View source for Estates General of 1560–1561

[[File:Estates General of 1560.png|alt=Picture of the estates general in session, with clergy left, nobility centre and commons right|thumb|335x335px|The Estates General in session at Orléans]]
{{Campaignbox French Wars of Religion}}
The '''Estates General of 1560–1561''' was a national meeting of the three estates of France, the clergy, nobility and commoners convoked by [[François II of France|François II]], though he would die before it could begin. It represented the first meeting of the estates general in 76 years, the last one having been convened by [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]] at Tours. Meeting at [[Orléans]] the estates would be tasked with providing solutions to the crowns dire fiscal problems, a legacy of the [[Habsburg–Valois Wars]], and the growing religious problem caused by the [[Reformation]]. The estates would however be unable to finish their deliberations, with [[Catherine de' Medici]] proroguing the session, and reconvening the estates general at a later date in 1561 at [[Pontoise]], where she sought a more agreeable selection of delegates. Ultimately the work of the estates would solve neither the crowns fiscal insolvency or the religious conflict, which exploded in the [[First French War of Religion (1562-1563)|first French War of Religion]].
== Prior crisis ==
{{main|1559–1562 French political crisis}}
=== Financial ===
With the [[peace of Cateau-Cambrésis]] in 1559, the crown was left on the cusp of bankruptcy. The public deficit stood at 40 million livres, of which 19 million was owed immediately.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Knecht|first=Robert|title=The French Wars of Religion 1559-1598|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=9781408228197|pages=22}}</ref> The interest rates on these loans were not insignificant, as lenders had grown wary of the crowns inability to pay over the years and this lack of confidence would only be furthered with [[Henry II of France|Henry II's]] death.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=103}}</ref> Many royal officials had been without pay for four years.<ref name=":0" /> An optimistic assessment put the crown's annual revenue at 12 million livres total, though this was not truly feasible to raise due to evasion.<ref name=":0" /> These fiscal problems were compounded by a crisis of authority, with the king, [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] accidentally killed during a celebration marking the peace on 10 July.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=111}}</ref> With his death the administration passed into the hands of the sickly young [[François II of France|François II]] who was governed for by his maternal uncles, [[François, Duke of Guise]] and [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion 1559-76: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=3–6}}</ref> To try and set about fixing the realms finances, they embarked upon an aggressive campaign of cost cutting, scaling down the size of the army from its height in the wars, and deferring payments to the troops, who angrily protested against the Guises.<ref name=":0" /> This would not however be enough, so they were moved to raise forced loans from the provinces, such as 800,000 livres from Normandy, to cover shortfalls.<ref name=":1" /> They further suppressed [[Venal office]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=104}}</ref>
Forced loans would continue into 1560, with 100,000 crowns being demanded of the Parlement and merchants of Paris in October 1560, shortly after the convoking of the estates had taken place.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=61}}</ref>
=== Religious ===
Despite the efforts of Henri II, [[Calvinism]] had continued to grow in France.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=92}}</ref> This first reached a head after France lost the [[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)|battle of St. Quentin]] with a mob storming a [[Huguenots|Huguenot]] worship sight on the ''rue Saint-Jacques,'' believing them responsible.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Diefendorf|first=Barbara|title=Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth Century Paris|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|isbn=0195070135|pages=50}}</ref> After this things quieted down until Henri II attended a mercurial session of Parlement in June 1559, to complain about the Parlements lax handling of heresy cases, and to push them to deal with radicals in their ranks.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=110}}</ref> After this, several of the more radical deputies rose to challenge the king, including [[Anne du Bourg]] who personally attacked the king, enraging him.<ref name=":2" /> The king ordered the arrest of du Bourg and 6 others, vowing to see du Bourg burn with own eyes.<ref name=":2" /> The trial of du Bourg exploded religious tensions in the capital, with many attempts to jail break him and a leading conservative Parlementaire being assassinated in December.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=113}}</ref> This would all aid the precipitation of the Saint-Medard religious riot in December, that left several dead.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Diefendorf|first=Barbara|title=Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth Century Paris|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|isbn=0195070135|pages=54}}</ref> The situation continued to deteriorate in France in 1560, with a wide-ranging Huguenot involved conspiracy to kidnap the king and remove his [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] guardians, the Guise.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holt|first=Mack|title=The French Wars of Religion 1562-1629|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780521547505|pages=44}}</ref> After the failure of Amboise, the south of France fell increasingly out of the governments hands, as the Protestant heartlands began seeing the seizure of churches, and further attempting a violent seizure of Lyon in August.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Potter|first=David|title=The French Wars of Religion: Selected Documents|publisher=Macmillan|year=1997|isbn=0312175450}}</ref> All this increased the urgency of a solution to the religious question, that the Cardinal of Lorraine believed could be attained with a reformation of morals in the Catholic church, to excise corruption and absentee bishops, thus bringing Protestant, and Catholic back into the same fold.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=129}}</ref>
=== Political ===
The sudden death of Henri II in 1559, meant that the King of France was now François II, a 15-year-old boy, technically old enough to rule without a regency, but lacking the will or constitution to do so.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Knecht|first=Robert|title=The French Wars of Religion 1559-1598|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=9781408228197|pages=21}}</ref> This created a situation of sharp contrast with the previous decade, where there was no longer a strong royal figure at the centre of the administration guiding policy.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holt|first=Mack|title=The French Wars of Religion 1562-1629|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780521547505|pages=42}}</ref> This crisis was only furthered more by his death in turn at the age of 16, to be succeeded by his minor brother [[Charles IX of France]] on 5 December 1560.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Knecht|first=Robert|title=The French Wars of Religion, 1559-1598|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=9781408228197|pages=29}}</ref> This meant a formal regency would be required, which would require the approval of the estates general to be legal.<ref name=":3" /> The estates were thought to be preferential towards a regency under [[Antoine of Navarre]] so to head this off, Catherine made a deal with him by which he renounced his rights to the regency, in return for the position of [[Lieutenant-General (France)|Lieutenant General]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sutherland|first=Nicola|title=Princes Politics and Religion 1547-89|publisher=Hambledon Press|year=1984|pages=64}}</ref>
== Calling the Estates General ==
In August 1560, in the wake of the [[Conspiracy of Amboise]] and [[Lyon]], the Guise summoned an [[1560 Assembly of Notables|Assembly of Notables]], composed of the leading aristocrats of the realm, with the exception of [[Antoine of Navarre]] and [[Louis, Prince of Condé (1530–1569)|Louis, Prince of Condé]] who were conscious they would likely be arrested if they attended.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Carroll|first=Stuart|title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199596799|pages=124}}</ref> At this assembly the 40 grandees announced a proposal for a package of reforms, for an Estates General to consider and concurrently called for a national religious council.<ref name=":4" /> The intention was for this estates general to convene at [[Meaux]] however with the rebellious atmosphere in the country, it was decided to move the location from this heart of French [[Protestantism]] to Orléans instead.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Knecht|first=Robert|title=The French Wars of Religion, 1559-1598|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=9781408228197|pages=27}}</ref> The proposed start date being 10 December.<ref name=":5" />
Conde arrived at Orléans for the estates general on 30 October, and was promptly arrested, accused of involvement in Amboise and Lyon and sentenced to death.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sutherland|first=Nicola|title=Princes, Politics and Religion 1547-1589|publisher=Hambledon Press|year=1984|pages=63–4}}</ref>
== Orléans ==
=== Preparation ===
[[File:Recueil des cahiers généraux des trois ordres aux États-Généraux, t1.djvu|alt=Image of the front page of the Cahier of the three estates for Orleans, Blois and Pontoise|thumb|Front page of the Cahiers of the Estates General]]
Before the estates proper could convene preparatory local assemblies were held among the individual estates, with the third and second estate concluding among themselves that clerical property should be confiscated, both as a tonic to the crowns financial problems, and as a method of righting the wrongs in the church morally.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Salmon|first=J.H.M|title=Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century|publisher=Meuthen & Co|year=1975|isbn=0416730507|pages=123–4}}</ref> This they held would allow the king to reduce taxation. Grimaudet was one of the champions of this among the second estate, critiquing the wasteful nature of clerical administration alongside the abuses of the clergy.<ref name=":6" /> He also critiqued what he felt had become a dilution of nobility, with men of common stock entering the ranks of the second estate off the back of their wealth.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Salmon|first=J.H.M|title=Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century|publisher=Meuthen & Co|year=1975|isbn=0416730507|pages=110}}</ref>
=== Opening the estates ===
The estates of Orléans would be opened by a speech from the reformist chancellor [[Michel de l'Hôpital]] in which he called for the suppression of religious passions.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Salmon|first=J.H.M|title=Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century|publisher=Meuthen & Co|year=1975|isbn=0416730507|pages=152}}</ref> Urging the members assembled to repress these animosities so administrative and political reform could be achieved. He took the line of Lorraine in suggesting that heresy had sprung up due to the deficiencies of the present church, and that by a reform in that, it might be possible to bring the two congregations back together.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=75}}</ref> He further highlighted the extraordinary circumstances facing the 10 year old Charles, orphaned and in a great deal of debt with much of the royal lands alienated.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=76}}</ref>
The estates general immediately ran into difficulties with the nobility, factions of whom protested that their commissions to meet had been granted by the late François, and that they would require a fresh commission from Charles IX to begin the tasks of the assembly.<ref name=":7" /> The queen inquired as to who held this position, asking for a list of names, however none would sign themselves as to holding the view.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=77}}</ref> After some delay, during which the ''cahiers'' were handed in by the participating delegates, the estates began their work.<ref name=":8" />
=== Religion ===
On the agenda were matters of justice, religion and finance, with the third estate, whose speaker was an ''avocat du roi'' from Bordeaux, presenting their case on the matter of religion first.<ref name=":8" /> He demanded a general council, the discipline of the clergy who had fallen into lax morals and vice, the alteration of justice and the removal of tax burden.<ref name=":8" /> The third estates orator also advocated for a general pardon for the goings on of Amboise, and the introduction of elections to ensure worthy prelates represented the church.<ref name=":8" /> Next up was the orator for the nobility, represented by the ''sieur'' de Rochefort.<ref name=":8" /> De Rochefort championed the nobility as the prime pillar of the state, arguing the clergy in their wealth were usurping this natural role of the aristocracy, colouring his argument in allusions to the [[Bible]] and [[Herodotus]].<ref name=":8" /> The nobility further argued that their rights as pillars of the state gave them the ability to choose how they worshipped freely, in the manner of the [[peace of Augsburg]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=78}}</ref> Quintin represented the first order for the clergy, arguing for prelate election to be left to the clergy, a cease to abuse of the ''dîme'' which he asserted had been extorted from the church many times a year and that attacks on church property cease.<ref name=":9" /> He further argued that heresy should be suppressed.<ref name=":9" />
One deputy took the position that the Huguenots should be granted churches in which to worship, earning a stinging rebuke from Quintin before Coligny came to his defence.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=79}}</ref>
The estates general as a whole proved unable or unwilling to come to any grand conclusions on religious policy, settling on a pardon for all those accused of involvement in the troubles of the year, without a requirement for any formal recantation.<ref name=":10" /> Further ordinances on the matter of religion were passed by the estates on the matter of the election of bishops, which was removed from the king's authority and given to a group of 12 nobleman, commoners and clergy to create.<ref name=":10" /> Annates to [[Rome]] including the [[Peter's Pence]] were to be cancelled, as it was argued these were immiserating the kingdom.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=80}}</ref> A deputy was sent off to Rome to inform the Pope of this decision.<ref name=":11" />
=== Justice and finance ===
Having discussed religion the estates moved on to justice, a matter that proved too thorny for them to handle, as the repurchase of the venal judicial offices by the crown that was desired was too expensive for the crown to currently contemplate.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=81}}</ref> Thus the estates came quickly to the matter of finance.<ref name=":12" /> Here some proposed bringing the officers of finance to account for the various alienations of the previous years, however others viewed this unwise, as most of these alienations had gone to influential nobles who it was unwise to anger and they prevailed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=87}}</ref> Cost cutting was taken up as an alternative, with all gentlemen in the king's household to have their stipends reduced by 50% whilst pensions would be reduced across the board by 33% except for foreign nobles.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=88}}</ref> The Scots guard was to be cut down in size by 200 men.<ref name=":13" /> However such measures alone would not provide fiscal stability for the crown, and more drastic means would be required.<ref name=":13" /> The great wealth of the church made itself an appropriate target for these efforts, with plans drawn up to requisition church land.<ref name=":13" /> The Pope was not entirely opposed to this idea, more fearful as he was of a national church council in France, and eager to buy it off with alienations of church property.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II.|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=89}}</ref> On the condition of this, and France maintaining a fleet against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] it was agreed for a 5-year plan of appropriation taking 360,000 ducats per annum in appropriations.<ref name=":14" />
All this business done, the estates were promptly prorogued by Catherine in February, irritated that on the matter of her regency they were proving hostile.<ref name=":3" />
== Pontoise ==
=== Prior to convening ===
New elections accompanied the reconvening of the estates general at Pontoise, with each ''bailli'' sending two representatives, this allowed the crown to judge the relative mood of the representatives to see if it would be more favourable to their agenda.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=106}}</ref> The estates of the [[Île-de-France]] region made their oppositional stance known early, pushing for an examination of the accounts of the previous king, a return to the 'ancient constitution' of France and the removal of Catherine de' Medici from the regency.<ref name=":15" /> Then the prohibition of any ecclesiastical person from place in the ''conseil privé'' and that Navarre be given the regency, with the king's education led by Admiral Coligny and Rochefoucauld.<ref name=":15" /> If all their demands were met they promised to relieve the king of his debts.<ref name=":15" />
=== Third estates proposal ===
This troubling auger out of the way, the estates in full assembled.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=107}}</ref>  This time the mayor of [[Autun]] Bretaigne orated for the third estate.<ref name=":16" /> He spoke at length about how decades of war and courtly excess had immiserated the population, leaving them nothing to offer him for his debts except goodwill.<ref name=":16" /> Thus he proposed instead the claiming of more church land as a tonic for the crown.<ref name=":16" /> This would be a much more aggressive seizure than the deal struck at Orléans however, with Bretaigne proposing the taking of all offices, benefices and dignities that are not officiated in a personal capacity.<ref name=":16" /> Further that from benefices that are attended in person an amount on an increasing scale should be taxed of them with a flat rate kept by the clergy after their income exceeded 12000 livres.<ref name=":16" /> For monastic orders, the entire income not needed to clothe and feed the monks should be seized.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=108}}</ref> If these measures were insufficient to save the crowns finance Bretaigne proposed direct sale of church property, arguing 26 million livres worth could be raised in such a fashion.<ref name=":17" />
=== The crown's compromise ===
This provocative proposal aroused fury from the Constable [[Anne de Montmorency]] who was in attendance, exclaiming the speaker should be hanged.<ref name=":17" /> The clergy realising that the crown had few realistic proposals to reach solvency other than through taking from the church offered a counter proposal, arguing that they could award the crown a ten million livres gift, for not taking the third estate's idea.<ref name=":17" /> The crown was unsatisfied by this, and after some negotiation, settled on a yearly gift of 1,600,000 livres.<ref name=":17" /> This alone would not however be enough to rescue the crown and after several months more negotiation up to the end of the year it was agreed the clergy would purchase back the mortgaged royal domain over the following six years.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=109}}</ref>
With this out of the way the combined estates would prove more amenable to the queen's position on the regency. Despite their earlier mutterings.<ref name=":3" />
== Registration and legacy ==
=== Registration ===
When the Ordinance of Orléans, which embodied the conclusions reached at the estates general, came before the [[Parlement]] of Paris to register into law, the Parlement balked.<ref name=":18">{{Cite book|last=Roelker|first=Nancy|title=One King One Faith: The Parlement of Paris and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century|publisher=University of California Press|year=1996|isbn=0520086260|pages=257}}</ref> Challenging it both on procedural and constitutional grounds they refused to register it.<ref name=":18" /> They first attacked the crown for telling them they didn't need to scrutinise it due to being a subordinate part of the wider estates general themselves.<ref name=":18" /> They further critiqued the crown for trying to hurry it through the Parlement by submitting it just before the Parlement broke for summer vacation.<ref name=":18" /> These procedural matters through, they moved on to attacking the ordinances on constitutional grounds, highlighting how the ordinance covered clerical matters despite the fact there was a concurrent assembly of bishops debating religious issues.<ref name=":18" /> The Parlement argued it was improper to have two assemblies debating the same issues at the same time.<ref name=":18" /> In November [[Michel de l'Hôpital]] visited the Parlement to chastise them for their insolence, characterising their actions as an illegal usurpation of legislative power.<ref name=":18" /> The ordinance would be registered.<ref name=":18" />
=== Legacy ===
The financial obligations regarding the clergy would be poorly enforced. Necessitating a subsequent agreement be made in 1563 and 1567.<ref name=":19">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=109}}</ref> By 1567 the clergy had successfully finished their 'gifts' and were ready to commence re-purchase of the royal domain. By now though the king desired more, and wanted to continue the yearly payments of 1,600,000.<ref name=":19" /> This caused outraged protest from the clergy, as a violation of the Pontoise agreement.<ref name=":19" /> The crown persisted regardless, but as a compromise cancelled the 'secular tithe' and allowed the clergy to raise their own taxation for the first time ever.<ref name=":19" /> This agreement too would be violated, with the king sequestering 2,000,000 livres arbitrarily in 1572, and engaging in compulsory alienations of church land in 1568 and 1574.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=James|title=The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Phillip II|publisher=Chicago University Press|year=1909|pages=110}}</ref> The multiple civil wars having kept the crown away from financial stability the crown almost collapsing again from financial strain in 1570 as the third civil war dragged on.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holt|first=Mack|title=The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780521547505|pages=73}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[1559-1562 French political crisis]]
* [[Michel de l'Hôpital]]
* [[Colloquy of Poissy]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Estates General of France}}
[[Category:Estates General (France)|1560]]
[[Category:1560 in France]]
[[Category:1561 in France]]
[[Category:1561 in law]]
[[Category:Catherine de' Medici]]