BATTLE OF IVRY
The Protestant Reformation had established itself elsewhere across Europe in the 16th century but hadn’t made much headway into France until the emergence of Calvinism. Based in Geneva, the Calvinists sent missionary preachers to France, where they founded churches among their new adherents, who became known as the Huguenots.
Royal officials in France began to ruthlessly persecute the Calvinists because they saw them as a threat to the traditional order. One area where Calvinism enjoyed great success was in the Kingdom of Navarre in the south west of France, where Antoine de Bourbon reigned. Though Antoine was himself ambivalent about Protestantism, his wife and queen, Jeanne d’Albret, was a fervent Calvinist.
HENRY OF NAVARRE
Into this world of split religious allegiances came Henry, born in December 1553. Growing up in Pau, the capital city of Navarre, the young prince of the House of Bourbon impressed his elders with his keen intelligence. Meanwhile religious civil wars engulfed France for nearly 40 years, starting in 1562. At Dreux, a royal (Catholic) army defeated a Huguenot force in battle. The heavy toll in lives did much to encourage the warring factions to do their best to avoid fighting pitched battles in the future. It did not, however, bring an end to the fighting.
In an attempt to heal the factional
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