic king James II and replace him with his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange

• Succesful and peaceful• In future, English monarch

may not be Catholic• Penal Laws strictly enforced

in England and her colonies

Results of Religious Wars• Between 15 and 20 million people dead

throughout Europe• Little religious toleration• Leads to Age of Enlightenment – a

reaction against organized religion by educated men and women