But this proposal also won little support.

The enemies of Henry IV were conscious of his legitimate rights and jealous of foreign interference; the only thing that stood in the way of their recognizing him was his heresy.
[Sidenote: Henry's conversion] Henry, finding that there seemed no other issue to an intolerable situation, at last resolved, though with much reluctance, to change his religion.

On July 25, 1593, he abjured the Protestant faith, kneeling to the Archbishop of Bourges, and was received into the bosom of the Roman church.

That his conversion was due entirely to the belief that "Paris was worth a mass" is, of course, plain.

Indeed, he frankly avowed that he still scrupled at some articles, such as purgatory, the worship of the saints, and the power of the pope.