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HISTory

HIgHer

Registering the Edict of Nantes (1598–1609)

on 15 May 1609, Henri IV sent a lettre de jussion to Parlement of rouen, the last

remaining parlement that had not registered the edict of Nantes.

Document

Summary

Letter from Henri IV requesting the Parlement of Normandy to register the edict of Nantes (Paris, 15 May

1609).

1 B 126 registre secret du parlement de Normandie, f° 283

2

Commentary

The edict of Nantes, which had been signed in 1598, was applicable within the

jurisdiction of the rouen Parlement, even if the Parlement had refused for over a

decade to register it. Henri IV was thus forced to send a letter in 1609 demanding

that it be registered. At an audience on 1 November 1599, he had stated, "I have

issued an edict, I want it to be kept and come what may, I will be obeyed."

France's eight Parlements (in Paris, Toulouse, grenoble, Bordeaux, Dijon, rouen,

Aix and rennes) were in charge of administering royal delegated justice and of

"registering" royal laws, i.e. checking them, inscribing them into a register and

publishing them. If parliamentarians considered that a law came into conflict with

the interest of the kingdom, or that it contradicted previous legislation, they could

modify it or send letters or remonstrance to the king. If the king did not wish to

consider such changes, he could send lettres de jussion to the parlement, as Henri

did in the case of rouen. As a last resort, the sovereign could hold a lit de justice

(literally a "bed of justice"), under which he revoked the powers devolved onto the

parliamentarians, who were forced to obey the king's wishes.

France's final edict of pacification consisted of three parts: a "perpetual and

irrevocable" edict, 56 specific articles harmonising the religious concessions made

to Protestants and the various treaties signed with the leaders of the League when

they rallied to Henri IV) and two letters patent (one allocated an annual sum of

45,000 livres for the remuneration of Protestant pastors, academy professors, and

regents of schools; the second listed the areas, cities and chateaux under Protestant

control).

registration of the edict in the various sovereign courts in the kingdom of France

was carried out by most of the country's parlements in 1600 (in January in

Dijon, February in Bordeaux, and in August in rennes and Aix), even though

parliamentarians were divided during the Wars of religion, in the face of the growth

of the Catholic League. Members of the rouen Parlement based their opposition on

Article 37, in which they saw a potential danger: "To unite the will of our subjects all

the more, as is our intention, and to remove all complaints for the future, we declare

all those who make or shall make profession of the said reformed religion, to be

capable of holding and exercising all estates, dignities, offices, and public charges

whatsoever, whether royal, seigniorial, or of cities of our Kingdom." Several royal

declarations and treaties continued, throughout the 17th century, to refer to Article

37 of the edict of Nantes, in order to emphasise the need for its application. Thus,

on 6 May 1616, Louis XIII promulgated special articles of the Treaty of Loudun, and

mentioned the application of this clause in favour of a counsellor to the Parlement

and a master of the Court of Accounts, both Protestants.