Today in 1562 Catherine de Medici of France issued the Edict of St. Germain.
This was the official recognition in France of the French Protestants, or Huguenots, and it tried to walk a middle line in Catholic France. It recognized the existence of Protestants, and granted freedom of conscience and private worship, though it did forbid Protestant worship in towns because it would start a riot too easily.
Sadly, it would not have the effect that Catherine wanted it to – instead stirring up anti-Protestant sentiment. The first religious war in France began later that year with a massacre of Protestants in March. This is important to England because it was the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day a decade later that would so affect Elizabethan Protestants.
French Huguenot refugees poured in to England telling their horror stories of the massacre, which lasted for weeks, and it led England to deeply fear the Catholics, and what they might do if they were to seize control in England.
Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s Spymaster, was in France during the massacre and he was deeply affected by it, and spent the rest of his life fighting against Catholics in England.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 75: Elizabeth and France
Episode 103: Tudor Times on Francis Walsingham
Throwback Episode 027: Francis Walsingham, Spymaster
From the shop:
“Knowledge is Power. France Is Bacon.” Shirt
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.