By 1500 A.D. France had become a centralized state under a
strong monarchy. Francis I, who reigned in the first half of the sixteenth
century, still further exalted the royal power. He had many wars with Charles
V, whose extensive dominions nearly surrounded the French kingdom. These wars
prevented the emperor from making France a mere dependency of Spain. As we have
learned, they also interfered with the efforts of Charles V to crush the
Protestants in Germany.
THE HUGUENOTS
Protestantism in France dates from the time of Francis I.
The Huguenots, [33] as the French Protestants were called, naturally accepted
the doctrines of Calvin, who was himself a Frenchman and whose books were
written in the French language. Though bitterly persecuted by Francis I and by
his son Henry II (1547-1559 A.D.), the Huguenots gained a large following,
especially among the prosperous middle class of the towns—the bourgeoisie.
Many nobles also became Huguenots, sometimes because of religious conviction,
but often because the new movement offered them an opportunity to recover their
feudal independence and to plunder the estates of the Church. In France, as
well as in Germany, the Reformation had its worldly side.
[33] The origin of the name is not known with certainty.
