Henry IV of France: His Reign and Age

I had been looking forward to this book for quite some time.  Henry IV - King of France and his native Navarre - was the first king of France to embrace pluralism in the sense that he understood the need for a multiplicity of Christian sects and views within that country.  His life and times were embroiled in the battles between Catholicism and Protestantism in the century following the Reformation instigated by Martin Luther.

Henry's embracement of pluralism was a really huge deal.  In fact he was one of the world's first rulers of a large nation to embrace such pluralism.  Similar examples pre-date Henry, such as the Iberian peninsula from the 8th - 11th centuries, which tolerated Christianity, Judaism and even Islam.  However, even in that example, the Iberian peninsula was in itself a multiplicity of nation-states, so the comparison is not perfect.

Henry was born and baptized as a Catholic, but raised as a Protestant.  He fought as a leader in the Protestant (Huguenot) movement, but later converted to Catholicism once he realized this was the only way to unite the country and end decades of civil warfare.  His conversion was the last remaining barrier to his ascendancy to the French throne.

As a Catholic King, Henry consoled his erstwhile Huguenot following with a multiplicity of measures, and spent his reign walking a delicate tightrope between the two faiths.  Henry was the author of the Edict of Nantes (1598), which helped bring decades of relative peace to France by legally protecting Huguenots and providing them with a measure of religious rights.  Neither faith was completely happy with his rule, but he did establish prolonged peace that enabled the country to stabilize and progress towards its future greatness.

Henry's rule marks the end of the Valois dynasty of French kings.  Without the stability brought about by his rule, the new House of Bourbon could not have established its primacy in Europe in the coming centuries.

The Edict was revoked in 1685 by none other than Louis XIV, but Henry's commitment to the cause of pluralism was a watershed moment in the progress towards religious freedom.

The problem of religious intolerance continues today in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and post-war Iraq.  Hints of it are seen in the Arab Spring movement across the Muslim world.  Perhaps the political leaders in those nations should take a look at Henry's approach, his successes and failures, that eventually led to a more peaceful European continent and Western world.