Blood and Religion

Love places these matters in context against the broader background of endemic civil war, contemporary religious culture, and the many responsibilities imposed upon Henri by his royal rank and political role. Blood and Religion concludes with a close analysis of Henri's conversion to Catholicism in July 1593, including the king's crisis of conscience as he struggled to secure his crown and preserve his soul. Love's fresh interpretations of the influence of religion on Henri IV's political and military choices challenge much of modern scholarship on this important French monarch and cast new light on the motivations and worldview of sixteenth-century sovereigns in an age when religion and politics were inseparable.