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Huguenot Walloon |
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The Wars of Religion, Part I
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Who Were the Huguenots?
HistoryThe Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church established in France by John Calvin in about 1555, and who, due to religious persecution, were forced to flee France to other countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.The Protestant Reformation began by Martin Luther in Germany about 1517, spread rapidly in France, especially among those having grievances against the established order of government. As Protestantism grew and developed in France it generally abandoned the Lutheran form, and took the shape of Calvinism. The new "Reformed religion" practiced by many members of the French nobility and social middle-class, based on a belief in salvation through individual faith without the need for the intercession of a church hierarchy and on the belief in an individual's right to interpret scriptures for themselves, placed these French Protestants in direct theological conflict with both the Catholic Church and the King of France in the theocratic system which prevailed at that time. Followers of this new Protestantism were soon accused of heresy against the Catholic government and the established religion of France, and a General Edict urging extermination of these heretics (Huguenots) was issued in 1536. Nevertheless, Protestantism continued to spread and grow, and about 1555 the first Huguenot church was founded in a home in Paris based upon the teachings of John Calvin. The number and influence of the French Reformers (Huguenots) continued to increase after this event, leading to an escalation in hostility and conflict between the Catholic Church/State and the Huguenots. Finally, in 1562, some 1200 Huguenots were slain at Vassey, France, thus igniting the French Wars of Religion which would devastate France for the next thirty-five years. The Edict of Nantes, signed by Henry IV in April, 1598, ended the Wars of Religion, and allowed the Huguenots some religious freedoms, including free exercise of their religion in 20 specified towns of France. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in October, 1685, began anew persecution of the Huguenots, and hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled France to other countries. The Promulgation of the Edict of Toleration in November, 1787, partially restored the civil and religious rights of Huguenots in France. Since the Huguenots of France were in
large part artisans, craftsmen, and professional people, they were
usually well-received in the countries to which they fled for refuge
when religious discrimination or overt persecution caused them to leave
France. Most of them went initially to Germany, the Netherlands, and
England, although some found their way eventually to places as remote as
South Africa. Considerable numbers of Huguenots migrated to British
North America, especially to the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
New York. Their character and talents in the arts, sciences, and
industry were such that they are generally felt to have been a
substantial loss to the French society from which they had been forced
to withdraw, and a corresponding gain to the communities and nations
into which they settled. Origin of the Word HuguenotThe exact origin of the word Huguenot is unknown, but many consider it to be a combination of Flemish and German. Protestants who met to study the Bible in secret were called Huis Genooten, meaning "house fellows." They were also referred to as Eid Genossen, or "oath fellows" meaning persons bound by an oath. Two possible but different derivations incorporating this concept can be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica:1. "Huguenot", according to Frank Puaux, at one time President of the Socitie Francaise de l'Historie du Protestantisme Francais and author of the article about the Huguenots in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica:
2. The current edition Encyclopedia Britannica offers a somewhat different explanation, although agreeing the word is a derivative of the German word Eldgenosen:
Important Dates in Huguenot History
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The
Religous Wars of France -- «une foi, un loi, un roi» "Une foi, un loi, un roi," (one faith, one law, one king). This traditional saying gives some indication of how the state, society, and religion were all bound up together in people's minds and experience. There was not the distinction that we have now between public and private, between civic and personal. Religion had formed the basis of the social consensus of Europe for a millenium. Since Clovis, the French monarchy in particular had closely tied itself to the church -- the church sanctified its right to rule in exchange for military and civil protection. France was "the first daughter of the church", its ruler, "The Most Christian King" (le roy trés chretien), and no one could imagine life any other way. Protestant rhetoric had become increasingly revolutionary in the late {15}60's, with leading thinkers advocating that Christians did not have the obligation to obey leaders who themselves defied God. Calvin himself came to the conclusion, after advocating for many years that obedience to the civil authorities was a Christian duty, that a prince that persecuted the church had forfeited his right to be obeyed. François Hotman's Francogallia was written during this time (although not published until 1573). It advocated the existence of a mythical Frankish constitution whereby the kings of France were elected by the people and governed only through their consent. This was all very frightening and served to unite the Protestant faith with treason in the mind of the average person. [Note: The mass exodus of Huguenot immigrants from France to Geneva, Amsterdam, London, and other places started in 1572 after the "St. Bartholemew's Day Massacre" of the 24th of August.] When the Duc d'Anjou died in 1584, Henri de Navarre {Protestant ruler of Navarre} became heir presumptive to the throne of France. The Catholicity of the crown, and the special sacral role of "The Most Christian King", were principles widely assumed to be fundamental to the [non-mythical] constitution of France. The threat of a Protestant accession to the crown was very disturbing. The pope, Sixtus V, immediately excommunicated Navarre and his cousin, Henri Prince de Condé, declaring that as heretics they were unfit for the throne. The chief opportunist was the dashing and charismatic Duc de Guise, who somehow managed to find a pedigree that could be traced to Charlemagne. The House of Guise had been strongly identified with the defense of the Catholic Church, Guise was the son and grandson of heroes, and was himself a military hero, nicknamed "Le Balafré" for the scar he acquired in battle. Guise revived the Catholic League with the goal of preventing any heretic from coming the throne. In December of 1584 the Guises signed the Treaty of Joinville on behalf of the League with Phillip II of Spain. Spain poured a huge annual subsidy into the League and Guise pockets for the next decade in an attempt to destabilize the government of France. The royalist, Protestant, and Leaguer forces, all led by men named Henri, were to engage in the bloodiest and longest of the civil wars. Meanwhile, the people of Paris, under the influence of inflammatory Leaguer preachers and the Committee of Sixteen, were becoming more and more dissatisfied with Henri III and his failure to suppress the Protestants. To be a moderate Catholic was almost as bad as being heretic to the Leaguers, and politique was an epithet of contempt. In May of 1588, a popular uprising where barricades went up the streets of Paris for the first time (the beginning of a venerable French tradition) caused Henri III to flee the city. The Committee of Sixteen took complete control of the government and welcomed the Duc de Guise to the [C]ity {of Light}. Henri's triumph over the House of Guise was short-lived. The League presses took over printing revolutionary tracts, exceeding by far in vitriol the earlier anti-royalist works of the Huguenots. The Sorbonne proclaimed that is was just and necessary to depose Henri III, and that any private citizen was morally free to commit regicide. And in fact, one of them eventually did. The League sent an army against Henri III, and Henri III turned to Navarre for an alliance. The two kings joined forces to reclaim Paris. In July 1589, in the royal camp at St. Cloud, a monk named Jacques Clément begged an audience with the king and put a long knife into his spleen. At first it was thought the king might recover, but the wound festered. On his deathbed, Henri III called for Navarre and named him his heir. At this point, Henri IV made his
"perilous leap" and abjured his faith in July 1593, in the
church of St. Denis, reputedly with the famous witticism that
"Paris is worth a mass." A coronation was arranged for him at
Chartres, rather than at the traditional Reims, which was in the hands
of the League. This was a blow to the League, as it removed the chief
objection of many of the more moderate Catholics to Henri IV. King Henry's proclamation of 1598 only temporarily reduced the flight from France. It began in earnest, again as the freedoms granted were taken away, one by one, with the final step -- the revocation of the "Edict of Nantes" in 1685 (Édit de Fontainebleau), by Louis XIV, roi-soleil de France -- the "Sun King".
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From the information in the London Huguenot Library the indications are that the name Presant is not Huguenot, but Walloon, that is French-speaking rather than Flemish-speaking from Flanders in what is now Belgium. The distinction is that the Walloons began to escape to England early in the 16th cent to get away from religious persecution by Catholic Spain, which then controlled what is now Holland and Belgium. The Huguenots were specifically from France and fled after religious toleration of Protestants was withdrawn by Louis XIV's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. |
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Who were the Huguenots?
It was much later that the name "Huguenot" became an honorary one. A general edict which encouraged the
extermination of the Huguenots was issued on January 29th, 1536 in
France. On March
1st, 1562 some 1200 Huguenots were slain at Vassy, France. This
ignited the the Wars of Religion
which would rip apart, devastate, and bankrupt France for the next three
decades.
During the infamous St Bartholomew Massacre of the night of 23/24 August, 1572 more than 8 000 Huguenots, including Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, Governor of Picardy and leader and spokesman of the Huguenots, were murdered in Paris. It happened during the wedding of Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot, to Marguerite de Valois (daughter of Catherine de Medici), when thousands of Huguenots converged on Paris for the wedding celebrations.
When the first rumours of the massacre reached the Vatican in Rome on 2 September 1572, pope Gregory XIII was jubilant and wanted bonfires to be lit in Rome. He was persuaded to wait for the official communication; the very morning of the day that he received the confirmed news, the pope held a consistory and announced that "God had been pleased to be merciful". Then with all the cardinals he repaired to the Church of St. Mark for the Te Deum, and prayed and ordered prayers that the Most Christian King might rid and purge his entire kingdom (of France) of the Huguenot plague. On 8 September 1572 a procession of thanksgiving took place in Rome, and the pope, in a prayer after mass, thanked God for having "granted the Catholic people a glorious triumph over a perfidious race" (gloriosam de perfidis gentibus populo catholico loetitiam tribuisti).
The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV on April 13th, 1598, which brought an end to the Wars of Religion.
Protestant churches and the houses of "obstinates" were burned and destroyed, and their bibles and hymn books burned. Emigration was declared illegal. Many Huguenots were burned at the stake.
At least 200 000 French Huguenots fled to countries such as Switzerland, Germany, England, America, and South Africa, where they could enjoy religious freedom. Between 1618 and 1725 between 5 000 and 7 000 Huguenots reached the shores of America. Those who came from the French speaking south of Belgium, an area known as Wallonia, are generally known as Walloons (as opposed to Huguenots) in the United States. The organised large scale emigration of Hugenots to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa occurred during 1688 - 1689. However, even before this large scale emigration individual Huguenots such as François Villion (1671) and the brothers François and Guillaume du Toit (1686) fled to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1692 a total of 201 French Huguenots had settled at the Cape of Good Hope. Most of them settled in an area now known as Franschhoek ("French Corner"), some 70 km outside Cape Town, where many farms still bear their original French names. A century later the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration on 28 November 1787 partially restored the civil and religious rights of the Huguenots in France
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For Walloon records: The Walloon people are often confused with the Huguenots (see below) and some of their records appear in Huguenot collections. The Walloons (from the same root word as Wales) were/are of Celtic stock and lived in the area which became Flanders. Although they fought against French rule for 300 years, their country was handed over to the French royal house in a marriage settlement in about 1389. They speak their own language which is supposed to be older than French and is called Romand by them. The Walloons became French Calvinists - Jean Calvin was one of them - and were among the first exiled when the Spanish Inquisition came into France in 1558. They fled to the Netherlands, Germany and England. The Walloon weavers went to Norfolk, Kent and London and those trained in drainage went to the Netherlands and later were employed in England to help drain the Fens starting around 1628. The Huguenot weavers went to Norfolk, too, which is why there has been some confusion. The Huguenot and Walloon Research Association started in 1985 and is located at Malmaison, Church Street, Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, 5N8 3PE, ENGLAND. Their focus of interest is on migration into the British Isles for the period 1550-1790 only. When researching your own Walloon ancestors, focus on southern Lincolnshire and the Fens area of Cambridgeshire and northwestern Norfolk. For Huguenot records: Huguenots were French Protestants who followed the beliefs of Calvin. By 1561 there were 2,000 Calvinist churches in France and the Huguenots had become a political faction. Persecution followed and large numbers fled to England as refugees in Tudor times. Those who remained fought as many as eight civil wars against the Catholic establishment. Their numbers grew until they were again persecuted. In 1685 many thousands of Huguenots fled to England and other parts of the world, some settling as far away as North America and South Africa.
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Back to Modern History SourceBookModern History Sourcebook:
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The Reformed branch of Protestantism is rooted in the Reformation of the 1500s. Its primary leader was John Calvin of Switzerland, whose reform movement spread to Scotland, where it became the Presbyterian Church, and the Netherlands, where it became the Dutch Reformed Church. |
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Sedan is southeast of Lille and was a former Protestant stronghold in France. The Duke of Sedan offered protection to Protestants fleeing persecution. |
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The persecution of Protestants in France in the second half of the 17th century gradually increased in strength, to the point when mass movements of refugees began in Europe. One of the routes of escape led to the Netherlands, and the records of many of these people can still be found in the registers of the Walloon Churches of Middelburg, Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, among others. Many fled through Belgium to the Netherlands; others fled by way of the Vermandois forests resting at Boahin 12 miles northeast of St. Quentin where there were many Huguenots. Calais, then the extreme northern outlet of Picardy, near the shores of England, was strongly Protestant, and a good resort for escaping refugees. The Huguenots and Walloons were
Protestant exiles from Europe. Those from France (known as the
Huguenots) and those from present-day Belgium (known as Walloons), were
persecuted for their religion and left in large numbers, with a good
number coming to England. |
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EUROPEAN HISTORY
The French appoint all senior Church
officials.
1500 Paris, Milan, Venice and Naples are the only cities in Europe with populations exceeding 100,000 people. The Crimean Tartars of the Black Sea region are staging slave-hunting raids as far north as Moscow. 1501 Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) and his son Bishop Cesare Borgia began a systematic crushing of the Great Roman families to acquire their lands using assassination to achieve their ends. Bishop Cesare Borgia is a very cruel commander. Many of the families believed that Pope Alexander VI used a family poison to remove his enemies. The Papal Bull Erasmus; Enchirdion Militis Christiani orders the burning of books against the authority of the church. 1502 A German peasantry uprising occurred in the southwest. The peasantry demanded that corrupt priests must be driven out, life under the old divine law where men are equal must be restored. Troops put down the rebellion but it would rise again in 1517 even larger. A Turkic Khan overruns the last remnant
of the withered Mongol Golden Horde this year. 1503 Pope Alexander (1492-1503) and his son Bishop Cesare Borgis are believed victims of poison intended for a Cardinal who was their host at dinner that is mistakenly given to themselves. The son survived but the Pope died. Pius III alias Francesco Todeschini (1503-1503) a nephew of Pope Pius II is elected pope and died ten days later. Julius II alias Giuliano della Rovere (1503-1513) nephew of Pope Sixtus IV with the help of lavish promises and bribes is unanimously elected pope. As a cardinal he fathered three daughters and is nicknamed Il Terriblee. The Pope ordered the burning at the stake of a Monk who made the prophecy that the Roman Catholic Church would begin to crumble. Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet of Jewish and Christian ancestry is born in Provence France. Christianity is forced on the family by the edict of September 26, 1501 that forced all Jews to become Christian within three months or leave Provence. Giuliano della Rovere in his lust for power held eight bishoprics in four different countries, besides various abbeys. He became Pope Julius II (1503-1513) and is named the warrior-diplomat-pope. Voltaire's famous quip, "the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman nor an Empire." It is a confused, corrupt conglomerate containing more than 2,000 knights who owed allegiance to none. 1504 Spain defeated France at Gaeta in the Italy campaign. Spain controlled southern Italy as well as Sicily and the French held Milan in northern Italy. The southern half of Italy remained for the next two centuries a possession of Spain. 1505 Pope Julius II (1503-1513) issued a bull declaring papal elections nullified by simony effectively nullifying his own election thereby making him an anti-pope. 1506 Francis Xavier (1506-1552) as a knight of Spanish-Rome evangelized India and Japan. Anti-pope Julius II (1503-1513) in full armor led his troops to conquer Perugia and Bologna. 1509 John Calvin (Jean Cauvin) (1509-1564) is born in Noyon, Northern France. He would witness the excommunication of his father and brother for allegedly flirting with forbidden ideas. King Henry VII (1485-1509) died and Henry VIII (1509-1547) became King, he is a cruel, wasteful and self-centered individual. At this time Spain is the most powerful nation in Europe because it is united with the Holy Roman Empire which controlled much of central Europe and is in possession of southern Italy. France is now much more powerful than England. Pope Julius II (1503-1513) joined the League of Cambrai between France, Germany and Spain excommunicating Venice. Marching on Venice they are forced to give up Rimini and Faenza including taxation to the pope. The Pope began conspired with Venice and Spain against France. Bartolome de Las Casas the Roman Catholic Bishop at Chiapas, Spain proposes that each Spanish settler to America should being a certain number of slaves. This proposal marks the start of the infamous African/American slave trade. 1510 Anti-pope Julius II first attacked Ferrara an ally of France, then he seized Modena and captured Mirandola in 1511. Louis XII of France (1498-1515) retaliated by capturing Bologna and calling for a synod to depose the Pope. King Ferdinard of Spain authorized the purchase of 250 African slaves in Lisbon for his territories in New Spain. This begun one of the most brutal colonial slavery cultures. 1511 The synod of Pisa suspended Pope Julius II. The pope retaliated by forming a Holy Roman League of Venice, Spain and Henry VIII of England (1509-1547) against the French. 1512 Anti-pope Julius II Holy Roman League army is severely defeated at Ravenna but the arrival of the Spanish and Swiss army forced the French to quit Italy. Parma, Piacenza, and Reggio Emilia are added to the Spanish Papal State. Spain effectively controlled all Italy. A Papal Bull is issued declaring King Jean D'Albert of Navarre (Spain) deposed and grants the territories to the first who should occupy them. King Ferdinand (1479-1516) of Spain and his son-in-law Henry VIII allied to recovery the former English possession of Gascony in southern France while King Ferdinard claimed Navarre for Spain. Historians (likely French) said there is nothing of the priest about the pope except the dress and name. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1513) a Polish astronomer and mathematician proposed the sun is the center of the solar system and not the earth. He also proposed the orbits of the planets are irregular. The church believed that angles caused planetary motion and irregularity is against divine order. The church would ban his work for over two hundred years. 1513 Henry VIII (1509-1547) army destroyed the Scottish army at Flodden, and James IV, married to Henry's daughter Margaret is killed along with twenty Scottish nobles. Henry would also march against James V who is badly defeated and died shortly there after. A Turkish map of the world includes South America, West Indies, and Africa includes a note how a Genoese infidel Columbo pestered the Spanish king for ships. Leo X alias Giovanni de Medici (1513-1521) a commander in the papal army is elected pope some say without the use of simony. His objective is to make Spanish-Italy and his own Florence free from foreign domination and to advance his family influence outside Florence. 1514 Pope Leo X (1513-1521) renewed the system of sale of indulgence for the reconstruction of St. Peter's. April 16 Cardinal Thomas Bakocz published a papal bull calling for a Hungarian Crusade against the Turks. The Hungarian King had already concluded peace with the Turks and the Hungarian lords saw no reason for the Pope to encourage the surfs to abandon their duties in the fields. On May 23 the King ordered the Crusade suspended and ordered the surfs to return to the land. The peasant army of one hundred thousand refused to disband and swarmed across the country slaughtering the Lords. Janos Zapolya lead an army that crushed the peasant army leaving more than seventy thousand dead as a result of the Papal error. King Ferdinand (1479-1516)of Spain forbid the publication of any papal bull or rescript in Spain without preliminary examination by the Royal Council and without Royal approval. This order remained in force permanently and is enforced with utmost vigor. Selim I the Turk defeated the Persians (Iran) and in 1515 conquered Armenia and Kurdistan. 1515 Francis I (1515-1547) defeated the Vatican's Holy Roman League at Marignano recovering Milan for France. Pope Leo X (1513-1521) met with the king of Bologna and agreed to a settlement surrendering Parma and Piacenza but saving Florence intact for his Medici family. A concordat with France allowed the French crown to nominate all higher church offices and reserving only lesser offices to the pope. 1516 Syria fell to the Turkish army this year as the Ottoman Empire expanded south toward Egypt. The first Jewish quarter to be called a Ghetto is created in Venice about this time. Charles I (Habsburg) of Ghent (1500-1558) a Flemish boy raised in Flanders became King of Spain. He appointed Guillaume de Croy a Flemish boy the office of Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain the most powerful Church position except the pope. 1517 Turkey occupied Egypt and the Holy places of Mecca. Sultan Selim I take control of Jerusalem, yet very few Ottoman Turks settle in the city. They pressed on taking Algeria by 1519. A number of cardinals plotted to poison Pope Leo X (1513-1521) and their leader Alfonso Petrucci is executed and several others are imprisoned. Pope Leo then packed the sacred college by creating 31 new cardinals. October 31 at the castle church of Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther (1483-1546) a Saxon professor of divinity posted his ninety-five theses or arguments calling for a disputation on the abuses of the traffic in indulgences. It is noteworthy that Pope Julius II (1503-1513) (Giuliano de la Rovere), son Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) (six other sons are made Cardinals and Bishops). He is anxious to rebuild St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome and is selling indulgences that forgave the purchaser's sins and excused him from punishment. A deacon guilty of murder as an example could be absolved for twenty crowns, an abbot or Bishop for assassinating a foe three hundred livre, and to anyone else who cared to buy them. Any civil magistrate who tried to stop them is excommunicated, losing all rights as a man or citizen. 1518 License to import 4,000 African slaves to Spanish American Colonies is granted to Lorens de Gominot. 1519 Emperor Charles V (Habsburg) of Ghent (1500-1558) a Flemish boy King of Spain is elected Holy Roman Emperor on the death of his grandfather Maximilian. The Spanish people revolted against the Flemish rule and they’re absent king. The revolt lasted until 1522. 1520 Pope Leo X (1513-1521) (Giovanni de Medici) condemned Martin Luther (1483-1546) the German for daring to say that burning heretics is against the will of God, amongst other things unless he recant. Luther appealed to a General Council and for twenty-five years the Pope and Curia refused the appeal to the only forum capable of settling the grave issues in the church. Pope Leo is the great uncle of Catherine de Medici, future Queen of France. The Aztec Emperor, Montezuma II, is dead. The Spanish are considered the Bastille of Roman Christianity with a mandate to subject the Americans for Spain, the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. It is noteworthy to remember that southern Italy is a possession of Spain. Their critics said they hunger like pigs for the gold, their bodies swelled with greed, and their hunger is ravenous. The Spanish Christian policy is if the Natives refused to submit to slavery the death and devastation that followed would be their own responsibility. This essentially freed the Spanish from any sin against the American people. They effectively and systematically destroyed the Aztec Universities, Libraries, Astronomic structures, zoos and agricultural systems that in many respects like their mathematics are more advanced that Europe. While the bestiality of the Spanish is the normal policy a few Spanish spoke out against the evil practices. 1521 January 3: Martin Luther
(1483-1546) is excommunicated but the papal nuncio in Germany reported
nine tenths of all Germans cried Luther and the other tenth cried death
to Pope Leo. The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes attacked
Tenochtitlan, Mexico killing 100,000 Aztecs. Pope Leo X
(1513-1521) conspired with the Habsburg Emperor Charles I (Charles V
1519-1556 of Spain) (1500-1558) against France. Pope Leo raised an
army of 20,000 under Prospero Colonna and drove the French out of Milan.
The German and French prayers are answered and the infamous Pope Leo
died. 1522 Pope Hadrian VI alias Adrian Florensz Dedal (1522-1523) an inquisitor for Aragon and Navarre in 1516, inquisitor for Castile and Leon 1518 is elected pope. The Pope is the old tutor of Emperor Charles I (1500-1558) of Spain. The Roman curia turned against him because he is reluctant to distribute lucrative benefices. He confessed to the Diet of Nuremberg that all evils in the church proceeded from the Roman Curia. This is like the pot calling the stove black. He also stated in 1523 that many Roman Pontiffs are heretics, the last being John XXII (1316-1334) and that they can err even in matters touching the faith. He acknowledged the Greed and excess of the Papal court under Pope Leo X. Pope Hadrian had condemned Martin Luther as inquisitor in Spain and believed he should be punished for heresy and his teachings banned. As a result some German Imperial knights waged scattered raids on the Romanist monasteries, plundering abbeys and assaulting well-fortified ecclesiastical cities. Some Princes crushed their efforts in 1523 but others joined the Lutheranism resistance movement. The Island of Rhodes (Greece) fell to the Turkish advance. September 8, Juan Sebastian del Cano d-1526, of Spain is the first to circumnavigate the world returning to Spain this year. 1523 Martin Luther (1483-1546) spoke out in defense of the Jews saying that our Lord Jesus Christ was born a Jew. He also argued that the Letters of St James the Just, Brother of Jesus should not be included in the New Testament. The first burning of heretics of the Christian Reformation took place at Brussels this year under the reign of Pope Clement VII (1523-1534). Clement VII alias Giulio de Medici (1523-1534) bastard son of Giuliano de Medici (Pope Leo X) is elected pope. He is largely responsible for measures taken against the German reformer Luther. 1524 The peasants of Germany, about 250,000 from the Black Forest on July 19, 1524 revolted demanding the right to select their preacher, the abolition of tithes and slavery, the right to hunt and fish where they pleased, etc. May 15, 1525 the revolt is put down when one hundred thousand peasants’ martyrs are killed in a blood bath. When Bishop Conrad recaptures Wurzberg, the event is celebrated with 64 executions. He then toured his diocese with his executioner who took care of another 272 people. Francis I of France (1515-1547) re-conquered Milan and Pope Clement VII aligned with France and Venice against Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) of Spain. Back to Top
EUROPEAN HISTORY
The Pope gives the New World to Spain
1525 The church controlled Salzburg castle is attacked by revolting peasants but they fail to breach the castle walls. Martin Luther (1483-1546) married the former nun Katherine Von Bora having previously rejected celibacy. Luther at this time began defending Jews but later in life became a strong anti-Jewish preacher saying they should be exterminated. In Spain a royal edict ordered all
pasture lands brought under tillage during the first eight years of the
Emperors reign be restored to its original state and placed at the
disposal of sheep-farmers. Agriculture is considered the lowest
form of occupation. Gentlemen and Catholics don't till the land. 1526 Henry VIII (1509-1547) is married to Catherine of Aragon, widow of Henry's brother Arthur and King Charles I (1500-1558) of Spain (also Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) of the Holy Roman Empire) is her nephew. Henry wanted a divorce so that he could produce a son, however King Charles I of Spain (1500-1558) and of the Holy Roman Empire forced Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) to forbid Henry's divorce, for political advantage. Pope Clement alias Cardinal Giulio de Medici is born a bastard some say with a cold and dry heart. He is unable to juggle the rival ambitions of the growing national powers of Europe. Some suggest he attempted to perpetuate the dying Medici line through his bastard sons Alessandro and Lorenzo from a Moorish slave. Catherine de Medici his niece is also being considered to enhance his position. He made a fundamental error when he created the Holy League of Cognac uniting the French and numerous Italian Princes against Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) of the Holy Roman Empire that included Spain and Italy. As the Pope wages war against the Holy Roman Empire Turkey is quietly invading from the east up the Danube valley. Turkey defeated Hungary in the battle of Mohacs then turned toward Vienna. A plague visited Rome this year. 1527 Charles V (1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556) sent an army of 20,000 mercenaries mostly Germans and Spaniards against Rome. The city is put to the most terrible sacking for revolting against the Holt Empire. Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) is made a prisoner for six months. He would remain subservient to the Emperor. May 6, 1527 the Duke of Bourbon, a Celtic-Frenchman, had led the sacking of Rome and began a nine-month continuous orgy of violence and destruction, attacking clergy, nobility, merchants and other Spanish-Roman citizens. Eight days of looting, rapine and killing resulted in more than 12,000 bodies. The Holy Roman Emperor and Henry VIII (1509-1547) of England had agreed to divide up France giving the Duke a significant share. King Francis I (1515-1547) however would only give the Duke the Duchy of Milan and no funds to support his army. The Duke had sacked Rome to fund his army. Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) paid ransom of 112,000 ducats that he raised by selling cardinal's hats. Rome declared itself a republic and proceeded to rid itself of all vestiges of the loathed Medici name. They again encouraged the French to invade Spanish Italy. Niccolo Machiavelli died and his book 'The Prince' is published. Vice and evil became respectable providing it was done for political or religious purposes. 1528 The great Genoese Admiral Andre Doria
deserted the French bringing with him his republic and it great fleet
into Spanish dependency. Spain again marched against Italy driving
the French from their short-term gains. 1529 The Ottoman Empire (Turks) crushed the Hungarians and laid siege to Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. After a few weeks they withdrew back to Hungary. Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) League of Cognac broke up after the second French army is defeated attempting to capture Italy from Spain. Spain extracted tribute from France and the crown of Italy from the defeated pope. Spain dominated the Church and Europe. 1530 The dikes in Holland burst without warning claiming four hundred thousand lives. The Lutheran Reformers declaration of faith, the Augsburg Confession condemned pilgrimages, along with set fasts, the worship of saints and the counting of rosaries as childish and needless work. The growing arrogance of the Spanish is typified by the order of the Council of the Indies that forbade royal officials to take part in the trade in provisions or small ware, on the grounds that such trade is a menial occupation that causes a gentleman to lose caste. This arrogance would be the primary factor leading to the decline and fall of the Spanish Empire. 1531 Henry VIII (1509-1547) persuaded the Bishops to make him head of the Church in England and this became law after the Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. It was a popular decision. January 26 a great earthquake shook Portuguese capital Lisbon, demolishing some fifteen hundred houses and killing thirty thousand people. 1532 A Spanish professor questioned the Pope's 'giving' of the New World to Spain on the grounds that its people are neither civilized nor Roman Catholic; heretics, he argued, are not denied property in Europe unless deprived of it by individual trial, therefore the people of the new continents are true owners of their land. Other early trials of law also upheld aboriginal and incumbent rights, declaring that 'discoverers' might have exclusive opportunities to purchase such lands, but not to take them unless after a formal state of war. In spite of such rational thinking in Europe the actions of Spain and then France and England is that vanquished races had no rights save those conceded by their victors. The seigniorial system based upon an assumption that France owns discovered lands and the grants are made as such would be the basis of French conquest policy. Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) arranged the marriage of his thirteen year old niece Catherine de Medici to Henry, Duke of Orleans with a dowry of the cities of Pisa, Leghorn, Parma, Reggio nell'Emilia and Modena. France at this time had 25 million people as compared to England’s 4 million. Charles V (1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556), King of Spain and Italy is forced to deal with the Turkish invasion up the Danube valley and siege of Vienna, Austria is to strike a blow against the heart of the Turkish Empire. He sent Andrea Doria with a fleet of forty-four galleys and 10,000 men to the eastern Mediterranean. The Turkish fleet retreated and a number of Turkish garrisons are taken. The Turkish army on the Danube fearing a full-scale crusade abandoned the Danube to beat a retreat back to Turkey. Vienna is thereby saved and after two years Spain abandoned the Turkish garrisons saying it is too distant from Spain to be of permanent value. 1533 A Russian monastery is founded on Petsamo Bay close to the Norwegian frontier. Shortly thereafter the Russian monks are preaching Christianity to the Lapps. Lutheranism is rapidly dominating Norway, Denmark and Sweden. England is in schism yet Pope Clement VII appears oblivious to his role in the reform as he refused to call a General Council and is commissioning monuments to members of his family in Florance. Dutch Anabaptists believed this year to be the end of the world. 1534 Jacques Cartier reported sightings of huge numbers of whales on his first trip to Canada. Paul III alias Alessandro Farnese (1534-1549) is elected pope. His nickname is cardinal petticoat because his sister Giulia is the pope’s mistress. His own mistress is noble Roman who bore him three sons and a daughter. He is noted for masked balls and brilliant feasts. He named his two grandsons, boys 14 and 16 as cardinals and then promoted them to key offices. Turkey responds to the humiliation of the Spanish attack of 1532 by making Barbarossa its supreme commander of an enhanced Turkish fleet. Barbarossa captured Tunas that commanded the narrow seas between Sicily and Africa from the Moorish rulers who governed as vassals of Spain. Unknown to Spain and the Holy Roman Empire the French provided arms to the Turkish army. 1535 Charles V (1500-1558), the Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556) and King of Spain and Italy raised an army of 10,000 with 400 ships to recapture Tunis from the Turks. The siege of Tunis is successful including the capture of 82 Turkish ships and a vast number of Christian slaves. Barbarossa and some of his army escaped. Spain failed to follow and fully destroy the Turkish army because they discovered the French arms and feared a French attack if the army ventured too far into the field. Pope Paul III (1534-1549) commissioned nine prelates headed by Cardinal Giovanni Carafa (later Pope Paul IV) who reported " in this Rome, harlots go about in the city like married women, or ride on their mules, followed from the head of the city by nobles and clerics of the Cardinal's household". In no city have we seen this corruption, except in this, as an example to all. A Trento (Spanish) Council is called and for two meetings no clergy attended. Later in December about 32 members attended and issued a rule to outlaw any challenges to the bible or church teachings under pain of death. To enforce this law they proposed the creation of the Spanish Jesuits as enforcers. The Welsh did not use family names at this time, they used their own name and their fathers name with 'ap' added meaning son of. The English had been using family names for about three hundred years and began pressuring the Welsh to use the English system of naming on official papers and in law courts. 1536 Between 1534 and 1539 Henry VIII (1509-1547) closed five hundred and sixty monasteries and other religious houses selling the property to the rising classes of landowners and merchants. The monks and nuns were thrown out and many became wandering beggars. A large number of people from the north marched to London to protest, they were cruelly put down and their leaders are executed. Henry however still remained loyal to Catholic religious teaching and executed Protestants who refused to accept it. Some of the money collected was spent on warships and guns, making English guns the best in Europe. Henry failed to understand the monasteries also provided work and food to the poor and during Henry VIII (1509-1547) reign seven thousand thieves were hanged for stealing food in order to eat. William Tydale (1494-1536) spent his whole life translating the Bible into English for use by the common people. He used existing Greek, Hebrew and Latin texts for his version of the English Bible published in 1526. This year he is condemned for heresy and murdered by strangulation and his body is burned. The death of Francis, son of Francis I (1515-1547) brought Henry (1547-1559), Duke of Orleans and Catherine de Medici one step closer to the throne of France. Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) (1500-1558) pleaded before the Pope, Cardinals and Ambassadors of Europe for peace and to denounce the unjust aggression of France. This is to no avail as France went on with their offensive. 1537 Pope Paul III (1534-1549) issued his sublimus deus bull stating the Indians are truly men and are not only capable of understanding the Roman Catholic faith but desire exceedingly to receive it. 1538 Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet and doctor is officially summoned to attend the Inquisition at Toulouse that is as much to be feared as its Spanish equivalent. In 1534 Nostradamus casually remarked to workmen making a bronze cast of a statue of the Virgin that he was only making devils. He said he was only referring to the lack of artistic form of the statue and was spared. 1540 Pope Paul III ((1534-1549) signed the bull creating the infamous Jesuit Order. The Jesuit order, Society of Jesus is established by Ignatious Loyola to propagate and defend the faith especially from Protestants by force if necessary. Its formation was a quasi-military in nature run by a general and the priests were considered the Popes soldiers, obedience without question was essential. Their motto was, let us follow the methods adopted by our enemy, the Devil, he is all for evil purposes, we all for good. Their unspoken motto was the ends justify the means. The Spanish were intensively whaling the coast of Labrador, Strait of Belle Isle and Gulf of St. Lawrence from 1540 to 1586. The Spanish insurance records stated "going fishing at Terra Nova or La Provincia de Terranovia" (East coast of America). One Basque rendering site is located on the St. Paul River, Quebec, another St. Anthony, Newfoundland. Some captains recorded they had been coming to Terra Nova for periods of twenty years or more during this period. France challenged Pope Paul III (1534-1549) papal bull declaring the New World as essentially the property of Spain. The French throne informed Spain and Portugal that possession, not discovery, gave title to new lands. 1541 Jean Calvin (1509-1564) a Frenchmen introduced the reformation in Geneva, slowly, it spread to France, Holland and Scotland. The French clergy would become adamant that it not spread to New France. John Knox began to preach Calvinism in Scotland and converted most of Scotland to Protestantism in a very short time. John Knox called the Cardinal Beaton, Chancellor of Scotland, carnal Cardinal and spoke of the Cardinal's graceless Grace. Historians are not sure how many bastards he had but possibly eleven sons and four daughters. This same man was preparing to burn a heretic for eating an egg during Lent. Michelangelo completed the Sistine Ceiling and many of the faithful are scandalized. Christ is beardless, the angles have no wings and the saints have no cloths. The critics contend this obscenity belongs in public baths and brothels. Back to Top
EUROPEAN HISTORY
The Jesuits are taught the Absolute
Ordinance
1542 The counter-reformation is proposed by John Peter Carafa later Paul IV (1555-1559). It is officially sanctioned by Pope Paul III (1534-1549) by establishing the Congregation of the Roman Inquisition. The Holy Office provides central authority by refreshing the two century old Episcopal and Dominican inquisitions that could imprison anyone on suspicion of heresy, confiscate his property and execute the guilty. Martin Luther turned from an admirer of Jews into a vicious anti-Semite in his essays concerning the Jews and their lies and schema Hamphoras published this year. He urged that all synagogues, books and houses of Jews be burned. He wanted to destroy all Jews with hellfire considering them children of the devil. It is noteworthy the Martin Luther in 1523 wrote, Jesus Christ is a Jew, the Jews are the best blood on earth. Between 1536 and 1543 Wales was joined to England under one administration, English law was now the only law for Wales, English became the only official language and Welsh was soon only spoken in the hills. The Welsh Bible that was permitted by Henry VIII became the only basis on which the Welsh language survived through their poets and singers even to current times. The Portuguese first visited Japan in 1542. 1543 Henry VIII (1509-1547) wanted to marry his son Edward to the baby Queen of Scots, Mary and in this way join the two countries together under an English King. Ordinary Scots are unhappy at the idea and the proposal is turned down. For the next two years English soldiers punished them by burning and destroying the houses of southern Scotland. Rather than give little Mary to the English, the Scots sent her to France, where she married the French king’s son in 1558. Martin Luther (1483-1546) having previously defended the rights of Jews published a savage obscene attack on the Jews. Calling them this dammed, rejected race of Jews, he urged his followers to burn their synagogues, demolish their homes and force them to do manual labor. Some believe he is angry that his conversion strategy did not work on the Jews. Others that he is a sick old man that caused him to slip back into the common anti Semitic attitudes of the Roman Catholic Church. Jews are being forcibly expelled from parts of what are now Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy, Portugal and other countries. 1544 Gustavus Vasa I (1523-1560) is determined to make Sweden a Lutheran country because the Roman priests in Sweden are unionists. The priests are working to maintain a union of the three Scandinavian Kingdoms. Gustavus I complained that his people understood civilization so little, that they invariably robbed the merchants who came to trade with them. The cultures of Sweden, Poland and Russia are believed to be on the same level of social development. The people are considered poor but hardy with thriftiness being an attribute. 1545 Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) (1500-1558) proposed the Council should confine itself to discipline and reform and suggested it be conducted at Trent. The Protestants wanted an uncommitted council of all Christians. Pope Paul III missed this opportunity to resolve the schism by insisting on dealing with dogma, scripture, tradition, original sin, justification and the sacraments. The Spanish Council of Trent 1545-1563 is called by Pope Paul III, (1534-1549) (Farnese) the Petticoat Cardinal, brother to the Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) whore Giulia Farnese called the Bride of Christ. Cardinal Contarini told Paul III that the entire papal court is heretical, it is contrary to the essence of the Gospel, Christ's law brings freedom, and the papacy brings only serfdom and caprice. No greater slavery than this could be imposed on Christ's faithful. Of the 187 Bishops attending the Council of Trent well over half are Italian. Spanish prelates and doctors of faith dominated the Council. The Spanish Jesuits firmly and decisively supported the Italian hard line policy. The Spanish Council of Trent made religious reunion of Christendom in Europe impossible. The Council wrote Father Paulo Sarpi, is so confirmed to schism and hardened attitudes as to make disagreements un-resolvable. Trent confirmed the enormous power of Spanish-Rome and Bishops so lost their power that no Council is held for more than three hundred years. It became mandatory to use saint’s names for baptism and by the 1600's the Protestants would reject this mandate and selected names from the Old Testament. Parma belonged to the Papacy and became a hereditary duchy of Pope Clements VII's bastard. The Church, through it's Inquisition, would continue with ruthless cruelty and bigotry in the name of Christ. Pope Paul III bestowed Parma and Piacenza, parts of the papal state, on his dissolute son Pierluigi, an enemy of Emperor Charles (1500-1558). Pierluigi is murdered in 1549 and Charles claimed the two duchies for his own son-in-law Ottavio, the pope’s grandson who turned against the pope. 1546 French King Francis I (1515-1547) ordered the massacre of the Waldenses, a Protestant sect connected with the Calvinists. The Waldenses lived chiefly in Provence and twenty-two towns were attacked and thousands of Christians slaughtered by the Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church's Council of Trent adopted St. Jerome's widely used Latin text of the Gospel in response to the Protestant Reformation. The Protests use several versions of the Bible not agreeing upon one as more authoritative than another. 1547 English Parliament gives local magistrates the power to take any person who was without work and gives him for two years indenture to any local farmer who wanted to use him. Any person found homeless and unemployed a second time would be executed. The indenture period forced the poor into life long slavery or robbery. Visitors remarked "there are an incredible number of robbers in England, they go about in bands of twenty". March 31: King Francis I (1515-1547) died and Henry, Duke of Orleans became King Henry II (1547-1559) of France and Catherine de Medici Queen of France an estate so high even Pope Clement VII (Medicis) had not envisaged when he had arranged the marriage. 1548 Henry VIII (1509-1547) died and the child King Edward VI (1547-1553) became King and the country is ruled by a council who had benefited from the sale of monastery lands and were therefore keen Protestant reformers. Most English people believed in the Catholic religion but less than half believed in Protestant reformation and the numbers are growing. They did not like the selling of pardons for sins but also did not like the changes in other beliefs. The council ordered new prayer books to be used in all churches and forbid the Catholic mass. The Jesuit (Society of Jesus) published its 'Spiritual Exercises' to serve as a guide of self-discipline. One precept stated, if the church teaches that white is black, the Jesuit must believe it. This absolute obedience rule manifested itself in a deep rooted conviction that the future Black Robes of America and other Jesuits are a band of trained liars and sworn enemies of reality. These soldiers of Christ as they called themselves muscled their way into positions of power throughout the world. 1550 Joseph (Jacob) Hutter, an Austrian is the founder of the brotherhood of the Hutterites about 1550 in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. More than fifty percent of their descendants reside in Alberta, Canada. Antonio Galvao of Portugal published a book recommending building the Panama Cannel. Henri I of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, Scarface, eldest son of Francois de Guise, born 1550, would witnessed the murder of his father on the walls of Orleans, and from that moment vowed vengeance and hatred against the Protestants. The Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) conquered the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan establishing rule over the whole course of the Volga River. The Russians began a slow steady expansion south and southeast building fortified lines to prevent the Tartars from destroying the new settlements. Julius III alias Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte (1550-1555) is elected pope in spite of hostility from Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) (1500-1558). Julius had been responsible for moving the council of Trent to Bologna thereby causing its demise before it could deal with church reform. Julius is noted as being generous to his relatives, pleasure loving, devoted to banquets, the theatre and hunting. He created scandal by his infatuation with a fifteen year old youth (Innocenzo) picked up on the streets of Parma, whom he made his brother adopt and named cardinal. 1551 A French edict is issued to reward informers of heretics by allowing one third of the goods of those on whom they had informed. 1552 Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet wrote at Lyon, France of the Catholic peasant bands called Cabans who are notorious for pillaging the rich Huguenot houses. "Here where I reside I carry on my work among animals, barbarians, mortal enemies of learning and letters." Pope Julius combined papal and imperial armies but failed to defeat the French under Henry II (1547-1559) and the German princes revolted against Emperor Charles. The Pope had to make a disadvantageous truce giving up Parma. All sides in the conflict now mistrusted the pope. The Jesuit Francis Xavier (1506-1552) died on an island off the Chinese mainland. He believed the Chinese pagans being non-baptized would roast in hell eternally. The Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) took the Roman theology to China. 1553 King Edward VI (1547-1553) age sixteen died and Mary the Catholic daughter of Catherine became Queen because of support by the ordinary people who are angered by the greed of the Protestant nobles. She had the council cancel all new Reformation laws. Mary, for political, religious and family reasons, chose to marry King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain. The ordinary people disliked the marriage causing a rebellion in Kent that nearly reached London before failing. During her five-year reign she began burning Protestants and three hundred people died in this way and that sickened the people. 1555 Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet published his first prophecies but his complete works would not be published until 1568 two years after his death. March 1 he wrote to his son, "Since governments, sects and countries will undergo such sweeping changes, diametrically opposed to what now obtains, that were I to relate events to come, those in power now - monarchs, leaders of sects and religion - would find these so different from their own imaginings that they would be led to condemn what later centuries will learn how to see and understand. Do not give anything holy to the dogs, nor throw pearls in front of the pigs lest they trample them with their feet and turn on you and tear you apart." He spoke of the Vulgar Advent to follow that will scandalize delicate sensibilities. Marcellus II alias Marcello Cervini (1555-1555) is elected pope. His inflexible support for papal policy as co-president during the Council of Trent earned him the Emperors disapproval. He resolved to exclude nepotism and forbade his numerous relatives to come near Rome. Pope Paul IV alias Giampietro (Giovanni) Pieto Carafa (1555-1559) the head of the reactivated Inquisition is elected pope, against the wishes of the Emperor and is classed as a fanatic, inhuman in his severity, he hated Jews and shut them in ghettos, hated sodomites whom he burned, hated women whom he forbade to darken the doors of the Vatican. This Pope is also fiercely anti-Spanish considering they that breed of Moors and Jews, those dregs of the earth. The Pope is a prime candidate for the Inquisition with his mistress, illegitimate children, his gifts of red hats to his grandson and two nephews aged fourteen and sixteen. The Pope orders Michelangelo to make the Sistine Ceiling more suitable meaning to give the saints clothing, the angles wings and Christ a beard. Michelangelo refused saying let Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) make the world a suitable place and the painting will soon follow suit. Upon Michelangelo's death his famous ceiling is made more suitable rather than the Church. Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) of the Holy Roman Empire (1519-1556) is forced to let each member state be either Catholic or Lutheran as they locally chose. Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) denounced this accommodation as heresy. 1556 Akbar (1556-1605), the greatest of the Mogul Emperors, added Bengal and other parts of north India to their Empire. Sir Francis Drake who apparently picked them up in Columbia introduces the American potato to Europe. The Incas loved their potato and called the blue tubers the food of love and Pope Paul IV denounced it as the root of man's licentious and depraved moral behavior. As a result tens of thousands would die a famine. Many people thought that because of the Vatican stand that they are poisonous and they are banned in Burgundy in 1619 because they caused leprosy. January 23: A powerful earthquake rolled through Shensi, Honan and Shansi (Shanxi) provinces of China killing an estimated 830,000 people.
1557 Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) issued his Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio. He claimed to be Pontifex Maximus, God's representative on earth. As such, he had unlimited power to depose every monarch, hand over every country to foreign invasion, deprive every one of his possessions without legal process. Anyone offering help to one deposed would be excommunicated. He allied himself with France making war on Spain. The duke of Alva viceroy of Naples defeats the papal army and the papal state is overrun. The Papal-French war is brought to a halt by the allies of Spain, Flanders, Hungary, Germany and England on the Netherlands frontier. The French army is virtually annihilated. The number of prisoners is so great that King Philip ordered those too poor to pay ransom to be set free on their promise not to fight against Spain for a year. Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) placed Michele Ghislieri (future Pope Pius V) as the head of the Roman Inquisition. Cardinal Giovanni Morone (1509-1580) a known innocent is imprisoned for heresy. The Congregation of the Inquisition (Holy Office) under the direction of the pope created the Index of Forbidden Books of unprecedented and quite unrealistic severity. Jews are accused of abetting Protestantism and Pope Pius IV confined them strictly to ghettos in Rome and the papal state. He forced them to wear distinctive headgear. The suspicion of Inquisition is aroused in Spain when over one hundred clergy, monks and nuns are arrested alone with a few non-clergies. If an accused recanted they are not burned alive. As a result of these arrests Protestantism in the south of Spain seems to have been virtually extinguished. Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) denounced the Teutonic Order of Knights as criminals who have deserted the Christian faith and burnt Russian Ikons. 1558 Bloody Queen Mary I (1553-1558) died and her half sister Elizabeth I (1558-1603), became Queen of England. Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) ordered Prince Ivan Kurbsky to invade Eastonia, burning and slaying. The young people between ten and twenty are dragged off to the Tartar slave-markets. Every German is put to death some 10,000 before the gates of Dorpat. The Russians occupied twenty towns before retiring for winter. The Teutonic Order retaliated taking advantage of the winter weather to capture several garrisons. Spain issued its Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) five years before the papal Index. Censorship of the press is put into the hands of the Inquisition. It is noteworthy that the Roman and Spanish Index differed in content throughout their long history. Books banned in Rome are sometimes not banned in Spain and vice versa. Heresy, superstition, magic, witchcraft, obscenity, libel or sedition is frequent reasons for the banning of books. Back to Top
EUROPEAN HISTORY
Religious wars ravage Europe
1559 Emperor Philip II (a German Habsburg) (1556-1598) of Spain controlled the Netherlands, Franche Comte, Sardinia, Sicily, the Balearic Isles and a greater part of the Italian Peninsula except Venice and the States of the Church. Spain ruled the greater part of the new world including holdings in northern Africa and Asia. The Sun never set on the dominions of the King of Spain. The Emperor issued the Divine Right of Kings claiming a personal responsibility to God for the welfare of every one of his subjects individually. This included a passion for social justice and for the protection of the poor against their oppressors. Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) sent 130,000 men into Eastonia and attacked the Teutonic Order and this time not even babies are spared. The people are stripped naked without regard of the freezing weather, tying and binding them by three or four at their horse’s tails, dragging them blooding the ways and streets. The streets are full of carcasses of aged men, women and children. The Huguenot became a political party in France. Ambassador Edward Carne appeared before Paul IV (1555-1559) to inform him that Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII (1509-1547) and Anne Boleyn had followed Mary on the throne in England. Pope Paul IV disagreed violently with Plato who said women are equal to men, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is right, women are men who have not quite come off. It is sheer audacity on her part to presume to govern England when it belonged to him. She is a usurper, a bastard, a heretic, if she renounced her ridiculous pretensions and came to him penitent at once, he would see what he could do for her. Within a few months England broke off diplomatic links with Rome. Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) blamed the
Jews for the reformation and allowed sixty Jews to be burned alive. Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet predicted that "the young lion will overcome the old, in field of combat in a single fight. He will pierce his eyes in a golden cage, two wounds in one, he then dies a cruel death." The King and his court are well aware of the Nostradamus prophecy. July 10, King Henry II of France died having been accidentally pierced in the right eye while jousting with the Scottish Count of Montgomery. The King and young Montgomery both had a lion in their coat of arms. During the joust an unknown boy cried out "The king will die." Catherine is reported to have said "cursed be the magician who predicted so evilly and so well." His son Francis II (1559-1560) at age sixteen became King. Given his age a Royal decree is issued announcing that the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine had been appointed to take charge of all fiscal matters, military affairs and diplomatic relations. The Cardinal increased the violence against the Huguenots. During the few months of Francis II (1559-1560) reign more than twice as many victims are condemned and burned at the stake than during all of King Henry II (1547-1559) time. Houses suspected of being the scene of heretic meeting are razed and the owner put to death. People who they believed knew of the meetings but didn't inform authorities are themselves declared heretics. Parish priests are ordered to excommunicate those who fail to denounce heretics. The more they are persecuted the more they increased in numbers and within a year 25 percent of France are Huguenot. The Huguenot claimed that the Cardinal of Lorraine had entered into an incestuous alliance with the new young Queen in order to provide her with an heir. The family of Guise is hated as much as the Church. Geneva is the stronghold of Calvinism with scholars from Scotland, Poland, France, England, Netherlands and Germany in attendance. The Bishop of Winchester reported that the wolves be coming out of Geneva full of pestilent doctrines, blasphemy and heresy to infect the people. July 17: A Papal Bull stressed that the Christ killers, the Jews, is by nature slaves and should be treated as such. They are to be confined to a ghetto with one entrance. Jews are forced to sell all their property at twenty percent of its value. They are forbidden to engage in commerce or deal in corn but they could otherwise sell food and second hand cloths. They are obliged to wear a yellow hat in public. The Germans would follow these teachings in the twentieth century. 1560 Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) invaded Livland inflicting atrocities and devastation. The Teutonic Order of Knights is bankrupt almost without troops when their fortress fell. The Order disbanded with many returning to Germany. December 5: Francis II (1547-1559) of France died and Charles IX (1560-1574) not quite ten succeeded his brother. His mother Queen mother Catherine de Medici the Italian declared she would rule the State for her son. Fifty percent of French nobles are declared Calvinist and France contained about 2,000 Huguenot. The house of Montmorency and Bourbon split with the younger members siding with the Protestants. The House of Bourbon alias Borvo is Celtic in nature being derived from the God Borvo whose cult thrived in the Loire and Rhone Valleys as well as in Provence and the Alps. 1561 Mary Queen of Scots married 1558 to the French Kings son Francis of Valois returned to Scotland this year a widow. Queen mother Catherine de Medici of France called a council of churches to resolve the Roman and Huguenot conflict before it destroys France. The General of the Jesuit, who is present as an observer, addressed the visitors from Geneva (Huguenot) as wolves, foxes, serpents and assassins thereby undermining the objectives of the council. The Holy See alarmed at the growth of the Calvinist approached Philip of Spain to take a personal hand against France to prevent it from being governed by heretics. The Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) the Roman suggested such an enterprise is a duty, as well as a pious, just, honest, easy and glorious Work. 1562 England under Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) began selling West Africa slaves to work for the Spanish in America. John Hawkins carried his first human cargo this year. The Queen Mother of France allowed a small contingent of colonists, all of them Huguenots, to the New World. The establishment of Fort Caroline, is approval by Queen Catherine of France. January 17: Queen Mother Catherine issued an edict granting the Huguenots religious freedom. The objective is to keep our subjects at peace until such time as God will do us the grace to be able to reunite them in one fold. The Priests from the pulpits denounced the Queen as a Jezebel and her advisors as the prophets of Baal. The Roman Catholic faction is led by the Theology Faculty at the University of Paris, and somewhat from the Jesuit instructors. The priests are feeding the religious fears in Paris causing a series of violent clashes. March 1: The War of Religions began when the Duke of Guise, a Catholic in Vassy near Chalons-sur-Marne, France on March 1, attacked a group of Christian Huguenots at worship killing more than sixty villagers. He ordered their priest hung. The Duke then led his men into Paris to incite the Catholics. The Queen Mother proclaimed that everything that is done on one side and the other is nothing but a desire to rule and to take from me under cover and color of religion what power I have. The resulting conflict between the Christian sects lasted for thirty-six years. l563 English Parliament made Justice of the Peace responsible for fair wages and working hours. A work day started at five in the morning ending between seven or eight at night with two half hours allowed for meals. People were not allowed to move from their parish where they were born without permission. It was estimated there were over ten thousand homeless people on the road. Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) made plans to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) when Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain dissuade him from issuing a bull. Emperor Philip is concerned that if Elizabeth is deposed then Mary Queen of Scots would ascend to the throne, she is a Roman Catholic, part of the French system of alliances and hostile to Spain. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain, Italy, most of Europe and the New World finally allowed the publication of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) with the addition of a clause by the Imperial Crown that many of the decrees are of no effect. February: After the assassination of the Roman Catholic Duc de Guise by a Huguenot, Jean Polrot de Mere it became difficult to maintain order in Paris, France. Mere was publicly executed in March 18. 1565 The Basque galleon, San Juan owned by Ramos de Arrietay Borna of Pasajes, not properly moored was lost in the Red Bay, Labrador with one thousand barrels of whale oil and her crew of seventy five. The ship La Concecion and other ships returned the crew to Spain. Saddle Island was being used to render the whale blubber into oil. Joanes de Portu returned to Red Bay in 1566 to recover as many barrels of whale oil as possible. Charles IX King of France with his
Queen Mother Catherine de Medici swears to uphold the freedom of the
city of La Rochelle, a Huguenot stronghold. This is a tradition
dating back to the Middle Ages. Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) died and the popular hatred for him and his family exploded and the rioting crowds destroyed the headquarters of the Inquisition releasing its wretched prisoners and destroying the statues of the pope. Pius IV alias Giovanni Angelo (1559-1565) a father of three children is elected pope. September: A Spanish fleet of eight ships swooped down on Fort Caroline, Florida and put the French Huguenots to death. King Philip of Spain had ordered placards be put around their necks reading "hung not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans". The Spanish discovered the French intruders at Fort Caroline and killed all the inhabitants. 1566 Pope Pius V (1566-1572) issued Scripturia et Traditio that the bible and the teachings of the Church, are to be treated as equally authoritative in doctrinal matters. The Pope took the precaution of sending a special brief to the Spanish Bishops ordering them to publish it in defiance of the Emperor. The Bishops refused to do so without the permission of the Royal Council. The pope said you in Spain wish to be Pope and refer everything to the King. The King is fully aware that the clergy is an integral part of the civil service and their loyalty is imperative in governing the Empire. The clergy is expected to use their influence in the pulpit and confessional to support Royal edicts. The common belief at this time is that more than one religion in one State would bring that State to destruction. Queen Elizabeth told the French ambassador that the three parliaments she had already held were enough for any reign and she would have no more. The council or parliament however met thirteen times during her forty four-year reign. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain issued a decree that Muslims traditional dress, custom and Arabic language is prohibited. 1567 Pope Pius V (1566-1572) issued a papal bull against bullfights pronouncing all that took part in them excommunicated. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain consulted a body of Spanish theologians and is assured this entertainment is not sinful so the papal edict is disregarded with the support of the Spanish bishops. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain sent 10,000 Spanish army veterans into the Netherlands to put down the religious rebellion. Nobles including the Knights of the Golden Fleece are tried equally with all men and those found guilty are executed. The executions continued for the next two years likely numbering in the thousands. On the advice of Pope Pius V (1566-1572) and the Archbishop of Granada, Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain issued an edict to forbid all Moorish customs. Arabic language is to be replaced by Spanish within three years. All Arabic books are to be collected, artificial baths are forbidden. Moorish houses must open the doors to their homes during marriage feasts, on Fridays and on Holy Days of the Spanish Church to observe any Moorish practices. This edict would lead to civil war. The Spanish Moors believed they could raise a 100,000 man army from its 85,000 households and 15,000 from the Turks and Moors from beyond the sea. 1568 The Edict of Saint Maur prohibited all religions but Catholicism, thereby making it irrevocable and perpetual. As a result great religious intolerance continued top grow in Paris. The civil war in France between the Romans and Huguenots reached lower levels of cruelty on both sides. A Huguenot fleet intercepted seven Portuguese ships bound for Brazil carrying 69 Jesuit and they are all thrown overboard. Rapes, mutilation and mass execution are so common Francois de la Noue, a Huguenot field commander put it simply: "we fought the first war like angels, the second like men and the third like devils. Henri, Duke of Guise formed the Catholic League to defend the faith against the Huguenots. The Spanish civil war saw the massacre of the priests and their women and children are sold as slaves to Barbary in exchange for arms and munitions. The Spanish troops wandered the land plundering and kidnapping Morisco women to sell as slaves. The rebellion by the Spanish Muslim's is crushed by King Philip II of Spain who also ordered the dispersal of the Moslem population of Andalusia to all parts of Castile. Granada is depopulated and repopulated with genuine Old Christians. Henceforth any male Morisco over age 16 found within 10 leagues of the province of Granada is to be killed and any female over nine and one half is to be sold into slavery. About 60,000 Spanish had lost their lives during the war. The Moors are not allowed to leave their house without permission. They were dispersed among the Christians and forced to attend Christian schools. This same year Protestantism in northern Spain is virtually quenched with the burning of Herrezuelo's widow, Leonor de Cisneros. William of Orange raised a 25,000 man army from western Germany invading southern Netherlands to champion the liberty of the country but is forced to retire due to lack of Netherlands support. Back to Top
EUROPEAN HISTORY
The Roman Church sinks to a new low of
depravity as the avenging angle.
1570 Pope Pius V (1566-1572) issued a bull excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) for her actions in separating the English Church from the Roman Church and her persecution of Roman Catholics in Britain,. English ships began attacking Spanish ships returning from America because Spain would not allow England to trade with Spanish American colonies. Philip of Spain knew quite well that Elizabeth of England was encouraging the sea dogs or privateers as they were known. Some of the more infamous high sea criminals of this time were John Hawkins (slave trader), Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher. The Netherlands was under Catholic Spanish rule and Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was assisting the Dutch Protestant to attack Spanish ships. The Spanish Catholic Church is provided escape from poverty and starvation and 1/4 of the adult population is clerical; 400,000 monks, 312,000 priests and 200,000 minor orders causing a great drain on the economy. By 1626 there are 9,088 monasteries in Spain. The dikes in Holland burst without warning claiming fifty thousand lives. Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) called the Terrible, January 9, 1570 seized the city of Novgorod believing they opposed him killing sixty thousand people. 1571 The Mediterranean had become a Turkish lake being conquered by Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Raids on Spain, and Italy carried away thousands of Christians every year to be sold in the slave-markets of Africa. Pope Pius V (1566-1572), Venice and Spain entered into a Holy League to deal with the Turks. Don John of Austria led the armada engaging the entire naval force of Turks in the Bay of Lepanto, Gulf of Corinth. The whole Turkish force of 28,000 is virtually annihilated. About 8,000 Turks are killed, 8,000 taken prisoner and 10,000 Christian galley slaves are set free. Anneken de Vlaster is the first Anabaptist martyr killed for challenging the orthodoxy of the day; she is burned. Anabaptist is pacifist and they evolved into the Mennonites, Hutterites and the Amish cultures. Some claim Jacob Hunter the 1st leader of the Hutterite clan a sup sect of the Anabaptist is burned at the stake in 1536. 1572 St. Pius V alias Michele (formally Antonio) Ghislieri (1566-1572) head of the Roman Inquisition is elected pope. He was also the Dominican Inquisitor of Como and Bergamo. His veal and severity as an inquisitor brought him into disfavor with the people. He built a new palace for the inquisition and sharpened its rules and practices and personally attended its sessions. Under his rule the number of persons often men of culture and distinction soared. He expelled many Jews from the papal states forcing the rest into ghettos. He drove hundreds of printers to flee to Germany and Switzerland with the publication of the Congregation of the Index. How he can be beatified and canonized with the inquisition blood on his hands defies logic. Spurred on by the high clergy of the Roman Catholic Church Catherine De Medici, mother of Charles IX of France ordered the massacre of 4,000 to 8,000 Protestants in Paris, and twenty thousand Christian Huguenots are slaughtered by Catholics in France. Many second sons used the opportunity to murder their elder brothers to stand nearer their inheritance. Many long-nurtured grudges are settled. Women are stripped naked, dragged through the streets even the children and servants are not spared. Once killed their houses are plundered. a Franciscan monk reported a dead and dry hawthorn bush at the cemetery of Innocents burst into bloom overnight. This miracle he reported is a certain sign from Heaven that God is pleased with their efforts. A new star of the East appeared, holy statues are seen to shed tears of gratitude. The priest continued to incite the murderous crowds. Gregory XIII alias Ugo Boncompagni (1572-1585) a father of one son is elected pope. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) commemorated with joy the massacre at St. Bartholomen where thousands of Huguenot Protestants died. The messengers who had brought the glad tidings about Paris are richly rewarded; victorious salvoes are fired. Pope Gregory XIII himself led fifty-three cardinals to celebrate a solemn mass (te Deums), bonfires are lit and a metal is struck to commemorate this great slaughter. The Church elevated Charles IX as an insignificant son of a dangerous unreliable mother to an avenging angel, divinely sent. Pope Gregory XIII actively subsidized what he called the Catholic League against Huguenots. Among the German princelings and Swiss cantons the avenging angel is branded as treacherous, heartless criminals. A few Huguenot escaped to take their position at La Rochelle, France and re-established their own military organization. Queen Catherine attempted to take La Rochelle but the siege on the city failed. Other cities as a result of the failed siege defied royal authority and proclaimed liberty of conscience for themselves. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain and most of Europe and the New World issued a decree to expand the existing decree that no papal decree might be published in Spain until examined by the Council of Castille. They are to hold back any such decree it considers infringing the laws and customs of the Kingdom. He expanded the former decree by decreeing that all papal briefs procured for cases sub Judaic before ecclesiastical courts should be disregarded and that no Spaniard should be cited to appear before any tribunal outside Spain. The Emperor virtually annihilated the jurisdiction of Rome as far as Spain is concerned. It is noteworthy that most of Italy and all of Sicily are under Spanish control. The Sea Beggars (Gueax) who had fled the Spanish persecution in the Netherlands had become very successful privateers under the protection of England. The Sea Beggars took the Spanish fortress of Brill and strengthened its fortifications. The exiled Netherlanders came pouring back to defend the town. The Spanish war of siege is to last without interruption for nearly forty years. These Calvinists would eventually contribute to the fall of the mightiest empire in the world. 1573 Andre Lourenco, fisherman, was buried in Terra Nova and was recorded in the church Vera Cruz, Avero, Portugal. The Ottoman Turks penetrated Poland, subdued the north coast of the Black Sea and took Cyprus. The Turks had acquired Crete in 1669. The son of Catherine de Medici, Duke of Anjou became the new King of Poland. The Spanish Catholics executed one thousand Calvinist in the Netherlands and drove another 60,000 out of the territory. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) issued a papal bull forbidding the admission to Holy Orders of the descendants of Jews to the fourth generation is extended to include the Moors. This bull thereby effectively excluded Jesus and his Jewish disciples from the priesthood. 1574 The siege of Leiden, Holland by the Spanish is broken when the dikes broke flooding the land killing twenty thousand Spaniards. King Charles IX of France dies May 30 saying he rejoices that he has no male child to wear the crown fully aware of its corrupt nature. Catherine de Medici third son Anjou becomes King of France and chooses the name Henry III. King Henry believed the only way to deal with the heretics is to eliminate them. The Cardinal of Lorraine died and people say maybe now we can have peace as he was the one person that prevented it. Some contend that nearly 150,000 Spanish had migrated to the New World by this date. The pick of the population sailed away leaving the dregs behind and is considered along with the Moor expulsion a significant factor in the decline and fall of the Spanish Empire. Continuous wars also depleted the population. 1575 Alencon son of Queen Mother Catherine de Medici rallied the Huguenots to march on Paris and his brother King Henry III. By November Duke John Casimir, the son of the Elector Palatine, commanded 8,000 German cavalrymen, 6,000 infantry from the cantons of Switzerland and some 7,000 arquebusiers were on the march plundering and burning as they cut their way to the Loire. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) actively supported the Jesuit Inquisition troops in the creation of colleges and missionaries to India, China, Japan and Brazil. 1576 Alencon found himself with an army of 30,000 men waiting for his command to march on Paris. The Peace of Monsieur as it was called is signed May 6 granting every demand of the Huguenot. Free exercise of religion is granted everywhere in the realm. Every local Parliament is to have a tribunal composed equally of Catholic and Reformed judges. Alencon is granted the independent administration of the Province of Touraine, Berry and Anjou. They demanded the instigators of the St. Bartholomew Massacre be punished. As Catherine is the instigator she convinced Alencon to be satisfied with a formal declaration that all victims of the Massacre had been innocent and their families would be freed from paying taxes in the future. The Roman Catholics who had proclaimed Catherine a dedicated servant of the Faith and compared her favorably with Joan of Arc now found reason to distrust her. A League of the Holy Trinity is founded to serve the Church and protect it against enemies including the royal family. Henry III proclaimed himself as its chief hoping to avert any danger. Alencon accepted the title of Lieutenant General of France and Queen Mother Catherine used him to start the Sixth War of Religion against his comrades the Huguenots. This campaign exceeded in bestiality anything that had been previously inflicted on the innocent people. The Duke of Sully (1560-1641) reported that Alencon's troops caught six village girls, raped them to boredom and then filled them up with gunpowder and set fire to them. Sully entrenched government monopolies on gunpowder, mines and salt. 1578 Queen of Scots, Mary's son James VI started to rule at the age of twelve. He managed to rebuild the authority of the Scottish Crown. Jesuit Robert de Nobili (1577-1656) evangelized in India. Archbishop Beaton of Glasglow brought together the Spanish Ambassador, Juan Vargas de Mexia and the Duke of Guise hoping for a combined intervention of Spain and the Guises in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) of England finally too late saw the folly of repulsing for so many years the proffered friendship of Spain. She even spoke of helping him put down the rebellion in the Netherlands. The Guises had pledged that Mary Stuart would serve none but Spanish interests. Mary is consequently put to death in 1587. About 6,000 Anabaptists are executed since their formation in 1525. Freedom of choice and rejection of Papal authority made them socially and politically dangerous. 1580 Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) conspired to have Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) of England assassinated after his failure to get Emperor King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain to attack Ireland, the Netherlands and then England. During Queen Elizabeth's I (1558-1603) reign the Irish rebelled encouraged by the arrival of 600 Spanish and Italian soldiers. The English considered the Irish people as wild primitive people and therefore treated them with great cruelty. When Elizabeth finally subjected the people they looked like death, spoke like ghosts and had been forced into cannibalism to survive. Ulster had fought the longest therefore most of the best land was given to Protestant English and Scottish merchants. The county of Derry in Uster was taken over by a group of London merchants and divided among the twelve main London guilds. The town of Derry was renamed Londonderry, after its new merchant owners. The most militant of Catholics, the Jesuits, is sent to England as missionaries. The English expecting an assassination attempt executed the head of the Jesuits and other executions followed. King Henry III, goaded by the Duke of Guise and the Holy League and funded by Philip King of Spain the French again attacked Huguenot cities. The inhabitants are massacred, women raped and children held for ransom. Emperor King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain invaded and defeated the army of Portugal. He declared himself King Philip I of Portugal. In the last twenty two years it is estimated that four and one half million Americans had died as a result of Spanish occupation through disease, war and inhuman slave labor. The mortality of Black slaves is as severe as that among the Indians. Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) passed a law binding peasants to the land. They became slaves unable to move and subject to sale with the estate to which they belonged. Prior to this time the people simply migrated during times of war, famine, plague or poor leadership. This effectively removed the people’s historic form of passive resistance to poor leadership. Thomas Lupton says that lying in England is so loved and allowed that there are many times gamings and prizes therefore purposely to encourage one to outlye another. 1581 The Netherlands meaning the low countries, a conglomerate of seventeen provinces declared their independence from Spain. They consisted of northerners that spoke Germanic (Flemish or Dutch), and southern French speaking called Walloons. Amsterdam remained Catholic an island in a Calvinist sea. The leaders of the low lands are French Roman Catholics. The Calvinist religion has been slowly building from the 1560's and would be the single most driving force for the creation of the Dutch, and they are also greatly inspired by the French Huguenots. To avoid the ongoing slaughter the Calvinists move northward and the Roman Catholics moved south. Within a few years the principle city of Holland, Amsterdam is the commercial and financial capital of Europe. Their main cry is 'liberty' meaning freedom from interference by central authorities or outside powers. They favored local custom, local law and local privileges. Emperor King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain invaded and conquered Portugal bringing the Iberian Peninsula under a single control in nine centuries. All the New World is now under the Spanish Empire as is most of Africa. The Spanish Empire now controlled the Persian, Indian and Far East trade. 1582 Alencon the Duke of Brabant mounted a military campaign on the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Dunkirk and Ostende. He persuaded the city of Antwerp to enter the city to honor them with a parade. Wise in ways of treachery they agreed and when the army is inside the city the gates were closed and the army ambushed. A few Frenchmen, including Alencon escaped but 12,000 soldiers are hacked to pieces. The Julian calendar is replace by the Gregorian calendar that is still in use today. The populace believed they had been robbed of 10 days and wanted them back. Catherine de Medici of France, alarmed by the growth of Spanish power, sent a fleet of 60 ships and 7,000 soldiers to enable Don Antonio to take the Azores. Don Alvaro de Bazan, Marquis of Santa Cruz commanding 25 ships and 2,000 men demolished the French fleet. The French lost 20 ships and 2,000 men. 1583 Responding to excessive population growth in England, landowners turned to sheep farming which resulted in fencing off the lands that had always belonged to the whole village. Many poor people lost the land they farmed as well as the land in common where they kept their animals. As one man said, these enclosures are the cause why rich men eat up poor men as beasts do eat grass. The Jesuit Matthew Ricci entered Peking, China with knowledge of mathematics for use in astronomy and is honored as a wise man from the west. He is allowed to establish three hundred churches over the next thirty years. His success is his understanding that the traditional approach of offering civilization to a barbaric heathen culture would not work with a superior civilization like China. He instead presented a church in sympathy with the traditions of China. 1584 Alencon son of Queen Mother Catherine de Medici died in June. King Henry III is childless and everyone believed he would remain so. The next heir to the throne is the King of Navarre, not only a Huguenot but the chief of the Huguenot cause in France. Don Bernardino de Mendoza ambassador of his Most Roman Catholic Majesty, King Phillip II of Spain subsidized the Guise family and the Holy League to ensure they would not recognize a heretic as king of France. They designated as his heir apparent the Cardinal of Bourbon, brother of the late Antoine and uncle of the King of Navarre. To put things in perspective Paris at this time is a small city of some 200,000 people. Emperor Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain lay siege to the greatest city of the Netherlands, Antwerp. It would fall in 1585 bringing all southern Netherlands under Spanish domination. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) changed
the calendar this year by 13 days. The Orthodox religions refused
to accept this change as a matter of faith. The Greek and Russian
Orthodox Churches continue to celebrate Christmas on January 7.
Pope Gregory routinely dissolved marriages between Protestants and
Catholics and sanctioned abortions before 40 days. He said that
abortions before 40 days are not a serious sin. Back to Top
EUROPEAN HISTORY
The Pope issues an irrevocable edict
that only Roman Catholics can occupy France
1585 Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) of England sent 5,000 footmen and 1,000 horses to help the Protestants of northern Netherlands defend themselves from the Catholic Spanish army. Pope Gregory XIII faced with crippling debt seized papal lands dispossessing nobles who turned to banditry. Serious disorder and lawlessness spread throughout the papal states and Rome. Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) the inquisitor for Venice, (he is recalled due to his severity) the Franciscan Cardinal Felice Peretti da Montalto upon being elected Pope proclaimed "now I am Caesar". He is a ruthless, violent and inflexible pope with blood on his hands. Thousands of brigands are publicly executed the nobles who sheltered them are mercilessly punished. The Jesuit Robert Bellarmine suggested that the pope only had indirect jurisdiction over temporal rulers. Theologian Vittorio wrote it is lawful to disobey unjust orders of a pope. Pope Sixtus V resolved to censure both men. The Cardinals of the Congregation of the Index are too terrified to tell his Holiness that these eminent authors based their views on the works of countless saints and scholars for fear the pope might put the saints themselves on the Index. War of the three Henry's over Paris, the Catholic League (Henry of Guise) allied with Spain and Henry of Navarre the Huguenot became Legitimate heir to the throne. The King had Henry of Guise murdered and was himself assassinated. Most English people at this time believed that to be Catholic is to be an enemy of England. March 9: King Henry III issued an edict outlawing all unauthorized assemblies and prohibited the formation of armed units. March 31: The Holy Roman League issued their Declaration of Causes that led Monsignor the Cardinal of Burbon, the Catholic Peers, Princes, Nobles and cities to oppose the King by all possible means who would in their opinion subvert the Catholic religion. The Duke of Guise with the backing of Philip King of Spain hired troops to take over Normandy, Picardy and Brittany. In Burgundy, Dijon, Macon and Auxonne are seized. April 7: Orleans declared for the Roman League. An attempt to take Marseilles failed but Lyons surrendered as did Verdun. The treaty of Nemours revocated all previous edicts and forbade the practice of any religion other than the Roman Catholic anywhere in France. Heretics would not be allowed to hold public office. All ministers of other religions would be banned and all subjects would have to make profession of the Roman Catholic faith within six months or be expelled from France. As Henry III signed the treaty he told the Cardinal of Bourbon that this act would stem the ruin of my state and my people. To seal the treaty Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) excommunicated the King of Navarre and next in line King of France by saying the authority vested in Saint Peter and his successors by the infinite power of the Eternal King surpasses all the power of earthly kings and princes. The Papal Bull stripped him of his titles, declared him incapable of succeeding to the throne of France and absolved all his vassals from allegiance to him. The Pope proclaimed his judgments are irrevocable. The Parliament of Paris stated Sixtus had no authority over kingdoms established by God before the name of the Pope existed in the world. King Henry III said that the Pope would like me to act as his provost marshal in France. Honest French Catholic who placed their national allegiance above that of their religion heard their King say this and in large numbers went over to the side of the Huguenots. 1586 The Archbishop of Treves had 118 women burned and two men for incantations that prolonged winter, this added to the growing martyrs of the inquisition, Bishop of Geneva burned 500, Bishop of Bamburg 600, Bishop of Wurzburg created 900 martyrs. 1587 King Philip II of Spain, an ardent Roman Catholic, was determined to end Protestantism that flourished in England under Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), as well as repay the English for interfering in his war in the Netherlands. He decided to conquer England and began to assemble an Armada to move his army from the Netherlands to England when Francis Drake attacked and destroyed part of this fleet in Cadiz harbor. The Duke of Joyeuse marched south to engage King Navarre. On October 20 Joyeuse's army met the Huguenots at Coutras. Within two hours, Joyeuse is dead and his army annihilated. The Duke of Guise marched east to intercept the German and Swiss mercenaries marching to assist the Huguenots. October 26 Guise engaged the army at Vimory and beat the roundly and chased them out of France. 1588 The Duke of Guise and the Holy Roman League demanded the French King establish Courts of Inquisition in every province to confiscate all Huguenot property and put to death all Huguenot prisoners of war who refused to recant their heresy. They also demanded the return to the Church all lands and property it had been forced to cede by earlier edicts. Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) promised Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) large subsidies if he invaded England. When the Armada failed the pope refused to pay however he did support Philip against the Huguenot Henry of Navarre (Henry IV of France (1589-1610). King Philip II of Spain rebuilt his fleet and the defeat of the Spanish Armada more by bad weather than by English guns marked the arrival of England as a great European sea power. The African Company is given a charter by Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) to trade in slaves. The Duke of Guise quietly and without bloodshed took Paris and King Henry III fled the city. The Duke Cardinal of Lorraine brother of the Duke of Guise let it be known that any agreement would have to include the ceding to him of Sedan and its great fortress. The Duke of Savoy demanded withdrawal of French protection from Geneva that he coveted. The Papal Nuncio Morosini is on everyone’s side striving to delay any settlement until the Spanish Armada had landed its troops in England. The Church is solidly behind Spain and supports the dismembering of France. King Henry III (d-1589) ordered the death of the Duke of Guise (December 1588) and his brother the Duke Cardinal of Lorraine. The Catholics of France are outraged and declared Henry deposed. 1589 Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) sent an army of 20,000 men against Lisbon, Portugal (Spain) but half the army is lost and they retreated to England. Raids by England on Spain would continue as Spain is preoccupied with France. January 5: Catherine de Medici died. The Roman Catholic Church absolved all his subjects from their oath of allegiance with a free conscience to wage war on their king. The Holy League seized power. August 1: A monk, Jacques Clement, stabbed Henry in the stomach and King Henry II died the next day. Before the King died he proclaimed Navarre as his successor thereby thwarting the Roman Church and its Holy League. Protestant Henry of Navarre became Henry IV of Burbon (1589-1610) and would fight the Catholic League, the Spanish armies but would convert to the Catholic faith in 1593 to put an end to the war. The Roman League proclaimed Cardinal Bourbon as the King of France taking the name Charles X. Philip II of Spain advanced a claim through the person of the elder daughter of his own marriage to Elizabeth the daughter of Catherine de Medici and Henry II. The Pope supported King Philips proposal that until succession is resolved he be appointed Protector of the State and of the Religion of the Kingdom of France. It is noteworthy that the House of Bourbon is founded on the Celtic God Borvo. Celtic beliefs also included touching wood to ward off evil, kissing under the mistletoe as an antidote to poison or saying things happen in threes keeping alive the sacred Celtic triad. Let us not forget the Celtic May Day festivals. 1590 Spain sided with the Huguenot leading up to the war with France of 1595, and interference in France by Spain would end in 1598. About this time the Russians entered Siberia from the Perm region in the middle Ural area. Evidence suggests a group of Novgorodians fleeing from Ivan IV (1500-1584) of Russia reign of terror, took ships and eventually reached Alaska via the Arctic Ocean. Urban VII alias Giambattista Castagna (1590-1590) an inquisitor is elected pope but died before coronation. Gregory XIV alias Niccolo Sfondrati (1590-1591) is elected pope with brutal intervention by the Spanish Government. He continued to fund the Spanish Holy League (inquisition). 1591 Innocent IX Giovanni Antonio Fachinetti (1591-1591) an Inquisitor is elected pope being on the acceptable list of King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain. Not surprising he supported Philip II, the Holy League against Protestant Henry IV (1589-1610) of France. 1592 Clement VIII alias Loppolito Aldobrandini (1592-1605) is elected pope. 1593 Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) paid King Sigismund (d-1632) of Poland (1587) and Sweden (1592) 20,000 crowns to restore Roman Catholicism in Sweden. Kind Sigismund is schooled in the doctrine of the Jesuits. He ruled Sweden through Polish ministers and the Roman Catholic clergy as though Sweden is a dependency of Poland. This arrogance would lead to revolution in 1597 reverting Sweden back to Lutheranism. More important a fundamental and perpetual hostility resulted between Poland and Sweden. Henry of Navarre, France a Huguenot became Catholic to secure the support of Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) to become King of France. Spain is attacking France and the Pope is fearful of a further expansion of Spanish power even though the conversion of Henry is an obvious piece of hypocrisy. 1594 William West an English lawyer defined a witch or hag as one who made a league with the devil causing her to perform unnatural acts and to fly through the air and perform lust and lewd desports. In Venice there are 11,600 courtesans, twelve times the number of patrician wives. 1595 King Henri IV of France declared war on Spain and the French allies are the English and Dutch. They all agreed not to settle a separate peace. Jesuit priest Pedro de Rivadeneira (1527-1611) wrote that Kings are not absolute lords over the property of his subjects. 1598 Edict of Nantes granted limited religious tolerance, political equality and fortified strongholds to the Huguenot but this was short lived and finally revoked by Louis XIV in 1685. Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605) reluctantly accepted the treaty. Emperor King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain through costly wars attempted to secure his Empire from serious debt. He granted France the return of all lost territories over the past 18 years if France would break the alliance with England and the Dutch. Henry IV of France broke his alliance with England and the Dutch. King Philip II ceded the sovereignty of the Netherlands to his cousin Archduke Albert who married Philip's daughter. Philip III born 1578 son Philip II and Anne of Austria became Emperor and King of Spain but his father on his death bed had said "God who has given me so many kingdoms has not granted me a son fit to govern". Philip III effectively place the power of the Empire in the hands of Marquis of Demia (Don Francisco Gomez de Sandovalaly Rojas) later to be called Duke of Lerma for the next twenty years. 1599 Jesuit priest Juan De Mariana (1536-1623) wrote monarchy is superior to democracy and should be strictly hereditary with a perfectly definite law of succession yet a monarch is he very antithesis of a tyrant. If a King usurp sovereignty by violence it is lawful to use violence to dethrone him and to deprive him of his life. If they make themselves intolerable by their wickedness and evil deeds, then they are liable to be assassinated, not only justly but with the applause and acclamation of posterity. At the Synod of Diamper the Christian followers of the Apostle St. Thomas are brought into communion with the Christian followers of the Roman Paul. The Thomas Christian liturgical books are edited and reformed in a Roman direction. It is noteworthy that Ignatius Mar Atallah the Syrian bishop was assigned as Patriarch of India in 1653 was captured and handed over to the Roman Inquisition. He was martyred through burning in Goa or as others believe he died in Paris. Back to Top
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Click
here for a map of the territorial divisions of France along
religious and political lines.
Wars
of Religion, Part II
Bibliography
John Calvin (1509 - 1564), 
Catherine de
Gregory
XIII engaged Vasari to paint scenes in one of the Vatican apartments of
the triumph of the Most Christian King over the Huguenots. He had a
medal struck representing an exterminating angel smiting the Huguenots
with his sword, the inscription reading: Hugonottorium strages (Huguenot
conspirators). In France itself, the French magistracy ordered the
admiral to be burned in effigy and prayers and processions of
thanksgiving on each recurring 24th August, out of gratitude to God for
the victory over the Huguenots.
EUROPEAN HISTORY 
EUROPEAN HISTORY