Henry III of France

Henry III
Basilica of St Denis , France
Spouse	Valois-Angoulême
Father	Henry II of France
Mother	Catherine de' Medici
Religion	Catholicism
Signature

Henry III (

As the fourth son of King

France was at the time plagued by the Wars of Religion, and Henry's authority was undermined by violent political factions funded by foreign powers: the Catholic League (supported by Spain and the Pope), the Protestant Huguenots (supported by England and the Dutch) and the Malcontents (led by Henry's own brother the Duke of Anjou and Alençon, a party of Catholic and Protestant aristocrats who jointly opposed the absolutist ambitions of the king). Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and centralised yet religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse.

After the death of Henry's younger brother

Henry had the Duke of Guise murdered in 1588 and was in turn assassinated by Jacques Clément, a Catholic fanatic, in 1589. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre who, as Henry IV, assumed the throne of France as the first king of the House of Bourbon and eventually converted to Catholicism.

Early life

Childhood

Henry was born at the royal

He was his mother's favourite; she called him chers yeux ("precious eyes") and lavished fondness and affection upon him for most of his life.^[1] His elder brother, Charles, grew to detest him, partially because he resented his better health.^{[citation needed]}

The royal children were raised under the supervision of Diane de Poitiers, his father's mistress.^[2]

Youth

Although he was skilled and fond of fencing, he preferred to indulge his tastes for the arts and reading. These predilections were attributed to his Italian mother. Henry's favourite interests were hunting and riding.[3]

At one point in his youth Henry showed a tendency towards Protestantism as a means of rebelling. At the age of nine, he called himself "a little Huguenot",

Reports that Henry engaged in same-sex relations with his court favourites, known as the

However, French Renaissance scholar Gary Ferguson considers such interpretations to be unconvincing: "It is difficult to reconcile the king whose use of favourites is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies."^[15] Katherine Crawford, by contrast, emphasizes the problems Henry's reputation encountered because of his failure to produce an heir and the presence of his powerful mother at court, combined with his enemies' insistence on conflating patronage with favouritism and luxury with decadence.^[16]

Elizabeth

In 1570, discussions commenced arranging for Henry to court Queen

In November 1567, upon the death of

Henry continued to take an active role in the Wars of Religion, and in 1572/1573 led the siege of La Rochelle, a massive military assault on the Huguenot-held city.^[24] At the end of May 1573, Henry learned that the Polish szlachta had elected him King of Poland (a country with a large Protestant minority at the time) and political considerations forced him to negotiate an end to the siege. Negotiators reached an agreement on 24 June 1573, and Catholic troops ended the siege on 6 July 1573.

King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1574–1575)

Following the death of the Polish ruler Sigismund II Augustus on 7 July 1572, Jean de Monluc was sent as the French envoy to Poland to negotiate the election of Henry to the Polish throne in exchange for military support against Russia, diplomatic assistance in dealing with the Ottoman Empire, and financial subsidies.^[25]

On 16 May 1573, Polish nobles chose Henry as the first elected monarch of the

It was not until January 1574 that Henry was to reach the borders of Poland. On 21 February, Henry's coronation was held in Kraków.^[32] In mid-June 1574, upon learning of the death of his brother Charles IX, Henry left Poland and headed back to France.^[32] Henry's absence provoked a constitutional crisis that the Parliament attempted to resolve by notifying Henry that his throne would be lost if he did not return from France by 12 May 1575.^[32] His failure to return caused Parliament to declare his throne vacant.^[32]

The short reign of Henry at Wawel Castle in Poland was marked by a clash of cultures between the Polish and the French. The young king and his followers were astonished by several Polish practices and disappointed by the rural poverty and harsh climate of the country.^[30] The Poles, on the other hand, wondered if all Frenchmen were as concerned with their appearance as their new king appeared to be.^[30]

In many aspects, Polish culture had a positive influence on France. At Wawel, the French were introduced to new technologies of septic facilities, in which litter (excrement) was taken outside the castle walls.^[33] On returning to France, Henry wanted to order the construction of such facilities at the Louvre and other palaces.^[33] Other inventions introduced to the French by the Polish included a bath with regulated hot and cold water,^{[citation needed]} as well as dining forks.^{[citation needed]}

In 1578, Henry created the

French reign (1574–1589)

Henry was crowned king of France on 13 February 1575 at Reims Cathedral. Although he was expected to produce an heir after he married the 21-year-old Louise of Lorraine^[34] on 14 February 1575,^[35] no issue resulted from their union.

In 1576, Henry signed the Edict of Beaulieu, which granted many concessions to the Huguenots. His action resulted in Henry I, Duke of Guise, forming the Catholic League. After much posturing and negotiations, Henry was forced to rescind most of the concessions that had been made to the Protestants in the edict.

In 1584, the king's youngest brother and

Henry III, stung by the open disobedience of Guise, attempted a coup in May 1588 and sent royal Swiss troops into several neighbourhoods. This had the unintended effect of rallying the people against him and in favor of the more popular Guise during the Day of the Barricades. Henry III fled the city; he later sought support from the Parlement of Paris and propped up an anti-League establishment throughout France.^[36]

Following the defeat of the

By 1589 Henry's popularity hit a new low. Preachers were calling for his assassination and labelling him a tyrant. The people of Paris disdained him for his court extravagances, allowing corruption to grow rife, high taxes and having relied extensively on Italian financiers. But what most Parisians hated most about him was his alleged sexuality.^[8]

Overseas relations

Under Henry, France named the first Consul of France in Morocco in the person of Guillaume Bérard. The request came from the Moroccan prince Abd al-Malik, who had been saved by Bérard, a doctor by profession, during an epidemic in Constantinople and wished to retain Bérard in his service.^[37]

Henry III encouraged the exploration and development of New World territories. In 1588, he granted Jacques Noël, the nephew of Jacques Cartier, privileges over fishing, fur trading, and mining in New France.^[38]

Death

On 1 August 1589, Henry III lodged with his army at

Chaos swept the attacking army, most of it quickly melting away; the proposed attack on Paris was postponed. Inside the city, joy at the news of Henry III's death was near delirium; some hailed the assassination as an act of God.^[39]

Burial

Henry III was interred at the

• 
  Henry's

  King of Poland

  .
• 
  Personal coat of arms

Ancestors

In popular culture

Poetry

• Jan Kochanowski, Gallo crocitanti (1576)
• Pierre Matthieu, La Guisiade (1589)

Theatre

• George Chapman, The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois (1607) and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois (1613)
• John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee, The Duke of Guise (1683)
• Alexandre Dumas, père's Henry III and His Court
  (1829)
• Christopher Marlowe, The Massacre at Paris (1593)

Novel

• Alexandre Dumas's novels: La Reine Margot (1845), La Dame de Monsoreau (1846) and Les quarante-cinq (1847) as well as Les deux Diane (1846)
• Stanley Weyman, A Gentleman of France (1893), involves the events of Henry's reconciliation with the Huguenots and struggle against the Catholic League, leading to his assassination.
• Robert Merle Paris ma bonne ville (1980)
• Robert Merle Le prince que voilà (1982)
• Robert Merle La violente amour (1983)
• Queen Jezebel
  (1953)
• Michel Zevaco
  Les Pardaillan (1900)
• S.J. Parris
  Conspiracy (2015)

Film

• The French short film The Assassination of the Duke de Guise (1908) shows the Duke's assassination but not the Cardinal's. The co-director, Charles Le Bargy, plays the Duke.
• Last Days of Henry III, King of France at
  IMDb
• The American silent film Intolerance (1916) depicts Henry as effeminate but not explicitly homosexual. He is portrayed by the British-born American actor Maxfield Stanley.
• The French movies
  St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. In the 1994 film, Henry is played by the actor Pascal Greggory
  . In Dumas' novel, Henri was not portrayed as homosexual, whereas, in the 1954 film, he was shown as an effeminate, comical queen. In the 1994 film, he was portrayed as a more sinister character, bisexual and showing sexual interest in his sister. His brother dies by being accidentally poisoned by his mother, who had intended to kill Henry of Navarre instead.
• As the Duke of Anjou, the future Henry III plays a significant role in the French film The Princess of Montpensier, based on the novel of the same title by Madame de La Fayette.
• The film
  François, Duke of Anjou, when Elizabeth was 46. The film borrows some of the aspects of Henry III's life and features Anjou as a comical foolish transvestite. The role is portrayed by the French actor Vincent Cassel
  .
• In the film Dangerous Beauty, he has an assignation with the main character, the Venetian courtesan Veronica Franco. Visiting a Venice eager for military aid, the "French king" chooses her from among the famous courtesans of that city because he notices her reluctance; placing a blade at her neck, he tells Veronica that the "rumours" about him are true (that "the king is a pervert"), and the implication is made that Veronica pleases him enormously by first correctly guessing at and then indulging his fetish for BDSM domination. (When the king emerges from Franco's house in the morning, the assembled Venetian nobility awaiting, he smiles broadly while carefully settling his presumably sore posterior on a pillow, and then declares that the French navy shall assist the Venetians against the Ottoman Empire in defense of their rule of Cyprus.) He is played by the British actor Jake Weber.

Television

• In an episode of
  English accent
  .
• He is also featured in a few episodes in the first and fourth seasons of the CW show Reign. In the show's fourth season, Henry is played by Nick Slater. With his brother showing little interest in the job, Spain wants Henry to become France's king.

Opera

• opéra-comique Le roi malgré lui
  (1887) deals with the unhappy Polish episode, with Henri as the reluctant King of Poland. In Kraków, he conspires with Polish nobles to depose himself. His friend Nangis changes places with him, but in the end, the plot fails and the curtain falls on Henri being crowned.

See also

• Chicot
• History of Poland (1569–1795)
• Les Mignons
• Louis Duret

References

1. ^ Mariéjol 1920, p. 204.
2. ^ Wellman 2013, p. 209.
3. ^ Knecht 2016, p. 2.
4. ^ Knecht 2016, p. 11.
5. ^ Knecht 2016, pp. 11–12.
6. ^ ^{a b} Knecht 2016, p. 12.
7. ^ ^{a b} Carroll 2009, p. 186.
8. ^ ^{a b} Jones 2006, pp. 143–145.
9. ^ ^{a b} MacCulloch 2004, p. ?.
10. ISBN 0-6740-1197-X
    .
11. ^ Solnon, Jean-Francois (1987). La Cour de France. Paris: Fayard.
12. ISBN 2-0707-3529-X
    .
13. ISBN 2-7373-0019-3
    .
14. ^ Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (1783). Erotika Biblion. Bruxelles, Chez tous les libraires.
15. ISBN 978-0-7546-6377-5
    .
16. doi:10.1353/sex.2004.0024
    .
17. ^ Knecht 2016, pp. 41–42.
18. ^ ^{a b} Knecht 2016, p. 42.
19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-5213-5873-6
    .
20. ^ Sutherland 1973, p. 54.
21. ^ Knecht 1989, p. 41.
22. ^ Knecht 1998, p. 130.
23. ^ Sutherland 1973, p. 69.
24. ^ Knecht 1989, p. 54.
25. ISBN 9-0041-1101-8
    .
26. ^ Stone 2001, p. 118.
27. ^ Davies 2007, p. 10.
28. ISBN 978-0-1992-1490-7
    .
29. ^ ^{a b c} Stone 2001, p. 119.
30. ^
    ISBN 8-3060-0788-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
31. ISBN 8-3700-7257-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
32. ^ ^{a b c d} Stone 2001, pp. 120–121.
33. ^ ^{a b} Krzysztof Prendecki (30 October 2006). "Kuracja wiedzą". placet.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
34. ^ George 1875, p. table XXX.
35. ^ Kosior 2019, p. 32.
36. ^ ^{a b c} Jones 2006, pp. 147–148.
37. ISBN 978-0-8265-1470-7
    .
38. ^ "King of France from 1574 to 1589". Parliament of Canada. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
39. ^ Knecht 2016, p. 306-307.
40. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, pp. 131–132.
41. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Whale, p. 43
42. ^ ^{a b c d} Anselme 1726, pp. 210–211.
43. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, pp. 126–128.
44. ^ ^{a b c d} Tomas, p. 7
45. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, p. 209.
46. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, pp. 207–208.
47. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, pp. 463–465.
48. ^ ^{a b} Tomas, p. 20
49. ^ ^{a b} Anselme 1726, p. 324.

Works cited

• Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Père (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
• Davies, Brian L. (2007). Warfare, state and society on the Black Sea steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge.
• Carroll, Stuart (2009). Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-1995-9679-9
  .
• Crawford, Katherine B., "Love, Sodomy, and Scandal: Controlling the Sexual Reputation of Henry III", Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 12 (2003), 513–542
• George, Hereford Brooke (1875). Genealogical Tables Illustrative of Modern History. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
• Jones, Colin (2006). Paris: A Briography of a City. Penguin.
• Knecht, R. J. (1989). The French Wars of Religion, 1559–1598. Longman.
• Knecht, R. J. (1998). Catherine de' Medici. Pearson Education Limited.
• Knecht, Robert J. (2016). Hero or Tyrant? Henry III, King of France, 1574–89. Routledge.
• Kosior, Katarzyna (2019). Becoming a Queen in Early Modern Europe: East and West. Palgrave Macmillan.
• MacCulloch, Diarmuid (2004). Reformation: Europe's House Divided. Penguin.
• Mariéjol, Jean-Hippolyte (1920). Catherine de Médicis: 1519–1589. Librairie Hachette.
• Stone, Daniel (2001). The Polish-Lithuanian state, 1386–1795. A History of East Central Europe. Vol. IV. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  ISBN 0-2959-8093-1
  .
• Sutherland, Nicola (1973). The Massacre of St Bartholomew and the European Conflict 1559–1572. Macmillan.
  OL 5461343M
  .
• Wellman, Kathleen (2013). Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France. Yale University Press.

Further reading

• Bordonove, Georges (1988). Henri III: Roi de France et de Pologne (in French). Paris: Pygmalion.
  ISBN 978-2-7564-1139-2
  .
• Conihout, Isabelle de; Maillard, Jean-François; Poirier, Guy, eds. (2006). Henri III mécène: des arts, des sciences et des lettres (in French). Paris: Presses Paris Sorbonne.
  ISBN 978-2-8405-0431-3
  .
• Freer, Martha Walker (1888). Henry III, King of France and Poland: his court and times. New York: Dodd, Mead.
• Grzybowski, Stanisław (1985). Henryk Walezy. Warsaw: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich.
  ISBN 8-3040-0118-7
  .
• Jasienica, Paweł (1982). Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów [The Commonwealth of the Both Nations] (in Polish). Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
  ISBN 8-3060-0788-3
  .
• L'Estoile, Pierre De (1992). Lazard, M. & Schrenck, G. (eds.). Régistre-Journal du règne de Henri III (in French). Genève: Droz.
  ISBN 2-6000-0609-5
  .
• Sauzet, Robert; Boucher, Jacqueline, eds. (1992). Henri III et son temps: actes du colloque international du Centre de la Renaissance de Tours, octobre 1989 (in French). Paris: Vrin.
  ISBN 978-2-7116-1065-5
  .
• Tomas, Natalie R. (2003). The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
  ISBN 0-7546-0777-1
  .
• Whale, Winifred Stephens (1914). The La Trémoille family. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. p. 43.
• Satała, Zbigniew (1990). Poczet polskich królowych, księżnych i metres (in Polish). Warsaw: Glob.
  ISBN 8-3700-7257-7
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry III of Poland and France.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Henry III of France

• Portraits of Henri III (in French)
• history at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 February 2010)

Henry III of France House of Valois, Angoulême branch Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty Born: 19 September 1551 Died: 2 August 1589
Regnal titles
Vacant Interrex Title last held by Sigismund II	Grand Duke of Lithuania 16 May 1573 – 12 May 1575	Vacant Stephen
Preceded by Charles IX	King of France 30 May 1574 – 2 August 1589	Succeeded by Henry IV
French royalty
Preceded by Charles	Duke of Angoulême 1551 – 30 May 1574	Succeeded by Diane
Preceded by Charles III	Duke of Orléans 1560 – 30 May 1574	Merged with the Crown
Vacant Title last held by Louise	Duke of Anjou 1566 – 30 May 1574	Succeeded by Francis