Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/455

 The Wars oj Religion 335 peasants who dwelt on the slopes of the Alps, and whose only offense was adherence to the simple teachings of the Waldensians (39 6 )- Francis's son, Henry II (1547-1559), swore to extirpate the Protestants, and hundreds of them were burned. He was acci- dentally killed and left his kingdom to three weak sons, the last scions of the house of Valois, who succeeded him in turn during a period of unprecedented civil war and public calamity. When his second son, Charles IX (1560-1574), came to the throne he was but ten years old, so that his mother, Catherine of Medici, of the famous Florentine family, claimed the right to conduct the government for her son until he reached manhood. 566. The Huguenots and their Political Aims. By this time the Protestants in France had become a powerful party. They were known as Huguenots 1 and accepted the religious teachings of their fellow countryman Calvin. Many of them, including their great leader Coligny, belonged to the nobility. They had a strong support in the king of the little realm of Navarre, on the southern boundary of France. He belonged to a side line of the French royal house, known as the Bourbons, who were later to occupy the French throne. It was inevitable that the Huguenots should try to get control of the government, and they consequently formed a political as well as a religious party and were often fighting, in the main, for worldly ends. 567. Opening of the Huguenot Wars (1562). As the duke of Guise an ardent Catholic nobleman was passing through the town of Vassy on a Sunday he found a thousand Huguenots assembled in a barn for worship. The duke's followers rudely interrupted the service, and a tumult arose in which the troops killed a considerable number of the defenseless multitude. The news of this massacre aroused the Huguenots and was the be- ginning of a war which continued, broken only by short truces, for over thirty years. As in the other religious wars of the time, both sides exhibited inhuman cruelty. For a generation there were burnings, pillage, and atrocities throughout the realm. 1 The origin of this name is uncertain.