Estates General of 1560–1561
Second; 1567–1568Saint-Denis; Chartres Third; 1568–1570Jarnac; La Roche-l'Abeille; Poitiers; Orthez; Moncontour; Saint-Jean d'Angély; Arney-le-Duc Fourth; 1572–1573Mons; Sommières; Sancerre; La Rochelle Fifth; 1574–1576Dormans Sixth; 1577La Charité-sur-Loire; Issoire; Brouage Seventh; 1580La Fère War of the Three Henrys (1585–1589)Coutras; Vimory; Auneau; Day of the Barricades Succession of Henry IV of France (1589–1594)Arques; Ivry; Paris; Château-Laudran; Rouen; Caudebec; Craon; 1st Luxembourg; Blaye; Morlaix; Fort Crozon Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598)2nd Luxembourg; Fontaine-Française; Ham; Le Catelet; Doullens; Cambrai; Calais; La Fère; Ardres; Amiens The Estates General of 1560–1561 was a national meeting of the three estates of France, the clergy, nobility and commoners convoked by François II, though he would die before it could begin.
[1] The interest rates on these loans were not insignificant, as lenders had grown wary of the crowns inability to pay over the years and this lack of confidence would only be furthered with Henry II's death.
[1] These fiscal problems were compounded by a crisis of authority, with the king, Henry II accidentally killed during a celebration marking the peace on 10 July.
[4] To try and set about fixing the realms finances, they embarked upon an aggressive campaign of cost cutting, scaling down the size of the army from its height in the wars, and deferring payments to the troops, who angrily protested against the Guises.
[7] This first reached a head after France lost the battle of St. Quentin with a mob storming a Huguenot worship sight on the rue Saint-Jacques, believing them responsible.
[3] The trial of du Bourg exploded religious tensions in the capital, with many attempts to jail break him and a leading conservative Parlementaire being assassinated in December.
[11] The situation continued to deteriorate in France in 1560, with a wide-ranging Huguenot involved conspiracy to kidnap the king and remove his Catholic guardians, the Guise.
[15] This created a situation of sharp contrast with the previous decade, where there was no longer a strong royal figure at the centre of the administration guiding policy.
[18] In August 1560, in the wake of the Conspiracy of Amboise and Lyon, the Guise summoned an Assembly of Notables, composed of the leading aristocrats of the realm, with the exception of Antoine of Navarre and Louis, Prince of Condé who were conscious they would likely be arrested if they attended.
[19] The intention was for this estates general to convene at Meaux however with the rebellious atmosphere in the country, it was decided to move the location from this heart of French Protestantism to Orléans instead.
[20] Conde arrived at Orléans for the estates general on 30 October, and was promptly arrested, accused of involvement in Amboise and Lyon and sentenced to death.
[27] He demanded a general council, the discipline of the clergy who had fallen into lax morals and vice, the alteration of justice and the removal of tax burden.
[27] The third estates orator also advocated for a general pardon for the goings on of Amboise, and the introduction of elections to ensure worthy prelates represented the church.
[27] De Rochefort championed the nobility as the prime pillar of the state, arguing the clergy in their wealth were usurping this natural role of the aristocracy, colouring his argument in allusions to the Bible and Herodotus.
[27] The nobility further argued that their rights as pillars of the state gave them the ability to choose how they worshipped freely, in the manner of the peace of Augsburg.
[29] The estates general as a whole proved unable or unwilling to come to any grand conclusions on religious policy, settling on a pardon for all those accused of involvement in the troubles of the year, without a requirement for any formal recantation.
[35] The estates of the Île-de-France region made their oppositional stance known early, pushing for an examination of the accounts of the previous king, a return to the 'ancient constitution' of France and the removal of Catherine de' Medici from the regency.
[35] Then the prohibition of any ecclesiastical person from place in the conseil privé and that Navarre be given the regency, with the king's education led by Admiral Coligny and Rochefoucauld.
[36] This would be a much more aggressive seizure than the deal struck at Orléans however, with Bretaigne proposing the taking of all offices, benefices and dignities that are not officiated in a personal capacity.
[37] If these measures were insufficient to save the crowns finance Bretaigne proposed direct sale of church property, arguing 26 million livres worth could be raised in such a fashion.
[39] In November Michel de l'Hôpital visited the Parlement to chastise them for their insolence, characterising their actions as an illegal usurpation of legislative power.
