Holy League

(Sainte Ligue or Sainte Union)

   The Ligue, or sainte Ligue, was a confederation of French Catholics that played an essential role in the Religious Wars in France after 1576. Formed initially in picardy to resist the application of the Peace of Monsieur (1576), the Ligue (or League) quickly spread through the rest of the country. To its avowed purpose, the defense of the Catholic faith, was added the goal of dethroning henry III in favor of Henri de Guise (see house of guise), its leader. sustained by subsidies from Philip II of spain, the Ligue became extremely powerful after the day of the barricades and took action when the succession passed to Henri de Navarre (henry iv) upon the death of the duke of Anjou. Henry III had tricked Henry of Guise into coming to Blois, where he was assassinated, along with his brother, the cardinal of Lorraine. This provoked a general uprising. charles de lorraine, duke of mayenne, became head of the Ligue and continued the struggle against Henry IV after the assassination of Henry III. Meanwhile, the Ligue had proclaimed the cardinal of Bourbon as king under the name Charles X. In 1590, Mayenne attacked Arques and ivry, but Paris continued to hold out. The abjuration of his Protestantism by Henry IV added to the discrediting of the Ligue, which had already been weakened by internal conflicts and by the claims of Philip II to the French throne. In 1594, Mayenne and Henry IV signed an agreement that put an end to the religious wars.