Succession of Henry IV of France

Henry IV of France's succession
	Part of the French Wars of Religion
	; King Henry IV of France, until 1589 known as Henry of Navarre. 17th century engraving by Henri Goltzius.
Date	August 1589 – March 1594[according to whom?]
Location	France
Result	Henry IV of France is recognised as king in most of France after converting to Roman Catholicism and under the condition of tolerance towards Protestants[according to whom?]; ; Continued Catholic resistance with Spanish support leads Henry IV to declare war on Spain in January 1595;
Belligerents
Politiques and Protestants: ; Huguenots ; England	Catholics: ; Catholic League ; Spain
Commanders and leaders
Henry IV of France	Charles de Bourbon

Henry III of Navarre's succession to the throne in 1589 was followed by a war of succession to establish his legitimacy, which was part of the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598). Henry IV inherited the throne after the assassination of Henry III, the last Valois king, who died without children. Henry was already King of Navarre, as the successor of his mother, Jeanne d'Albret, but he owed his succession to the throne of France to the line of his father, Antoine of Bourbon, an agnatic descendant of Louis IX. He was the first French king from the House of Bourbon.

Henry's succession in 1589 proved far from straightforward. He and King Henry III were moving to besiege Paris at the time of the latter's death. The city and large parts of France, mostly in the north, were in the hands of the Catholic League, an alliance of leading Catholic nobles and prelates who opposed the Protestant Henry of Navarre as heir to the throne. Instead, they recognized Henry's uncle, Charles of Bourbon, as the heir, and on Henry III's assassination, they declared Charles king. As a result, Henry IV was forced to fight a civil war to assert his position as king, followed by a war against Spain, who continued to question his legitimacy.

After the death of Charles of Bourbon, the Catholic League's failure to choose a replacement claimant to the throne, in combination with Henry IV's conversion to Catholicism, led to a general recognition of the king in France.^{[according to whom?]} Henry IV's successors ruled France until the French Revolution, then returned during subsequent Bourbon restorations, and they founded dynasties in Spain and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.