Henry IV of France's succession

King Henry IV of France, until 1589 known as Henry of Navarre. 17th century engraving by Henri Goltzius.

Date	August 1589 – March 1594
Location	France
Result	Henry IV of France is recognised as king in most of France after converting to Roman Catholicism and under the condition of tolerance towards Protestants Continued Catholic resistance with Spanish support leads Henry IV to declare war on Spain in January 1595

Belligerents

Politiques and Protestants:

Huguenots

England

Catholics:

Catholic League

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Henry IV of France

Charles de Bourbon

Henry IV of France's succession to the throne in 1589 was followed by a four-year war of succession to establish his legitimacy. This was part of the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598). Henry IV inherited the throne after the assassination of Henry III, the last Valois king, who died without children. Henry was already King of Navarre, as the successor of his mother, Jeanne d'Albret, but he owed his succession to the throne of France to the line of his father, Antoine of Bourbon, an agnatic descendant of Louis IX. He was the first French king from the House of Bourbon.

Henry's succession in 1589 proved far from straightforward. He and King Henry III were moving to besiege Paris at the time of the latter's death. The city and large parts of France, mostly in the north, were in the hands of the Catholic League, an alliance of leading Catholic nobles and prelates who opposed the Protestant Henry of Navarre as heir to the throne. Instead, they recognized Henry's uncle, Charles of Bourbon, as the heir, and on Henry III's assassination declared Charles king. As a result, Henry IV was forced to fight a civil war in order to assert his position as king, followed by a war against Spain, who continued to question his legitimacy. After the death of Charles of Bourbon, the Catholic League's failure to choose a replacement claimant to the throne, in combination with Henry IV's conversion to Catholicism, led to a general recognition of the king in France. Henry IV's successors ruled France until the French Revolution and the subsequent Bourbon restorations, and they founded dynasties in Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

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