Henry IV of France Assassinated

May 14, 1610

The converted Huguenot king who had pacified France and drafted the Edict of Nantes was stabbed to death by a Catholic fanatic named Francois Ravaillac while his carriage was stuck in Paris traffic on the Rue de la Ferronnerie. His nine-year-old son Louis XIII inherited a fragile kingdom, and the religious peace Henry had constructed began to tremble.