The French Wars of Religion 1562–1629

This revised and updated edition of the definitive history of the French Wars of Religion explains why they were fought and how peace was finally restored after two generations of fighting. Since the publication of the second edition in 2005, recent scholarship has challenged traditional ideas of how the wars started and has included new research on peace-making, memory studies, and the international dimensions of the conflict. Mack P. Holt offers a fresh narrative which incorporates these ideas, while continuing to make this complicated series of civil wars understandable and accessible to readers. Holt explores why France become divided by a civil war fought between both professional armies and civilians, why French elites believed that a simple policy of repression could succeed against the growth of Protestantism, and how peaceful coexistence between the two confessions was eventually established after nearly four decades of war. As a result, this study remains an essential introduction for both students and general readers.