Charles IX reigned during the first Wars of Religion. Under the influence of his mother Catherine de’ Medici, the kingdom oscillated between negotiation and violence.
Civil wars
From 1562, successive wars opposed Catholics and Huguenots. Brief peaces (Amboise, Saint-Germain) failed to last.
St Bartholomew’s Day (1572)
The massacre of Protestants in Paris and the provinces remains the darkest episode of the reign. Charles IX died in 1574; Henry III succeeded him.