Case Western Reserve University

The Massacre of worshiping Protestants at Vasey, France

What were the limits of Henry IV of France's willingness to embrace religious toleration?

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Henry moved between both religions, riding the fence and leaning in which ever direction he needed to in order to survive. He was raised a Calvinist and married Margot in order to bring peace and tolerance to the two religions, but the Massacre of St. Bartholomew`s changed all that. It was a blood bath and created divisions no one could have seen ahead of time. He converted to Catholicism afterwards to save his life, but when he escaped from Paris in 1576, he changed back to Calvinism and took over the Huguenots. Upon taking the French throne upon the death of Henry III however, he returned to Catholicism once more. Like I said, he rode the fence when he needed to, but he also rebuilt France.