Condé’s Wars, 1559–70

Abstract

Tige real commencement of the protracted troubles now known as the Wars of Religion was Henri II’s death on 10 July 1559. The traditional date of 1 March 1562, the date of the massacre at Vassy, was no landmark, except for the fact that at that point Catherine de Medici and Michel de L’Hôpital gave up any hope of reaching a compromise through royal mediation. The real break was Henri II’s death. The struggle between noble factions under religious flags over a throne occupied successively by a youth (François II), a child (Charles IX), and then a king first absent and later discredited (Henri III), broke out on that 10 July.