Estates General of 1576
The Estates General of 1576 was a national meeting of the three orders of France; the clergy, nobility and common people. It was called as one of the many concessions made by the crown to the Protestant/moderate Catholic rebels to bring the Fifth War of Religion to a close. The generous terms of the peace made with the rebels provoked a strong backlash from militant Catholics who established the first Catholic Ligue in opposition to the terms. Henri at first sought to suppress the ligue before attempting to co-opt it. Both king Henri III and the ligue looked to the upcoming Estates General to secure advantage. For the first time in the history of the Estates General, a fierce election campaign would follow between Protestant, royalist and ligueur candidates, in the end very few Protestants would be represented in the Estates.
The Estates opened on 6 December, and in the first few days, Henri was confronted by a coalition of the First and Second Estate that attempted a constitutional revolution which would have seen the unanimous decision of the Estates take on a legislative power he could not overrule. He declined to endorse this proposal and the Estates did not feel able to push it. Matters then turned to the unity of religion, with all three Estates declaring their support for the re-establishment of religious unity in France. However, the Second Estate had several objectors, and the Third Estate was riven with divisions between the pro and anti-war factions with only a narrow majority for a war against heresy in December. By January as the problems of the royal finances became apparent, and the Protestants in the south of France began seizing towns in response to the Estates General, anti-war attitudes continued to grow until by mid January the Third Estate no longer supported the use of force to establish religious unity. Meanwhile, embassies were sent out to the chief Protestant princes to ensure any conflict was handled properly. Henri, keen to seize on the earlier calls of the Estates for war looked to the Estates to provide him financial assistance to do so. He was able to coax the First Estate to provide him 450,000 livres, but the Second Estate refused to provide any money as did the Third, which also shot down alternate tax proposals. Frustrated Henri attempted to alienate the royal domain to support a war effort, and while the First and Second Estate approved of this, Jean Bodin ensured the Third Estate did not allow it. By the end of February the Estates wrapped up with Henri resigning himself to the fact he could not prosecute a war without funds. Yet the conflict had already begun in the provinces and as such a brief campaign would be required to hopefully overturn the humiliation of the Fifth War of Religion.
The new war would last until September, and be brought to an end with a minor royal victory in the Edict of Poitiers which provoked far less opposition than the earlier Edict of Beaulieu, its terms being significantly more moderate. The cahiers would go on to form the basis for the landmark Great Ordinance of Blois which was published in 1579. This Ordinance altered royal justice, eligibility for church careers, the rules of finance, the structure and funding of the army and royal household, the laws as concerned royal governors and more over 363 articles. It would remain an important part of French law until the end of the ancien régime.
Unsatisfactory peace
Peace of Monsieur
By early 1576 the fifth war of religion had decidedly turned against the crown. the Protestant king of Navarre was established in Saumur from where he dominated Anjou, Guyenne, Poitou and Béarn; the duc d'Alençon controlled much of Berry, the Bourbonnais and the Nivernais; the seigneur de Coligny held Dauphiné; the politique baron de Damville, brother of the duc de Montmorency controlled Languedoc, Provence and Auvergne; finally the prince de Condé menaced Picardie. The rebel forces totalled around 30,000 men which was a far greater number than king Henri III had capacity to muster against them.Henri lacked money for troops and had only limited territory under his control. Only support from Spain had the potential to salvage the royal war effort.
Faced with an unfavourable war situation, Henri decided to seek peace with the Protestant and their allied politique forces. On 5 May 1576 Henri established the Edict of Beaulieu, known to history as the peace of Monsieur, who was keen to see her two eldest surviving sons reconciled.
Generous terms
The peace was the most generous of the civil war peaces to the Protestants. Across the country the free practice of Protestantism was permitted. This was with the exception of the area surrounding Paris and that about the court wherever it might be. The Protestants were allowed to build churches and hold synods. Cross-confessional chambers were to be established in each Parlement of France with equal numbers of Protestant and Catholic judges. These were to hear any case about violations of the terms of the peace, or cases which involved plaintiffs of both faiths. Eight places de sûreté were granted. These were Aigues-Mortes, Beaucaire, Périgueux, Le Mas de Verdun, La Rochelle, Issoire, Nyons and Serres.For the noble backers of the Protestant cause there were also great benefits, the baron de Damville was formally reinstated in his charge as governor of Languedoc. The prince de Condé was re-established as the governor of Picardie. At first Condé demanded Boulogne as a city for himself in his restored governate. This was unacceptable, and thus Amiens was proposed a counter-offer before Condé settled at last on Péronne which Henri agreed to. Alençon was made duc d'Anjou, Berry and Touraine, substantially increasingly his appanage. He also received the cities of La Charité and Saumur as a compromise after the Protestants demanded them be added to the places de sûreté. In total the lands he received were worth around 300,000 livres in annual incomes. The king of Navarre secured the addition of Poitou and the Angoumois into his expansive governate of Guyenne and payment of his extensive debts. Navarre further demanded for his part a pension of 40,000 livres and French assistance in the reconquest of his kingdom, which had largely fallen to the Spanish in 1515.
The Catholic politiques who had backed the Protestant cause were promised by the king that within six months of the peace they would receive an Estates General at which the administration of the kingdom could be reconfigured to their desires. It was also hoped that the Estates would bring back order to the kingdom after the chaos of the civil wars. This Estates General was to take place at Blois. The convoking of an Estates General had been a topic both Alençon and the Protestants had expounded upon the importance of for several years. The wording of the treaty itself was actually somewhat ambiguous on this point. Henri committed according to the terms to 'listen to the remonstrances of his subjects' so that the kingdom might enjoy tranquillity. Le Roux therefore argues, it was a royal decision for this to take the form of an Estates General. Heller argues, that even had it not been a component of the Edict of Beaulieu, the ruinous state of royal finances would have necessitated it be called regardless. In total the crown's debts were around 100,000,000 livres by 1576 and the royal creditors were beginning to get restless.
Reaction
Henri was humiliated by the peace, with the consequence for violating his authority being reward, his treasury empty, and his brother enriched at the head of an alliance of Protestants and politique Catholics. Henri disgraced the bishop of Limoges for his role in negotiating the terms. For two months he refused to meet with his mother Catherine, who had been the architect of the peace as a whole. The peace was, however, undertaken cynically; Catherine, who was its prime architect, boasted to Nevers in early 1577 that neither she nor Henri cared to see it enforced, and that the goal of the generous terms was to win over Alençon from the rebel cause. Once the level of opposition became apparent to Henri he no longer resigned himself to acceding to the terms.As regards Henri's attitude to the peace, he wrote to Damville on 21 December to let it be known that it was his intention to restore religious unity in the kingdom, meanwhile to the governor of Péronne on 22 December he announced that it would be necessary to tolerate the presence of multiple faiths in France. His message adapted to the target of his discussion.
Upon presenting the edict of Beaulieu to the Parlement of Paris, Henri had to force through its registration. For this the personal presence of both Henri and the princes du sang was required. When he attempted to hear a Te Deum in celebration of the peace at the Notre Dame his entry was blocked by the clergy and people of Paris, much to his frustration.
There was much opposition to the peace for the components which allowed those who had pillaged and ruined France in the last years to go without punishment.
First Catholic ''ligue''
This peace was also unacceptable to many Catholics. In opposition to its execution some formed defensive Catholic Ligues. In Paris the perfumer La Bruyère played an important role in the cities ligueur movement, passing around membership lists in an attempt to drive recruitment. The traditional Te Deum, fireworks, and bonfire to celebrate the recently established Edict of Beaulieu was poorly received in the city, with many boycotting the event. According to De Thou it was only the active suppression undertaken by his father in the Paris Parlement that stopped the Parisian ligue from growing.Most famously, in Péronne, the governor Jacques d'Humières became the figurehead for a ligue of local Catholic notables determined not to allow the Protestant prince de Condé to establish a Protestant garrison in his city. Picardie, and Péronne were of particular importance, as they controlled the border with Spanish Nederland, providing them significant strategic value. Covert meetings in support of the ligue established a council to 'protect Catholicism'. Hand in hand with 'protecting Catholicism' was a desire to see Protestantism extirpated. Henri responded to Humières with tacit encouragement. The movement quickly spread, both to other towns and cities in Picardie such as Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Corbie, Abbeville and Beauvais. It then spread across France more broadly, seeing particular interest from the duc de Thouars in his governate of Poitou. Thouars brought around him 60 gentleman for the establishment of his ligue. There were also disorders in favour of the ligue to be found in Bretagne, and Rouen. In September Henri ordered that the ligues disband. Henri suspected that such a movement must be the doing of the great Catholic princes, the duc de Guise, Mayenne and Nemours and on 2 August had them swear to uphold the Edict of Beaulieu. The historian of the ligue Constant has found no evidence of their involvement. This is not a universal opinion, other historians such as Konnert see Guise as involved in the establishment of this first Catholic ligue. Jouanna argues that the influence of Guise was indirect, and he was the object of desire of the ligue, i.e. who they wished to assume leadership of their movement.
Guise took the opportunity of the founding of this Catholic ligue to publish a manifesto to all of France in favour of it in which he emphasised the need to "establish the whole law of God, to restore and retain the holy service of this law according to the form and manner of the Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church". Guise urged the people of France to preserve Henri in the proper splendour and authority which he was due as king of France but not to act in a way that might be contrary to the decisions that are established by the upcoming Estates General. For historians such as Thompson, the true purpose of the Catholic ligue once it was co-opted by great nobles such as Guise was to bring back the power of a feudal nobility to France.
Regardless, their involvement in the establishment, whatever its degree was significantly more discreet than during the period of the second Catholic ligue in 1584. With an Estates General coming soon, Guise looked to evaluate the support that could be expected for the movement.
Conscious that this ligue represented a great threat to his authority Henri hoped to use the Estates General as a venue by which to combat its intrusions on his royal prerogatives. While it had not been his idea therefore to see the bodies convocation, he recognised that there was considerable opportunity for him in their meeting.
On 6 August he promulgated the convocation of the Estates. The elections would be undertaken throughout October. It was intended at first that the Estates would begin on 15 November.