The Armed peace (or Long peace) was the period of peace between the first French War of Religion, which terminated in April 1563, and the outbreak of the second French War of Religion in September 1567. It would be the longest period of peace during the French Wars of Religion. King Charles IX and his mother, the regent Catherine de' Medici hoped to see the edict of Amboise which brought the first civil war to a close take hold in the kingdom. To this end, over the coming years, they would enforce its registration in the kingdom's Parlements (the eight highest courts of the kingdom, responsible also for registering royal edicts), establish a system of commissioners, and tour the kingdom. The edict, which afforded toleration to Protestantism, would be gradually curtailed in subsequent interpretative declarations, to the frustration of the Protestants.

At court, feud between the admiral de Coligny and the Lorraine-Guise dominated these years. At various occasions, the two sides made shows of force in entering into the capital, with a clash between the two sides transpiring in January 1565. The French crown attempted to suppress the quarrel, first by pausing any litigation on the matter for three years at the start of 1564 and then reconciling the two sides in 1566. This failed to bury the feud. Louis de Gonzague, and Jacques de Savoie were both beneficiaries of high-profile marriages during the peace. The former to the heiress Henriette de Clèves, who brough the Clèves-Nevers patrimony to the marriage, and the latter to Anne d'Este, widow of the late duc de Guise (duke of Guise). The balance of the court, under the auspices of Catherine, was predominately composed of moderate Catholics in this period.

From 1564 to 1566, Charles and Catherine toured the kingdom of France, visiting many cities to re-establish royal authority, and enforce the edict of Amboise. The tour proved the occasion for diplomatic meetings, most notably at Bayonne. During the period of peace, France's diplomatic relations would experience many crises, chief among which were the destruction of French Florida by the Spanish in late 1565, and the Spanish Netherlands crisis which began in 1566. This latter crisis would contribute to France's slide back into war in 1567.

France was saddled with many debts, legacies of both the Italian Wars and the recent civil war. During the peace, the crown looked to the church as an expedient to solve these troubles. Church lands were auctioned off in several stages. Other methods of raising loans and funds were also employed. Plague returned to France in 1564 and would cause much hardship. Similarly, the harvests were ruined by freak weather events from 1564 onwards, causing famine ad driving up prices.

Edict of Amboise

The 19 March 1563 Edict of Amboise which brought the first French War of Religion to a close established religious coexistence for Protestants and Catholics in France. For contemporaries, it was not imagined to be the first of a long series of civil wars. Though it was sealed with yellow wax as an indicator of its provisional nature, it would outlast in duration the subsequent peace edicts of the civil wars that were intended to be final settlements. Most contemporaries did not see the peace as endorsing a permanent state of religious diversity in the kingdom. Religious unity would in time be re-established through mechanisms such as a church council or synod, and inter-faith discussions. The text of the treaty itself supported this notion of a temporary arrangement. The edict was stated to be provisional, pending a national or general church council (like that of the Council of Trent), and the majority (the age at which the king could rule without a regent) of the king, by which peace and tranquility might be established in France. Thus, king Charles IX of France was committed to the cause of religious reconciliation. The queen mother Catherine de' Medici, regent of France and mother to Charles IX, wrote to the bishop of Rennes on the subject in a letter of 20 April 1563, describing her hope to see the Christian schism healed in the coming years.

Catholic dissatisfaction While the Catholic reaction to the edict was largely hostile, the priest and writer Claude Haton took a more nuanced view. The edict was frustrating to the Catholics in areas of their strength, but in areas of Catholic weakness in the kingdom, such as Languedoc and Poitou, it was a great salve. The historian Venard notes that the peace would presage a movement of Catholic reconquest. The Spanish ambassador to France, Chantonnay devoted himself to fretting that the plan of the peace was to host a new national church council, and that after the exiles had returned to their places of origins, votes would be held in the urban centres to determine whether they would be Protestant or Catholic places. He did not specify in his report whether this would mean the populace, aldermen, or councillors taking the vote.

Protestant dissatisfaction The prince de Condé, leader of the Protestant rebel cause during the civil war who had negotiated the edict of Amboise with the crown, came in for much criticism from his coreligionists. The admiral de Coligny, who had been leading a successful campaign for the rebels in Normandy at the time of the negotiations felt that the terms agreed sold out the general Protestant population of France in favour of the Protestant nobility. He had only arrived back in Orléans after the signing of the treaty. Coligny came to Condé to argue that with their enemies, the maréchal (Marshal of France) de Saint-André and duc de Guise dead, they should have seized the military advantage this offered them. Condé, in contrast with Coligny, did not want to resume the fighting. The admiral denounced Condé as having destroyed more Protestant churches in France with the stroke of a pen, than all their enemies would have accomplished in ten years. Carroll argues that, by the concession of the edict to nobles with rights of high justice, that they could practice Protestantism on their lands, the crown augmented support for its policy of toleration among the princes. Their religious freedom was secured, and their religious power over their subjects increased. Even for the nobility, the limits on locations of Protestant worship were prohibitive.

John Calvin was particularly severe in his excoriation of the peace, seeing it as greatly disadvantageous to the cause of Protestantism in France. He described Condé as a 'wretch' who had allowed his own self opinion to lead to the betrayal of god. The Calvinist leader Theodore de Beza, who had been in France, gave a half-hearted thanks for the coming of peace, before quickly leaving for Geneva. In his opinion, Condé had blown a moment of great strength for the Protestant cause in France. The English ambassador reported that Calvin had harsh words for the Protestant military leadership. Condé, perhaps hoping to mollify him, sent a letter to the Genevan council full of praise for Beza's support during the conflict. The Protestant pastor Antoine de Chandieu noted that the church had been plunged into despair, and one could hear only lamentations and reproaches.

Condé, who had been the subject of celebration in Protestant literature until March 1563, now found his image negatively impacted. Rather than it being him who was eulogised in poetry as a Moses leading the chosen people out of Egypt, it was the admiral de Coligny who became the focus of Protestant enthusiasm. This latter figure having demonstrated dissatisfaction with the edict of Amboise. It was to the admiral de Coligny that Beza dedicated the preface of the posthumously published Commentary on Ezekiel by Calvin. Condé meanwhile was criticised. A rift opened between Condé and the Protestant clergy. Though the prince maintained a chaplain (known as La Rivière), this was a man who had always operated independently from Geneva and the synodal system. Even his relationship with La Rivière would be stressed over the coming years by his romantic philandering.

Condé was hopeful that, given a royal minority was still in effect, he might attain the office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, an office that had been vacated after the death of his elder brother, the king of Navarre, in November 1562. With this office in hand, he would be able to assuage the doubts of his coreligionists about the peace he had negotiated. He would not receive this office. Around the end of May, it was rumoured that it was his refusal to lead the army that recaptured Le Havre from the English that cost him the office, but Daussy indicates that it was rather his refusal to convert to Catholicism. Knecht speculates that the need to deny him this office may have partly motivated the decision to declare the end of Charles minority early.

Such possibilities were not enough to reassure Coligny, and he arranged two meeting with the queen mother (and regent of France during the minority of her son), Catherine de' Medici in which he sought to attain some concessions relating to the peace. Firstly, he wanted the worship in the city of each bailliage (bailiwick) that the edict of Amboise had afforded to expand the right from the suburb of the city to the city proper. Secondly, he wanted Protestant worship to be permissible for nobles in the vicomté (viscounty) and prévôté (provostship) of Paris, where it was currently prohibited. Daussy notes the lack of record of these concessions being made, and thus determines that if Catherine did grant them, it was only orally. Coligny's frustration was somewhat appeased after these meetings.

First months of peace Per the terms of the peace, the Protestant mercenary reiters (a German pistol cavalry) had to be paid off and escorted out of the kingdom. This task was entrusted to the Protestant prince de Porcien by a letter of the prince de Condé's of 18 April, after word reached him that the reiters were pillaging the area around château de Fontainebleau. As no money was to be provided to the reiters until they were on German soil, this was a difficult and joyless prospect. Writing to Porcien on 12 May, Condé fretted that the treaty that had been established might break down due to the depredations of the reiters, thereby reigniting the civil war. He reported to Porcien that Catherine was frustrated by the slowness of the mercenaries' departure and would be writing to him separately. Porcien was to offer assurances to the mercenaries that they would indeed by paid once they were out of France, and that Condé would always be their champion. Writing again to Porcien a few weeks later, Condé explained the measures of reassurance Porcien was to offer the commander of the reiters, von Hesse. Porcien was also urged to come to court after he had completed the task, to help quell the political troubles that were brewing there. In a letter of 31 May to Porcien, Catherine reminded him that the service he was undertaking was of no small significance to the crown. Writing to Catherine that same day, Porcien complained that he had been unable to stop the reiters from undertaking foraging, as nothing had been supplied for them. He plead with Catherine not to hold this against him, arguing that the withdrawal was, foraging aside, proceeding more smoothly than it had been previously.

Through both May and June, Coligny and the seigneur d'Andelot gave their reassurances to Porcien. Porcien also solicited assurances of support from an aged gentleman, who affirmed that he had served Porcien's father, but could not serve Porcien due to his ill health.