France: Notable Policies and Documents

1438 - Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (All Facts)

• Promulgated by King Charles VII of France,

  • it limited papal authority over French bishops and gave the king a say in the appointment of prelates

1532 - Edict of Union (All Facts)

• Incorporated Brittany into France

1539 - Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Francis, it

  • ordered all legal decisions and documents to be drawn up thereafter in French, not Latin

  • instructed all priests to keep a record of all baptisms and deaths in France

  • ended paralyzing strikes of the printing industry in Paris and Lyons

1561 - Edict of July / First Edict of St. Germain (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Catherine de Medici, it

  • gave Huguenots qualified toleration

  • was passed as a result of the Colloquy of Peace talks organized by Catherine de Medici

1562 - Edict of January / Edict of St. Germain (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Catherine de Medici, it

  • gave Huguenots qualified toleration

  • obligated Huguenots to practice their religion outside town walls

• French (Catholic) Parliament refused to recognize or register the edict, which precipitated the French Wars of Religion

1598 - Edict of Nantes (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Henry IV,

  • it

    • granted Huguenots and other Protestants (a large measure of) religious freedom (freedom of conscience) throughout the kingdom of France

    • restored old places of worship for Huguenots and other Protestants

    • granted Huguenots and other Protestants permission to build new places of worship

    • provided Huguenots and other Protestants with civic rights equal to their Catholic counterparts

    • allowed Huguenots and other Protestants access to all public posts

    • granted full amnesty to all those who fought in and during the French Wars of Religion

    • assigned 100 towns to Huguenots and other Protestants as “towns of refuge”

    • was passed in order to promote “union, concord, and tranquility” between French Roman Catholics and Huguenots and other French Protestants

    • was considered “perpetual and irrevocable”

  • it

    • was not received well by Catholics, but they were willing to accept its terms in return for peace due to their war-weariness from the past century

    • was received well by Huguenots, who returned their support for King Henry IV after he had betrayed them upon his conversion to Catholicism and his declaration that “Paris is worth a mass”

1604 - Edict of Paulette (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Henry IV, it

  • established a tax on the hereditary holding of offices

  • thus institutionalized the sale of government offices

1617 - Edict of 1617 (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Louis XIII, it

  • made the province of Bearn become a part of the kingdom of France

  • reinstated Catholicism across France, allowing for the military to be used to force Protestants to hand back former ecclesiastical property that had been secularized half a century prior

1626 - Edict of 1626 (All Facts)

• Decree issued by Cardinal Richelieu, it

  • ordered the destruction of all fortified castles throughout the kingdom of France

  • forbade dueling throughout the kingdom of France

  • brought the nobles to heel, preventing them from rebelling any further

  • consolidated King Louis XIII and Richelieu’s royal power

1628 - Royal Decree of 1628 (All Facts)

• Decree issued by King Louis XIII / Cardinal Richelieu, it

  • barred Huguenots from settling in New France

  • sent Huguenots to English colonies instead

1629 - Michau Code (All Facts)

• Series of internal reforms for France drawn up by Michel de Marillac