Editing Huguenots (section)

===Edict of Nantes===
{{main|Edict of Nantes}}
[[File:Henry IV en Herculeus terrassant l Hydre de Lerne cad La ligue Catholique Atelier Toussaint Dubreuil circa 1600.jpg|thumb|left|[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], as [[Hercules]] vanquishing the [[Lernaean Hydra]] (i.e., the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]]), by [[Toussaint Dubreuil]], circa 1600]]
The pattern of warfare, followed by brief periods of peace, continued for nearly another quarter-century. The warfare was definitively quelled in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, having [[Succession of Henry IV of France|succeeded to the French throne]] as [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], and having recanted Protestantism in favour of Roman Catholicism in order to obtain the French crown, issued the [[Edict of Nantes]]. The Edict reaffirmed Roman Catholicism as the state religion of France, but granted the Protestants equality with Catholics under the throne and a degree of religious and political freedom within their domains. The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in Catholic-controlled regions.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

With the proclamation of the Edict of Nantes, and the subsequent protection of Huguenot rights, pressures to leave France abated. However, enforcement of the Edict grew increasingly irregular over time, making life so intolerable that many fled the country. The Huguenot population of France dropped to 856,000 by the mid-1660s, of which a plurality lived in rural areas.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} The greatest concentrations of Huguenots at this time resided in the regions of [[Guienne]], Saintonge-[[Aunis]]-[[Angoumois]] and [[Poitou]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Huguenot Population of France, 1600–1685: The Demographic Fate and Customs of a Religious Minority |last=Benedict |first=Philip |isbn=0-87169-815-3 |year=1991 |publisher=The American Philosophical Society |location=Philadelphia |page=8 }}</ref>

[[Montpellier]] was among the most important of the 66 {{lang|fr|villes de sûreté}} ('cities of protection' or 'protected cities') that the Edict of 1598 granted to the Huguenots. The city's political institutions and the university were all handed over to the Huguenots. Tension with Paris led to a [[siege by the royal army in 1622]]. Peace terms called for the dismantling of the city's fortifications. A royal citadel was built and the university and consulate were taken over by the Catholic party. Even before the Edict of Alès (1629), Protestant rule was dead and the {{lang|fr|ville de sûreté}} was no more.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

[[File:Expulsion from La Rochelle of 300 Protestant famillies Nov 1661 Jan Luiken 1649 1712.jpg|thumb|Expulsion from [[La Rochelle]] of 300 Protestant families in November 1661]]
By 1620, the Huguenots were on the defensive, and the government increasingly applied pressure. A series of three small civil wars known as the [[Huguenot rebellions]] broke out, mainly in southwestern France, between 1621 and 1629 in which the Reformed areas revolted against royal authority. The uprising occurred a decade following the death of [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], who was assassinated by a Catholic fanatic in 1610. His successor [[Louis XIII]], under the regency of his Italian Catholic mother [[Marie de' Medici]], was more intolerant of Protestantism. The Huguenots responded by establishing independent political and military structures, establishing diplomatic contacts with foreign powers, and openly revolting against central power. The rebellions were implacably suppressed by the French crown.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}