The Wars of Religion dragged on, with no end in sight. Neither side was willing to endorse a truce or compromise unless it meant complete happiness for that particular side. Henry of Navarre had led his troops to victory over the royal forces as late as October 1587, in the Battle of Coutras. Also at this time, a number of prominent, rich Catholics had joined forces with the King of Spain, Philip II, to form the League of Nobles, whose goal was to contest any Protestant influence on the French throne. On May 12, 1588, a Catholic force under the leadership of the Duke of Guise marched into Paris, in what came to be called the Day of the Barricades. King Henry III fled the city. A few months later, on December 23, the king invited the Duke of Guise to a meeting at the Château de Blois. Also invited was the duke's brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise. Unbeknownst to either brother, they had walked into a trap. The king's men killed both brothers and also imprisoned the duke's son.

The outrage in Paris was palpable: The king had ordered the execution of two very popular leaders and two very popular Catholics. He found himself at opposition with Parlement as well and retired to Tours, where he set up his parliament. He also allied himself fully with the Dauphin, who commanded a considerable armed force. The two Henrys banded together and marched on Paris. On Aug. 1, 1589, the king was staying at Saint-Cloud, preparing for battle. A Dominican friar entered the royal presence, saying that he possessed documents that the king had to see. When pressed, the friar demanded a word alone with the king, who agreed. The friar then stabbed the king in the abdomen. Royal guards killed the friar quickly, but the wound proved to be fatal. Henry III died the next day. He was the last of the House of Valois.

Henry, King of Navarre became King of France, after he promised to convert to Catholicism. He is said to have remarked, "Paris is well worth a Mass." He finally did so a few years into his reign and was officially crowned King Henry IV of France on Feb. 27, 1594.

Before that, he had to fight for his right to rule. Paris remained a stronghold of the League of Nobles, and so Henry left it to them. He and his army fought on, chalking up victories at Arques (right) and Ivry, in 1589 and 1590, and capturing Chartres and Noyon. They were less successful at besieging Paris in 1590 and Rouen in the long months of 1591–1592. Finally, in July 1593, Henry announced that he would embrace Catholicism (again).

The conversion removed much of the resistance to his rule internally; Spain remained as an enemy. A declaration of war came in January 1595; by June, Henry's forces had defeated the Spanish in Burgundy. A further seizure of Amiens, in 1597, all but ended the conflict. The Peace of Vervins, signed the following May, stopped Spanish intervention.

A month before, in an effort to head off the continued violence, Henry had issued the Edict of Nantes. This, more than any victories won by either side, precipitated the end of the Wars of Religion. In this pronouncement, Henry declared that Catholicism was the French state religion while also granting religious freedom to Protestants.

The religious wars at an end, Henry turned to restoring his country's reputation. Internally, he eliminated the national debt and created a financial reserve. He encouraged agricultural advances and infrastructure improvements, such as the building of bridges, canals, and tree-lined highways. He oversaw the completion of the Tuileries and the expansion of the Louvre (adding the Grande Galerie) and presided over the construction of other famous buildings like the Pont Neuf and the Place Royale. Education was a focus as well: Henry set up the Collége Royal Henri-le-Grand in La Fléche. He reorganized the army and raised its solders' pay. He gave royal approval to the manufacture of luxury items, stressing the importance of silk, glassware, and tapestries. He also took a special interest in commoners; he is said to have striven to ensure that every common worker had la poule au pot, a chicken in the pot, every Sunday. Externally, he signed a number of treaties and established good relations with neighbors such as the Germans and the Swiss and the Dutch and countries farther away, such as the Ottomans, and encouraged the New World explorations of Samuel de Champlain.

In many of these things, Henry depended on his Conseil des Affaires, or government ministers. Chancellor for a time was Pomponne de Belliévre. Other miniters included Nicolas Brulart de Sillery, Nicolas de Neufville, and Pierre Jeannin. Perhaps the most famous was Maximilien de Bethune, Duc de Sully, who served not only as the chief finance minister but also as the head of communications. Sully took the lead in many of the internal improvement projects, keeping the flow of royal money flowing into such projects while also keeping a similar flow of tax money flowing into the royal coffers.

Henry and his wife, Margaret, had not had children by this time. The king, wanting an heir, had their marriage annulled, in 1599. The following year, he married Marie d'Medici. They had six children.

Henry IV was very popular with a great many of his subjects in the last years of his reign; some styled him Good King Henry and Henry the Great. Despite this, he still had some enemies, on both sides of the recent religious struggle. He was thought to have been marked for assassination several times. One of those attempts succeeded. A fanatical Catholic stabbed him in Paris on May 14, 1610. The king died of the wounds; he was 67. Succeeding him was his oldest son, who became Louis XIII.

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