Once upon a time, there was a King named Henry of Navarre.

Henry was the King of Navarre, and became the rightful ruler of France when François, Duke of Anjou died in 1584.

Then two others, Henry III of England and Henry of Guise both tried to take Henry of Navarres rightful throne, and a war broke out.

Its my throne!

No its mine!

Stop lying! Its rightfully mine!

Meet your canidates for the crown...

This is Henry III, he is a Catholic and he wanted to steal the crown from Henry of Navarre

This is Henry of Navarre, he was a Huguenot and ended up converting to Catholicism.

This is Henry of Guise, he was another Catholic candidate and was assassinated.

Tensions ran high between the Henrys and all the citizens as everyone had a different opinion.

NAVARRE WOULD 

BE THE BEST KING!

NO! KING HENRY III WOULD BE BETTER!

YOURE BOTH WRONG! 

HENRY OF GUISE WILL BE BETTER!

Some of these tensions were due to opposed religious views.

We need a Catholic King!

No, no, no! We obviously need a protestant King, like Henry of Navarre!

Henry III and Henry of Guise teamed up and created the Catholic League, this put Henry III in power instead of Henry of Navarre.

Lets make a Catholic Leauge! Then we will be able to defeat Navarre!

Thats brilliant!

Henry of Navarre was upset with the creation of the Catholic League and got his army to attack. He beat Henry III's army at the Battle of Coutras.

I win!!! HAHA!

No, my army!

Henry of Navarre's victory did not last long though, Henry of Guise was too strong, and his army was too powerful. This could have been due to his economic wealth. Up against the French Protestant army Henry of Guise had an quick victory at Vimory and Auneau.

Haha! I won this time!