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| 1572–73 |
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| Renewal of war. La Rochelle, a Protestant stronghold, besieged by Henry, 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 for the Huguenots. | 1 |
| Charles IX died on May 30, 1574. His brother, who fled from Poland, became king. | 2 |
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| 1574–89 |
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| HENRY III. | 3 |
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| 1574–76 |
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| Another renewal of war, during which Henry of Navarre reassumed the Protestant faith, was concluded by conditions more favorable to the Huguenots than those of any previous peace. Peace of Chastenoy (Paix de Monsieur, after the duke of Alençon) on May 6, 1576. Hence dissatisfaction among the Catholics. Origin of the French 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, fearing the league, proclaimed himself its head and forbade the exercise of the Protestant religion throughout France. The Protestants and moderate Catholics had joined forces in 1575 by the confederation of Milhaud. | 4 |
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| 1584 |
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| The death of Francis, duke of Alençon, the younger brother of the king, rendered the extinction of the house of Valois certain. As it was the intention of the Holy 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 had induced the king to revoke the concessions granted to the Huguenots, broke out a war. | 5 |
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| 1585–89 |
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| 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 General of the kingdom. Finding no support among them against the Holy 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 at St. Cloud, a suburb of Paris, by the monk Jacques Clément (July 31). The wars destroyed agriculture in many parts of France, and commerce severely weakened. France experienced thirteen general famines in the 16th century. | 6 |
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| 1589–1792 |
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| HOUSE OF BOURBON, descended from Louis IX's younger son Robert, count of Clermont, husband of Beatrice of Bourbon. | 7 |
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| 1589–1610 |
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| HENRY IV. The Catholic Party refused to recognize Henry and made the old cardinal of Bourbon king under the name Charles X (1590). Victory of Henry IV over the duke of Mayenne at Arques (1589). | 8 |
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| 1590, March 14 |
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| In the Battle of Ivry, crucial battle of these wars, Henry IV was also victorious. Henry's ultimate success was made possible by the politiques, often moderate Catholics, but above all patriots who believed no religious creed was worth the chronic disorder and destruction, and who maintained that only a strong French monarchy could prevent complete collapse. The political philosopher Jean Bodin (1530?–96) in Six Books of the Commonweal (1576) held that religious toleration and the establishment of a sovereign monarchy were essential to the restoration of public order; Bodin is a prominent theoretician of the modern national state. 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 Holy 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). | 9 |
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| 1598, April 13 |
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| The civil wars of religion were ended by the EDICT OF NANTES, which gave the Huguenots equal political rights with the Catholics but not complete 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 20 miles around the capital. Public offices were opened to the Huguenots and mixed chambers were established in four parlements (Paris, Toulouse, Grenoble, Bordeaux). The Huguenots obtained some fortified towns and were recognized, to a certain extent, as an armed political party. Treaty of Vervins (May 2, 1598) with Spain; restoration of all conquests to France. | 10 |
| Adoption of measures looking to the improvement of the finances and the general prosperity, which had gone to decay, especially by Rosny, afterward duke of Sully (1560–1641). Grand Design, attributed to Henry IV by Sully in his Mémoires, for the ensurance of perpetual peace through organization of a Christian Republic with the Holy Roman Emperor as first magistrate and a general council of Europe to discuss affairs of common interest and if possible settle disputes. Intended primarily to limit the Habsburg power, this plan is interesting as one of many projects for organizing Europe and ending war. In the midst of great preparations for war, Henry was assassinated at Paris (May 14, 1610) by the fanatic François Ravaillac. | 11 |
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| 1610–43 |
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| LOUIS XIII, his son, nine years old. Regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici (1573–1642). Sully removed from office; the Italian Concini 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 estates-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 (1585–1642), 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), Marie de' Medici and her favorite, Richelieu, obtained control of affairs. | 12 |
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| 1624–42 |
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| Administration of Richelieu, whose influence over the king was henceforward unbroken. Numerous conspiracies against him instigated by Gaston of Orléans, the king's brother. | 13 |
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| 1625 |
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| Revolt of the Huguenots under the dukes of Rohan and Soubise. | 14 |
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