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estoring economic prosperity and solving religious tensions, advanced his authoritative rule,
Henri also used highly visible buildings and spaces as effective tools in conveying his political
goals, a factor which I argue was critical to the role of ecclesiastical architecture during the
reigns of his wife and son.
The third aspect of the reign of Henri IV covered in the literature is his emphasis on
beliefs and traditions connected to French kingship, and which were perceived as proof of God’s
preference for France. Many of his subjects viewed Henri as the restorer of the kingdom,
responsible for reinstating the splendor and glory that France had enjoyed during the Middle
Ages, typified by the reign of King Louis IX (1226-1270), the first French king to be canonized.
The saintly monarch had other important ties to Henri IV, for not only was he the model of the
ideal sovereign, but it was through his youngest son that the Bourbon line descended. These
associations, along with other actions by the king, helped Henri to reaffirm the French crown’s
Catholic character. From the time of Clovis, the second Gallic king, the French monarchy had a
fundamental association with Catholicism. According to legend, on the day Clovis was to be
baptized a dove descended from heaven carrying an ampoule filled with holy chrism with which
to anoint the sovereign. 38 The divine gift, a symbol of God’s preference for the kingdom of
France, bestowed an incomparable privilege upon Clovis and all future kings. During the
subsequent centuries the French kings continued to receive special blessings marking their
favored status in Christendom. During the coronation ceremony the king received Communion
of both species, that is bread and wine, which was otherwise reserved only for the priests. 39
Upon receiving the Eucharist, the king seemed to possess the ability to heal through touch people
affected by scrofula, a lymphatic infection causing skin lesions. 40 This Christ-like gift of
thaumaturgical power, together with his right to receive the Eucharistic bread and wine,
distinguished the French king from all other monarchs as having sacerdotal as well as secular
power. 41
A further instance of the French king’s privileged status was the monarch’s right to be
addressed by the title of Rex christianissimus, the “most Christian king.” 42 Although the phrase
had been used sporadically for French kings since the reign of Pepin (751-768), it acquired new
meaning in the fourteenth century when kings began to require their subjects to address them by
the title. At this time publicists convinced the people that it had always been used for the French
monarchy, even since the reign of Clovis. These developments actually resulted from a dispute
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