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The Reformation in France

Later Developments in France

Henry IV himself was assassinated in May 1610, but no new wars broke out over it. France was quiet for a time. Over the next few decades, the Huguenots were subjected to a slowly increasing pressure from the crown, especially under the cardinals Mazarin and Richelieu. But the crown was unable to take decisive action because it was too weak and too distracted.

Louis XIII (1610-1643) was only nine years old when he became king. Once he was old enough to rule, he was soon embroiled in the Thirty Years' War. There was little room in which to pursue the Huguenots, though Richelieu did his best. Louis XIII was followed by Louis XIV (1643-1715) was even younger—five years old upon his accession. More years would pass before he felt secure enough to re-open the religious question.

The time finally came in the 1680s. Louis began hounding the Huguenots out of public offices and even excluding them from certain professions, such as medicine. He put special taxes on them. In 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes, sparking a final series of religious wars in France. This time, however, the Huguenots were thoroughly defeated. While French Protestantism did survive, it did so only as a renegade and illegal religion, enduring secretly until the French Revolution made Protestantism again possible. In a real sense, France never settled its religious divisions.