Religious wars ravage Europe
One summary of the periods says, we fought the first
War like angles
The second war like men
The third war like the devils

EUROPEAN & ASIAN HISTORY 1570 - 1584

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The English must attend Church or be fined
People are not allowed to move from parish to parish without permission
A Papal Bull stressed that the Christ killers (Jews) is by nature slaves

1559  

Emperor Philip II (a German Habsburg) (1556-1598) of Spain controlled the Netherlands, Franche Comte, Sardinia, Sicily, the Balearic Isles and a greater part of the Italian Peninsula except Venice and the States of the Church.  Spain ruled the greater part of the new world including holdings in northern Africa and Asia.  The Sun never set on the dominions of the King of Spain.  The Emperor issued the Divine Right of Kings claiming a personal responsibility to God for the welfare of every one of his subjects individually.  This included a passion for social justice and for the protection of the poor against their oppressors.  M. Durham suggests the title Emperor was never used in association with King Philip II (1527-1598) of Spain.

Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) sent 130,000 men into Eastonia and attacked the Teutonic Order and this time not even babies are spared.  The people are stripped naked without regard of the freezing weather, tying and binding them by three or four at their horse’s tails, dragging them blooding the ways and streets.  The streets are full of carcasses of aged men, women and children.

The Huguenot became a political party in France.  Ambassador Edward Carne appeared before Paul IV (1555-1559) to inform him that Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII (1509-1547) and Anne Boleyn had followed Mary on the throne in England.  Pope Paul IV disagreed violently with Plato who said women are equal to men, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is right, women are men who have not quite come off.  It is sheer audacity on her part to presume to govern England when it belonged to him.  She is a usurper, a bastard, a heretic, if she renounced her ridiculous pretensions and came to him penitent at once, he would see what he could do for her.  Within a few months England broke off diplomatic links with Rome.

Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) blamed the Jews for the reformation and allowed sixty Jews to be burned alive.
Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) made the parish a unit of state administration forcing people to attend or be fined making the vicar or priest as powerful as the squire.  They were taught that rebellion against the Crown is a sin against God but slave trading is an honorable profession.

Michel de Nostradame (1503-1566) the great prophet predicted that "the young lion will overcome the old, in field of combat in a single fight.  He will pierce his eyes in a golden cage, two wounds in one, he then dies a cruel death."  The King and his court are well aware of the Nostradamus prophecy.  July 10, King Henry II of France died having been accidentally pierced in the right eye while jousting with the Scottish Count of Montgomery.  The King and young Montgomery both had a lion in their coat of arms.  During the joust an unknown boy cried out "The king will die."  Catherine is reported to have said "cursed be the magician who predicted so evilly and so well."  His son Francis II (1559-1560) at age sixteen became King.  Given his age a Royal decree is issued announcing that the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine had been appointed to take charge of all fiscal matters, military affairs and diplomatic relations.  The Cardinal increased the violence against the Huguenots.  During the few months of Francis II (1559-1560) reign more than twice as many victims are condemned and burned at the stake than during all of King Henry II (1547-1559) time.  Houses suspected of being the scene of heretic meeting are razed and the owner put to death.  People who they believed knew of the meetings but didn't inform authorities are themselves declared heretics.  Parish priests are ordered to excommunicate those who fail to denounce heretics.  The more they are persecuted the more they increased in numbers and within a year 25 percent of France are Huguenot.  The Huguenot claimed that the Cardinal of Lorraine had entered into an incestuous alliance with the new young Queen in order to provide her with an heir.  The family of Guise is hated as much as the Church.

Geneva is the stronghold of Calvinism with scholars from Scotland, Poland, France, England, Netherlands and Germany in attendance.  The Bishop of Winchester reported that the wolves be coming out of Geneva full of pestilent doctrines, blasphemy and heresy to infect the people.

July 17:  A Papal Bull stressed that the Christ killers, the Jews, is by nature slaves and should be treated as such.  They are to be confined to a ghetto with one entrance.  Jews are forced to sell all their property at twenty percent of its value.  They are forbidden to engage in commerce or deal in corn but they could otherwise sell food and second hand cloths.  They are obliged to wear a yellow hat in public.  The Germans would follow these teachings in the twentieth century.

1560  

Russian Tsar Ivan IV (1500-1584) invaded Livland inflicting atrocities and devastation.  The Teutonic Order of Knights is bankrupt almost without troops when their fortress fell.  The Order disbanded with many returning to Germany.

The Archbishop of the Swedish Lutheran Church forbids priests to have any dealings with Gypsy (Roma). Their children are not to be christened and their dead not to be buried.

Spanish legislation forbids Gypsy (Gitanos) of traveling in groups of more than two. Gypsy (Gitano) "dress and clothing" is banned. Punishment for wearing Gypsy (Gitano) clothing and traveling in groups of more than two is up to eighteen years in the galleys for those over fourteen years of age. This legislation is later altered to change the punishment to death for all nomads, and the galleys reserved for settled Gypsy (Gitanos).

December 5:   Francis II (1547-1559) of France died and Charles IX (1560-1574) not quite ten succeeded his brother.  His mother Queen mother Catherine de Medici the Italian declared she would rule the State for her son.  Fifty percent of French nobles are declared Calvinist and France contained about 2,000 Huguenot.  The house of Montmorency and Bourbon split with the younger members siding with the Protestants.  The House of Bourbon alias Borvo is Celtic in nature being derived from the God Borvo whose cult thrived in the Loire and Rhone Valleys as well as in Provence and the Alps.

1561 

Mary Queen of Scots married 1558 to the French Kings son Francis of Valois returned to Scotland this year a widow.  Queen mother Catherine de Medici of France called a council of churches to resolve the Roman and Huguenot conflict before it destroys France.  The General of the Jesuit, who is present as an observer, addressed the visitors from Geneva (Huguenot) as wolves, foxes, serpents and assassins thereby undermining the objectives of the council.  The Holy See alarmed at the growth of the Calvinist approached Philip of Spain to take a personal hand against France to prevent it from being governed by heretics.  The Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) the Roman suggested such an enterprise is a duty, as well as a pious, just, honest, easy and glorious Work.

Gypsy (Roma) are prohibited by Charles IX of France from residence. The punishment is banishment. A second offence results in the galleys and corporal punishment. Men, women and children have their heads shaved.

1562  

England under Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) began selling West Africa slaves to work for the Spanish in America.  John Hawkins carried his first human cargo this year.  The Queen Mother of France allowed a small contingent of colonists, all of them Huguenots, to the New World.  The establishment of Fort Caroline, is approval by Queen Catherine of France.

An Act is passed in England "for further punishment of Vagabonds, calling themselves Egyptians." Any Gypsy born in England and Wales is not compelled to leave the country if they quit their idle and ungodly life and company. All others should suffer death and loss of lands and goods.

January 17:   Queen Mother Catherine issued an edict granting the Huguenots religious freedom.  The objective is to keep our subjects at peace until such time as God will do us the grace to be able to reunite them in one fold.  The Priests from the pulpits denounced the Queen as a Jezebel and her advisors as the prophets of Baal.  The Roman Catholic faction is led by the Theology Faculty at the University of Paris, and somewhat from the Jesuit instructors.  The priests are feeding the religious fears in Paris causing a series of violent clashes.   

March 1:  The War of Religions began when the Duke of Guise, a Roman Catholic in Vassy near Chalons-sur-Marne, France on March 1, attacked a group of Christian Huguenots at worship killing more than sixty villagers.  He ordered their priest hung.  The Duke then led his men into Paris to incite the Roman Catholics.  The Queen Mother proclaimed that everything that is done on one side and the other is nothing but a desire to rule and to take from me under cover and color of religion what power I have.  The resulting conflict between the Christian sects lasted for thirty-six years.

l563  

English Parliament made Justice of the Peace responsible for fair wages and working hours.  A work day started at five in the morning ending between seven or eight at night with two half hours allowed for meals.  People were not allowed to move from their parish where they were born without permission.  It was estimated there were over ten thousand homeless people on the road.  Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) made plans to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) when King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain dissuade him from issuing a bull.  Emperor Philip is concerned that if Elizabeth is deposed then Mary Queen of Scots would ascend to the throne, she is a Roman Catholic, part of the French system of alliances and hostile to Spain.

King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain, Italy, most of Europe and the New World finally allowed the publication of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) with the addition of a clause by the Imperial Crown that many of the decrees are of no effect.

The Council of Trent required marriage be conducted in a church, by a priest, and before two witnesses to be valid and binding.

The Council of Trent in Rome affirms that Gypsy (Roma) cannot be priests

Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, d-1572 departs Mexico with an invasion force to conquer and subject the Peoples of the Philippines.  He occupied the Ladrone Islands (Northern Mariana Islands).

February:   After the assassination of the Roman Catholic Duc de Guise by a Huguenot, Jean Polrot de Mere it became difficult to maintain order in Paris, France.  Mere was publicly executed in March 18. 

1565  

The Basque galleon, San Juan owned by Ramos de Arrietay Borna of Pasajes, not properly moored was lost in the Red Bay, Labrador with one thousand barrels of whale oil and her crew of seventy five.  The ship La Concecion and other ships returned the crew to Spain.  Saddle Island was being used to render the whale blubber into oil.  Joanes de Portu returned to Red Bay in 1566 to recover as many barrels of whale oil as possible.

Charles IX King of France with his Queen Mother Catherine de Medici swears to uphold the freedom of the city of La Rochelle, a Huguenot stronghold.  This is a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages.
The Duke of Alva, Spain as Governor of the Netherlands proudly conceded having ordered the execution of 18,000 unrepentant heretics.  Netherlands rebelled against Spanish rule demanding abolishment of the Inquisition and the edicts and consult with the States-General on the religious question.  A large part of the country lay under the jurisdiction of foreign prelates, such as the French Archbishop of Rheims.  Luxembourg is administered by six different bishops not one whom resides in the Duchy of Netherlands.  The regent being intimidated by the mob gave orders that virtually granted a temporary grant of religious toleration.  Calvinists swarmed into the Netherlands from France, Germany, England and Geneva and strove to carry out the complete destruction of Catholic worship.  Over four hundred churches and monasteries are looted or destroyed over the next year.  Monks and nuns are maltreated or killed.

Pope Pius IV (1559-1565) died and the popular hatred for him and his family exploded and the rioting crowds destroyed the headquarters of the Inquisition releasing its wretched prisoners and destroying the statues of the pope.  Pius IV alias Giovanni Angelo (1559-1565) a father of three children is elected pope.

Miguel Lopez de Legaspi d-1572, arrives the Philippines and took possession of Cebu to begin a 333 year reign of Spanish rule.  The Augustinian Friars organized the Spanish Government and essentially had administrative control over the Islands.  Legaspi went on to occupy Manila.

September:  A Spanish fleet of eight ships swooped down on Fort Caroline, Florida and put the French Huguenots to death.  King Philip of Spain had ordered placards be put around their necks reading "hung not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans".  The Spanish discovered the French intruders at Fort Caroline and killed all the inhabitants.

1566  

Pope Pius V (1566-1572) issued Scripturia et Traditio that the bible and the teachings of the Church, are to be treated as equally authoritative in doctrinal matters.  The Pope took the precaution of sending a special brief to the Spanish Bishops ordering them to publish it in defiance of the Emperor.  The Bishops refused to do so without the permission of the Royal Council.  The pope said you in Spain wish to be Pope and refer everything to the King.  The King is fully aware that the clergy is an integral part of the civil service and their loyalty is imperative in governing the Empire.  The clergy is expected to use their influence in the pulpit and confessional to support Royal edicts.  The common belief at this time is that more than one religion in one State would bring that State to destruction.

Queen Elizabeth told the French ambassador that the three parliaments she had already held were enough for any reign and she would have no more.  The council or parliament however met thirteen times during her forty four-year reign.

King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain issued a decree that Muslims traditional dress, custom and Arabic language is prohibited.

The Inquisiteurs tortured and burned the heretics especially the Jews, failure to do so resulted in their being excommunicated and suspected of heresy.  Pope Innocent IV had authorized the use of torture.

1567  

Muzong of China with a Reign Title of Longqing, Reigned (1567-1572) of the Ming Dynesty.

Pope Pius V (1566-1572) issued a papal bull against bullfights pronouncing all that took part in them excommunicated.  King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain consulted a body of Spanish theologians and is assured this entertainment is not sinful so the papal edict is disregarded with the support of the Spanish bishops.

King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain sent 10,000 Spanish army veterans into the Netherlands to put down the religious rebellion.  Nobles including the Knights of the Golden Fleece are tried equally with all men and those found guilty are executed.  The executions continued for the next two years likely numbering in the thousands.

On the advice of Pope Pius V (1566-1572) and the Archbishop of Granada, King Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain issued an edict to forbid all Moorish customs.  Arabic language is to be replaced by Spanish within three years.  All Arabic books are to be collected, artificial baths are forbidden.  Moorish houses must open the doors to their homes during marriage feasts, on Fridays and on Holy Days of the Spanish Church to observe any Moorish practices.  This edict would lead to civil war.  The Spanish Moors believed they could raise a 100,000 man army from its 85,000 households and 15,000 from the Turks and Moors from beyond the sea.

1568  

The Edict of Saint Maur prohibited all religions but Catholicism, thereby making it irrevocable and perpetual.  As a result great religious intolerance continued top grow in Paris. 

The civil war in France between the Romans and Huguenots reached lower levels of cruelty on both sides.  A Huguenot fleet intercepted seven Portuguese ships bound for Brazil carrying 69 Jesuit and they are all thrown overboard.  Rapes, mutilation and mass execution are so common Francois de la Noue, a Huguenot field commander put it simply: "we fought the first war like angels, the second like men and the third like devils.  Henri, Duke of Guise formed the Catholic League to defend the faith against the Huguenots.

The Spanish civil war saw the massacre of the priests and their women and children are sold as slaves to Barbary in exchange for arms and munitions.  The Spanish troops wandered the land plundering and kidnapping Morisco women to sell as slaves.  The rebellion by the Spanish Muslim's is crushed by King Philip II of Spain who also ordered the dispersal of the Moslem population of Andalusia to all parts of Castile.  Granada is depopulated and repopulated with genuine Old Christians.  Henceforth any male Morisco over age 16 found within 10 leagues of the province of Granada is to be killed and any female over nine and one half is to be sold into slavery.  About 60,000 Spanish had lost their lives during the war.  The Moors are not allowed to leave their house without permission.  They were dispersed among the Christians and forced to attend Christian schools.  This same year Protestantism in northern Spain is virtually quenched with the burning of Herrezuelo's widow, Leonor de Cisneros.

William of Orange raised a 25,000 man army from western Germany invading southern Netherlands to champion the liberty of the country but is forced to retire due to lack of Netherlands support.

Pope Pius V orders the expulsion of all Gypsy (Roma) from the domain of the Roman Catholic Church.

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