| The Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598 by Henry IV of France to grant French Calvinists (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. The main concern was civil unity, and the Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated some Protestants for the first time as more than mere schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance. In offering general freedom of conscience to individuals, the edict offered many specific concessions to the Protestants: amnesty, the reinstatement of their civil rights, including the right to work in any field or for the State and to bring grievances directly to the king.The Edict also granted the Protestants fifty military strongholds (places de sureté), such as La Rochelle which the king paid 180,000 écus a year for along with a further 150 emergency forts (places de refuges) to be maintained at the Huguenots own expense. Such an innovative act of toleration stood virtually alone in a Europe where standard practice involved forcing the subjects of a ruler to follow whatever religion that the ruler formally adopted â?? the application of the principle of cuius regio, eius religio.The Edict aimed primarily to end the long-running, disruptive French Wars of Religion. Henry IV also had personal reasons for supporting the Edict. Prior to assuming the throne in 1589 he himself had espoused Protestantism, and he remained sympathetic to the Protestant cause: he had converted only in 1593 in order to secure his position as king, famously allegedly saying "Paris is worth a Mass". The Edict succeeded in restoring peace and internal unity to France for many years. Edict of Nantes |  |