Henry III of Navarre became a ‘Protestant-raised king’ on a Catholic throne when his cousin, Henry III of France was assassinated by a monk.
War with The Catholic League continued for many years until he recanted his faith for the second time, and became a Catholic.
This time, he did it to bring peace to France. The saying, ‘Paris is worth a Mass’ is attributed to him as his rationale for professing to be Catholic.
Yet, he did not forget the Huguenots who fought for the cause. He soon passed The Edict of Nantes which restored previous privileges to the Reformed believers and reinstated Huguenot noblemen to the court of France once more.
The Edict of Nantes also allowed Protestants to engage in trade. He then appointed faithful noblemen – soldiers to the positions of Lieutenant Generals and Viceroy of New France.
This was followed by fur trading monopolies given to these traders to establish colonies on Acadia (NS, NB and PEI) and New France. We will learn about the brave noblemen in this module.
