Who weakened the political positions of the Huguenots. The Huguenots are who they are, with whom they fought, unlike the Catholics. Formation of the Catholic Party

It should be noted that hatred, and the cruelty generated by it, were mutual at that time. The enmity was caused not only by religious reasons, but also by socio-political ones. Bartholomew's night was not a single act of violence. It was the culmination of many years of confrontation (1560 - 1598) between French Catholics and Protestants, and it is in this context that it should be considered.

During the religious wars, the Protestants in France were a serious force, which the royal house of Valois rightly considered a threat to its power. The Huguenots had their own well-armed army, controlled important fortified cities, they were supported and financed by representatives of noble families. Twice the Protestants unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap the French monarchs in order to subjugate them to their influence.

Initially, the Huguenots were distrustful of harsh methods of struggle. But in the 1560s, after a wave of Catholic violence swept across the country, they launched their terror. They plundered and destroyed churches and monasteries, destroyed icons and tortured monks who hid religious shrines. Priests were hanged in a number of places, many of them were mutilated by cutting off their noses, ears and genitals. The most massive massacre was the "Michael Day Massacre" in Nimes or "Michelada". On the night of September 29-30, 1567, having gathered the most prominent local Catholics in the palace of the Bishop of Nimes, the Protestants killed them, and threw their bodies into a nearby well. In total, according to various estimates, from 80 to 90 people died. This execution made a strong impression on the Catholics, becoming one of the reasons for the next round of religious conflict.

However, the violence on both sides was of a different nature. To better understand the essence of this enmity, it is worth quoting the book of the French historian Jean-Marie Constant "Daily life of the French during the religious wars":

“The violence perpetrated by the Catholic mob is truly a mystical rage, a “sacred” act committed by the will of the Lord himself, who wished to exterminate the supporters of the new religion, equated with heretics and worshiping Satan. The Catholics were so eager to punish the Protestants that, without the slightest regret, they maimed them, tormented them, threw them to the dogs, threw them into the water, burned them, inflicting on them the torment that awaited them in the afterlife. Thus, while waiting for the Lord to come down to them and give his sign, they cleansed the Christian world of filth. Children played an important role in restoring the original purity: they personified the innocence of those who acted as judges.

The violence perpetrated by the Calvinists was of a completely different nature. It was rationally justified, carefully calculated, programmed and carried out under the control of the new elite of the reformed church. It consisted in the systematic destruction of church symbols, images of saints, icons, statues, expensive things that were kept in churches, in the physical destruction of these things or in their remelting (to be used for other purposes) to return them to their original evangelical purity. Not content with the destruction of idols, the Protestants persecuted the clergy, "those with tonsure" (razes), because, in their opinion, it was they who prevented the people from turning their eyes to the true faith.

Speaking about the reasons for the hatred of the Huguenots, it is important to consider that Paris was a traditionally Catholic city, and the townspeople reacted with hostility to the large number of Huguenots who arrived in August 1572 for the wedding of Marguerite of Valois and Henry of Navarre. In addition, the numerous Parisian poor were annoyed by the wealth and luxury of the Protestant guests.

It is worth noting that during the St. Bartholomew night, its ordinary participants were not always driven by reasons of a religious nature. Some simply settled personal scores with those whom they disliked for various reasons. In such cases, sometimes Catholics also fell under the hot hand.

There is also an opinion that when planning the action in Paris, the Catholic party did not at all seek to massacre Protestants. The goal of the Catholics was to destroy the main leaders of the Huguenots and capture Henry of Navarre, but due to the acute hostility of the Parisians to the Protestants, events got out of control and everything turned into a bloody massacre.

The events of Bartholomew's Night were a turning point in the French Wars of Religion. Despite the fact that the conflict continued for many years after these events, a powerful blow was dealt to the Protestants. They have lost their most prominent leaders. About 200 thousand Huguenots were forced to flee the country.

The essence of excess is not in this. Bartholomew's night is difficult (and even wrong) to consider only as mutual religious hatred, resulting in a bloody incident.

most of whom eventually came to the teachings of John Calvin and who, due to religious persecution, were forced to flee from France to other countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some remained, practicing their Faith in secret.

The Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in Germany around 1517, spread rapidly in France, especially among those who complained about the established order of government. As Protestantism grew and developed in France, it abandoned the Lutheran form altogether and adopted the form of Calvinism. The new "Reformed religion" practiced by many members of the French nobility and social middle class, based on the belief in salvation through individual faith without the need for the intercession of the church hierarchy and on the conviction of the individual's right to interpret the scriptures for himself, placed these French Protestants in direct theological conflict as with the Catholic Church, and with the King of France in the theocratic system that prevailed at the time.

The followers of this new Protestantism were soon accused of heresy against the Catholic government and the established religion of France, and in 1536 a general edict was issued calling for the extermination of these heretics (Huguenots). However, Protestantism continued to spread and grow, and around 1555 the first Huguenot church was established in a house in Paris based on the teachings of John Calvin. The number and influence of the French reformers (Huguenots) continued to grow after this event, leading to an escalation of hostility and conflict between the Catholic Church/State and the Huguenots. Finally, in 1562, about 1200 Huguenots were massacred at Vassy, ​​France, thus igniting the French Wars of Religion that would devastate France for the next thirty-five years.

The Decree of Nantes, signed by Henry IV in April 1598, ended the Wars of Religion and allowed the Huguenots some religious freedoms, including the free exercise of their religion in 20 designated cities in France.

The repeal of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in October 1685 again provoked persecution of the Huguenots, and hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled from France to other countries. In November 1787, the "Promulgation of the Deviation from Tolerance" partly restored the civil and religious rights of the Huguenots in France.

Huguenot Memorial Museum.

Because the Huguenots of France were largely artisans and professional people, they were generally well received in the countries to which they fled for asylum when religious discrimination or outright persecution forced them to leave France. Most of them originally went to Germany, the Netherlands and England, although some of them ended up in places further away from South Africa. Significant numbers of Huguenots migrated to British North America, especially the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. Their character and talents in the arts, sciences and industry were such that they were generally considered a significant loss to the French society from which they were forced to withdraw, and a corresponding advantage to the communities and nations to which they retired.

Huguenot Society of America.

On March 4, 1590, Prince Henry of Navarre led a Huguenot force against the Catholic League at the Battle of Ivry (pictured right) in Normandy

Some religions zealously defended their right to spread in certain countries. For example, Catholicism has always been jealous of "their" territories, preferring to expand its sphere of influence. The church did not accept representatives of other religions and often persecuted them. The most striking (and bloody) confrontation was the religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) in France in the second half of the 16th century.

Who are the Huguenots?

So called representatives of the Protestant religious movement. When the new religion came into being, in each country the followers called themselves differently. The name Huguenot was used in France. The etymology of the name comes from the contemptuous nickname of the Catholics to the Protestant - Hugo. So called the Swiss, who lived in the territory of the French kingdom. Over time, it stuck to the French themselves, who professed a different religion. The very first followers of the new trend were called Lutherans, after the name of the first Protestant, priest Martin Luther, who was not afraid to openly oppose the Catholic Church and posted his 95 theses on the doors of the cathedral, where he denounced some clergy and the entire church hierarchy.

Such a revolutionary approach to religion could not but confuse and infuriate Catholic priests. She immediately brought Luther to justice, trying to force the monk to change his mind. But it was too late - the new doctrine quickly spread throughout Germany, and further beyond its borders, and Luther was supported not only by ordinary citizens, but also by rulers. The most striking example of the separation of the state from the Catholic Church is the marriage of the English king Henry VIII to his beloved Anne Boleyn. He was already married to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, but he wanted a divorce, which the Pope did not agree to. And England quickly withdrew from the Catholic countries and created a new religion, an offshoot of Protestantism - Anglicanism.

Luther's followers also tried to help countries get out of the pope's zone of influence. One of them is John Calvin, who also gave the name to another branch of Protestantism - Calvinism. In France, all non-Christians were called Calvinists, that is, Huguenots. The first Huguenot church was established in 1555 in a private house. And in 1560, French Protestants began to call themselves Huguenots.

At first, the king was tolerant of the Protestants - many of them were prominent merchants, soldiers, even aristocrats. By 1562 there were about 2,000 churches and about 2 million Huguenots. Everything would be fine if the Huguenots did not offend the feelings of believers, did not ridicule Catholic rites and worship. In many cities they distributed leaflets mocking the Catholic Church. In response, there were mass arrests of protesters.

I had to practice my religion secretly - the Saint-Germain decree was issued, according to which the Huguenots could do this, but with some restrictions - it was forbidden to pray at night in cities and towns, and a ban was also issued on the Huguenots carrying weapons (in order to avoid an uprising). It would seem that you can breathe easy, but no.

Many aristocrats close to the royal family did not want to put up with this state of affairs. France should only be Catholic. And no heresy. The Duke of Guise on March 1, 1562, in the commune of Vassy, ​​attacked a group of Huguenots who were holding a divine service in one of the cellars of the house. Many of them were killed. King Charles hastened to justify himself that he had not given the order to attack. But the wheel of hatred of the Huguenots was already unstoppable. A religious war broke out between Catholics and Protestants. A black decade of wars began, which lasted with varying degrees of success.

Wars and St. Bartholomew's Night

A year later, in 1563, there was a lull, the Edict of Amboise was signed, according to which the Huguenots again received the opportunity of free religion. However, the queen mother Catherine de Medici canceled all liberties by her decree. In Paris and other cities, people were incited to conflict with the Huguenots. Many of them fled to the city of La Rochelle, which became a stronghold of the Protestants. During this period, the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, provided them with great help. Again and again, the banner of victory passed from one to the other hands.

Catherine de Medici decided to gain the trust of the enemy and arranged the wedding of her daughter Margarita with the Protestant prince Henry of Navarre. Finally, peace was established in France after nearly a decade of fighting. Representatives of the Huguenots came to the wedding on August 18, 1572. Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Protestants, began to enjoy the unprecedented confidence of the king and Catherine.

Of course, the French Catholic aristocrats did not like this. The queen mother, under the guise of kindness and patronage, hatched plans to get rid of the hated admiral. On August 22, an unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of Coligny, then he was only wounded. Catherine was furious, she did not think to give up.

Together with the new Duke de Guise, a plan was drawn up to eliminate Coligny. On August 24, 1572, a crowd of Catholics broke into the house where the admiral lived and massacred him brutally. this murder marked the beginning of the famous Bartholomew's Night (August 24 - St. Bartholomew's Day). That night, Paris did not sleep - the cries of the wounded and attackers were heard all over the streets, rivers of blood flowed. Catholics broke into every house looking for their enemies. According to conservative estimates, about 3,000 Huguenots died that night. The massacre continued for another week, and already on the morning of August 24, the crowd began to kill indiscriminately - a Catholic or a Protestant.

Under the cover of the murder of the Huguenots, personal accounts between people were closed. Chaos reigned in Paris. Historians are still arguing about the exact number killed that week - some of the most daring put the figure at 30,000.

Fleeing from imminent death, the Huguenots left France (even in other cities of the country it was restless). Henry of Navarre survived only thanks to the fact that he agreed to convert to Catholicism, uttering the legendary phrase "Paris is worth a mass." The final confrontation between the Catholics and the Huguenots ended with the death of King Henry III, who declared Navarre his successor. He became the next king of France in 1589.

Periodically, conflicts also arose under Henry's grandson, King Louis XIV. In 1685, Louis XIV passed the Edict of Fontainebleau, which replaced Saint-Germain and made Protestantism illegal. There was no bloodshed, and over the next few years more than 200,000 Huguenots again fled from France to other countries. However, not everyone was able to accept such a huge number of refugees - they had to look for more distant states. Great Britain and Ireland gladly accepted the Huguenots - still, there was a long-standing enmity with France, and here such an opportunity to prick the enemy more painfully.

Other European countries also welcomed the Huguenots - they were known as highly educated people who were able to work and improve the economy. Germany and the Netherlands settled Protestants and became one of the leading economic powers in Europe. While France gradually rolled into the abyss.

Huguenots abroad

From 1688 to 1689, some Huguenots settled in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa under the sponsorship of the Dutch East India Company. They were offered this option for several more years, but then few Protestants showed interest.

The Dutch East India Company provided farmland to the Huguenot settlers, but placed them between Dutch farmlands to separate the Huguenots and prevent them from organizing against the Dutch—after all, the trust had not yet been earned.

Particularly adventurous Huguenots went to the American continent much earlier than all of Europe (in the mass sense). However, the first settling experience was unsuccessful - a group of Huguenots went to an island in Guanabara Bay in Brazil, but was later captured and killed by Portuguese troops.

In 1564, the Norman Huguenots settled in Florida, in what is now the city of Jacksonville, but were killed by Spanish troops. Starting in 1624, the Huguenots began to arrive en masse in the lands of the future New York and New Jersey. By 1685, Huguenot communities had sprung up in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina. Often Huguenot settlers assimilated into existing Protestant groups.

And today you can meet the descendants of those Huguenots - they successfully assimilated with the local population, but continued to profess the religion for which they were persecuted in their native country. Throughout England, France, Australia and the United States, remnants of their culture can be seen. French Protestant churches, French city and street names, and textile and wine-making traditions continue to be reminders of the Huguenots' global influence.

Word first Huguenot used by opponents of the Protestants as a mockery; but later, when the Reformation began to spread in France, it took root among the French Protestants themselves. Supporters of the Reformation in France appeared very early. Lefebvre, Brusonnet, Farel, Roussel propagated the Protestant doctrine. Under the patronage of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, sister of King Francis I, secret Lutheran communities arose. But the teachings of Calvin found the greatest sympathy and distribution, especially among the nobility and the middle class.

The emergence of religious strife

Francis I ordered the confiscation of all Protestant writings and forbade the Huguenots under threat of death to hold their Protestant worship; but these measures could not stop the spread of reformist doctrine. Henry II issued an edict in 1555, which threatened the Huguenots with burning at the stake, and after the conclusion of the Cato-Cambresia peace, with particular zeal, he set about eradicating "heresy". Nevertheless, under him in France there were up to 5,000 Calvinist communities. Under Francis II, who was under the strong influence of the Guises, in 1559 a special commission (Chambre ardente) was established at each parliament to monitor the execution of edicts on heretics.

The general opposition against the Guises gave the Huguenots the courage to fight against persecution. Part of the Calvinist nobles, led by Larenody, plotted to demand freedom of conscience from the king and the removal of the Guises, and in case of refusal, to seize the king by force and force him to transfer control to the Calvinist Bourbons, Antoine of Navarre and Louis Conde.

Gaspard II de Coligny

The plot was revealed; the king fled from Blois to Amboise. The attack of the conspirators on Amboise was repulsed; many died in battle, others were executed. Nevertheless, in May 1560, the Chambres ardentes were destroyed, but religious meetings and the public celebration of Protestant worship were still prohibited. In August of the same year, Admiral Coligny, at a meeting of notables, demanded freedom of conscience for the Calvinists. The Assembly postponed the decision until the Estates-General were convened at Orléans; to obstruct the decisions of this assembly in a sense favorable to the Huguenots.

The Guises captured the Bourbons, and Conde was sentenced to death for participating in the conspiracy. The death of Francis II prevented the execution of the sentence. Under Charles IX in 1561, an edict was issued that abolished the death penalty for belonging to heresy. To end the enmity between the Catholics and the Huguenots, a religious dispute was arranged between them in Poissy, which, however, did not lead to the desired agreement.

The so-called triumvirate of the Duke of Guise, the constable of Montmorency and Marshal Saint-Andreu sought to suppress the Reformation, and he managed to win Anton of Navarre over to his side. As soon as the edict of 1562 was issued, granting the Huguenots the right to free worship, Francis of Guise attacked a crowd of Huguenots gathered in a barn to worship at Vassy. All of them were killed, and this was the beginning of an internecine war. The first war (there were 8 in all) was fought with varying success and ended in 1563 with an agreement that was confirmed in the Edict of Amboise, in which the Huguenots were again granted freedom of religion.

The queen mother, having deprived the Guises of influence, did not want, however, that the Huguenots began to use it, and by a new edict she canceled almost all the previous liberties granted to the Huguenots; then Condé and Coligny decided to take the king into their own hands; but their plot was discovered, and the court fled to Paris. Condé laid siege to the capital. Again a peace treaty was concluded at Longclue, by virtue of which a general amnesty was declared; but six months later civil war broke out again.

La Rochelle

The hatred of the Catholic popular masses against the Huguenots expressed itself in many bloody violence. Condé and Coligny fled to La Rochelle, which from then on became the main residence of the Huguenots. The English Queen Elizabeth supplied the Huguenots with money and weapons, the German Protestant princes provided them with troops. At the Battle of Jarnac in 1567, the Catholics, under the command of Marshal Tavannes, defeated the Huguenots; Conde was captured and killed.

Joanna of Navarre then summoned the Huguenots to Cognac, inspired them with her speech, and placed her son Henry at the head of the army; but despite reinforcements sent by Germany, the Huguenots were again defeated, and it was not until the next year that Coligny succeeded in taking possession of Nîmes and La Rochelle and defeating the royal troops. Finally, the moderate party prevailed and in the same year the Peace of Saint-Germain was concluded, by virtue of which an amnesty and freedom of religion were declared. For a greater guarantee, the fortresses of La Rochelle, Lacharite, Montauban and Cognac were left in the hands of the Huguenots.

Bartholomew night

In order to gain the confidence of the Huguenots, Catherine de Medici decided to marry the sister of Charles IX to Henry of Navarre; Negotiations were begun with England regarding joint support for the Dutch uprising, Coligny was appointed chief commander of the French army equipped for this purpose. Tranquility and peace were established throughout France, so that the Queen of Navarre, together with the Prince of Condé and Henry of Navarre, could fearlessly come to Paris for the marriage of the latter with the king's sister.

A mass of distinguished Huguenots were invited to this wedding; their head, Coligny, apparently enjoyed the exclusive favor of the king and directed French politics. Catholics viewed this rapprochement with growing hatred; and the queen mother, above all, wanted to eliminate Coligny, finding his influence harmful to herself. This was the reason for the Bartholomew's Night. Many Huguenots escaped the massacre and began to defend themselves with the courage of desperation in La Rochelle, Nimes, Montauban. Wherever the Huguenots felt strong enough, they closed the gates in front of the royal troops. The Duke of Anjou tried in vain to take possession of La Rochelle; the war ended with the peace of 1573, according to which Montauban, Nimes and La Rochelle remained with the Huguenots, and in these cities they were given freedom of worship. Soon after the conclusion of the peace, the moderate party entered into relations with the Huguenots in order to achieve the overthrow of the Guises with their help. The plot was, however, discovered; the Duke of Alencon (younger brother of Charles IX), who was at the head of this party, and Henry of Navarre were imprisoned in Vincennes, and Condé fled to Strasbourg.

Many Huguenots then fled to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and England. In total, France lost 200,000 hard-working citizens. Abroad, they were welcomed everywhere and contributed to a significant extent to the rise of trade and industry. Fierce persecution caused in 1702 in the Cevennes mountains the so-called uprising of the Camisards under the leadership of

5. Catholics and Huguenots

Symbol of faith. - Property claims. - Huguenot liberties. - Valtelina. - Military campaigns against the Huguenots. - Peace in Montpellier. England enters the war. - Siege of La Rochelle. - Peace in Ane: End of Confrontation

The problem of relations between Catholics and Protestants in France at the beginning of the 17th century was not so much ideological as political. The decisions of the Council of Trent, which ended in 1563, ordered all the ministers of the Catholic Church to intensify the fight against the Protestant heresy on the basis of the inviolability of the medieval dogmas of Catholicism. However, these decisions were not recognized by the French Catholic (Gallican) Church for half a century, despite pressure from Rome. Only the dangerously growing influence of Protestantism prompted the princes of the French Church to restore order.

The Huguenots claimed: "Blessed is he who believes," that is, faith is sufficient for salvation. Catholics said: "Faith without good works is dead." Protestants put above all the Holy Scriptures; they considered Christ the only mediator between believers and God, denying this status to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Among Catholics, the cult of saints and holy relics was confirmed by the Council of Trent. Unlike Catholic priests, Protestant priests could marry. The Huguenots recognized only two sacraments: baptism and communion - in memory of the Last Supper. The recipient of baptism was not doused with water, but sprinkled; bread and wine were distributed to those who took communion (with Catholics, the laity communed only with bread). For Catholics, there were seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist (communion), repentance (confession), confirmation, priesthood, marriage and unction. Protestants celebrated Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Trinity and the Feast of the Reformation (on the Sunday closest to October 31, in memory of the beginning of Martin Luther's activity) and did not observe fasts. There were fifty Catholic holidays a year, and believers were required to observe Christmas and Lent. The Huguenots kept their rituals simple: "A short prayer rises straight to heaven"; they dressed in black and condemned unnecessary luxury. Catholics staged magnificent processions and dressed up statues of saints; sometimes it was necessary to "undress St. Peter in order to dress St. Paul."

It is impossible to unambiguously characterize the relationship between Catholics and Huguenots. As long as they did not oppress each other, they remained "friends down to the altar." And although they said about something dubious, dishonest: “this is not Catholic,” the same people claimed: “The devil is not as black as he is painted.”

In 1598, Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes on religious tolerance; in 1610 the king was assassinated by a Jesuit monk. A year later, a friend of the late king, who at one time negotiated the Edict of Nantes, Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, published in Saumur, of which he was governor, "The Sacrament of Injustice", in which he denounced the papacy, coming to the conclusion that the pope is the Antichrist. This book was condemned by the Sorbonne and caused much controversy, but since Duplessis-Mornay kept the Protestants under control and did not allow unrest to arise, he was needed by the royal authorities, and he was not touched. By the way, the father of the "Huguenot Pope" was a staunch Catholic Jacques Mornay, and his mother was a fiery Huguenot. His wife was the daughter of a Protestant and a Catholic. Ten years after the publication of the scandalous book, when the unrest of the Huguenots began and the king went on a campaign against them, Duplessis-Mornay was offered to leave for Canada, tempted by high positions in Holland or England, but he preferred to stay and serve his king, citing "national consciousness ".

During the trip of the young Louis XIII around the country in 1614, the Huguenots came to express assurances of their loyalty to him and "entrust their lives and property into his hands." The Duke de Rogan and other Protestant leaders even invited the king to La Rochelle to hand him the keys to their main city. But very soon the situation changed.

The southwest of France was under the influence of the Protestants. The former ruler of these lands, the stern Jeanne d'Albret (mother of Henry of Navarre and grandmother of Louis XIII), was a staunch Huguenot; at one time she forbade the Catholic worship in her lands and transferred the property of the Catholic Church to Protestant pastors. Her son, becoming the French king, decided to restore the Catholic cult and return the property to the Catholic clergy, paying compensation to the pastors. However, they refused to comply. Louis set out to put an end to this: on June 25, 1617, he ordered the confiscation of church property and return it to its former, rightful owners. The Calvinists from Béarn were not going to obey; they were supported by the brethren of the Languedoc, meeting in Saumur in 1619, they refused to propose to the king six candidates from which he would choose two deputies authorized to represent the interests of the Reformed Church before the French crown until the king had satisfied their various demands. in Loudun in 1620, the Huguenots demanded that the decree on the return of property to the clergy be revoked. Only after the intervention of influential Protestants loyal to the king - the Duc de Lediguière, the Marquis de Châtillon and the Duc Duplessis-Mornay - did the assembly present a list of candidates and disperse, insisting on maintaining the status quo. Louis reacted simply: "We must go to them." In September 1620, he made a blitz campaign in Bearn, made "personnel changes" there, promised to respect the privileges of the Huguenots and received an oath of allegiance in return. The Councils of State of Pau and Navarre ceased to exist and were replaced by the Pau County Parliament. The Catholic cult was restored.

The king forbade his Protestant subjects from holding meetings, and the governors, mayors and echevens of the cities of his kingdom from receiving such meetings, declaring violators of this order guilty of lèse majesté. Despite the ban, the Huguenots decided to gather on December 24, 1620 in La Rochelle and turned to the English king for support.

The Huguenots extended freedom of religion to the administrative area: they issued their own laws in the places of their "compact residence", minted their own coins, imposed taxes, collected militia, built fortifications. At the beginning of 1621 they captured the city of Privas. Marshal Ledigier acted as an intermediary between the Protestants and the king, but the negotiations yielded nothing: the Huguenots created practically a state within a state, which the king could not stand. The head of the Royal Council, de Luyne, offered to make Lediguiere a constable, which was in fact tantamount to a declaration of war, but the old soldier refused. In truth, he would have preferred to fight in Valteline now on the side of the Protestant Grisons, who were being slaughtered by local Catholics with the support of the Spaniards who occupied this Alpine valley. As a result, Luyin managed to make himself a constable.

The “Valtelina Affair” deserves mention in this chapter: this military-diplomatic conflict already then clearly showed that for France, questions of faith recede into the background before political interests; she is capable of making treaties with Protestants against Catholics if it suits her.

Valtelina lay on the shortest route from Vienna to Milan and was under the protectorate of the Swiss Grisons. After the invasion of the Spaniards, Louis XIII, worried about the union of two monarchs from the Habsburg dynasty, sent Bassompierre to Madrid with an ultimatum: the release of Valtelina or war. More than six months have passed, but neither has happened. The ambassadors of the Duchy of Milan and Venice came every day to the reception room of the French king, trying to get him to carry out his threat. But the king was bound hand and foot by the Huguenot rebellion. He gave away his hunting falcons and dogs, declaring that from now on he would not hunt the beast, but armies and fortresses. He diligently studied mathematics and fortification, conducted target shooting with artillerymen and arquebusiers. On April 25, Bassompierre managed to conclude an agreement in Madrid, according to which Spain undertook to withdraw its troops from Valtelina, and a couple of days later the king set out from Fontainebleau, heading towards the Loire Valley.

In Saumur, which surrendered without a fight, Louis, accompanied by all the princes and nobles, made a pilgrimage to the holy places and prayed and communed so earnestly, as if he was setting off on a new crusade. A formidable warning was sent to the leader of the Huguenots Soubise: since he does not obey the royal will, the king himself will come to greet him with a volley of twenty cannons, and the very first shot will dispel the last hope of reconciliation.

Passing through Poitou, the royal troops besieged the fortress of Saint-Jean-d'Angely, where Soubise took refuge, refusing to surrender. The first violent attack was drowned in blood: the besieged launched artillery and made a wide gap in the ranks of the besiegers. Louis ordered reinforcements and siege weapons to be brought "Thirty-eight cannons aimed their muzzles at the jagged walls. The ambassador of England tried to intercede for his king's fellow believers, but Louis politely but firmly rejected his request. The fortress held out for five weeks, after which it capitulated. The king very coldly received Soubise, who came with a white flag , Luyin let him go to La Rochelle, so that he would tell about the power of the royal weapon.

After the fall of Saint-Jean-d'Angely, several more small fortresses surrendered to the king; the road to La Rochelle was open. Louis instructed d'Epernon to besiege it from land and sea, but the constable de Luynes allocated completely insignificant forces to the duke for this purpose, who could not cope with the task. The main royal army turned to Bearn, as another Huguenot commander, La Force, took up defense in Montauban.

The siege of the city did not produce results. The defenders of Montauban were militias from the townspeople, but they fought no worse than trained soldiers. Bassompierre tried to fire not at the fortifications, but at the houses, but also without much success. Finally, a month after the start of the siege, what Ledigiere had feared happened: reinforcements arrived at Montauban during the night, breaking through in a poorly guarded area. Disease and desertion began in the royal army. To top it off, the Duc du Maine was hit by a musket bullet, which drove the soldiers who loved him to despair. In Paris, the death of the duke responded with a pogrom of the Huguenots; Louis was forced to urgently leave for the capital in order to restore order there. In desperation, Luyne decided to take a risky step - to meet with Henri de Rogan, Soubise's older brother and leader of the Huguenots.

Rogan agreed to the meeting. It was hard to imagine two more different people than the cunning courtier and the straightforward warrior, accustomed to hacking off the shoulder. When Rogan laid down specific terms, Luyin began to wag: he did not warn the king about the meeting, hoping that everything would somehow be settled, and was not authorized to make any agreements. Realizing that he was wasting his time, Rogan got angry and decided for himself not to make any concessions.

That same night, the besieged staged a desperate sortie, capturing the forward trenches and blowing up the gunpowder stores of the besiegers.

Upon learning of secret negotiations with the head of the Huguenots, Louis was furious. Most of all, he was outraged that Luyin was acting behind his back, allowing him to think that the king of France could play a double game. He ordered the lifting of the siege of Montauban.

Luyin decided to give himself another chance and surrounded the small fortress of Monyor that lay in his path, but during the siege he died of scarlet fever.

Campaigns resumed the following year. They were distinguished by extreme cruelty: for example, after the battle on the island of Rie, when the leader of the Protestants Soubise fled, escaping by swimming, and his troops capitulated, local feudal lords unexpectedly came to the aid of Louis to take revenge on the Huguenots who had taxed them. The fury of the newcomers was transferred to the soldiers of the king: a terrible massacre began. The royal commanders tried to stop her, but no one listened to orders. The surviving Huguenots huddled together, waiting for their fate to be decided. Looking into their faces, Louis recognized several officers who were under Saint-Jean-d "Angely and swore an oath no longer to turn weapons against the king. After hesitating, Louis ordered the officers to be considered prisoners of war, and the soldier ransomed from his own army and from the local militia. A handful of they were hanged, and the rest sent to hard labor: "Let them go to the galleys rather than to hell." Moving further into Languedoc, the royal troops plundered Negrepelis and slaughtered its population. The justification for them was that last year the inhabitants of the city treacherously killed five hundred people the royal garrison left here.

Capturing several small fortresses in Languedoc, Louis isolated Montpellier, the stronghold of the Duke de Rohan, but the Huguenot leader was too smart to lock himself in the besieged city. With his flying squad, he dealt unexpected blows to the royal army and disappeared. The army snarled like a big, unwieldy beast, but remained where they were.

Meanwhile, individual Protestant military leaders began to move into the camp of the king - though not for free. The Duke de La Force opened the gates of the city of Sainte-Foy to Louis, receiving in return two hundred thousand crowns and a marshal's baton. The Duke de Châtillon also surrendered and became marshal.

Jacques-Nompard de Caumont, duc de la Force (1558-1652), miraculously survived Bartholomew's night by pretending to be killed; his entire family died. He then served Henry of Navarre. One of his eight sons, Henri-Nompard de Caumont, Marquis de Castelnau, was Henry IV's godson. In 1621, together with his father, he defended Montauban and killed the Duke of Mayenne, but then reconciled with the king and followed his father in all campaigns. His older brother Jean de Caumont de La Force, the Marquis de Montpoulian, was at one time surrounded by the Dauphin Louis and fell victim to the intrigues of the Luignes brothers, who forced him to join the Protestant revolt. He also fought at Montauban and died of his wounds.

Finally, on October 18, 1622, peace was concluded in Montpellier, taken with heavy losses. Louis XIII confirmed the Edict of Nantes. In addition, the rebels received an amnesty and the right to send their deputies to parliaments. In return, they had to destroy the newly built fortifications, thus losing eighty fortresses and retaining only La Rochelle and Montauban. For his part, the king also undertook to destroy Fort Louis near La Rochelle, but was in no hurry to fulfill the promise. Formally, Catholics and Huguenots were equal in rights, but, for example, the Duke de Ledigiere became constable only after he converted to Catholicism.

Henri de Rogan did not leave his plans - to create, with the support of England and Spain, a Huguenot republic in France, which he was going to head himself. There were about a million Huguenots in France, that is, a twelfth of the population.

At the beginning of 1625, Rogan sent a complaint to the king about the violation of some articles of the treaty of Montpellier, but Louis rejected it. A year later, Rogan's brother Soubise captured the islands of Re and Oleron in front of the entrance to the bay of La Rochelle, but they were soon returned to the rule of the king: the Dutch admiral Olten (a Protestant!) defeated Soubise, who was forced to flee to England. On February 5, 1626, through the mediation of the English king, a new peace was concluded with the Huguenots: Louis did not transfer Fort Louis to them, but placed reinforced garrisons on the islands of Re and Oleron. The Larochelles were to accept a permanent royal commissioner, not interfere with the practice of Catholicism, and destroy Fort Tadon, which defended La Rochelle from land.

The favorite of the English king, the Duke of Buckingham, longed for war with France - including for personal reasons, which we have already talked about. On June 27, 1627, he led a squadron of 90 ships and an expeditionary force of 10 thousand people from Portsmouth. A month later he landed on the island of Re; the battle was taken by Marshal de Thouara.

... The Duke of Angouleme, commander of the royal troops near La Rochelle, looked with surprise at the emaciated man in one shirt, who could hardly stand on his feet. It was Pierre Lanier - one of the three soldiers from the Tuar garrison, who managed to swim to the "mainland" (the second drowned, the third was killed by the British). He removed the string from his neck, on which dangled a tin cartridge from a musket, dug out the wax, took out a small piece of paper rolled up into a tube from the inside and handed it to the duke. It was a ciphered letter from Tuar: "If you want to keep the fort, send boats no later than October 8, because on the 8th in the evening we will all die of hunger." Richelieu sent thirty-five punts with provisions and clothing to Fort Saint-Martin. The British surrounded them, but twenty-five boats still broke through. In early November, the French drove the British off the island; Buckingham returned home. Pierre Lanier received a lifetime pension of one hundred ecu from the king.

Opening fire from cannons on the royal troops, the Larochels put themselves in the position of enemies of France and allies of the British. It was decided to start a proper siege of the city, but for this it was necessary to block it both from land and from the sea. The royal army consisted of nine regiments, that is, about twelve thousand people. With the fleet, the situation was worse: the Spaniards promised seventy ships, and they actually approached the Breton coast, but did not move further under various pretexts. Richelieu was expecting about twenty ships from the Netherlands.

Even in the first, unsuccessful siege of 1621, the Italian Pompeo Targone proposed blocking access to the port with floating batteries mounted on pontoons connected by a chain. Now he returned to this plan again, with fervent praise of its merits. Richelieu was quite skeptical of this idea; the Duke of Angouleme, who did not want to share power with the cardinal, immediately supported the Italian.

Targone claimed that the construction of his barrier would cost 40,000 livres. Richelieu was concerned about the exorbitant costs of the siege: only two hundred and twenty-five thousand livres a month had to be spent on the sea. And also salaries for soldiers and officers, free bread, the purchase of warm clothes and shoes on the eve of winter ... It was strictly forbidden for soldiers to rob the local population. The cardinal borrowed a million livres under his personal responsibility for military needs.

Targona's barricade was blown to pieces by the tide. But on the table at Richelieu lay a drawing of a dam designed by the engineers Metezo and Thirio: from Cape Korey to Fort Louis, drive in long support pillars, connect them obliquely with logs of the same size, and fill up the gaps with large stones fastened with silt. In the middle, leave a small hole so that water passes during high and low tides, and in front of it, flood ships stuffed with stones. It was a grandiose construction: the width of the channel was one and a half thousand arshins, at its base the dam was sixteen arshins wide, in the upper part - eight.

All expenses were covered by the engineers; soldiers were used as labor force. Construction began on November 30, 1627. Several times the unfinished dam was swept away by the tide. The Larochelles, having climbed the fortress wall, showered the builders with ridicule. However, the besiegers themselves were not sure of success. "You'll see, we'll be crazy enough to take La Rochelle," said Marshal Bassompierre. In winter, the roads became muddy, the carts got stuck on the way, salaries and provisions were not delivered on time. The Larochelles ventured into sorties, and the soldiers, taken by surprise, suffered losses. In addition, despite the strictest observance of the rules of hygiene, followed by the Capuchins of Father Joseph, the troops began to mow down the disease.

And yet the dam was being built; managed to intercept several light ships with provisions for the besieged. On the embankment there were 11 forts and 18 redoubts, and on the cannons the cardinal ordered to engrave the inscription "Ultima ratio regis" -"the last argument of kings."

Richelieu urged the king that the siege should not be lifted in any case. By taking La Rochelle, it will be possible to transfer the war to England; otherwise the English would unite with the Huguenots, Lorraine, Savoy and the Holy Roman Empire against France.

The Larochelles did not give up. In March, they elected as their mayor and commander-in-chief Jean Guiton, an experienced sailor, admiral of the Larochel fleet. Gathering the city's nobility in the Town Hall, he showed everyone a long and sharp dagger and announced that he would pierce anyone who spoke of surrender with it, and ordered him to kill himself if he even hinted at surrender. Father Joseph's agents made several assassination attempts on Guiton, but he managed to avoid them. An attempt by Louis de Marillac to enter the city through the sewers also ended in failure.

In May, an English flotilla of 53 ships approached La Rochelle under the command of Lord Denbig. Turning their sides to the dam, the British tried to destroy it with cannons, but the French batteries fired back.

The arrival of the British revived the hopes of the besieged and filled the hearts of the besiegers with anxiety. While Louis personally led the gunners, teaching them more accurate shooting, Richelieu secretly sent his agents to Denbig, offering gold in exchange for non-intervention. It is not known which argument was more convincing, but together they had their effect: a week later, without giving a fight and without delivering provisions to the Larochels, the flotilla spread its sails and melted in the predawn fog.

The summer of 1628 turned out to be very hot and dry. Long queues of royal soldiers stood near the barrels of water carriers, collecting water directly into their hats. When the wind blew from the shore, it carried a sweet, cadaverous smell from the besieged city: the inhabitants of La Rochelle were dying of hunger. For several weeks they had been eating only algae and shells; the mother and sister of the Duke de Rohan, one of the leaders of the Huguenots, suffered like everyone else. Jean Guiton went out every day to support the spirit of the defenders of the fortress.

Louis repeatedly sent parliamentarians to the city with a proposal to surrender, but the gates remained locked. The British were waiting in La Rochelle. On August 23, the Duke of Buckingham arrived in Portsmouth, where another squadron was preparing to sail, but was killed by Lieutenant Felton. Instead, they sent Admiral Lindsay.

Standing on a roadstead near La Rochelle, he sent truce envoys to the French king, offered to end the matter amicably and asked for leniency towards the defenders of La Rochelle. Louis said that the siege of La Rochelle was an internal affair of France and that it did not concern the British. Two days later, the English squadron disappeared over the horizon. The people of La Rochelle, who had greeted her with the ringing of bells, now saw her off with downcast glances. There was no choice: the city sent a deputation to the French king. The cardinal delivered an ultimatum: only unconditional surrender in exchange for forgiveness.

On October 29, 1628, more than a year after the start of the siege, Richelieu solemnly entered La Rochelle, riding a horse, in a cassock over armor. Shriveled corpses lay along the edges of the deserted streets, grass broke through the cobblestones of the pavement. Two days later, the king himself entered the city. Richelieu celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of St. Margaret: Louis ordered the restoration of Catholic worship in La Rochelle.

The surrender of La Rochelle was not accompanied by robberies and violence: this is the merit of Father Joseph and his Capuchins, who carried out "educational work" among the royal troops. The king ordered bread to be delivered to the population of the city (Richelieu believed that mercy is no less effective tool of power than intimidation). None of the city's defenders were tried or punished. Only Jean Guiton and the five most intransigent members of the municipality were expelled from the city, although they were allowed to come there from time to time. In 1636, Giton will become an officer in the Royal Navy and will distinguish himself more than once in battles with the Spaniards.

The king liquidated the former organs of city self-government; all city fortifications from the land side were destroyed, all castles and fortifications near the city were torn down. Richelieu took up the reconstruction of the port.

The fall of La Rochelle was the beginning of the end of organized Huguenot uprisings. Most of them, like the former Mayor Giton, decided that "it is better to have as your sovereign a king who managed to take La Rochelle than one who failed to defend it." But the Duke de Rogan continued to resist: on May 3, 1629, he concluded an agreement with Spain, which promised military assistance to the rebels. Catholic Spain is helping the Protestants! Her violation of the peace treaty was caused by the military operation of France in northern Italy (Louis XIII supported the Duke de Nevers, who claimed the throne of Mantua, against the Duke of Savoy). The rebellion in Languedoc, as in its time in La Rochelle, went beyond the framework of internal conflict, and the king took the most decisive measures. He left Richelieu in Italy, and he himself with the main forces made a throw to the south. In a month and a half, the rebellion was over: the king captured Privas, and two weeks later, Ale, who was considered impregnable. Now the army has received complete freedom to plunder the property of the rebels. Rogan sued for peace, and Richelieu was urgently summoned to negotiate. The peace agreement was signed on June 28, 1629, but no longer included political concessions. All Huguenot officers who wished to enter the royal service were given the opportunity to do so without being forced to change their faith. Among these officers was Rogan himself, who subsequently distinguished himself more than once on the battlefields of the Thirty Years' War. In the summer of 1635, he successfully defended Valtelina against the Spanish in the south and the Austrians in the northeast. The Spanish general sent a French nobleman to him with an offer to go over to his side. The duke ordered that the traitor be hanged in full view of everyone - the French and the Spaniards.

No one was going to compensate for the damage suffered by the Huguenots during the hostilities, and it never occurred to anyone to ask for it. The peasants were granted forgiveness, and Henri de Rohan was also given a hundred thousand ecu "for the restoration of property."

On August 20, Richelieu solemnly entered Montauban - the last stronghold of Protestantism - and reported to the king: "Now we can say with full conviction that the sources of heresy and rebellion have dried up .. Everyone bows before your name." Subsequent events confirmed his correctness: neither the Comte de Soissons nor the Marquis de Saint-Map, who tried to revolt the Huguenots again in order to put an end to the power of the cardinal, were not successful.

Subsequently, the cardinal wrote in his Memoirs: "Since then, religious differences have never prevented me from rendering all kinds of good services to the Huguenots, I distinguished the French only by the degree of their loyalty."