After three months' conferences the treaty of peace was concluded at Vervins on the 2d of May, 1598, the principal condition being, that King Philip II.

should restore to France the towns of Calais, Ardres, Doullens, Le Catelet, and Blavet; that he should re-enter upon possession of the countship of Charolais; and that, if either of the two sovereigns had any claims to make against one of the states their allies in this treaty, "he should prosecute them only by way of law, before competent judges, and not by force, in any manner whatever." The Queen of England took no decisive resolution.

When once the treaty was concluded, Henry IV., on signing it, said to the Duke of Epernon, "With this stroke of my pen I have just done more exploits than I should have done in a long while with the best swords in my kingdom." A month before the conclusion of the treaty of peace at Vervins with Philip II., Henry IV.

had signed and published at Paris on the 13th of April, 1598, the edict of Nantes, his treaty of peace with the Protestant malcontents.

This treaty, drawn up in ninety-two open and fifty-six secret articles, was a code of old and new laws regulating the civil and religious position of Protestants in France, the conditions and guarantees of their worship, their liberties, and their special obligations in their relations whether with the crown or with their Catholic fellow-countrymen.