" They were joined by Antoine de Bourbon, who flip flopped again on the matter of his religion. His wife, Jeanne d"Albert, the Queen of Navarre, remained strictly Protestant and established Protestantism completely in her domains.
Catherine de Medici tried to promote peace by issuing the "Edict of Toleration" in January "62, which made the practice of Protestantism not a crime, although it restricted preaching to open fields outside the towns and to private estates of Huguenot nobles. This was not well received by many Catholics.
The First War (1562-1563).
The first religious war was provoked by the massacre at Vassy in 1562. The Duc de Guise traveling to his estates stopped in Vassy to hear mass. His servants got into a scuffle with some Huguenots who were attending a service. It escalated until the Guise faction had fired on the unarmed Huguenots, set the church on fire, and killed a number of the congregation.
The national synod for the reformed church met in Paris and appealed to the Prince de Conde to become the "Protector of the Churches." His clients, and their respective client networks took on the tasks, and from here on in the leadership of the Huguenots moved away from the pastors towards the noble "protectors." Conde mobilized his forces to capture the strategic lands along the waterways, highways, and crossroads of France. He made his headquarters at Orleans. He also contracted with Protestant leaders of Germany and England for troops and money.
The royal forces were slow to respond, as the permanent garrisons were located along the Habsburg frontiers. Catherine de Medici was forced to turn to the Guise to deal with this alarming development. The Guise in turn sought help from the Pope and Phillip the Second of Spain. The Protestants were dug-in in their garrisons, and the siege efforts were long and costly. Only one open pitched battle was fought: at Dreux, a Catholic victory.