Topic #2: Select two States in which there was substantial conflict between Protestants and Catholics in 16th-century Europe, and analyze the role national politics played in those domestic struggles.

France and the Netherlands both experienced substantial conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth-century. These religious wars were far from innocuous and occurred at a national scale, so in both cases the State had to respond to them. But while national politics in France attempted to reconcile the two religions, national politics in the Netherlands instead tried to impose Catholicism as the only acceptable religion.

During the sixteenth-century in France, the monarchy was weak and could not control the Catholics or the Huguenots (French Calvinists), but nevertheless tried to settle the matter. The weakness of the monarchy after Henry II’s death led almost half of the nobility to convert to Calvinism in order to achieve some form of independence. Because of this, Catholic royalists and Huguenots started to fight, and iconoclasm (the destruction of sacred images) occurred. In an attempt to settle the conflict, in 1572, the king’s Catholic sister was married to the Protestant Henri IV, who was not yet king. But during the ceremony, Catholic mobs attacked and massacred the Huguenots: it was the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Thus the State’s attempt at peace was thwarted. The monarchy was still as weak and could not intervene any further. Up to this point, national politics were incapable of calming the domestic struggles. In the late sixteenth-century, however, a group of men called politiques realized that the only way of saving the country was to strengthen the monarchy. Henry IV became king, and passed the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which authorized Protestantism in France. The French monarchy never used violence in their attempt to pacify Catholics and Huguenots. Instead, they opted for an endeavor at reconciliation and