Domestic policies , . From France, probably Paris.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London During his reign, Henry IV worked through the minister
Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, to regularize state finance, promote agriculture, drain swamps, undertake public works, and encourage education. He established the Collège Royal Henri-le-Grand in
La Flèche (today the
Prytanée Militaire de la Flèche). He and Sully protected forests from further devastation, built a system of tree-lined highways, and constructed bridges and canals. He had a 1200-metre canal built in the park at the
Château Fontainebleau (which may be fished today) and ordered the planting of pines, elms, and fruit trees. (1601–1611) The King restored Paris as a great city, with the
Pont Neuf, which still stands today, constructed over the river
Seine to connect the
Right and
Left Banks of the city. Henry IV also built the Place Royale (known since 1800 as
Place des Vosges), and added the Grande Galerie to the
Louvre Palace. Stretching more than 400 metres along the Seine river bank, at the time it was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. He promoted the arts among all classes of people, and invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the building's lower floors. This tradition continued for another two hundred years, until ended by
Napoleon I. The art and architecture of his reign have become known as the
Henry IV style. Economically, Henry IV sought to reduce imports of foreign goods to
support domestic manufacturing. To this end, new sumptuary laws limited the use of imported gold and silver cloth. He also built royal factories to produce luxuries such as crystal glass, silk, satin, and tapestries (at
Gobelins Manufactory and
Savonnerie manufactory workshops). The king re-established silk weaving in Tours and
Lyon, and increased
linen production in
Picardy and
Brittany. He had distributed 16,000 free copies of the practical manual
The Theatre of Agriculture by Olivier de Serres. King Henry's vision extended beyond France, and he financed several expeditions of
Samuel de Champlain and
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, to North America. France laid claim to
New France (now Canada).
International relations coin of Henry IV,
Saint Lô (1589) During the reign of Henry IV, rivalry continued among France,
Habsburg Spain, and the
Holy Roman Empire for the mastery of Western Europe. The conflict was not resolved until after the
Thirty Years' War.
Spain and Italy During Henry's struggle for the crown, Spain had been the principal backer of the Catholic League, and it tried to thwart Henry. Under
the Duke of Parma, an army from the
Spanish Netherlands intervened in 1590 against Henry and foiled his siege of Paris. Another Spanish army helped the Catholic League nobles opposing Henry to win the
Battle of Craon in 1592. The Spanish war was not ended with Henry's coronation, but after his victory at the
Siege of Amiens in September 1597, the
Peace of Vervins was signed in 1598. This freed his armies to settle the
dispute with the
Duchy of Savoy, ending with the
Treaty of Lyon of 1601, which arranged territorial exchanges. One of Henry's major problems was the
Spanish Road which traversed Spanish territory through
Savoy to the Low Countries. His first opportunity to cut the Spanish Road was a dispute over the ownership of the
Marquisate of Saluzzo. The last marquis left Saluzzo to the French crown in 1548 (when Savoy was occupied by France), but the territory became disputed during the chaos of the Wars of Religion. The pope was asked to
arbitrate between the claims of France and the Duke of Savoy. The Duke offered to cede
Bresse to France if he could retain Saluzzo. Henri IV accepted this, but Spain objected that Bresse was a vital part of the Spanish Road, and persuaded the Duke to reject the decision. Henry IV was already at
Lyon and had soldiers ready, and four days later he marched fifty thousand men against the duchy, occupying almost all of its area west of the Alps. In January 1601, Henry accepted another offer of papal arbitration and gained not only Bresse, but
Bugey and
Gex. Savoy retained a narrow corridor through the
Val de Chézery. This still allowed Spanish troops to cross from
Lombardy to
Franche Comté without going through France, but it created a choke point where the Spanish Road was a single bridge across the
Rhône River. The Saluzzo conflict was Henry IV's last major military operation, but he continued to finance Spain's enemies. He generously assisted the
Dutch Republic with over 12 million livres between 1598 and 1610. In some years, the payment was 10% of France's total annual budget. France also sent subsidies to
Geneva after the Duke of Savoy
attempted to capture the city in 1602.
Holy Roman Empire In 1609, the death of the childless
Johann William,
Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, meant that the succession of the wealthy Duchies was in dispute. Henry aimed to maintain peace among the Protestant princes of the Holy Roman Empire to present a united front against the Habsburgs. To achieve this, Henry encouraged a peaceful settlement over the succession between the two main Protestant claimants:
Wolfgang Wilhelm of Palatinate-Neuburg and
Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg. He communicated this with
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, a significant Protestant leader, who then sought to facilitate an agreement between Wolfgang and Johann Sigismund. When peace was negotiated in the
Treaty of Dortmund, Henry sent congratulatory messages to the Protestant claimants, and voiced his support, particularly against the Habsburgs who were likely to challenge the treaty. When Habsburg forces invaded Jülich, starting the
War of the Jülich Succession, Henry decided to act. On 29 July, after consulting his advisors, Henry ordered a French army to support the Protestant claimants. Even before Henry's accession to the French throne, the French Huguenots were in contact with Aragonese
Moriscos in plans against the Habsburg government of Spain in the 1570s. Around 1575, plans were made for a combined attack of Aragonese Moriscos and Huguenots from
Béarn under Henry against Spanish
Aragon, in agreement with the Dey of
Algiers and the
Ottoman Empire, but this project floundered with the arrival of
John of Austria in Aragon and the disarmament of the Moriscos. In 1576, a three-pronged Ottoman fleet from
Constantinople was planned to disembark between
Murcia and
Valencia while the French Huguenots would invade from the north and the Moriscos accomplish their uprising, but the fleet failed to arrive. In 1606–07, Henry IV sent
Arnoult de Lisle as Ambassador to
Morocco to request the observance of past friendship treaties. An embassy was sent to
Ottoman Tunisia in 1608 led by
François Savary de Brèves.
East Asia Under Henry IV, various enterprises were set up to develop long-distance trade. In December 1600, a company was formed through the association of
Saint-Malo,
Laval, and
Vitré to trade with the
Moluccas and Japan. Two ships, the
Croissant and the
Corbin, were sent around the
Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. The
Corbin was wrecked in the
Maldives, leading to the adventure of
François Pyrard de Laval, who managed to return to France in 1611. The
Croissant, carrying
François Martin de Vitré, reached
Ceylon and traded with
Aceh in
Sumatra, but was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at
Cape Finisterre. From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry attempted to set up a
French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands. On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to
Dieppe merchants to form the
first French East Indies Company, giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years, but no ships were sent until 1616. In English he is most often referred to as Henry of Navarre.
Relationship with Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency In 1609, Henry had grown infatuated with
Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency,
Princess of Condé, much to the chagrin of her husband,
Henry II, Prince of Condé. On 28 November 1609, the Prince and Princess fled to
Brussels in the
Spanish Netherlands. King Henry was furious, and believed that the Prince was conspiring against him, so he threatened to raise an army of 60,000 to capture him and bring back the princess. This corresponded with the War of the Jülich Succession, so it added to the tension, especially with Spain. ==Assassination==