The Government of France 1598–1715

Abstract While the peace settlements of 1598 must have come as an enormous relief to a country exhausted by decades of war, it was always obvious that they were far from secure. In many respects the Edict of Nantes was a prescription for continuing trouble; limited religious toleration was accepted only as a last resort, and enforcement at the local level was always difficult. The partisans of both creeds were quick to take any opportunity of advancing their position, by opening a new place of worship, packing the municipal governments, and generally exploiting any loophole in the provisions of the Edict. Their alacrity in pushing their own cause was equalled only by the ferocity with which they denounced similar practices by their opponents. This situation was probably inevitable, given the attitudes of the time; the Huguenots in particular needed to maintain their cohesion and morale by this kind of limited aggression, even if in the long run they were damaged by it. The dominance of the Catholic viewpoint at court was especially dangerous in this context, since the royal attitude was bound to be influenced by the way local incidents were represented, and here the cards were stacked in favour of the Catholics. This placed the Huguenots in something of a dilemma; they could not afford to let their position go by default, yet since what they saw as legitimate self defence often appeared to the government as wilful trouble-making, each incident tended to worsen their image. Relations between Henri IV and his onetime supporters soon became difficult, and would have been worse without the mediating role played by Sully, whose high position in the government reassured the Protestants, while giving him enough authority to restrain them from their more dangerous enterprises.