WI: Henri IV really is religiously indifferent

[Jan Olbracht]

Contrary to "Paris is worth a mass" legend, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, wasn't religiously indifferent and conversion to Catholicism wasn't easy decision for him. If his approach towards religion was purely pragmatic, he could convert much earlier, avoiding lots of problems. So says ATL Henri is atheist/agnostic and like for his father, changing confession is not big deal for him. When would he abandon Calvinism in such circumstances, seeing it as obstacle? Just after taking Navarrese throne? How would early converted Henri affect politicall landscape of France?

 

[isabella]

Contrary to "Paris is worth a mass" legend, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, wasn't religiously indifferent and conversion to Catholicism wasn't easy decision for him. If his approach towards religion was purely pragmatic, he could convert much earlier, avoiding lots of problems. So says ATL Henri is atheist/agnostic and like for his father, changing confession is not big deal for him. When would he abandon Calvinism in such circumstances, seeing it as obstacle? Just after taking Navarrese throne? How would early converted Henri affect politicall landscape of France?

Jan please... If I remember well the man changed religion six times during the course of his life...
He had the biggest support in the Huguenots circles (and while the first and last conversion were motivated by other reasons we have another conversion who was likely political)...

 

[funnyhat]

Don't forget that he did convert during the Saint-Bartholomew and that saved his life, and then reconverted to Protestantism when he escaped. Regardless of his private beliefs, he saw the importance in publicly adhering to a certain religion. For a lot of his life that was Protestantism. Navarre had converted into a Protestant state and it seemed for a while that he would not have a real chance at the throne of France, as Henri II had several sons. Being Protestant gave him a base of supporters that he would not have had otherwise. It was only after 1584 (the death of the duc d'Alençon) that he became first in the succession. And even then, Henri III was only 33 and still could have had sons, but it turned out that he did not.

 

[alexmilman]

Contrary to "Paris is worth a mass" legend, Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, wasn't religiously indifferent and conversion to Catholicism wasn't easy decision for him. If his approach towards religion was purely pragmatic, he could convert much earlier, avoiding lots of problems.
So says ATL Henri is atheist/agnostic and like for his father, changing confession is not big deal for him. When would he abandon Calvinism in such circumstances, seeing it as obstacle? Just after taking Navarrese throne? How would early converted Henri affect political landscape of France?

It was not an easy decision because a lot of his support was coming from the Huguenots and he could not easily flip them a finger in a middle of a war. When he became a clearly winning party and had a lot of the Catholics on his side (after the death of Henry III quite a few of them, like marshal Biron, considered him a legitimate successor regardless his religion; of course, in each specific case there was an issue of a negotiated reward but this is besides the point) and even got a conditional support of the Parliament of Paris, situation changed and he could ignore resentment of some of the Huguenots (this was not all smooth but being King of France was more important).

A much earlier conversion would remove him from a position of the Protestant leader. I'm not sure who would take this position after Coligni's death but Catholic Henry of Navarre would have to stick to the weak royal party (Charles IX, Henry III) because the League was backing the Guises. Of course, he is going to lose a lot of support in Navarre (because it was strongly Protestant) which leaves him personally powerless.

The interesting point would be after assassination of Henry III. On one hand Catholic Henry IV is a clear successor but OTOH, there is still an ongoing war against the Huguenots (and their German allies) and Henry's position is not strong enough to make a peace by offering something like the Edict of Nantes even if because the League (and supporting it Spain) would be against such a compromise.

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

much earlier conversion would remove him from a position of the Protestant leader.

His uncle, the Prince de Condé?

 

[alexmilman]

His uncle, the Prince de Condé?

I thought about him. He was seemingly a reasonably competent military commander but nothing as spectacular as Henry of Navarre so I'm not sure how successful the Huguenots would be with him as a leader. OTOH, there were seemingly numerous local commanders acting with the various degrees of success in the specific areas so perhaps personality of a formal supreme leader was not critically important (after all, Coligni was overpraised as a military commander and Louis I, Prince of Condé was not even on his level).