The Edict of Nantes was a law that allowed people to be Protestants in France from 1598 to 1685. It was signed in Nantes by King Henry IV in April 1598, although some provinces blocked it until 1610. The purpose of the law was to make peace after the French Wars of Religion. Henry IV was a former Huguenot (French Protestant) who had changed his religion to being Catholic so that he could be the king of France.