The French Wars of Religion, waged from 1562 to 1598, are a series of conflicts in France fought between Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants) from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598, including civil infighting as well as military operations.

In addition to the religious elements, they involve a struggle for control over the ruling of the country between the powerful House of Guise (Lorraine) and the Catholic League, on the one hand, and the House of Bourbon on the other.

In addition, they may also be considered a war by proxy between King Philip II of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I of England.

The wars conclude with the issuing of the Edict of Nantes by Henry IV of France, which grants a degree of religious toleration to Protestants.In the First War, the Bourbons, led by Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, organize a kind of protectorate over the Protestant churches and begin to seize and garrison strategic towns along the Loire.

Here, at Battle of Dreux and at Orléans, occur the first major engagements; at Dreux, Condé is captured by the Guises and Montmorency, the governor general, by the Bourbons.

In February 1563, at Orléans, Francis, Duke of Guise was assassinated, and Catherine's fears that the war might drag on lead her to mediate a truce and the Edict of Amboise (1563).