Edict of Nantes

Name: Edict of Nantes
Start: 1598

Type Event Region France Time 1598

On April 13, 1598, King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes at Nantes, legally recognizing Huguenot rights of worship and assembly.

Timeline

1597–1598France · FranceHenry IV, holding the military advantage, consulted with Huguenot leaders and local representatives; ministers Sully, Rosny and others drafted tolerance provisions balancing the interests of the Catholic majority and the Protestant minority.
1598Château des Ducs de Nantes · NantesHenry IV signed and published the full text of the edict at Nantes, confirming Huguenot rights to public worship, participation in justice and municipal affairs, and establishing mixed courts to ease sectarian conflict, marking the legal end of the French Wars of Religion.
1598–1599Paris · Île-de-FranceThe edict was registered by the Parlement of Paris and implemented in the provinces; royal troops supervised the lifting of sieges and the disbanding of sectarian armed forces, providing an institutional framework for Henry IV to consolidate royal power and domestic peace.

Edict of Nantes (April 13, 1598) https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ed1598.asp
Henry IV and the Edict of Nantes — Mack P. Holt (1995)