State Building and Urban Fortifications

Abstract

tPeace after 1598 allowed the kingdom a chance to begin to recover from the misery and devastation inflicted by nearly forty years of civil war and ever recurring conflicts with the Hapsburgs. Henri IV and his ministers, led by Sully, embarked on an ambitious program to change how the monarchy ruled the country.¹ These changes touched institutions at the center in Paris and across France as a whole, particularly in the towns. Centralization certainly increased, but also did the renewal of traditional partnerships with the social elites in the nobility, clergy, and urban notability. Indeed, as had been the case since the twelfth century, the growth of royal rule again relied on the active cooperation of towns, which continued to be the engines of commerce and mainstays of the crown’s military system. By 1609, Henri IV seemed confident enough to resume the European contest with the Hapsburgs. However, his untimely assassination in 1610 forestalled French intervention in the Empire and soon gave rise to weak royal rule, noble factions, and confessional unrest that yet again plunged France into religious war. The difference this time was the rapidity and finality with which the monarchy settled these problems in the 1620s, a period of crucial transition.²