Creating a Strong Monarchy System during the Reign of Henry IV - Essay Example

King Henry IV King Henry IV who reigned after Henry III curved a name of honor for himself because of his role in restoring peace in France. Henry IV came into power after the death of Henry III who was until then the King of France. Before 1589, Henry IV was the Duke of Vendome where he had grown up as Huguenot (Payne and James 151). The coming of Henry IV into power took place at a time when France was going through many social, economic, and political challenges. During 1589s, France was grappling with many internal and external fights, both at the political and religious fronts. With France shattered with these fights, Henry IV was determined to end the enmity that characterized the country of France, create more freedom for religious movements, halt war between various religious groups and enhance the power of the government. To achieve these goals, Henry IV embarked on a series of strategic actions that allowed him to achievement significant success in these areas, and despite his assassination, people will still remember him for his outstanding successes. As the Kind of France, Henry IV realized the importance of building an administrative center, which he did in Paris by initiating radical changes (Ranum 87). This was to become Henry’s official residence and a center for government businesses could be carried. For instance, issues such as tax collection could be translated in the Palace des Vosages in Paris. The construction of the palace in 17th century was also a vital achievement to Henry IV who was keen in establishing a strong monarchy government controlled the people of France in many aspects of their lives (Hsia 164). This palace, which became a model for other city centers, signified his power. When Henry IV came into power, he became interested in making peace with the church by creating more freedom for the Protestants. Faced with this task, Henry was quick to note that creating more freedoms to the religious groups like Protestants could make him more popular than he was, at least before the Protestants. To achieve this goal, Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1958 (Melton 201). This edict provided freedom to the Huguenots who had fewer religious liberties. For a long time, the Catholic crown found itself at collision course with France’s Huguenots who felt that their privileges were being denied. However, Henry IV was quick to call for a lasting solution that would make the Huguenots end their rebellions. Therefore, Henry IV promulgated the Edit of Nantes, which gave the Huguenots religious tolerance in France. Because of Henry IV’s role, people started to respect the religious liberty of other people across the French society. Henry IV succeeded in building a strong government where the King had power and was responsible for many affairs of the country of France. In order to ensure that his country run its affairs as required, Henry IV created a structure that he tasked to collect taxes and ensure that the government had enough revenue to provide services to the people (Knecht, 476). In addition, Henry IV took an active role in the election process of mayors who were responsible for directing all activities in key towns. As an example of how Henry was dedicated to establishing a strong government, he appointed a mayor after Nantes refused to do so. The creation of the office of the mayor was a crucial step that Henry IV took to secure the support of leading towns in France. During this time, many leading towns in France were revolting against the government because they had embraced the spirit of independence, which was sweeping across Europe. One example of support that Henry IV received was from the town of Paris. Through the support of Paris, Henry IV knew that he could not achieve more than he would have done with the population of Paris around him. As a result, of his effort to receive support from Paris, Henry IV used incentives to replan Paris, and in 1593, many people in Paris who called for the recognition of Henry (Knecht 483). Most important, Henry IV ensured that power was centralized with him making all key decisions. Through this strategy, Henry IV managed to secure the support of many people in France especially those from leading League of towns. With many of the cities behind Henry IV, his plan of using incentives had earned him a perfect environment for his people would feel his leadership in towns. Under a strong government, Henry IV was interested in creating a government that could levy and collect significant sum of money through direct and indirect taxes (Knetch 474). Before he expanded his government, Henry IV believed that many towns would pay him a lot of money and this was a positive step in creating a wealthy monarchy. Where possible, Henry IV forced new towns to come under his rule and subjected them to taxes as a tribute to the monarchy. There are other instances where Henry IV paid large sums of money to take over new towns knowing that he would recover the money in the end thorough taxes, a source of regular income. After the creation of the tax system, Henry IV focused on weeding out corruption that had infiltrated into the government through punishments (Peck, 1993). Because of this goal, Henry IV established the Chambres de justice, which he empowered to find and end all cases of corruption in the government. Despite this system, the tax collection systems still had corruption issues. Nonetheless, this was a significant achievement of Henry IV since the Chambres de justice investigated abuse of officeholders. Henry used jussive letters to deal with the Chambres de justice though he was keen on centralizing his power in through his monarchy system. Henry IV succeeded in taking over the powers of the church and other nobleman to create a centralized form of government. In France, the Catholic Church was dominant religious group and had all the powers, which made it undermine the Protestants. However, Henry IV made sure that he reduced the power of the church by creating more religious liberties (Gill 79). Giving more tolerance to the Protestants who the Catholic Church did not favor made it possible for Henry IV to trim down the power of the church. On the other hand, the noble men were also stripped of their power and influence. This made it possible for Henry IV to establish a monarchy system that made him people to respect and accept him in France. In conclusion, it is clear that Henry IV made significant efforts to create a strong monarchy system during his reign. To do so, Henry IV focused on building an administrative center Palaced de Vosages in Paris. He also created more religious liberties to the protestant through the Edicts of Nantes. By establishing an organized tax collection system, Henry IV was able to collect money from many parts of France, and this strengthened his government. Most important, Henry succeeded largely in removing corruption and reducing the power of the church and that of nobles. Despite his assassination, Henry IV made significant strides in creating a strong monarchy. Works Cited Gill, Anthony James. The political origins of religious liberty. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2008. Print. Hsia, R. Po-chia. A companion to the reformation world. New Jersey: Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. 2006. Print. Knecht, Robert Jean. The rise and fall of Renaissance France, 1483-1610. Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley Blackwell. 2001. Print. Melton, Gordon. Encyclopedia of Protestantism. New York: Infobase Publishing. 2005. Print. Payne, George and James, Rainsford. The Life of Henry the Fourth, King of France and Navarre. Volume 1. Adamant Media Corporation. 2005. Print. Peck, Linda Levy. Court patronage and corruption in early Stuart England. New York: Routledge.1993. Print Ranum, Orest A. Paris in the age oOf Absolutism: An Essay. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. 2002.Print. Read More