The seven French Wars of Religion began in 1562 and lasted for 36 years. Although the wars were fought between Catholics and Protestants, this books draws out in full the equally important struggle for power between the king and the leading nobles, and the rivalry between the nobles themselves as they vied for control of the king. In a time when human life counted for little, the destruction reached its height in the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre when up to 70,000 Protestants lost their lives.
Author Biography
Robert Jean Knecht is Emeritus Professor of French History at the University of Birmingham, where he taught from 1956 unti 1994. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has been Chairman of the Society for the Study of French History and of the Society of Renaissance Studies. He has written extensively on sixteenth-century France, especially the reign of Francis I. Hies latest book is The French Civil Wars (London, Pearson, 2000).
