Francis II and the Rise of Factions

Francis II's brief reign (1559-1560) saw religious division merge with aristocratic factionalism to create civil war's preconditions. The fifteen-year-old king, dominated by his wife Mary Stuart's Guise relatives, lacked personal authority to manage escalating conflicts. The Guises' ultra-Catholic policies alienated Protestant nobles while their domination of government angered rival aristocratic houses.

The Conspiracy of Amboise (1560) marked the transition from religious dissent to political rebellion. Protestant nobles, led nominally by the Prince de Condé but inspired by theological conviction and political ambition, attempted to seize the king and eliminate Guise influence. The plot's failure led to savage repression that further polarized opinion. Public executions of conspirators demonstrated royal authority's fragility—secure power need not display itself so brutally.

Catherine de Medici's emergence as a political force began during her eldest son's reign. The Italian-born queen mother, previously marginalized, recognized that royal authority's survival required balancing competing factions rather than allowing any to dominate. Her convocation of the Estates General and the Assembly of Notables at Fontainebleau showed willingness to seek broader consensus. These initiatives, though failing to resolve religious differences, established patterns of negotiation that would characterize her regency.