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13 April 1598Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Henry IV Issues the Edict of Nantes

France's Protestant-turned-Catholic king grants Huguenots the right to worship

On the timeline · around 13 April 1598 · The Wars of Religion EndCounter-Reformation and Religious WarThe Wars of Religion EndHenry IV Issues the Edict of Nantes15801585159015951600160516101615

Quick facts

Issued by
Henry IV of France
Date
13 April 1598
Later revoked
By Louis XIV, 1685

What happened

Henry IV, who had been a Protestant leader before converting to Catholicism to secure the French throne, promulgated the Edict of Nantes on 13 April 1598, declaring it a perpetual and irrevocable peace after nearly four decades of civil war between French Catholics and Huguenots. The edict granted Protestants the legal right to worship, including quiet worship at court and Communion for army officers in military camps, while keeping Catholicism as the kingdom's official religion; Protestants still had to pay tithes to Catholic parish priests and observe Catholic feast days. Pope Clement VIII condemned the edict, reportedly calling the freedom of conscience it granted the worst thing that had ever happened.

Why it matters

The Edict of Nantes was the first official French declaration that subjects could legally practice a religion other than the monarch's own, ending the immediate cycle of massacre and civil war even though it satisfied neither side completely. It held, with periodic strain, until Louis XIV revoked it in 1685, after which Huguenot persecution resumed.

How we know

The Edict survives as an official royal decree, and Pope Clement VIII's reaction is documented in contemporary correspondence; the World History Encyclopedia's article on Henry IV and the Edict quotes both the decree's provisions and the papal response.

Sources

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Henry IV Issues the Edict of Nantes · The Protestant Reformation · SourcedStory