XIX
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No matter. The peace of the kingdom required exceptional leadership. Some moderates brought pressure to bear. Henri yielded to the advice of Maximilien de Bethune, the duke of Sully and a devout Protestant, and proclaimed, "Paris is worth a mass." In the end, Henri decided to convert and was crowned at Chartres in 1594. Henri IV gradually recaptured Huguenot strongholds. But he did not forget that he had been a Huguenot himself, and he managed to bring both sides into line by reasserting himself in the duchy of Vendome, which had fallen into the hands of the League. He brought it under the rule of the crown for a few years before giving it to his legitimized son, Cesar de Vendome., whom he had fathered with Gabrielle d'Estrées. The Edict of Nantes called a truce to serious civil unrest. It granted Protestants only some unimportant places in the Orleanais region: Jargeau, Chateaurenard and Sully. It did not exactly calm the hotheads, but at least it temporarily put an end to the killing and anarchy. In 1600, a Protestant academy was opened in Saumur. In 1603, the Jesuit college of La Fleche was founded. The year 1607 saw the beginning of reconstruction work on the Sainte-Croix cathedral in Orleans. After 40 years of civil war, hatred and murder, the people of France could at last hope for peace again. At Sully's urging, tax burdens were eased and new or imported technology was encouraged, such as the cultivation of silkworms. Large projects were undertaken, such as the Briare canal, the tapestry works of Aubusson, the construction of royal roads lined with elm trees, and bridges more or less everywhere. Duties and tolls were abolished, thus lifting impediments to trade and development. But the fire was still smoldering. Catholics were uneasy at the Protestant alliance and upset at conflict with Catholic Spain. War became inevitable when Ravaillac's dagger assassinated Henri IV. *With the advent of Louis XIII, and, especially, Cardinal Richelieu's taking the reins of power, a more centralized provincial administrative model took shape under the institution of the Intendants. Feudal ties were still very strong in the time of Henri IV, but they would gradually diminish in importance. Still, the seigniorial regime was alive and well; lay and clerics, nobles and commoners had no intention of giving up their rights and privileges. The feudal regime reasserted itself occasionally. A few apanaged princes were involved, such as Cesar, duke of Vendome and Etampes; and Gaston, a brother of Louis XIII, for whom the apanage of Orleans was reconstituted in 1626. A small war between castles and fortresses provided Richelieu with a pretext for having some of the strongholds dismantled. It is important to remember the role they had played in the Reformation. Chateaurenard and Chatillon-Coligny were among those that were razed. They were quite a loss for the tourists of future centuries. Political power became increasingly more royal and administrative. In theory it was held by the provincial governors; in practice, it was exercised by the intendants. The intendants were very mobile in the first half of the century; they held a position for only 8 to 10 years at a time. They gradually became more permanent and, under Louis XIV, the stayed in one place for 20 to 25 years. This practice foreshadowed the tenured positions of administrators in centuries to come. In Orleans, they resided at the Groslot or Etape mansions. Some of them left their imprints on the town more than others, e.g. Jean-Jacques Charron, , the brother-in-law of Colbert, and Louis Bazin de Bezons, a protégé of Louvois. After the wars of religion, the resurgence of Catholicism was marked by the reconstruction of churches that had been heavily damaged and by the founding of new congregations. Pierre Fougeu d'Escures sponsored the Company of Jesus (Jesuits) in Orleans. The Benedictine abbeys of Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire, Saint-Laumer de Blois, Saint-Pere de Chartres, the Trinity of Vendome and Pontlevoy were refurbished and entered the congregation of Saint-Maur. Blois took in the Jesuits; Vendome, the Oratorians. This renascence of militant Catholicism had its ups and downs, but the climate was calm in the early years of the reign of Louis XIV, who would come to be known as the "Sun King." Cardinal Richelieu became abbot of Marmoutier. He put the monastery under the rule of Saint-Maur. Richelieu was a pragmatist through and through: the man in red never let consistency stand in the way of his own advantage. In foreign policy he supported the Protestants in order to counter pressure from the powerful house of Habsbourg and the Austrian empire. At the same time, he blockaded the port of La Rochelle, a French Huguenot stronghold, to prevent resupply by English ships. He finally imposed a settlement with the French Protestants but took away a number of political and military advantages granted them by the Edict of Nantes. Richelieu also supported the navy and founded a merchant marine that would have a monopoly on the fur trade and encourage the colonization of "New France," which had been discovered some time before by Jacques Cartier on his voyages into the Saint Lawrence. In the 17th century, a few thousand Frenchmen, many from the province of Touraine, would go to live in what would be known as the province of "Québec". Cardinal Mazarin succeeded Richelieu and gradually took measures that would worsen tensions and, with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, finally exasperate the Protestant population. Life became impossible for French Protestants. Their rights were flouted, and they were hounded, dispossessed and persecuted by the state. And, as Louis XIV said, "I am the state." Some intendants such as Bazin de Bezons and Jean de Creil Creil persecuted Protestants so zealously that entire city neighborhoods and trades were depopulated. In Blois, the clock making industry disappeared almost overnight; all the clock makers were Protestant. Gien was ruined. More than 12,000 refugees went into exile. Many would go to Switzerland or England; others chose the new lands in America. *
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Valois dynasty died with Henri III