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 FRANCE 383 and now his whole attention was given to the pacification of his kingdom. This he effected by concluding with Spain the treaty of Vervins, May 2, 1598, upon the conditions of the old treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, and by publishing the celebrated edict of Nantes, which granted to the Protestants full religious liberty, admis- sion to all offices, and several places of security, among others the strong city of La Rochelle. Henry, having thus inaugurated the Bourbon dynasty, now devoted himself entirely to the work of healing the wounds which had been inflicted on the country during nearly 40 years of bloodshed and devastation. Assisted by Sully, his friend and minister, he restored order in all branches of public service, and effected great improvement in the condition of the peo- ple. He then returned to the old policy of Francis I., and meditated the humiliation of the house of Austria ; great preparations were made for the enterprise, and Henry was on the eve of his departure for the army, when he was assassinated by Ravaillac, May 14, 1610. This calamity interrupted for nearly 15 years the progress of the kingdom at home and abroad. Under the regency of Henry's widow, Maria de' Medici, mother of Louis XIII., disor- ders were renewed; the public treasure was recklessly wasted ; and the kingdom was dis- tracted by war between the queen mother and the young king, soon after the latter reached his majority. Happily a great minister, Cardi- nal Richelieu, took the reins of government in 1624, consolidated the power of the monarch at home, and, partly reviving the political de- signs of the late king, threw the influence and arms of France into the European conflict called the thirty years' war. While annihila- ting the political power of the French Protes- tants, he energetically supported the German Protestants in their struggle against the house of Austria ; to this end he spared neither mon- ey nor troops; and on his death, in 1642, the rival of France had been already many times humbled. The successor of Richelieu, Cardi- nal Mazarin, pursued the same policy ; and the first years of the reign of Louis XIV., who ascended the throne as a child in 1643, were marked by brilliant victories, most of them won by the young duke d'Enghien, afterward the " great Conde"." The treaty of Westphalia in 1648 not only asserted the triumph of reli- gious and political liberty in Germany, but the victory of France over Austria, a victory which added to her territory the province of Alsace. The troubles of the Fronde, a faint image of the old civil wars, detracted nothing from the influence gained abroad by the French govern- ment, and Mazarin concluded with Spain, in 1659, the treaty of the Pyrenees, which secured two other provinces to France, Artois and Roussillon. This able politician resigned to the hands of Louis XIV. a kingdom well pre- pared for the full exercise of absolute power. Under this monarch France rose to the height of fortune and glory, while he himself was placed above all control. From the day of Mazarin's death (1661) he assumed the direction of public affairs, and his ministers, with the exception perhaps of Colbert and Louvois, were little more than clerks, intrusted with the execution of his designs. The first years of his administra- tion were the most useful. Colbert devoted himself to improving all the resources of the kingdom; every branch of revenue became prosperous; and, as at the beginning of the century under Henry IV., the national wealth increased with unusual rapidity. Intellectual progress kept pace with material, and every- thing conspired to create a literary period of unusual magnificence. A short war against Spain, which was terminated by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, scarcely interrupted this happy commencement ; but it had awaken- ed suspicions among the neighboring powers, and a triple alliance was formed between Hol- land, Spain, and England. Scarcely four years had elapsed when Louis XIV., at the head of more than 100,000 men, invaded Holland, which, being deserted by England, could be preserved only by the united exertions of Spain and Germany; the contest lasted six years; the French armies, under Cond6, Turenne, and Luxembourg, were victorious in nearly every encounter, while French fleets distinguished themselves against the united naval forces of Spain and Holland. The peace of Nimeguen, 1678, put an end to regular hostilities, but not to the encroachments of Louis XIV., who, in- flated by success, seized upon provinces and cities which, according to his own construction of past treaties, belonged to France. Louis had now reached the zenith of his greatness ; he had added to his kingdom Flanders, Franche- Comte, the imperial city of Strasburg, and sev- eral other important territories; he was feared abroad and respected at home ; he was Louis- the Great for his subjects, and even his ene- mies scarcely refused him this title. The league of Augsburg, devised by William of Orange r had united together the emperor, Holland, Sweden, and Savoy, and was joined by Eng- land on the revolution of 1688. Louis XIV., who undertook to reestablish James II. on hi throne, engaged in a desperate struggle against this powerful coalition, and maintained it for nine years ; his armies and naval forces, the for- mer especially, still achieved many triumphs; and when the peace of Ryswick was concluded in 1697, the allies, although they boasted of success, were nearly as much exhausted as their opponent. The war of the Spanish suc- cession, which followed the death of Charles II. of Spain in 1700, was brought about by mere family ambition. A more formidable coalition opposed the schemes of the king, who aimed at placing his grandson upon the Span- ish throne ; the two greatest generals of their time, Marlborough and Prince Eugene, were at the head of the allied armies; defeat after defeat befell the French forces, and the king- dom seemed reduced to extremities ; but after 332 VOL. vii. 25