The Edict of July, also known as the first Edict of Saint-Germain was a decree of limited tolerance promulgated by the regent of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

, in July 1561. Whilst it emphasised a continued commitment to banning

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

worship in France, it granted pardon for all religious offenses since the reign of

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

, who had died two years earlier, which was a victory for the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

community. A further Protestant victory was in the reaffirmation of the removal of the death penalty for heresy cases. The edict would be overtaken by events, and ultimately left unenforced as France moved first to the landmark

Edict of Saint-Germain The Edict of Saint-Germain (), also known as the Edict of January (), was a landmark decree of tolerance promulgated by the regent of France, Catherine de' Medici, in January 1562. The edict provided limited tolerance to the Protestant Hugueno ...

and then into the

Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent ...

Legislative background

During the reign of

, several attempts were made to suppress Protestantism, which had been growing in France whilst Henry was distracted by the Habsburg–Valois Wars. This manifested in the Edicts of Chateaubriand, Ecouen and

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

. The substance of these being to push France on a more Spanish approach to heresy, with the re-establishment of the

Chambre Ardente ''La chambre ardente'' was the name given to a special court established for the trial of heretics in France during the reign of Francis I in the 16th century. The name has been translated to mean "the fiery chamber." Institution Special cou ...

and the sending out of special commissioners to tackle heresy cases. This program of repression was cut short with Henry's sudden early death during a joust in 1559. Whilst a similar policy was attempted under his sickly son

François II Francis II (; 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King of Scotland as the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560. He ascended the throne of France at age 15 af ...

this was abandoned by 1560, with the

Edict of Amboise (1560) The Edict of Amboise (1560) was a decree that created the framework to separate heresy from sedition, promulgated by the young king Francis II of France, Francis II on the advice of his council and mother Catherine de' Medici. The edict was the f ...

pardoning those convicted of heresy offenses, provided they returned to good Catholic lives and the

Edict of Romorantin The Edict of Romorantin, was a decree designed to alter the prosecution of heretics, promulgated by the King of France, François II, in May 1560. The decree came in the wake of the Amboise conspiracy in which many Protestant Huguenots had partic ...

in May, which moved heresy cases to ecclesiastical courts, which couldn't give death penalties. When François in turn died in December 1560 this program of liberalising was accelerated, as

Gaspard II de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon (; 16 February 1519 – 24 August 1572), was a French nobleman, Admiral of France, and Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. He served under kings Francis I and Henry II during the ...

and

Michel de l'Hôpital Michel de l'Hôpital (or l'Hospital; 1506 – 13 March 1573) was a French lawyer, diplomat and chancellor during the latter Italian Wars and the early French Wars of Religion. The son of a doctor in the service of Constable Bourbon he spent his e ...

took the reins of government for the young Charles IX. In the

Edict of 19 April The Edict of 19 April was a religious edict promulgated by the regency council of Charles IX of France on 19 April 1561. The edict would confirm the decision of the Estates General of 1560-1 as regarded the amnesty for religious prisoners. The ed ...

L'Hôpital outlawed the use of hostile religious epithets such as 'Papiste' and 'Huguenot.' He also limited the rights of investigators to search private property. Heretics in exile would be allowed to return if they lived as obedient Catholics, or to sell their property should they remain out of the country. The ''

Parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

'' of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

reacted incredulously to this law, attacking it first on procedural grounds, given it had been sent to the

Bailli A bailiff (, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his bailiwick ...

and

Senechaussee A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combine ...

courts, before moving onto substantive critiques, accusing the King of approving diversity of religion, acting contrary to previous edicts, and funding the enemies of France through allowing exiles to sell their property. The court remonstrated the King to this effect. On June 11 the crown received a petition from Huguenots unsatisfied with the Edict of 19 April, asking for temples in which to worship. The petition stated that the libellous rumours about what Huguenots got up to in their secret services would dissipate if they could worship in public temples. At the same time the ''Parlement'' and the ultra grandees pressured for a retreat from the April 19 Edict. Catherine decided to host a ''pourparler'' to address this petition and policy more broadly.

Tensions in France

Concurrently to the legislative efforts proposed by the crown and ''Parlement,'' the situation was deteriorating fast in the capital and the country more broadly. Beginning in 1557 popular religious violence was a feature of the capital with the attack on the service held in St Jacques after the loss at the battle of St. Quentin. This accelerated with the

trial and execution of Anne du Bourg The trial and execution of Anne du Bourg was a critical event in the history of religious conflict in Paris, prior to the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion three years later. Anne du Bourg, a judge in the Parlement of Paris, would be execute ...

in 1559. This high profile execution of a ''Parlementaire'' precipitated the Saint Medard riot in December of that year and the assassination of ''President'' Minard. Continued clashes occurred at Popincourt in April 1561 around Lent. This was furthered in a scandalous discovery of Protestant services being held at the house of Michel Gaillard, with the

duc de Longueville Duke of Longueville ('' Longueville-sur-Scie'') was a title of French nobility, though not a peerage of France. History The title was created in 1505 by King Louis XII of France for his first cousin once removed, François d'Orléans, Count of ...

and Catherine de Medici's cousin in attendance. As this was happening at the same time as Hopital was legislating against house searches the two were interpreted to be connected by the Catholic population. Students assaulted the Gaillard house, as Protestant gentlemen rushed to his defence, leading to a two day riot. The ''Parlement'' ordered Gaillard to vacate Paris on April 28, on pain of being declared a rebel. Meanwhile the situation in the broader country was also deteriorating, with churches being seized by the Protestants in their southern strongholds such as

Millau Millau (; ) is a commune in Occitania, France. Located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers, the town is a subprefecture of the Aveyron department. Millau is known for its Viaduct, glove industry and several nearby natural ...

and

Montauban Montauban (, ; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, and the sixth most populated of Oc ...

. It is in this context that the crown pushed towards more edicts on the matter of religion.

The ''pourparler''

The queen referred the petition she received first to the privy council, which suggested it was a matter for the ''Parlements'' to discuss. Yet the queen and her allies, conscious of the ''Parlement'''s conservativism, were unwilling to pursue this route, and decided instead to host a ''pourparler,'' to be attended by 150 grandees and magistrates of the realm. The ''pourparler'' would occur in twenty three sessions between 23 June and 17 July and was framed by Hopital not on grounds of religion but rather methods of pacifying the discord in France. Both

Guise Guise ( , ; ) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville. Population Sights The remains of t ...

brothers were present and they argued in favour of the 'moderate conservative' position, no tolerance to Protestantism, but no return to the era of burnings with support for a national council to solve the churches ills. Admiral Coligny and the Chancellor meanwhile advocated that this was simply unworkable and proposed toleration as a temporary necessity at least. Tournon championed the old guard, though by this point he was very frail and senile, denouncing the idea of a national council. Matters became heated between Coligny and Guise on the issue of tolerance, with the duke saying on the matter that he "would not keep his sword sheathed forever" if toleration was granted. Eventually it came down to a vote, with the decision to not offer tolerance but allow Protestants to sell their goods before leaving the kingdom winning by a majority of 3 votes. After the vote Catherine oversaw the burning of the anonymous ballots, so that no one might become compromised for the position they had taken.

Terms of the edict

In its most fundamental aspect, the edict confirmed the ban on Protestant worship in France. However there were many moderate concessions made, such that the ultras were perceived to have lost the discussions. Firstly corporal punishment was ended as a punishment for crimes of heresy. Both private and public religious meetings also remained banned on pain of confiscation of property. However in reinforcement of the edict of April 19, civilian subjects were prohibited from investigating what was going on in the house of a neighbour, a matter only for the police. The edict of Romorantin's removal of heresy as a crime only for the ecclesiastical courts was again endorsed. Whereas Romorantin had technically left the door open for the death penalty through case referral to the secular courts from the ecclesiastical for sentencing, this loophole was now ended. Banishment was to be the harshest punishment for heresy, and a false accuser was to receive the same punishment as would their target had they been guilty. Amnesty was granted for past religious offenses that were not armed and a ban on firearms in urban areas was established with a penalty of 50 crowns.Prohibition established on the carrying of daggers or swords unless the subject is a gentleman. All terms of the edict were to be provisional, waiting for either a national council of the clergy or a general council of the church.

Enforcement

The ''Parlement'' of Paris registered the edict of July provisionally, whilst reserving the right to remonstrate against it later, before turning their attention to what they felt was the far more egregious ordinance of

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and This was partly due to local authorities who were unwilling or no longer able to act against such services, and partly a royal policy to allow such discreet worship, despite the terms of the edict. The royal governor of Paris

Charles, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon Charles de Bourbon, Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, (10 October 1565), was a Prince of the Blood and provincial governor under three French kings. He fought in the latter Italian wars during the reign of Henri II, commanding an army during the 155 ...

turned a deaf ear to complaints from ''Parlement'' about Protestant ''prêches'' occurring in and around the city. Matters would reach a head in December 1561, with Protestants and Catholics again clashing at rival services near Saint Medard, with two dying as a result. Demonstrating a failure of the edict to quell religious violence as it had intended. In January 1562, the crown made the edict obsolete, and thus ended any enforcement of it, with the establishment of the

edict of Saint-Germain The Edict of Saint-Germain (), also known as the Edict of January (), was a landmark decree of tolerance promulgated by the regent of France, Catherine de' Medici, in January 1562. The edict provided limited tolerance to the Protestant Hugueno ...

Subsequent events

With the passage of the edict of Saint-Germain, a more full recognition of a Huguenot presence in France was granted, and Huguenot worship legalised outside of the cities of the kingdom. The edict was much more vigorously opposed by the ''Parlements'' who held out on registration for over 30 days, and many Catholic grandees, and would ultimately hold for but a few months before the

Duke of Guise Count of Guise and Duke of Guise ( , ) were titles in the French nobility. Originally a Fiefdom, seigneurie, in 1417 Guise was erected into a county for René I of Naples, René, a younger son of Louis II of Anjou. While disputed by the House of ...

would perpetrate the

Massacre of Vassy The Massacre of Vassy () was the murder of Huguenot worshippers and citizens in an armed action by troops of the Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France on 1 March 1562. The massacre is identified as the first major event in the French Wars of Religion. ...

bringing France towards a civil war. Over the following 30 years, there would be many edicts outlining different interpretations of the rights of the Huguenots in France, before finally the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was an edict signed in April 1598 by Henry IV of France, King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinism, Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantl ...

References

{{Religious edicts of the Valois Monarchy Edicts of the Ancien Régime Religion in the Ancien Régime 1561 in France Christianity and law in the 16th century 1561 in law Treaties of the Kingdom of France