16th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1508 | 10 December | War of the League of Cambrai: Representatives of the Papacy, France, and the Holy Roman Empire and Ferdinand I of Spain established the League of Cambrai, whose purpose was to defeat Venice and partition its territory. |
| 1514 | 18 May | Claude, the duchess of Brittany, was married to Francis of Angoulême, the heir to the French throne. |
| 1515 | 1 January | Louis died. Francis of Angoulême succeeded him as Francis I. |
| 1524 | 20 July | Claude died. Her eldest son Francis, Dauphin of France, became Duke of Brittany. |
| 1532 | Francis I issued an edict incorporating Brittany into the kingdom of France. | |
| 1547 | 31 March | Francis I died. He was succeeded by his son Henry II. |
| 1559 | 10 July | Henry II died. He was succeeded by his son Francis II. |
| 1560 | 5 December | Francis II died. With no heir, he was succeeded by his brother Charles IX. |
| 1572 | 23 August | Massacre of French Protestants. |
| 1574 | 30 May | Charles IX died. With no heir, he was succeeded by his brother Henry III. |
| 1589 | 2 August | Henry III died with no heir, thus ending the reign of the Capetian dynasty. He was succeeded by Henry IV, the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty. |
| 1598 | 13 April | Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes to end the French civil war of religion. |
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1610 | 14 May | King Henry IV died, possibly at the hands of his Florentine wife Marie de' Medici. He was succeeded by his eldest son Louis XIII, with de' Medici ruling as regent. |
| 1617 | 16-year old Louis exiled his mother and took control of the government. | |
| 1624 | August | Louis took Cardinal Richelieu, as his chief minister. |
| 1643 | 14 May | Louis died. His five-year-old son Louis XIV succeeded him. Cardinal Mazarin became regent. |
| 1648 | August | Fronde: Cardinal Mazarin ordered the arrest of the leaders of the parlement of Paris, which provoked widespread rioting. |
| 24 October | Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Westphalia ended the war with France obtaining the better bargain, and annexing eastern territories. | |
| 1659 | Franco-Spanish War: Victorious France signs the Treaty of the Pyrenees with Spain and annexes northern Catalonia and French Flanders. The war confirms France as the dominant continental power and Bourbon strength over the Habsburgs. | |
| 1668 | 2 May | Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle: end of the War of Devolution. France obtains Lille and other territories of Flanders from Spain. |
| 1678 | Treaties of Nijmegen: A series of treaties ending the Franco-Dutch war. France obtains the Franche-Comté and some cities in Flanders and Hainaut (from Spain). | |
| 1684 | 15 August | Truce of Ratisbon: End of the War of the Reunions. France obtains further territories in the north-west from Spain. |
| 1697 | 20 September | Treaty of Ryswick: End of the Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance. Territorial changes were made in Europe and the colonial empires of the countries involved. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of French History
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“But they who give straight judgements to strangers and to those of the land and do not transgress what is just, for them the city flourishes and its people prosper.”
—Hesiod (c. 8th century B.C.)