The ‘Weakness of Conscience’ in the Reformed Movement in the Netherlands: The Attitude of the Dutch Reformation to the use of Violence Between 1562 and 1574

Abstract

The most important cause of the French civil war, starting in 1562, was religion. Of course, there were other motives too, especially the resistance of nobles to the centralization of power in Paris, but it was the struggle for freedom of religion which gave this war such a destructive character. The young Calvinist churches provided their warriors with all the mental and spiritual support they needed. In their opinion it was a struggle for the sake of God; it was a just war. Asmagistratus inferioresthe nobles had the right, even the duty, to control and eventually to oppose the higher authority of the king. With arguments borrowed from the old testament and natural law they even defended the right of violent resistance to the government. Theological support came also from Geneva, especially from Theodore Beza. Without the Calvinist reformation there would not have been such a violent civil war, such a revolt, at that moment in the history of France.