1562 - Political Events

Political Events

Irish chieftain Shane O'Neill, now 31, arrives at London January 4 with the earls of Ormonde and of Kildare (see 1561). They meet with Elizabeth, who fears that O'Neill is becoming a tool of Spanish intriguers (see 1560). She permits him to return to Ireland and recognizes him as "the O'Neill," captain of Tyrone. His kinsman Turlough O'Neill tries to supplant him in his absence, but Shane reasserts his authority upon his return in May and resumes fighting with other chieftains, notably the MacDonnells, whom he routs along with the loyal O'Donnells in the northwest as he endeavors to obtain support from Scotland and France (see 1569; O'Donnell, 1564).

A massacre of Huguenots at Vassy March 1 begins a series of French civil wars. François de Lorraine, duc de Guise, has ordered the massacre in violation of last year's Edict d'Orléans, and the Huguenots retaliate by murdering priests and raping nuns. Led by Louis I de Bourbon, 1st Prince de Condé, they come largely from the nobility and the new capitalist-artisan class, with some peasant support in the southwest, while Paris and the northeast remain Catholic. The Huguenots hold Lyons and Rouen, having been driven out elsewhere with much bloodshed; both sides seek to control the government in the absence of a strong crown. A treaty signed at Hampton Court September 20 pledges Elizabeth of England to support the Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon against the Catholics. England is to occupy Le Havre pending restoration of Calais to English control. Condé occupies Orléans and marches on Paris but meets with defeat at Dreux December 19 and is captured by François de Guise, with whom he was formally reconciled in August of last year (see Peace of Amboise, 1563).

The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I agrees after decades of hostilities to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan for Austria's share of Hungary (see 1541).