Mack P. Holt
When the Reformation first emerged in France in the 1520s, Francis I decided to deal with it by prosecuting Protestants as heretics in the parlements’ courts. This policy proved wholly inadequate in stopping the growth of Protestantism, even though it was continued by his son, Henry II. When Henry died in 1559, and then his son, Francis II, in 1560, Catherine de Medici sought to find some form of religious coexistence, as Protestants had grown to maybe 1.8 million in a population of 18 million. The result was the Edict of January.