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What is a good topic to write 14 pages about for World History?
- Thread starter Umair
- Start date
Ima pear eat me
New member
French Wars of Religion
Categories Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; religion; government and politics
Locale France
Date March, 1562-May 2, 1598
This series of eight civil wars, fought intermittently over a thirty-six-year period between French Catholics and Protestants, ended only when Henry IV issued the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which established limited religious toleration in France.
Summary of Event
In the early 1560’, France came apart in a series of civil conflicts. Eight different wars were fought over a thirty-six-year period in which intervals of violence alternated with tenuous periods of peace. The key political players in these wars included the last Valois monarchs—Francis II, Charles IX, Henry III, and their mother, Catherine de Médicis—and their chief rivals, the Guise, Bourbon, and Montmorency families. The wars resulted in the founding of a new French dynasty, as the Protestant Bourbons’ leader, Henry of Navarre, ascended the throne as King Henry IV in 1589.
Larger version (204K)
Violence and torture by French Protestant Hugenots against Catholics.
(Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.)
The French Wars of Religion were fought between Protestants seeking to bring the Reformation to France and Catholics defending the Roman Church. By the mid-1550’, John Calvin was sending missionaries into France and converting a large following to the Protestant faith. About 10 percent of the French population, or around 1,250,000 people, adopted the reformed religion and were called Huguenots. Most of the Huguenot population lived in three great regions in central and southwestern France: Aquitaine, Languedoc, and Dauphiné. Huguenot strongholds included the important towns of La Rochelle, Montauban, and Nîmes. Around 1570, the largest of these towns was La Rochelle, with approximately twenty thousand inhabitants. Most of France, however, remained Catholic, and few individuals of the time could envision more than one accepted religion. Many French people worried that God would punish the realm if two religions were allowed to coexist, and they developed a violent hatred of people of differing faiths.
The wars of religion were also fought for political reasons. They occurred during a time when the French monarchy was very weak. The politically ambitious Catherine de Médicis was a widow by 1559. She greatly influenced all of her sons while they sat on the throne, and she even served as queen regent during the first years of Charles IX’s reign. Because weak boy-kings occupied the throne, political factions vied for leverage over the Valois court. Even though Catherine tried to maintain peace in the realm, she never succeeded in either diminishing the influence of the factions or settling the country’s religious differences. The Catholic Guise family, the Protestant Bourbon family, and the Catholic but more politically and religiously moderate (politique) Montmorency family each tried to dominate Catherine and her weak sons.
Larger version (20K)
The spark that ignited the wars occurred in March of 1562, when the powerful François de Lorraine, duke of Guise, and his troops came upon a group of unarmed Huguenots worshiping in a barn in the small Champagne village of Vassy. Violence erupted and several hundred people were killed or wounded, prompting the Huguenots to call the event a massacre. One month later, Huguenot leaders began raising troops to defend the Protestant population, and the first military engagements between Protestant and Catholic forces occurred in July of 1562.
The wars of religion were noted for the violence they engendered. Key military engagements included the 1563 Siege of Orléans, the 1573 Siege of La Rochelle, the 1587 Battle of Courtras, the 1590 Battle of Ivry, and the 1595 Battle of Fontaine-Française. The wars were also marked by horrible massacres. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 was particularly infamous: The Protestant leadership came to Paris as part of Catherine de Médicis’s attempt to balance rival court factions, but a massacre ensued in which most of the Huguenot leadership was killed. This led to similar massacres of Huguenots throughout the French provinces and a serious weakening of the Protestant movement.
The Catholic League dominated the last phase of the wars. It consisted of zealous Catholics who wanted to keep the Protestant Henry of Navarre from ever sitting on the throne. The very popular Henry I of Lorraine, duke of Guise, headed the league until his assassination in 1588, and Philip II of Spain supported the league with money and troops. By the time Henry III was murdered in 1589, most of the towns in France had succumbed to the league.
By the early 1590’, France was war-weary, the economy was severely depressed, and the population had been decimated by famine and disease. Henry of Navarre became Henry IV in 1589 and emerged as the only person forceful enough to solve France’s problems. In 1593, he abjured
Categories Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; religion; government and politics
Locale France
Date March, 1562-May 2, 1598
This series of eight civil wars, fought intermittently over a thirty-six-year period between French Catholics and Protestants, ended only when Henry IV issued the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which established limited religious toleration in France.
Summary of Event
In the early 1560’, France came apart in a series of civil conflicts. Eight different wars were fought over a thirty-six-year period in which intervals of violence alternated with tenuous periods of peace. The key political players in these wars included the last Valois monarchs—Francis II, Charles IX, Henry III, and their mother, Catherine de Médicis—and their chief rivals, the Guise, Bourbon, and Montmorency families. The wars resulted in the founding of a new French dynasty, as the Protestant Bourbons’ leader, Henry of Navarre, ascended the throne as King Henry IV in 1589.
Larger version (204K)
Violence and torture by French Protestant Hugenots against Catholics.
(Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.)
The French Wars of Religion were fought between Protestants seeking to bring the Reformation to France and Catholics defending the Roman Church. By the mid-1550’, John Calvin was sending missionaries into France and converting a large following to the Protestant faith. About 10 percent of the French population, or around 1,250,000 people, adopted the reformed religion and were called Huguenots. Most of the Huguenot population lived in three great regions in central and southwestern France: Aquitaine, Languedoc, and Dauphiné. Huguenot strongholds included the important towns of La Rochelle, Montauban, and Nîmes. Around 1570, the largest of these towns was La Rochelle, with approximately twenty thousand inhabitants. Most of France, however, remained Catholic, and few individuals of the time could envision more than one accepted religion. Many French people worried that God would punish the realm if two religions were allowed to coexist, and they developed a violent hatred of people of differing faiths.
The wars of religion were also fought for political reasons. They occurred during a time when the French monarchy was very weak. The politically ambitious Catherine de Médicis was a widow by 1559. She greatly influenced all of her sons while they sat on the throne, and she even served as queen regent during the first years of Charles IX’s reign. Because weak boy-kings occupied the throne, political factions vied for leverage over the Valois court. Even though Catherine tried to maintain peace in the realm, she never succeeded in either diminishing the influence of the factions or settling the country’s religious differences. The Catholic Guise family, the Protestant Bourbon family, and the Catholic but more politically and religiously moderate (politique) Montmorency family each tried to dominate Catherine and her weak sons.
Larger version (20K)
The spark that ignited the wars occurred in March of 1562, when the powerful François de Lorraine, duke of Guise, and his troops came upon a group of unarmed Huguenots worshiping in a barn in the small Champagne village of Vassy. Violence erupted and several hundred people were killed or wounded, prompting the Huguenots to call the event a massacre. One month later, Huguenot leaders began raising troops to defend the Protestant population, and the first military engagements between Protestant and Catholic forces occurred in July of 1562.
The wars of religion were noted for the violence they engendered. Key military engagements included the 1563 Siege of Orléans, the 1573 Siege of La Rochelle, the 1587 Battle of Courtras, the 1590 Battle of Ivry, and the 1595 Battle of Fontaine-Française. The wars were also marked by horrible massacres. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 was particularly infamous: The Protestant leadership came to Paris as part of Catherine de Médicis’s attempt to balance rival court factions, but a massacre ensued in which most of the Huguenot leadership was killed. This led to similar massacres of Huguenots throughout the French provinces and a serious weakening of the Protestant movement.
The Catholic League dominated the last phase of the wars. It consisted of zealous Catholics who wanted to keep the Protestant Henry of Navarre from ever sitting on the throne. The very popular Henry I of Lorraine, duke of Guise, headed the league until his assassination in 1588, and Philip II of Spain supported the league with money and troops. By the time Henry III was murdered in 1589, most of the towns in France had succumbed to the league.
By the early 1590’, France was war-weary, the economy was severely depressed, and the population had been decimated by famine and disease. Henry of Navarre became Henry IV in 1589 and emerged as the only person forceful enough to solve France’s problems. In 1593, he abjured
I did a project on the French Occupation during the Second World War for my French Alevel, and found it really interesting. There are loads of films on the subject and books you can read too. You'd be surprised how the French lived while the Germans occupied their country, it's incredible.
Kymblee Aych- Aych
New member
That's a lot of pages!
I suggest to my kids when they have to write a big paper like this to find something to watch on tv first (not ONLY, just to try it out, to see if it's interesting to them)
If you're into music, you might want to write about a famous musician, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...he was a child prodigy and had a pretty amazing life. there was a movie in the 80's called "Amadeus" you could rent and watch, to see if you could get into him as a person.
Or if you want to write about someone who was a little bit crazy, you could do it on Ludwig van Beethoven, who very probably was bipolar and kind of tragic...he was completely deaf and still wrote fantastic music. The movies you could watch about him are "Immortal Beloved" (very sad, but pretty good) and "Copying Beethoven"... just to see if he interests you.
You should say what kind of games you play on that Xbox 360... it could give us a clue of what time period you might find interesting enough to write about.
I suggest to my kids when they have to write a big paper like this to find something to watch on tv first (not ONLY, just to try it out, to see if it's interesting to them)
If you're into music, you might want to write about a famous musician, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...he was a child prodigy and had a pretty amazing life. there was a movie in the 80's called "Amadeus" you could rent and watch, to see if you could get into him as a person.
Or if you want to write about someone who was a little bit crazy, you could do it on Ludwig van Beethoven, who very probably was bipolar and kind of tragic...he was completely deaf and still wrote fantastic music. The movies you could watch about him are "Immortal Beloved" (very sad, but pretty good) and "Copying Beethoven"... just to see if he interests you.
You should say what kind of games you play on that Xbox 360... it could give us a clue of what time period you might find interesting enough to write about.