The Edict of Nantes was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantly Catholic.
Henry IV of France, By the Grace of God, Most Christian King of France and Navarre
The Edict of Nantes
Henry IV of France by Frans Pourbus the younger.
Louis XIV, by Hyacinthe Rigaud
Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
Portrait by Frans Pourbus, 1610
Henry III of France on his deathbed designating Henry IV of Navarre as his successor (1589)
Portrait of Henry III of Navarre (future Henry IV of France), c. 1575
King Henry IV in his coronation robes, by Frans Pourbus the Younger