Religious Wars in France 1560 – Catholics vs. Huguenots. Catherine de’ Medici was queen mother of France – In 1572, 1000s of Huguenots fill Paris to celebrate the marriage of Catherine’s daughter to Henry of Navarre (Huguenot). During the wedding, Catherine sends out soldiers to kill the Huguenots – 10,000 die in what is known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Henry of Navarre converts to Catholicism and promotes religious tolerance with Edict of Nantes (1598) French Wars of Religion, Huguenots. 7 percent of the population but percent of the French nobility. Ultra-Catholics. War of the three Henries, Henry IV, Edict of Nantes, 1598.
The Huguenots were French Calvinists, active mostly in the sixteenth century. They were persecuted by Catholic France, and about 300,000 Huguenots fled France for England, Holland, Switzerland, Prussia, and the Dutch and English colonies in the Americas.
The battle between Huguenots and Catholics in France also reflected fights between noble houses.