According to pharmacylib, the beginnings of the new sovereign were very difficult: although, in the first moment of emotion for the regicide, all the lords had acclaimed him king, many later abandoned him. Meanwhile, the Guise party proclaimed the old cardinal of Bourbon, uncle of Henry (Charles X), king. But soon, a crowd of new partisans flocked around the flags of the legitimate king: all people who, disgusted by the demagogic excesses of the Sixteen, by the attempts of Mayenne, then head of the League, to impose Spanish aid, by the actual foreign intervention, thanks to Alessandro Farnese, general of Philip II, he had the decisive push to reconcile with him from the military successes of Henry IV. Even among the clergy, jealous of their Gallican freedoms, the pope’s intervention aroused reactions and uncertainties. Henry IV came twice as far as the gates of Paris and twice was forced, not defeated, to retire. Finally, in 1593, the States General met in Paris; while they rejected all offers of help proposed by the Spanish ambassador, they negotiated with Henry IV. On 25 July, he abjured in Saint-Denis; on February 27 of the following year he was consecrated in Chartres. The conversion marked the disintegration of the League. On March 22, 1594, Henry entered Paris acclaimed by the bourgeoisie and the people, happy to be freed from the tyranny of the Sixteen and from the danger of a foreign invasion. Spanish ambassador, he negotiated with Henry IV. On 25 July, he abjured in Saint-Denis; on February 27 of the following year he was consecrated in Chartres. The conversion marked the disintegration of the League. On March 22, 1594, Henry entered Paris acclaimed by the bourgeoisie and the people, happy to be freed from the tyranny of the Sixteen and from the danger of a foreign invasion. Spanish ambassador, he negotiated with Henry IV. On 25 July, he abjured in Saint-Denis; on February 27 of the following year he was consecrated in Chartres. The conversion marked the disintegration of the League. On March 22, 1594, Henry entered Paris acclaimed by the bourgeoisie and the people, happy to be freed from the tyranny of the Sixteen and from the danger of a foreign invasion.
However, the country was not pacified: despite the acquittal of Clement VIII, the struggles continued between Protestants and Catholics and also between Royalist Catholics and Gallicans and Ultramontan Catholics. But transformed, with the declaration of war on Spain (January 17, 1595), the civil war into a national war, the most effective means of restoring the spiritual unity of France was found. A successful campaign, in which the French returned to the Spaniards Calais and Amiens that they had occupied, led to the peace of Vervins (May 2, 1598), with which the clauses of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis were re-established. While thus reaffirming the power of France externally, Henry IV provided for the internal pacification with the edict of Nantes (13 April 1598; v.), which granted the Huguenots freedom of worship in the places specifically indicated, not everywhere. On the whole, the edict was much less liberal than that following the peace of Monsieur, but it was followed, on 30 April 1598, by a secret article that granted the reformed, for eight years, the so-called security squares, that is all the cities and castles of which they were owners at the end of August 1597, with the right to keep their own garrison there. This meant creating a small state within the state, all the more so as Henry IV tacitly recognized the political assemblies of the Reformed themselves, and later conflicts arose between the Reformed themselves and the monarchy in the age of Richelieu. but it was followed, on April 30, 1598, by a secret article that granted the reformed, for eight years, the so-called security squares, that is, all the cities and castles they owned at the end of August 1597, with the right to keep own garrison. This meant creating a small state within the state, all the more so as Henry IV tacitly recognized the political assemblies of the Reformed themselves, and later conflicts arose between the Reformed themselves and the monarchy in the age of Richelieu. but it was followed, on April 30, 1598, by a secret article that granted the reformed, for eight years, the so-called security squares, that is, all the cities and castles they owned at the end of August 1597, with the right to keep own garrison. This meant creating a small state within the state, all the more so as Henry IV tacitly recognized the political assemblies of the Reformed themselves, and later conflicts arose between the Reformed themselves and the monarchy in the age of Richelieu.
Thus pacified the country Henry IV was able to resume the work of strengthening the monarchy, interrupted by civil wars. The oppositions and plots of the Great were mercilessly repressed; the number of royal councilors was reduced and a kind of restricted council functioned above them, to which only the most trusted collaborators were admitted. The States General were never summoned; the power of the governors was still limited, practically more than legally; if much concern was used with the Paris parliament, the royal will was imposed on the other parliaments, often abruptly; government interference in municipal elections and constitutions became larger and more intrusive.
