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etween Philip IV (1285-1314) and Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) over who had the ultimate
authority in temporal affairs. As leader of the spiritual world the pope believed that his religious
authority superseded any temporal power possessed by secular rulers. His influence extended to
the right to govern without a council and even to tax foreign churches. Philip IV countered him
by arguing that the French king, who ruled by divine right descending directly from God,
recognized no superior in the world. This meant that in addition to not interfering with secular
affairs, the pope held no authority over churches in France. In this dispute lay the origins of
Gallicanism, the theory of the independence of the French Church and king from papal
interference. 43 Although the precise nature of the Gallican liberties would fluctuate during the
following centuries, according to Jotham Parsons, at the time of Henri IV the theory had
developed into a political ideology placing the crown in opposition to the papacy and rejecting
the Church’s involvement with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 44 This central idea of Gallican thought
is critical to this study, especially considering Louis XIII’s desire for an autonomous state and
Maria de’ Medici’s initial actions that distanced her from these French traditions.
Henri IV decided to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism not only because he knew
it would help to end the Wars of Religion, but also because he knew that from its beginnings the
French crown was intimately tied to the Catholic Church. The connection between church and
state meant that the king ruled French society in part through religion, and should Henri IV have
a faith other than Catholicism, he would lose a degree of control over his subjects. 45 The
relationship, however, went far beyond the religious liturgy involved in the king’s coronation. It
ensured that the kingdom of France, in addition to being chosen by God before all other people,
was the most Christian nation and the promised land. 46 Moreover, as the head of the Gallican
Church, Henri recognized that he could maintain French autonomy from the papacy. The king’s
reaffirmation of the French crown’s Catholic traditions did little to strengthen its ties with Rome,
but it did reinforce the kingdom’s powerful and independent status as the most Christian nation.
Following the king’s assassination, Henri’s widow would endeavor to moderate the privileged
position of France within Catholic Europe, while Louis would seek to reassert it.
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