Editing Edict of Nantes (section)

==Terms==
[[Image:Henry IV of france by pourbous younger.jpg|thumb|[[Henry IV of France]] by [[Frans Pourbus the younger]]]]
The Edict of Nantes that Henry IV signed had four basic texts, including a main text made up of 92 articles that was largely based on unsuccessful peace treaties signed during the recent wars. The edict also included 56 "particular" (secret) articles dealing with Protestant rights and obligations. For example, the French state guaranteed protection of French Protestants travelling abroad from the [[Inquisition]]. "This crucifies me", protested [[Pope Clement VIII]] upon hearing of the edict. The last two parts consisted of ''brevets'' ([[letters patent]]), which contained the military clauses and pastoral clauses. Both brevets were withdrawn in 1629 by [[Louis XIII]] after a final religious civil war.

The two [[letters patent]]<ref>Texts published in [[Élie Benoist|Benoist]] 1693 I:62–98 (noted by Rothrock).</ref> supplementing the edict granted the Protestants<!--fifty or one hundred?--> safe havens (''places de sûreté''), which were military strongholds such as [[La Rochelle]], in support of which the king paid 180,000 [[écus]] a year, along with a further 150 emergency forts (''places de refuge''), to be maintained at the Huguenots' own expense. Such an act of toleration was unusual in [[Western Europe]],{{efn|For Eastern Europe, see [[Ahdname of Milodraž|Mehmed II's Firman on the Freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans]] or the [[Warsaw Confederation]].}} where standard practice forced subjects to follow the religion of their ruler under the application of the principle of ''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]''.

The edict granted religious toleration to the Protestant [[Huguenots]], who had been waging a long and bloody struggle for their rights in France. The main contents were:<ref>Geoffrey Treasure, ''The Huguenots'' (Yale UP, 2015) pp 226–229.</ref><ref>Charles Tylor. ''The Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century'' (1892) pp 9–10.</ref>
* Freedom of conscience and the right to practice their religion (Protestantism) in certain specified towns and cities throughout France.
* The right to hold public office, including the right to serve as judges and administrators, without having to renounce their religion.
* The right to maintain their own schools and universities, and to receive government funding for them.
* The right to fortify their towns and cities for their own protection.
* The right to maintain their own military forces (known as the "Huguenot militia"), which were to be paid for by the French government.
* The right to engage in certain specified trades and professions, including the manufacture and sale of textiles and arms.
* The right to travel freely throughout France, without being subject to searches or seizures of their property.
* The right to bury their dead in their own cemeteries.

The edict also upheld Catholicism's position as the established religion of France. Protestants gained no exemption from paying the [[tithe]]{{efn|The king agreed to support the Protestant ministers in partial compensation.}} and had to respect [[feast day|Catholic holidays]] and restrictions regarding marriage. The authorities limited Protestant freedom of worship to specified geographic areas. The edict dealt only with Protestant and Catholic coexistence and made no mention of [[Jews]] or [[Muslims]], who were offered temporary asylum in France when the [[Marrano|Marranos]] and [[Moriscos]] were expelled from Spain.{{efn|The ''ordonnance'' of 22 February 1610 stipulated that the refugees had to settle north of the [[Dordogne]], safely away from the manipulations of Spanish agents, and that they embrace the Catholic faith; those who did not wish to do so were granted right of passage to French ports on the Mediterranean to take ship for [[Barbary]].<ref>L. P. Harvey, ''Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614'', 2005:318</ref> By the time the ''ordonnance'' was published, Henri IV had been assassinated.}}

The original document that promulgated the edict has disappeared. The ''[[Archives Nationales (France)|Archives Nationales]]'' in Paris preserves only the text of a shorter document modified by concessions extracted from the King by the clergy and the [[Parlement of Paris]], which delayed ten months before finally signing and setting seals to the document in 1599. A copy of the first edict, sent for safekeeping to the Protestant [[Geneva]], survives. The provincial [[parlements]] resisted the edict. The most recalcitrant of them was the [[Parlement of Rouen]], which unreservedly registered the edict only in 1609.<ref>Rothrock 1960:23 note 6.</ref>

The location of the signing is uncertain. The edict itself stated merely that it was "given at [[Nantes]], in the month of April, in the year of Our Lord one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight". By the late 19th century the Catholic tradition<ref>Reported in Baedeker, ''Northern France'', 1889.</ref> cited the signing in the Maison des Tourelles, the home of the prosperous Spanish trader André Ruiz, which was destroyed by bombing during the [[Second World War]].