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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
XXIV. THE REFORMATION AND THE RELIGIOUS WARS, 1517-1648 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 44
HENRY IV
The death of Coligny transferred the leadership of the Huguenots to Henry Bourbon, king of Navarre. [34] Seventeen years after the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, he inherited the French crown as Henry IV. The Roman Catholics would not accept a Protestant ruler and continued the conflict. Henry soon realized that only his conversion to the faith of the majority of his subjects would bring a lasting peace. Religious opinions had always sat lightly upon him, and he found no great difficulty in becoming a Roman Catholic. "Paris," said Henry, "was well worth a mass." Opposition to the king soon collapsed, and the Huguenot wars came to an end.
[34] Navarre originally formed a small kingdom on both sides of the Pyrenees. The part south of these mountains was acquired by Spain in 1513 A.D.
EDICT OF NANTES, 1598 A.D.
Though now a Roman Catholic, Henry did not break with the Huguenots. In 1598 A.D. he issued in their interest the celebrated Edict of Nantes. By its terms the Huguenots were to enjoy freedom of private worship everywhere in France, and freedom to worship publicly in a large number of villages and towns. Only Roman Catholic services, however, might be held in Paris and at the royal court. Though the edict did not grant complete religious liberty, it marked an important step in that direction. A great European state now for the first time recognized the principle that two rival faiths might exist side by side within its borders. The edict was thus the most important act of toleration since the age of Constantine.
FRANCE UNDER HENRY IV, 1588-1610 A.D.
Having settled the religious difficulties, Henry could take up the work of restoring prosperity to distracted France. His interest in the welfare of his subjects gained for him the name of "Good King Henry." With the help of Sully, his chief minister, the king reformed the finances and extinguished the public debt. He opened roads, built bridges, and dug canals, thus aiding the restoration of agriculture. He also encouraged commerce by means of royal bounties for shipbuilding. The French at this time began to have a navy and to compete with the Dutch and English for trade on the high seas. Henry's work of renovation was cut short in 1610 A.D. by an assassin's dagger. Under his son Louis XIII (1610-1643 A.D.), a long period of disorder followed, until an able minister, Cardinal Richelieu, assumed the guidance of public affairs. Richelieu for many years was the real ruler of France. His foreign policy led to the intervention of that country in the international conflict known as the Thirty Years' War.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
