French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion ( 1562 – 98 ) is the name of a period of civil infighting and military operation s , primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots ) . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France , such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise ( Lorraine ) , and both sides received assistance from foreign sources . The exact number of wars and their respective dates are the subject of continued debate by historians ; some assert that the Edict of Nantes in 1598 concluded the wars , although a resurgence of rebellious activity following this leads some to believe the Peace of Alais in 1629 is the actual conclusion . However , the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to begin the Wars of Religion and the Edict of Nantes at least ended this series of conflicts . During this time , complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles . At the conclusion of the conflict in 1598 , Huguenots were granted substantial rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes , though it did not end hostility towards them . The wars weakened the authority of the monarchy , already fragile under the rule of Francis II and then Charles IX , though it later reaffirmed its role under Henry IV . Background . Growth of Calvinism . Protestant ideas were first introduced to France during the reign of Francis I ( 1515 – 47 ) in the form of Lutheranism , the teachings of Martin Luther , and circulated unimpeded for more than a year around Paris . Although Francis firmly opposed heresy , the difficulty was initially in recognising what constituted it ; Catholic doctrine and definition of orthodox belief was unclear . Despite this , in January 1535 , Catholic authorities decided that those classified as " Lutherans " were actually Zwinglians , followers of Huldrych Zwingli . Affair of the Placards . The Affair of the Placards in 1534 started with protesters putting up anti - Catholic posters . Protestantism became identified as " a religion of rebels " , helping the Catholic Church to define heresy . In the wake of the posters , the French monarchy took a harder stand against the protesters . Francis I was severely criticized for his initial tolerance towards Protestants , and was encouraged to repress them . At the same time , Francis I was working on a policy of alliance with the Ottoman Empire . The ambassadors in the 1534 Ottoman embassy to France accompanied Francis I to Paris . They attended the execution by burning at the stake of those caught for the Affair of the Placards , on 21 January , 1535 , in front of the Cathedral of Notre - Dame de Paris . John Calvin , a Frenchman , escaped from the persecution to Basle , Switzerland , where he published the " Institutes of the Christian Religion " in 1536 . In the same year , he visited Geneva , but was forced out for trying to reform the church . When he returned by invitation in 1541 , he wrote the " Ecclesiastical ordinances " , the constitution for a Genevan church , which was passed by the council of Geneva . Massacre of Mérindol . The Massacre of Mérindol took place in 1545 . Francis I ordered the punishment of the Waldensians of the city of Mérindol — who were affiliated with Protestantism — for dissident religious activities . Historians estimate that Provençal troops killed hundreds to thousands of residents there , and in the nearby 22 - 28 villages they destroyed . They captured hundreds of men and sent them to labor in the French galleys . In the 1550s , the establishment of the Geneva church provided leadership to the disorganised French Calvinist ( Huguenot ) church . The 1540s had seen an intensification in the French fight against heresy , which meant Protestants gathered secretly to worship . But by the middle of the century , the adherents to Protestantism in France had increased markedly in number and power , as the nobility in particular converted to Calvinism . Historians estimate that in the 1560s , more than half of the nobility were Calvinist ( or Huguenot ) , and 1 , 200 – 1 , 250 Calvinist churches had been established , by 1562 with the outbreak of war , there were 2 million Calvinists . The conversion of the nobility constituted a substantial threat to the monarchy . Calvinism proved attractive to people from across the social hierarchy and occupational divides ; it was highly regionalized , with no coherent pattern of geographical spread . Rise of factionism . The accidental death of Henry II in 1559 created a political vacuum that encouraged the rise of factions , eager to grasp power . Francis II of France , at this point only 15 years old , was weak and lacked the qualities that allowed his predecessors to impose their will on the leading noblemen at court . The House of Guise , having an advantage in the King ' s wife , Mary , Queen of Scots , who was their niece , moved quickly to exploit the situation at the expense of their rivals , the House of Montmorency . Within days of the King ' s accession , the English ambassador reported that " the house of Guise ruleth and doth all about the French King " . The " Amboise conspiracy " , or " Tumult of Amboise " . In March 1560 a group of disaffected nobles ( led by Jean du Barry , seigneur de la Renaudie ) attempted to abduct the young Francis II and eliminate the Guise faction . Their plans were discovered before they could succeed , and the government executed hundreds of suspected plotters . The Guise brothers suspected Louis I de Bourbon , prince de Condé of leading the plot . He was arrested but eventually freed for lack of evidence , adding to the tensions of the period . ( In the polemics that followed , the term " Huguenot " for France ' s Protestants came into widespread usage . ) Iconoclasm and civic disturbances . The first instances of Protestant iconoclasm , the destruction of images and statues in Catholic churches , occurred in Rouen and La Rochelle in 1560 . The following year , mobs carried out iconoclasm in more than 20 cities and towns ; Catholic urban groups attacked Protestants in bloody reprisals in Sens , Cahors , Carcassonne , Tours and other cities . Death of Francis II . In December 1560 Francis II died , and his mother Catherine de ' Medici became regent for her second son , Charles IX . Inexperienced and faced with the legacy of debt from the Habsburg - Valois conflict , Catherine felt that she had to steer the throne carefully between the powerful and conflicting interests that surrounded it , embodied by the powerful aristocrats who led essentially private armies . Although she was a sincere Roman Catholic , she was prepared to deal favourably with the Huguenot House of Bourbon in order to have a counterweight against the overmighty Guise . She nominated a moderate chancellor , Michel de l ' Hôpital , who urged a number of measures providing for civic peace so that a religious resolution could be sought by a sacred council . Colloquy of Poissy and the Edict of Saint - Germain . This council of clergy formed in 1561 , during the Estates - General of Saint - Germain - en - Laye when the national council of prelates accepted the crown ' s request to give Huguenots a hearing . The Protestants were represented by 12 ministers and 20 laymen , led by Théodore de Bèze . Neither group sought toleration of Protestants , but wanted to reach some form of concord for the basis of a new unity . A meeting between Bèze and the Cardinal of Lorraine , of the House of Guise , seemed promising ; both appeared ready to compromise on the form of worship . However , by the end of the Colloquy in October 1561 it was clear that the divide between Catholic and Protestant ideas was already too wide . In early 1562 , the regency government attempted to quell escalating disorder in the provinces , which had been encouraged by factional feuds at court , by instituting the Edict of Saint - Germain , also known as the Edict of January . The legislation made concessions to the Huguenots to avoid their rebelling . It allowed them to worship publicly outside of towns and privately inside them . On March 1 , however , a faction of the Guise family ' s retainers attacked a Calvinist service in Wassy - sur - Blaise in Champagne , massacring the worshipers and most of the residents of the town . The Huguenot Jean de la Fontaine described the events : " The Protestants were engaged in prayer outside the walls , in conformity with the king ' s edict , when the Duke of Guise approached . Some of his suite insulted the worshippers , and from insults they proceeded to blows , and the Duke himself was accidentally wounded in the cheek . The sight of his blood enraged his followers , and a general massacre of the inhabitants of Vassy ensued . " 1562 – 70 . The " first " war ( 1562 – 63 ) . The Massacre of Vassy , as this became known , provoked open hostilities between the factions supporting the two religions . The Bourbons , led by the prince of Condé and proclaiming that they were liberating the king and regent from " evil " councillors , organised a kind of protectorate over the Protestant churches . They began to seize and garrison strategic towns along the Loire . Although the Huguenots had begun to mobilise for war before Vassy , Condé used the massacre as evidence that the Edict had been broken , lending further weight to his campaign . Hoping to turn over the town to Condé , the Huguenots of Toulouse seized the " Hôtel de ville " but were countered by angry Catholic mobs resulting in street battles and the killing of around 3 , 000 ( mostly Huguenots ) during the 1562 Riots of Toulouse . As conflicts continued and open hostilities broke out , the Crown revoked the Edict under pressure from the Guise faction . The major engagements of the war occurred at Rouen , Dreux and Orléans . At the Siege of Rouen ( May – October 1562 ) , the crown regained the city , but Antoine de Navarre died of his wounds . In the Battle of Dreux ( December 1562 ) , Condé was captured by the Guises and Montmorency , the governor general , was captured by the Bourbons . In February 1563 , at the Siege of Orléans , Francis , Duke of Guise was shot and killed by the Huguenot Jean de Poltrot de Méré . As he was killed outside of direct combat , the Guise considered this an assassination on the orders of the duke ' s enemy , Admiral Coligny . The popular unrest caused by the assassination , coupled with the city of Orléans ' resistance to the siege , led Catherine de ' Medici to mediate a truce , resulting in the Edict of Amboise ( 1563 ) . The " Armed Peace " ( 1563 – 67 ) and the " second " war ( 1567 – 68 ) . The Edict of Amboise was generally regarded as unsatisfactory by all concerned , and the Guise faction was particularly opposed to what they saw as dangerous concessions to heretics . The crown tried to re - unite the two factions in its efforts to re - capture Le Havre , which had been occupied by the English in 1562 as part of the Treaty of Hampton Court between its Huguenot leaders and Elizabeth I of England . That July the French expelled the English , and the next month Charles IX declared his legal majority , ending Catherine de ' Medici ' s regency . His mother continued to play a principal role in politics , and she joined her son on a Grand Tour of the kingdom between 1564 and 1566 , designed to reinstate crown authority . Reports of iconoclasm in Flanders led Charles IX to lend support to the Catholics there ; French Huguenots feared a Catholic re - mobilisation against them . Philip II of Spain ' s reinforcement of the strategic corridor from Italy north along the Rhine added to these fears , and political discontent grew . After Protestant troops unsuccessfully tried to capture and take control of King Charles IX in the Surprise of Meaux , a number of cities , such as La Rochelle , declared themselves for the Huguenot cause . Protesters attacked and massacred Catholic laymen and clergy the following day in Nîmes , in what became known as the " Michelade " . This provoked the Second War , the main military engagement of which was the Battle of Saint - Denis . The crown ' s commander - in - chief and lieutenant general , the seventy - four - year - old Anne de Montmorency , died here . The war was brief , ending in another truce , the Peace of Longjumeau ( March 1568 ) , by which the crown granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants . The " third " war ( 1568 – 70 ) . In reaction to the Peace , Catholic confraternities and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of 1568 . Huguenot leaders such as Condé and Coligny fled court in fear of their lives , many of their followers were murdered , and in September the Edict of Saint - Maur revoked the Huguenots ' freedom to worship . In November William of Orange led an army into France to support his fellow Protestants but , the army being poorly paid , he accepted the crown ' s offer of money and free passage to leave the country . The Huguenots gathered a formidable army under the command of Condé , aided by forces from south - east France , led by Paul de Mouvans , and a contingent of fellow Protestant militias from Germany — including 14 , 000 mercenary " reiter s " led by the Calvinist Duke of Zweibrücken . After the Duke was killed in action , his troops remained under the employ of the Huguenots who had raised a loan from England against the security of the queen of Navarre ' s crown jewels . Much of the Huguenots ' financing came from Queen Elizabeth of England , who was likely influenced in the matter by Sir Francis Walsingham . The Catholics were commanded by the Duke d ' Anjou ( later King Henry III ) and assisted by troops from Spain , the Papal States , and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . The Protestant army laid siege to several cities in the Poitou and Saintonge regions ( to protect La Rochelle ) , and then Angoulême and Cognac . At the Battle of Jarnac ( 16 March 1569 ) , the prince of Condé was killed , forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command of the Protestant forces , nominally on behalf of Condé ' s 15 - year - old son , Henry , and the sixteen - year old Henry of Navarre , who were presented by Jeanne d ' Albret as the legitimate leaders of the Huguenot cause against royal authority . The Battle of La Roche - l ' Abeille was a nominal victory for the Huguenots , but they were unable to seize control of Poitiers and were soundly defeated at the Battle of Moncontour ( 30 October 1569 ) . Coligny and his troops retreated to the south - west and regrouped with Gabriel , comte de Montgomery , and in spring of 1570 they pillaged Toulouse , cut a path through the south of France and went up the Rhone valley up to La Charité - sur - Loire . The staggering royal debt and Charles IX ' s desire to seek a peaceful solution led to the Peace of Saint - Germain - en - Laye ( 8 August 1570 ) , which once more allowed some concessions to the Huguenots . St . Bartholomew ' s Day Massacre and after ( 1572 – 73 ) . Anti - Protestant massacres of Huguenots at the hands of Catholic mobs continued , in cities such as Rouen , Orange and Paris . Matters at Court were complicated as King Charles IX openly allied with the Huguenot leaders — especially Admiral Gaspard de Coligny . Meanwhile , the Queen Mother became increasingly fearful of the unchecked power wielded by Coligny and his supporters , especially as it became clear that Coligny was pursuing an alliance with England and the Dutch Protestant rebels . Coligny , along with many other Calvinist nobles , arrived in Paris for the wedding of the Catholic Princess Marguerite de Valois to the Protestant Henry of Navarre on August 18 . On August 22 , an assassin made a failed attempt on Coligny ' s life , shooting him in the street from a window . While historians have suggested Charles de Louvier , sieur de Maurevert , as the likely assailant , historians have never determined the source of the order to kill Coligny ( it is improbable that the order came from Catherine ) . Amidst fears of a Huguenot coup , the Duke of Guise and his supporters acted . In the early morning of August 24 , they killed Coligny in his lodgings with several of his men . Coligny ' s body was thrown from the window into the street , and was subsequently mutilated , castrated , dragged through the mud , thrown in the river , suspended on a gallows and burned by the Parisian crowd . This assassination began the series of events known as the St . Bartholomew ' s Day massacre . For the next five days , the city erupted as Catholics massacred Calvinist men , women and children , and looted their houses , which was neither approved of nor predicted by the king . Over the next few weeks , the disorder spread to more than a dozen cities across France . Historians estimate that 2 , 000 Huguenots were killed in Paris and thousands more in the provinces ; in all , perhaps 10 , 000 people were killed . Henry of Navarre and his cousin , the young Prince of Condé , managed to avoid death by agreeing to convert to Catholicism . Both repudiated their conversions after they escaped Paris . The massacre provoked horror and outrage among Protestants throughout Europe , but both Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII , following the official version that a Huguenot coup had been thwarted , celebrated the outcome . In France , Huguenot opposition to the crown was seriously weakened by the deaths of many of the leaders . Many Huguenots emigrated to Protestant countries . Others reconverted to Catholicism for survival , and the remainder concentrated in a small number of cities where they formed a majority . The ' fourth ' war ( 1572 – 73 ) . The massacres provoked further military action , which included Catholic siege s of the cities of Sommières ( by troops led by Henri I de Montmorency ) , Sancerre and La Rochelle ( by troops led by the duke of Anjou ) . The end of hostilities was brought on by the election ( 11 – 15 May 1573 ) of the Duke of Anjou to the throne of Poland and by the Edict of Boulogne ( signed in July 1573 ) , which severely curtailed many of the rights previously granted to French Protestants . Based on the terms of the treaty , all Huguenots were granted amnesty for their past actions and the freedom of belief . But , they were permitted the freedom to worship only within the three towns of La Rochelle , Montauban , and Nîmes , and even then only within their own residences . Protestant aristocrats with the right of high - justice were permitted to celebrate marriages and baptisms , but only before an assembly limited to ten persons outside of their family . 1574 – 80 . Death of Charles IX and the ' fifth ' war ( 1574 – 76 ) . In the absence of the duke of Anjou disputes between Charles and his youngest brother , the duke of Alençon , led to many Huguenots congregating around Alençon for patronage and support . A failed coup at Saint - Germain ( February 1574 ) , allegedly aiming to release Condé and Navarre who had been held at court since St Bartholemew ' s , coincided with rather successful Huguenot uprisings in other parts of France such as Lower Normandy , Poitou and the Rhône valley , which reinitiated hostilities . Three months after Henry of Anjou ' s coronation as King of Poland , his brother Charles IX died ( May 1574 ) and his mother declared herself regent until his return . Henry secretly left Poland and returned via Venice to France , where he faced the defection of Montmorency - Damville , ex - commander in the Midi ( November 1574 ) . Despite having failed to have established his authority over the Midi , he was crowned King Henry III , at Rheims February 1575 , marrying Louise Vaudémont , a kinswoman of the Guise , the following day . By April the crown was already seeking to negotiate , and the escape of Alençon from court in September prompted the possibility of an overwhelming coalition of forces against the crown , as John Casimir of the Palatinate invaded Champagne . The crown hastily negotiated a truce of seven months with Alençon and promised Casimir ' s forces 500 , 000 livres to stay east of the Rhine but neither action secured a peace . By May 1576 the crown was forced to accept the terms of Alençon , and the Huguenots who supported him , in the Edict of Beaulieu , known as the Peace of Monsieur . The Catholic League and the ' sixth ' war ( 1576 – 77 ) . The Edict of Beaulieu granted many concessions to the Calvinists , but these were short - lived in the face of the Catholic League — which the ultra - Catholic , Henry I , Duke of Guise , had formed in opposition to it . The House of Guise had long been identified with the defense of the Roman Catholic Church and the Duke of Guise and his relations — the Duke of Mayenne , Duke of Aumale , Duke of Elboeuf , Duke of Mercœur and the Duke of Lorraine — controlled extensive territories that were loyal to the League . The League also had a large following among the urban middle class . The Estates - General of Blois ( 1576 ) failed to resolve matters , and by December the Huguenots had already taken up arms in Poitou and Guyenne . While the Guise faction had the unwavering support of the Spanish Crown , the Huguenots had the advantage of a strong power base in the southwest ; they were also discreetly supported by foreign Protestant governments , but in practice , England or the German states could provide few troops in the ensuing conflict . After much posturing and negotiations , Henry III rescinded most of the concessions that had been made to the Protestants in the Edict of Beaulieu with the Treaty of Bergerac ( September 1577 ) , confirmed in the Edict of Poitiers passed six days later . The ' seventh ' war ( 1579 – 80 ) and the death of Anjou ( 1584 ) . Despite Henri according his youngest brother Francis the title of Duke of Anjou , the prince and his followers continued to create disorder at court through their involvement in the Dutch Revolt . Meanwhile , the regional situation disintegrated into disorder as both Catholics and Protestants armed themselves in ' self defence ' . In November 1579 , Condé seized the town of La Fère , leading to another round of military action , which was brought to an end by the Treaty of Fleix ( November 1580 ) , negotiated by Anjou . The fragile compromise came to an end in 1584 , when the Duke of Anjou , the King ' s youngest brother and heir presumptive , died . As Henry III had no son , under Salic Law , the next heir to the throne was the Calvinist Prince Henri of Navarre , a descendant of Louis IX whom Pope Sixtus V had excommunicated along with his cousin , Henri Prince de Condé . When it became clear that Henri of Navarre would not renounce his Protestantism , the Duke of Guise signed the Treaty of Joinville ( 31 December 1584 ) , on behalf of the League , with Philip II of Spain , who supplied a considerable annual grant to the League over the following decade to maintain the civil war in France , with the hope of destroying the French Calvinists . Under pressure from the Guise , Henri III reluctantly issued the Treaty of Nemours ( July ) and an edict , suppressing Protestantism and annulling Henri of Navarre ' s right to the throne . 1585 – 98 . The " War of the Three Henries " . The King at first tried to co - opt the head of the Catholic League and steer it towards a negotiated settlement . This was anathema to the Guise leaders , who wanted to bankrupt the Huguenots and divide their considerable assets with the King . The situation degenerated into open warfare . Henry of Navarre again sought foreign aid from the German princes and Elizabeth I of England . Meanwhile , the solidly Catholic people of Paris , under the influence of the Committee of Sixteen were becoming dissatisfied with Henry III and his failure to defeat the Calvinists . On 12 May 1588 , the Day of the Barricades , a popular uprising raised barricades on the streets of Paris to defend the Duke of Guise against the alleged hostility of the king , and Henry III fled the city . The Committee of Sixteen took complete control of the government , while the Guise protected the surrounding supply lines . The mediation of Catherine de ' Medici led to the Edict of Union , in which the crown accepted almost all the League ' s demands ; reaffirming the Treaty of Nemours , recognizing Cardinal de Bourbon as heir , and making the duke of Guise Lieutenant - General . The Estates - General of Blois and Assassination of the Guise ( 1588 ) . Refusing to return to Paris , Henry III called for an Estates - General at Blois in September of that year . During the Estates - General Henry suspected that the members of the third estate were being manipulated by the League and became convinced that Guise had encouraged the duke of Savoy ' s invasion of Saluzzo in October . Viewing the House of Guise as a dangerous threat to the power of the Crown , King Henri decided to strike first . On 23 December 1588 , at the Château de Blois , Henry of Guise and his brother , the Cardinal de Guise , were lured into a trap by the King ' s guards . The Duke arrived in the council chamber where his brother the Cardinal waited . The Duke was told that the King wished to see him in the private room adjoining the royal chambers . There guardsmen seized the duke and stabbed him in the heart , while others arrested the Cardinal who later died on the pikes of his escort . To make sure that no contender for the French throne was free to act against him , the King had the Duke ' s son imprisoned . The Duke of Guise had been highly popular in France , and the Catholic League declared open war against King Henry . The Parlement of Paris instituted criminal charges against the King , who now joined forces with his cousin , the Huguenot , Henry of Navarre , to war against the League . The assassination of Henry III ( 1589 ) . It thus fell upon the younger brother of the Guise , the Duke of Mayenne , to become the leader of the Catholic League . The League presses began printing anti - royalist tracts under a variety of pseudonyms , while the Sorbonne proclaimed that it was just and necessary to depose Henri III , and that any private citizen was morally free to commit regicide . In July 1589 , in the royal camp at Saint - Cloud , a Dominican monk named Jacques Clément gained an audience with the King and drove a long knife into his spleen . Clément was killed on the spot , taking with him the information of who , if anyone , had hired him . On his deathbed , Henri III called for Henry of Navarre , and begged him , in the name of Statecraft , to become a Catholic , citing the brutal warfare that would ensue if he refused . In keeping with Salic Law , he named Henri as his heir . Henry IV ' s ' Conquest of the Kingdom ' ( 1589 – 1593 ) . The situation on the ground in 1589 was that the new Henry IV of France , as Navarre had become , held the south and west , and the Catholic League the north and east . The leadership of the Catholic League had devolved to the Duke de Mayenne , who was appointed Lieutenant - General of the kingdom . He and his troops controlled most of rural Normandy . However , in September 1589 , Henry inflicted a severe defeat on the Duke at the Battle of Arques . Henry ' s army swept through Normandy , taking town after town throughout the winter . The King knew that he had to take Paris if he stood any chance of ruling all of France . This , however , was no easy task . The Catholic League ' s presses and supporters continued to spread stories about atrocities committed against Catholic priests and the laity in Protestant England ( see Forty Martyrs of England and Wales ) . The city prepared to fight to the death rather than accept a Calvinist king . The Battle of Ivry , fought on 14 March 1590 , was another decisive victory for Henry against forces led by the Duke of Mayenne . Henry ' s forces then went on to lay siege to Paris , but the siege was broken by Spanish support ( under the command of the Duke of Parma ) , by the end of August ; a situation repeated at the Siege of Rouen ( November 1591 – March 1592 ) . War in Brittany . Meanwhile Philippe Emmanuel , Duke of Mercœur , whom Henry III had made governor of Brittany in 1582 , was endeavouring to make himself independent in that province . A leader of the Catholic League , he invoked the hereditary rights of his wife , Marie de Luxembourg , who was a descendant of the dukes of Brittany and heiress of the Blois - Brosse claim to the duchy as well as Duchess of Penthièvre in Brittany , and organized a government at Nantes . Proclaiming his son " prince and duke of Brittany " , he allied with Philip II of Spain , who sought to place his own daughter , infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia , on the throne of Brittany . With the aid of the Spanish , Mercœur defeated Henry IV ' s forces under the Duke of Montpensier , at Craon in 1592 , but the royal troops , reinforced by English contingents , soon recovered the advantage . Towards peace ( 1593 – 98 ) . Conversion . Despite the campaigns between 1590 and 1592 , Henry IV was " no closer to capturing Paris " . Realising that Henry III had been right and that there was no prospect of a Protestant king succeeding in resolutely Catholic Paris , Henry agreed to convert , reputedly stating " " Paris vaut bien une messe " " ( " Paris is well worth a Mass " ) . He was formally received into the Catholic Church in 1593 , and was crowned at Chartres in 1594 as League members maintained control of the Cathedral of Rheims , and , sceptical of Henry ' s sincerity , continued to oppose him . He was finally received into Paris in March 1594 , and 120 League members in the city who refused to submit were banished from the capital . Paris ' capitulation encouraged the same of many other towns , while others returned to support the crown after Pope Clement VIII absolved Henry , revoking his excommunication in return for the publishing of the Tridentine Decrees , the restoration of Catholicism in Béarn , and appointing only Catholics to high office . Evidently Henry ' s conversion worried Protestant nobles , many of whom had , until then , hoped to win not just concessions but a complete reformation of the French Church , and their acceptance of Henry was by no means a foregone conclusion . War with Spain ( 1595 – 98 ) . By the end of 1594 , certain League members still worked against Henry across the country , but all relied on Spain ' s support . In January 1595 , the king declared war on Spain to show Catholics that Spain was using religion as a cover for an attack on the French state — and to show Protestants that his conversion had not made him a puppet of Spain . Also , he hoped to take the war to Spain and make territorial gain . The conflict mostly consisted of military action aimed at League members , such as the Battle of Fontaine - Française , though the Spanish launched a concerted offensive in 1595 , taking Doullens , Cambrai and Le Catelet and in the spring of 1596 capturing Calais by April . Following the Spanish capture of Amiens in March 1597 the French crown laid siege until its surrender in September . After the Siege of Amiens Henry ' s concerns turned to the situation in Brittany , the king sent Bellièvre and Brulart de Sillery to negotiate a peace with Spain . The war was only drawn to an official close , however , after the Edict of Nantes , with the Peace of Vervins in May 1598 . Resolution of the War in Brittany ( 1598 – 99 ) . In early 1598 the king marched against Mercœur in person , and received his submission at Angers on 20 March 1598 . Mercœur subsequently went to exile in Hungary . Mercœur ' s daughter and heiress was married to the Duke of Vendôme , an illegitimate son of Henry IV . The Edict of Nantes ( 1598 ) . Henry IV was faced with the task of rebuilding a shattered and impoverished Kingdom and uniting it under a single authority . Henry and his advisor , the Duke of Sully saw that the essential first step in this was negotiation of the Edict of Nantes — which , rather than being a sign of genuine toleration , was in fact a kind of grudging truce between the religions , with guarantees for both sides . The Edict can be said to mark the end of the Wars of Religion , though its apparent success was not assured at the time of its publication . Indeed , in January 1599 , Henry had to visit the Parliament in person to have the Edict passed . Religious tensions continued to affect politics for many years to come , though never to the same degree , and Henry IV faced many attempts on his life ; the last — a Catholic who believed the king had failed in his Christian duty — succeeding in May 1610 . 17th and 18th centuries . Although the Edict of Nantes brought the conflicts to a close , the political freedoms it granted to the Huguenots ( seen by detractors as " a state within the state " ) became an increasing source of trouble during the 17th century . The decision of King Louis XIII to reintroduce Catholicism in a portion of southwestern France prompted a Huguenot revolt . By the Peace of Montpellier in 1622 , the fortified Protestant towns were reduced to two : La Rochelle and Montauban . Another war followed , which concluded with the Siege of La Rochelle , in which royal forces led by Cardinal Richelieu blockaded the city for fourteen months . Under the 1629 Peace of La Rochelle , the " brevets " of the Edict ( sections of the treaty that dealt with military and pastoral clauses and were renewable by letters patent ) were entirely withdrawn , though Protestants retained their prewar religious freedoms . Over the remainder of Louis XIII ' s reign , and especially during the minority of Louis XIV , the implementation of the Edict varied year by year . In 1661 Louis XIV , who was particularly hostile to the Huguenots , assumed control of the French government and began to disregard some of the provisions of the Edict . In 1681 he instituted the policy of dragonnade s , to intimidate Huguenot families to convert to Roman Catholicism or emigrate . Finally , in October 1685 , Louis issued the Edict of Fontainebleau , which formally revoked the Edict and made the practice of Protestantism illegal in France . The revocation of the Edict had very damaging results for France . While it did not prompt renewed religious warfare , many Protestants chose to leave France rather than convert , with most moving to Great Britain , Prussia , the Dutch Republic and Switzerland . At the dawn of the 18th century , Protestants remained in significant numbers in the remote Cévennes region of the Massif Central . This population , known as the Camisard s , revolted against the government in 1702 , leading to fighting that continued intermittently until 1715 , after which the Camisards were largely left in peace .