Henri IV Heir to a country devastated morally and materially by the wars of religion, Henri IV devoted his reign to the pacification and the economic recovery of the kingdom, but also to the re-establishment of the royal authority, seriously shaken per so many years of divisions. He could undertake this task when the last Spanish troops of occupation left the kingdom in 1598. The edict of Nantes The years of war had proven the need for establishing the coexistence of Catholicism and Protestantism in the country. After difficult negotiations with representatives of the two camps, Henri IV made promulgate in April 1598 the edict of Nantes, decree which fixed the statute of the Protestants in France. The latter were seen granting “the right not to be catholic”, a freedom of worship limited geographically to certain fortified towns, the equality with the catholics in front of the law and the access to the civil services. It was the first time in Europe which a State established a mode of tolerance, not founded on arbitrary princes imposing their own religion on their subjects, as it was the case in Germany, but on the mutual respect of the beliefs of others. The re-establishment of the royal authority Knowing to be popular but firm, Henri IV could restore his authority; during its reign, the general states were not convened, the right of remonstrance of the Parliaments was limited just like the powers of the governors of province and freedoms of the cities. Sully, its invaluable adviser, as badly liked as the king was popular, dealt with the financial rectification and arrived, thanks to the increase in the indirect taxes and at the institution of the regular income of Paulette (1604), renewal fees who allowed the sale or the transmission of the offices, to refund part of the debt and to rebalance the budget of the State.
To come to assistance of the farming community (90% of the population), which had largely suffered from plunderings and the destruction of the war, Henri IV cancelled the tax arrears land, prohibited the seizure of cattle and of tools by the creditors, on sale put public grounds at a low price with that of the market and restricted the hunting rightses of the nobility on the cultivated grounds. To promote the trade, it followed a policy of great work (construction of channels, bridges, roads, drainage of rivers). To develop new industries, it facilitated the arrival of foreign craftsmen in France. As of the year 1610, the economy was flourishing and the firmly restored royal authority.
Catholic clergyCatholic clergy, encouraged by the pope Clément VIII who had judged the edict of “cursed” Nantes, persisted in his opposition to the tolerance from which the Protestants profited. The latter were cut off in their places and had come from there to form a State in the State. The great nobility had found the taste of autonomy, and the venality of the offices, which had the merit to ensure the independence of the magistrates, was going to generate a certain anarchy in the administration.
In May 1610, François Ravaillac, a religious fanatic, the king assassinated. Was this death active? Henri IV by his authoritarianism had opposed the ambitions of more than one person. But that which had been rejected as heretic in 1589 was cried by almost all the French with his death.