Henry IV (Henri IV) (1553-1610), nicknamed the Great, also known as Henry of Navarre, French king. Henry, the son of Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, was born in Pau on December 13, 1553. His mother was a staunch Protestant, and Henry received a corresponding upbringing, but he was never a fanatic in matters of faith.

Back in the late 1560s, Henry was seen as the head of the Protestant party in France. When his mother died in 1572, Henry was proclaimed king of Navarre, and on August 18 of the same year he married Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX. The marriage was purely political and aimed at reconciling the Catholic and Protestant parties.

6 days later, on August 24, Henry managed to survive the massacre of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Night - only at the cost of converting to Catholicism, after which he remained a virtual prisoner at the French court for almost 4 years. Only in February 1576 did Henry manage to escape to the south, where he returned to his former religion and led military operations against the Catholic League.

In 1584, François of Anjou, brother of King Henry III, died, leaving Henry of Navarre as the only legitimate contender for the throne in the event of the death of the childless king. In April 1589, the king joined Henry of Navarre in the fight against the League, but on August 1 he was mortally wounded near Paris by a Dominican monk.

Before his death, Henry III once again declared that Henry of Navarre was his heir, but the new king managed to achieve recognition throughout the country only after a long struggle and efforts aimed at reconciliation. The last and decisive step was his adoption of Catholicism on July 25, 1593, which finally disarmed most of his opponents.

On March 22, 1594, Henry entered Paris - in accordance with the famous saying attributed to him: “Paris is worth a mass.” In 1595, the Pope granted him absolution, thereby annulling his previous excommunication. Henry IV, the first French Bourbon king, sought to pacify the kingdom and restore its prosperity after 40 years of almost continuous religious wars. His famous Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598 guaranteed the Huguenots their rights.

Although Catholicism remained the state religion, the Huguenots could now freely conduct religious services in their places of traditional residence (with the exception of Paris) and hold church councils. The ban on Protestants holding government positions was lifted. Henry's interest in overseas expansion and the acquisition of colonies reveals in him an adherent of the same teachings of mercantilism that were later developed by Cardinal Richelieu and J.B. Colbert.

Foreign policy was directed against the Habsburgs, and on May 2, 1598, after many years of war, Spain was forced to make peace in Vervene. In 1600, Henry obtained papal permission to divorce Margaret and entered into a second marriage - with Maria de Medici, niece of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who bore him four children (he had no children in his first marriage). Henry was assassinated in Paris on May 14, 1610 by the religious fanatic François Ravaillac.

Having come to power, King Henry IV managed to end the hostilities and lead France out of post-war chaos. In 1595 he declared war on the Spanish king Philip II, which ended with the signing of a peace treaty. All provinces captured by the Spaniards were returned to France.

In April 1598, Henry IV signed an edict in Nantes that was supposed to reconcile Catholics with the Huguenots. According to its provisions, the Catholic faith was proclaimed the state religion, but Protestant worship was allowed throughout the country, except for Paris and several other cities. Huguenots received the right to occupy military and judicial-administrative positions. To guarantee these rights, they were supposed to be given dozens of fortresses in southwestern France. So, the Edict of Nantes provided the Calvinists with broad independence.

At the same time, King Henry IV carried out several reforms necessary for the country, which were actively carried out by his first minister, the Huguenot Maximilieu Sully is convinced. She was an exceptionally honest and loyal person to the king. Previously, Sully took a number of measures aimed at supporting the peasantry. At his insistence, the government partially reduced the land tax that peasants paid. Creditors were prohibited from selling livestock and labor tools to peasant debtors. In addition, the peasants were freed from the obligation to support the army, which stopped for a while.

Historical information

Henry IV is known in French history as a good king. He dreamed of feeding the peasants and increasing their level of well-being. A symbol of the traditional idea of ​​family wealth was chicken, which was served for lunch only to wealthy French people. Therefore, Henry IV once said: “I want every peasant in my kingdom to be able to cook a chicken in his pot every week.”

Henry IV's economic policy was primarily aimed at boosting industry and trade. The development of manufacturing in mining, metallurgy, artillery, textiles and glass was encouraged. In trade, the government, following the principle of mercantilism, encouraged the export of finished industrial products and prohibited the export of raw materials.

The reign of Henry IV was a period of strengthening of French absolutism. The king made it clear to everyone that he would rule as an absolute monarch. He said: “My will must become law. I am the king, and I demand that everyone obey me." He excluded aristocrats from participation in the Royal Rada, limited the power of provincial governors, and did not convene the Estates General.

During the reign of Henry IV, France received colonies in North America. At the beginning of the 17th century. The French captured part of Canada and founded several cities there, in particular Quebec.

In foreign policy, Henry IV sought to weaken Spain and the Holy Roman Empire and actively supported the German Protestant principalities. The king gathered a large army, which he planned to send to Spain, Italy and the lower Rhine region. However, in the midst of military preparations in May 1610, Henry IV was treacherously assassinated by the Catholic fanatic Françuade Ravaillac.

The figure of Henry IV became the embodiment of the idea of ​​state sovereignty and national unity of France. This was the first monarch who moved away from the principle of “whose power is his faith” and proclaimed the equality of Catholics and Protestants. Under him, order was established in France and the well-being of the population improved.

King since 1589 (actually since 1594), first of the Bourbon dynasty; king of Navarre from 1562. During the Wars of Religion - head of the Huguenots. In 1593 he converted to Catholicism and entered Paris. The Edict of Nantes of 1598 granted the Huguenots freedom of religion and many privileges.

Henry IV was born on December 13, 1553 in Pau, his parents are Antoine of Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret. In the South, he was the heir to d'Albret, that is, a crown independent of France (Navarre) and extensive, although scattered, possessions on the slopes of the Pyrenees, which made their owner one of the major feudal lords of France. In the center, Bourbonnais, the border regions and the North, the Bourbon inheritance awaited him. True, after the extinction of the senior line and the confiscation of most of the property of the “traitor” Charles of Bourbon (1527), it was no longer so large, but it had, as before, a very tempting prospect: on the basis of Salic law, the junior line - the Bourbons - had the right to inherit the French throne in case the Valois become extinct. True, by the time of Henry’s birth this was unlikely.

The personalities of his parents and their many years of stay at the French court left their mark on Henry's youth. Jeanne d'Albret, a strong supporter of Calvinism since 1555, did everything to make her son a Protestant, which did not exclude a humanistic upbringing in the spirit of her mother Margaret. The father, a Calvinist from the mid-50s, more influenced by Coligny than by his wife, did not remain a supporter of the Genevan cause for long and returned to the old religion as soon as, at the initiative of Catherine de Medici, he entered the service of the French king as a lieutenant general. For this reason, Henry had a remarkable and controversial experience. The parents' relationship went wrong, as the mother sharply condemned the father and resolutely rejected the court world. However, his father turned from a Protestant commander into a courtier, which, coupled with his great military leadership abilities, could not fail to impress the young man.

At the court in Paris and during the famous “grand voyage” of the court staff across France (1564 - 1566), the young, intelligent, lively and practical royal son from the Pyrenees became intensively and in detail acquainted with the court life of the Valois. Following the example of his father, he again became a Catholic, but immediately after his death he returned to the religion of his mother, who managed to influence her son with the friendly connivance of the then very pliable Catherine de Medici.

At court he also met his cousins, a number of the last kings of the Valois family, and their sister Margaret, and respected, at least, her and one of her brothers. The fact that his relations with the young Duke of Anjou, the future King Henry III, were already friendly then, paid off in 1589.

Only as a member of the court retinue did Navarre correctly assess the significance of the religious problem for modern politics. In the 50s and 60s. It was not yet decided that the Huguenots would be closed to royal power in France for a long time. From time to time, individual leaders of the Calvinist party were close to palace politics, such as Gaspard de Coligny, Prince of Condé, Henry of Bourbon, Coligny's brother Odet de Chatillon and others; This is especially true of Coligny, admiral of France, a prominent military and political figure of Protestantism until 1572. Catherine de' Medici, as well as her sons Francis II and Charles IX, at times distrusted the Catholic court party, due to its intense contacts with Spain, much more than the Huguenots . Their course regarding parties, which between 1560 and 1568 essentially determined by Chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital, was nothing more than an attempt not to make a final choice between two radical positions. Therefore, it is understandable that Catherine in 1567, shortly before the outbreak of hostility between the two parties, granted “leave” to the young king and his mother, who had recently been at court. This decision brought Navarre his first acquaintance with religious warfare “on the spot,” in the Huguenot army in the southwest, and above all in the future Calvinist fortress of La Rochelle.

Meanwhile, Catherine advanced her marriage plans and, after the peace in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1570), went so far that Margaret's wedding to Henry of Navarre was planned for 1572. The fact that this event went down in history was not as big and a solemn celebration of the royal lines of the Valois and Bourbons, and like the Parisian “blood wedding”, happened primarily due to two very personal reasons: due to the too straightforward tactics of Coligny, who at that time tried to alienate King Charles IX from his mother and draw him into the opposite camp, and because of the sharp reaction of the regent, who now saw in the admiral a greater danger to herself and her sons than in the Spaniards. The decision to eliminate the admiral, the unsuccessful assassination attempt and the murder of a huge number of Calvinists in Paris and throughout the country show that behind personal tactics, especially on the part of the Catholic majority, lurked more powerful forces that increasingly determined what happened.

We know very little about how Navarre experienced St. Bartholomew's Night in the Louvre. He found himself in a difficult position: as a Protestant aristocrat, he was personally in danger, as was his cousin and comrade-in-arms, Condé, who was with him at court. In the end, they, captives of the king, which they now were, moved into the bosom of the old church.

The action against the Calvinists was a political failure. Despite all the losses, St. Bartholomew's Night did not weaken the Huguenots. From now on, the politically scientific system of French Protestantism was strengthened, from now on religion received a political foundation, now it has become a “party.” At the same time, there were noteworthy voices of people who took a moderate, conciliatory, non-partisan position, talking about religious tolerance. They were not a party, but the public perceived them as “politicians.” Jean Bodin, an erudite lawyer and specialist in state law, known for his research on historical methodology, in 1576, in his fundamental work “On the Republic,” combined the idea of ​​politically justified tolerance with the idea of ​​​​strengthening the sovereign monarchy and thereby developed a political-theoretical concept.

Navarre's undeniably tolerable personal "captivity" at court lasted until 1576. By this time, Catherine had long since resumed the course of negotiations, and the young Bearnian was enjoying court life, especially hunting, and had not yet demonstrated a strong, focused political will. Presumably, the Huguenot advisers who lived with him eventually took advantage of the opportunity to escape and returned the young king to the Huguenot army in the southwest of France and thereby to his future tasks.

In subsequent years, Henry of Navarre did not easily master the role of Protestant party leader. He was opposed by his cousin Condé, who was more ready to fight for the Protestant cause. At this time, Navarre had not yet realized his own destiny. And although he changed his religion again, consistently "staunch" Protestants, like Theodore de Bez, were skeptical of a way of life that, in their views, did not correspond to God's chosen Protestant leader. The decisive moment in the life of Henry IV was the fact that in subsequent years he did not succumb to the pressure of Protestants from his circle and was not exclusively the head of the Protestant party, but reserved the rights to a course of reconciliation with the court. There are signs that he followed a conscious political line. An example is the intra-Protestant peace debate in Phlay (1580). This peace treaty, one of the few during the religious wars, did not bring any benefit to the Protestants, and practically Navarre concluded it with the king’s brother alone. For the first time, having developed the ability to negotiate and the art of persuasion to absolute mastery, clearly emphasizing the idea of ​​reconciling the warring parties for the benefit of France, Navarre, at a representative meeting of the Huguenots (Montauban, 1581), insisted on recognition of peace. Thereafter, as Jean-Pierre Babelon said in his excellent biography of Henry IV, he became "something like a Protestant viceroy of France."

And he became even more so when Henry III's last brother, the Duke of Anjou, died in 1584. The king, from whom no one expected an heir, was left without a contender for the throne from his home. Some were afraid of this, others were looking forward to it: the younger line of the Bourbons gives an heir, and it could only be the head of the house, Henry of Navarre. The consequences of this event within the country were enormous. Since 1576, the Catholic high aristocracy under the leadership of the Guises supported the union, the League, which mixed religious motives and a class-separatist understanding of freedom. Now the Guises restored this alliance and entered into close relations with the Parisian petty bourgeoisie. The Protestants, for their part, especially their leaders, who since 1572 had taken an extremely critical tone towards the monarchy in general and the Valois in particular, changed their strategy. They now became ardent champions of the monarchical principle in France and, naturally, of legitimate succession to the throne.

Under such conditions there was no point in thinking about stability. After the events of the summer of 1584, the religious war entered its last, fiercest phase, determined on the Catholic side by the League in Paris, and on the Huguenot side by its undisputed leader, Henry of Navarre. The Catholic side not only obtained a bull from the pope, which declared all claims to the throne of Navarre untenable, but it managed to win over the king to its side and force him to cancel all religious edicts. Navarre tried to gain the support of European Protestants, but in Germany he found a response only from the Calvinist Johann Casimir von Palatinate, and Elizabeth of England agreed to a few minor subsidies.

Fortunately for Navarre, the enemy front was not united. There were serious ideological contradictions between the nobility and the popular base of the League, and the developments in Paris from 1586 to 1589 became increasingly radical, similar to what happened during the Revolution two hundred years later, which did not contribute to the unity of the League. The Parisian members of the League did not like the alliance with the king very much, because they did not see in him a consistent adherent of Catholicism. When Henry III increased the military forces around Paris in 1588, it came to a real popular uprising, from which the court fled to the better fortified Blois. From then until 1594, Paris was “without a king.” After Henry III of Blois once again made an unsuccessful attempt to become the head of the League himself, he decided to seize the initiative and ordered the murder of the leaders of the League - Duke Henry of Guise and his brother Cardinal of Lorraine, who were in Blois on the occasion of the meeting of the Estates General.

This murder did not achieve its goal. Henry III did not regain the initiative; on the contrary, he lost it. The Paris League radicalized again and formed, along with a magistrate loyal to the League, a new revolutionary city government. The Sorbonne also did not lag behind and, in an illegal university act, freed all subjects from the oath of allegiance to the king. In March 1589, the Parliament of Paris, which had been cleared of advisers loyal to the king, appointed the Duke of Mayenne, the younger brother of the Guises, lieutenant general of the state and crown of France, as if there was no longer a legitimate king. Henry III had no choice but to get closer to his cousin, former comrade Henry of Navarre. The king and the Protestants united the remaining military forces and marched on Paris to bring the city and institutions loyal to the League into submission. When approaching Paris on August 1, 1589, Henry III was killed by the Dominican monk Jacques Clement. On his deathbed, he found the strength to ask those present to recognize Henry of Navarre as king. At the same time, he once again called on his successor to return to the bosom of the old church.

France under Henry IV of Navarre

Since being named sole legal heir by Henry III in 1589, Henry of Navarre has been laying the foundation of his power. He is opposed by Protestants, the Catholic League and “disaffected” or “political” moderate Catholics who condemn the excessive precautions of their coreligionists and want to restore royal power.

Henry IV sets the task of subordinating the leaders of the League to his power; The Duke of Mayenne is the first to join him, followed by the Duke of Epernon and the Duke of Merker. As for the Dukes of Guise, they become unshakable defenders of the throne.

Having come to power, King Henry IV strives to expel the Spaniards, who, convened by the Legists, occupy the north of France. The struggle lasts three years and ends with the capture of Amiens in 1597. In 1598, Spain returns all French conquests.

But the Religious Wars are not over. Catholics are not at all ready to recognize the freedom of religion of Protestants, and Protestants (numbering about a million people) hesitate: whether to remain faithful to the king who has renounced his faith. In 1594 - 1597 they organize themselves into provinces governed by assemblies, and proclaim a union with the Church of the Netherlands. In such circumstances, giving status to Protestant churches is a difficult task. Henry IV takes up the development of a new document: this will be the Edict of Nantes, promulgated in April 1598.

Difficult negotiations and the Edict of Nantes.

The king, in order to resist the resistance of the parties, has to use his personal qualities: authority and military prowess. In addition, the loyalty of his supporters and the moderation of the prelates play an important role.

The Edict of Nantes consists of a solemn declaration and secret articles so as not to provoke discord. Protestants enjoyed, in addition to freedom of conscience, freedom of worship in feudal estates, in two villages or hamlets per district, and in all cities where the reformed cult actually existed. The secret articles contained a number of clauses preserving the advantages of Catholics. Protestants are allowed to build churches, conduct seminars, gather councils and synods, fathers of families have the right to choose a religion for their children, who will be accepted without any discrimination into all schools and universities. And finally, in exchange for restrictions, the king gives the Protestants 151 fortresses with or without a garrison, which gives the Protestants real political and military power.

In fact, the Edict of Nantes resumes many points of the previous edicts. But this time the king has the necessary power to make him respected. At first, Clement VIII expresses his dissatisfaction, but then resigns himself to it. France is experiencing an unusual event for Europe: faced with religious demands, civic interests, protected by politicians, are gaining the upper hand. But this compromise is fragile.

The plight of the people.

“No one has remembered such a terrible cold and such severe frost since time immemorial. Everything has become more expensive... Many people were found frozen to death in the fields... One man froze on his horse.” These lines from the “Memoirs” of the chronicler of that era, Pierre Lestoile, tell about the poverty of France, destroyed by wars and finding itself in the grip of an unprecedented cold. Grain production is falling, vineyards are freezing, textile factories are shutting down. The population is weakened and vulnerable to disease; There is a plague epidemic again. Peasant uprisings break out almost everywhere: the "gauthiers" in Normandy and the "crocans" in Périgord.

Henry IV begins to rebuild the state and issues numerous decrees to boost the economy. These decrees dealt with land use, such as the draining of swamps in 1599, as well as security and taxation issues. Against bands of mercenaries, thieves and vagabonds who devastate provinces, rob, kill, and terrorize people, the king introduces military laws. To calm the angry peasants, exhausted by taxes, the king establishes tax breaks and tries to limit the rights of landowners to peasant property. However, peasants still suffer from civil wars and rural revolts continue.

Running a state is not an easy task.

Many nobles are ruined, and to help them make their estates profitable again, Henry IV summons the Calvinist Olivier de Serray, who begins breeding mulberry trees to produce raw silk. In 1600, Serret published his Treatise on Agriculture, which is a collection of tips on how to properly manage a farm. This work, which the king distributes throughout the country, is a great success in publishing. A little later, Olivier de Serray published a small book, “On How to Get Silk,” about the production encouraged by Henry IV.

The rise in France also leads to a reorganization of government, administration and financial policy. Before making a decision, the king listens to the opinions of others. He organizes a new Council, which includes a limited number of people, and they are chosen according to competence rather than position. Throughout the day, the king constantly turns to them for advice.

These meetings, where business acumen reigns supreme, are conducted without ceremony. For example, Maximilien Rosny, Duke of Sully, superintendent of finance, enjoys the king's confidence, which allows the official to behave uninhibitedly. Sully, being a Protestant, at the request of the king, unravels various matters, and is also in charge of the financial affairs of the entire state.

The good governance of the provinces is due to the reliability of officials with the power to investigate wrongdoing. Henry IV makes an original decision: in order to strengthen the ties between royal officials and authorities, constant contributions to the treasury are introduced, since the treasury in 1596 had a deficit of funds. We are talking about a tax, a pollet, an annual cash contribution that is paid by an official to the king for lifelong retention of office. The tax is named after the financier Field.

Until this point, many official positions passed from father to son, provided, however, that the “renunciation” of the position occurred at least 40 days before the death of the holder of this position. The tax eliminates this period. In return, the official pays a tax every year proportional to the position he holds. This tax, which brings in an annual revenue of one million livres, will last until the revolution. Inheritance of positions firmly binds the crown, judicial officials and financial officials, who receive privileges and honors. In 1600, these efforts begin to bear fruit throughout the kingdom. An accurate budget and monetary reform, which will be adopted in 1602, improve finances. Reserves of gold and silver are stored in the Bastille. The kingdom is expanding; the army, close to the heart of the king, is located on the right bank of the Rhone. In 1601, Bresse, Bugins, Valmory and the province of Gex will be annexed to France under the Treaty of Lyon. With the annexation of Navarre and northern cities, the area of ​​the country increases from 464 thousand square meters. km up to 600 thousand sq. km.

Second marriage of convenience.

Henry IV's marriage to Catherine de' Medici's daughter Margaret was declared invalid on grounds of consanguinity and annulled by the Pope in 1599. So the king is free to remarry.

Henry IV wants to marry his mistress, Gabriella d'Estre, with whom he has a son, the Duke of Vendôme. But this intention outrages the French, who refuse to recognize the illegitimate as Dauphin. After Gabriella's sudden death, the king yields to his advisers: their candidacy, Maria Medici, the niece of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. After careful negotiations, she brings a significant dowry. A magnificent wedding took place in Lyon in December 1600. Nine months later, the queen gives birth to Henry IV's son, heir, later the future King Louis XIII. Before 1609, she will give birth to the king again five children.Despite tender parental feelings, the king continues his love affairs, which will cost the kingdom dearly.

Princes' Conspiracy.

Henry IV returned peace to France and gave him an heir, but he would still have to speak out against anger and betrayal. Too many nobles in the king's chambers demand pensions and privileges for themselves. Especially the higher nobility has difficulty submitting to royal authority. The king awarded the rank of marshal to one of his old comrades in arms, Biron. He was a proud and restless man. He dreams of creating an independent state from the province of Bourgogne and getting rid of the king. Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, shares his views. Foreign sovereigns of Savoy and Spain also support the spirit of the rebels, even negotiations began with the agents of Philip III of Spain. Warned of the conspiracy, the king summons Biron to Fontainebleau and tries to force him to confess. But The marshal remains silent and is imprisoned, convicted of treason, and beheaded in 1602.

On the other hand, the Duke of Bouillon continues his intrigues. In 1605, having settled in Sedan, he tries to recreate the Protestant union, but the attempt fails; he is forced to give up the keys to the city and seek refuge in Geneva. In 1606, sovereigns are subject to the king. And the country is finally coming to civil peace.

Under French arbitration, a 12-year truce is established between Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Simple, cheerful and pragmatic, Henry IV is liked by his subjects, as he gives them prosperity, work, and diplomatic success.

However, the struggle between Catholics and Protestants and the claims of Archduke Rudolf II of Habsburg threaten peace in Europe. On the other hand, the achievements of the Counter-Reformation worry the Protestants, and the old hostility towards the Habsburgs is renewed.

A love story is mixed into the complex political situation: the sovereign falls in love with Charlotte Condé. The constant presence of the king worries the wife of the young woman, who decides to take refuge in Brussels under the patronage of the Archduke. Passion for love pushes Henry IV to make a decision: he accelerates preparations for war, despite the hostile attitude of Protestants to this. On May 13, 1610, the solemn transfer of the regency to the queen took place in Saint-Denis. On May 14, the king's carriage is forced to be delayed due to a crowd on Ferronry Street. Suddenly a man appears and mortally wounds the king with a knife in the chest. The killer, François Ravaillac, an exalted Catholic, imagined himself to be a messenger from heaven. He was arrested, convicted, and on May 24

Henry IV of France. King of France

According to form and tradition, Henry IV, after the assassination of his predecessor, was the king of France. However, since when did he really become one? Until his conversion to the Catholic faith (1593), he remained what he had been before: a Protestant leader and “head of the party.” The capital was opened to him only in 1594. He was able to rule the pacified country by defeating the last supporter of the League from the highest aristocracy, the Duke de Merker, and after the end of the war with Spain in 1589. In the meantime, the capital refused to let its king in. Paris was completely in the hands of the League, its most radical priests and petty-bourgeois retinue. For the king, besides the Protestants, there were only those bourgeois and bureaucratic-noble strata who were disgusted with the radicalism of the Parisian clergy, the orthodoxy of the Sorbonne and the obvious readiness for violence of the Parisian population.

For four years, Henry IV tried to take control of the situation with the help of military force. The most important goal, the capture of Paris, which had been defended by a Spanish garrison since 1590, was not achieved. And even where Henry IV won victories over the troops of the nobility loyal to the League, for example, at Arc in 1589 and Ivry in 1590 - both battles were won, not least thanks to the personal, as courageous, as daring participation of the king - even political success did not come there. Here a remarkable personality trait of this king emerged, which has hitherto received little attention in research. It was convincingly emphasized by Babelon: Henry IV was a brilliant diplomat, a king with a true sense of what was politically necessary and possible, he was an outstanding tactician who knew how to change the course of a battle with an extraordinary decision; he was an excellent cavalryman and commander, but he was not a strategist who knew how to turn military success into political success. Between 1590 and 1592 we see a king who gives the impression of an easily inspired, slow-thinking, indecisive person, and not a new Caesar, going straight to the most important political goal and using all opportunities in this direction.

So, it is not surprising that during these years the king increasingly lost because of his religious worldview. His Catholic supporters demanded that he take a “deadly leap”, return to the bosom of the old Church, in order to create the preconditions for the recognition of his royal power. Having been ready for this step for a long time, the Béarnite hesitated, taking into account his fellow believers, all the time putting forward his main argument, as if he wanted a free Council to enlighten him regarding his errors. Only a few sensible Protestants knew that the “leap” could not be avoided. His most capable political adviser, Philippe du Plessis-Mornay, understood the need for this, but until the very end he thought to achieve more with the help of the Council and negotiations. For Mornay, the national Council still held the chance for general reconciliation, national-ecclesiastical unity on the issue of the content of faith and thereby the founding of a new Gallican church on the English type.

After 1589, Henry IV listened to his devoted military comrades for a very long time. However, when in 1593 there was a danger that the Catholics loyal to the king would break away from him and unite with the moderate supporters of the League to form a third party and nominate another, Catholic representative of the House of Bourbon as king, when the Spanish king began to increasingly openly advocate a Spanish solution to this issue , 25.07 in Saint-Denis Henry IV renounced the new religion.

The change of religion in itself did not open the gates of the capital to Henry IV; the famous words “Paris is worth a mass,” which Protestants later attributed to him, did not reflect the situation. All that was clear was that he had deprived his opponents, who were ready to reach an agreement, of the most important argument. Now, step by step, he solved further important problems diplomatically. At the beginning of 1594, he was anointed king in Chartres - the traditional place for this ceremony, Reims was in the hands of the League. In March he entered Paris and, as a result of negotiations, achieved the withdrawal of the Spanish garrison. In 1595, after much effort, his diplomats received absolution from the pope. In this way they removed the last obstacle to well-meaning Catholics openly and unconditionally accepting Henry IV. The fact that the papacy feared too much Spanish influence in Western Europe was the main political reason for this impressive success of French diplomacy.

It remained to solve three major tasks for the final pacification of the country: defeat the nobility of the League, which took command positions in numerous governorates; end the war with Spain and issue a new decree on religious tolerance. Henry IV set about solving these three problems with great enthusiasm and showed for the first time what his political skill consisted of. In dealings with the League, he relied exclusively on negotiations and money. Recklessly emptying the already meager state treasury and using every conceivable source of loans, between 1595 and 1598. bought the devotion of all opponents and one by one brought them to his side, among them also Giza Mayenne. And with Spain, the king tried to quickly come to peace to the displeasure of his English and Dutch allies. When the Spaniards took Amiens in 1597 and began to threaten Paris, the king accepted the mediation services of Pope Clement VIII. On May 2, 1598, peace was signed in Vervain. Philip II of this world could not obtain any political or territorial benefit. When he died a few months later, the era of Spanish dominance in Europe came to an end.

Without a doubt, the publication of the Edict of Nantes (04/13/1598) was the largest action of Henry IV to establish peace in the country. Neither diehard Protestants nor orthodox Catholics became his supporters after the king's change of religion. The king was reproached for religious hypocrisy and continued to more or less openly wage journalistic battles against him, the echoes of which were heard in France for more than thirty years. The Protestants, having lost their leader, did everything to preserve their political, military and synodal organizational structure. Thus, Henry IV, soon after changing religion - now from the position of the king - learned to appreciate the danger that Protestantism posed to the unity of the kingdom with its tendency to develop into a "state within a state." Nevertheless, the king decided on an honest, not only tactically understood, policy towards his former co-religionists. He was deeply convinced that only the peaceful coexistence of both faiths could provide France with the peace that so many people dreamed of. His life experience helped him understand that it was not only Protestants who had a tendency towards class separation. Between 1589 and 1598 there were many “states within a state” in France, and the most stubborn was, of course, Paris, with a Spanish garrison within its walls and the ideas of the League at its heart. And even with him in 1594 the king treated him with royal mercy. So why then not a new edict for the Huguenots? Under such conditions, he met the expected resistance with his visor open and quickly issued an edict. This text, signed in Nantes on the occasion of reconciliation with Merker, did not essentially go beyond what Protestants had previously been entitled to: freedom of conscience throughout the country; freedom of worship in all places where services took place between 1596 and 1597, and also, depending on the circumstances, in official places and in the castles of the nobility; no religious services in Paris or within a radius of five miles; but unlimited legal capacity, unhindered access to all positions and the creation of an investigative chamber with mixed religious representation in some parliaments. Otherwise, the king, by special decree, provided the Huguenots with more than a hundred safe places for eight years and explained in a way that was sharply criticized by the Catholic side how seriously he took the safety of his former coreligionists and military comrades-in-arms. True, as the Protestant side later noted, this was a temporary concession. However, it clearly went beyond all previous concessions in this area, and in the following decades it turned out to be very valuable for French Protestantism. Moreover, after the expiration of the term, the king allowed negotiations to extend this concession.

The real innovation of Henry IV’s religious policy was not even this edict, but his attitude towards what he issued: for the first time during the religious wars, the French king kept his promise to take care in the following years about the implementation of the edict. Again and again, Henry IV sought direct explanations with members of the Paris and other parliaments who stubbornly resisted the ratification of the edict. To prove to them the unjustification of their resistance and narrow-mindedness, he referred to his own past and, from his rich life experience in religious matters, concluded that it was necessary to use a better political concept than the narrow-minded dogmatists of both parties: “For 20 years I have been leading the party of Religion (i.e. .e. Huguenots), this gives me information about everyone. I know who there wants war, who wants peace. I know those who wage war for the Catholic faith out of ambition or for the Spanish party, and I know those who want only to steal. Among the Protestants there were people of all kinds, just as among the Catholics...” (02/16/1599, speech to members of the Paris Parliament). And if necessary, the king showed the parliamentarians the way to the future, offered an alternative to a long, fruitless, destructive civil war: “We should not make any difference between Catholics and Huguenots, we should all be good Frenchmen.”

During such disputes, he consistently formed his image as a monarch independent of party quarrels and private interests, standing above momentary conflicts, whose life experience allowed him to know almost everything better than his subjects. This was not yet the argument of Louis XIV, who alone knew more than all his subjects simply because he was king. But even after 1598, Henry IV clearly showed a trait of authoritarian arrogance towards politicians of all stripes. Prominent representatives of the parties of past decades, both Catholics and Huguenots, and among them du Plessis-Mornay, were constantly forced to humbly endure the king’s arrogance, which on occasion was expressed in a joke: “I thank you,” the king reprimanded the delegation of the Paris Parliament, which sharply objected against the return of the Jesuits, - for the care that you show towards my person and my state. All your comments are stored in my memory, but mine are not in yours. You pointed out to me difficulties that seem great to you and worthy of attention, and you did not think that everything you told me I thought about and weighed eight or nine years ago; the best decisions for the future come from thinking about past events, and here I have more knowledge than anyone else.” This was already said by the absolute monarch of the 17th century, and Henry IV not only gave enough arguments, but also showed that he was not joking.

Henry IV in new studies is rightly called the founder of the absolute monarchy in France. This does not mean that the system and management technology under him looked the same as under Louis XIV. And this also does not mean that he did not in many ways refer to predecessors such as Louis XI, Francis I or Henry III. It is the comparison with them that shows what his originality was. He did not invent new means and ways to strengthen monarchical power; the past gave him enough examples and initiatives, especially the reign of Henry III. However, he reworked them and, in the form of intensive “personal rule,” ensured that supervision and control were exercised by the king.

The essence of this personal government was the effective organization of the process of giving advice. Henry IV did not change the royal council in principle. However, he took away from this large traditional advisory body the competence on all issues of “big politics”, both domestic and foreign, and transferred them to a small circle of trusted persons. This was also not the king’s invention, but according to contemporaries, he used this instrument so unconventionally and effectively that it was striking and seemed like an innovation. For appointments to this small body, which was also divided into departments, Henry mainly used Valois personnel, and this was also a remarkable feature of the political actions of this sensible politician. Undoubtedly, he found in them the best and most experienced people who mastered the technique of power: Cheverny, Bellievre, chancellor of Henry IV, Villeroy, one of the four secretaries of state and the “best man” of the king, except Sully; along with them Sillery, Jeannin, de Thou, Arley and others who came from the judicial class. Henry IV did not particularly favor these people and liked to sneer at their clerical manners; however, he knew well that he could not do without them, and gave no reason to doubt that their loyalty would be rewarded. Moreover, they represented only half of his political wisdom in the selection of personnel; the second half was represented by one single person - Maximilien de Bethune, Duke de Sully, who bore this high title only since 1607, but even during the Night of St. Bartholomew, as a Huguenot warrior-nobleman, he sided with Henry of Navarre and has since faithfully served the king .

Sully's career was one of a kind compared to all others in the 16th century. Sully held many resounding and lucrative titles, among them, from 1598, the title of "superintendent of finances", which he turned into a dominant function in the entire royal financial administration; but throughout his life he did not master the role of first minister, as Richelieu did under Louis XIII. He was and remained a devoted and close ally of the king, and there was never any danger that Sully would act differently than the king wanted. For we can assume that the reorganization of the financial administration, and with it the entire public administration, towards the creation of a centralized bureaucratic system, which took place under Sully, was in accordance with the wishes of the king and was a manifestation and result of his personal rule.

With the help of the financial council, a division of the royal council, Sully was able to gain an understanding of the kingdom's financial resources over several years. He did this completely independently of local and provincial officials, whom he immediately began to replace, in which, however, he succeeded as little as all other regimes of the 17th and 18th centuries. At the same time, wherever he could, he squeezed out the provincial class assemblies, since they had the right to participate in the financial administration of the provinces. Sully also questioned the Parisian and provincial chambers of accounts responsible for the control and controversial affairs of the financial administration; four times he created the so-called judicial chambers, extraordinary tribunals, where positions were occupied by loyal officials who, at least for a limited period, deprived the accounting chambers of significant powers. Henry IV and Sully sent crown officials to the provinces for a certain period of time and thereby abolished the powers of the corresponding authorities. Such “commissions” were the predecessors of intendants, and in certain provinces, especially in Lyon, where there was no parliament and provincial states, we see in the time of Henry IV (and his predecessor) such an intendant, although he was not yet called that. Neither Sully nor his master had much respect for the rights of the other higher judicial chambers and tried to limit or neutralize them. Whatever we are talking about, the following picture emerges: behind the open, friendly, cheerful face of the first Bourbon hides another, stern face of an absolute monarch conscious of his power.

It was in its last phase that the religious wars caused severe economic damage to the country. From the account books of large landowners and church tithe acts, we know how much grain production, the core of the French economy, declined during these years. The area of ​​uncultivated land increased everywhere. Production of linen and silk was reduced by half. Marauding armies, local and foreign, brought famine and epidemics—by the end of the century, once again plague was rampant in France. There was not only a religious war between large parties, but also a small war between peasant communities and wandering soldiers and bandits. In the South, in Limousin and Périgord, in 1594 and 1595. Major peasant uprisings occurred. The peasants fought against the triple tax burden imposed on them by landowners, the church and the king.

The way Henry IV responded to this situation was typical of his reign and his manner of behavior. With the help of his inventive superintendent Sully, between 1599 and 1602 he raised the already high direct taxes on land, while significantly reducing the tallu, mainly a “peasant tax”. This brought tangible relief, but the other side of the coin was revealed - indirect taxes increased significantly, especially the tax on salt (gabel). Of course, many French peasants felt better simply because the time of war and internal unrest had passed. However, the peasants had new enemies: on the one hand, the recovered church put its tithe administration in order, on the other, the old and new local nobility, which greedily coveted the property of indebted or ruined peasants. It was during these years of restoration that in almost all provinces the ownership share of the independent peasantry fell below 50%. The golden age of Francis I was effectively over.

The achievements of Henry IV in the field of development of crafts and trade policy were very important. He encouraged initiatives in this area and showed himself to be the first “mercantilist” of France, to whom Richelieu and Colbert owed much. The mass-produced and luxury clothing industry was greatly strengthened, and silk production was supported by incentives for the cultivation of mulberry trees and the breeding of silkworms. Consulted by competent business leaders (Olivier de Serres, Barthelemy de Laffema, etc.), the king aimed at a policy of trade surplus and encouraged French merchants to move into the North American colonies.

At least briefly, something should be said about Henry IV, the patron of the arts. Henry IV went down in the history of the French kingdom as one of the great architects. In the Louvre, on his personal initiative, a “grand gallery” was built, in Fontainebleau - an “oval courtyard”. In both cases, the king was more of a continuator. However, in Paris he acted completely independently, where he was a city planner: the Place Royale in the Marais, known since the early days of the Revolution as the Place des Vosges, is his creation, as is the Place Dauphiné on the western tip of the Ile de la Cité.