King de Pologne (1573-1574) under the name of Henri I ^er, then king de France (1574-1589).

Henri III is the last of these “Valois declining” which controlled the kingdom of France then in the grip of wars of religion.

Its reign, as that of his/her brothers who had preceded it on the throne, was marked by the intrigues, the assassinations and the difficulty in releasing a party which supports truly the policy of the king.

In the storm of the years 1570-1580, Henri III however did not show the impotent monarch that traditional historiography wanted to stigmatize; however, the extinction of its line, while involving most serious of the dynastic crises of the Former regime, underlined its weaknesses and its errors.

Fourth son of Henri II and Catherine de Médicis - after Francois, Louis, died in low age, and Charles -, the future Henri III was initially fore-mentioned Alexandre-Edouard he ceased carrying this first name only as from 1564, and accepted that of his/her father then. The young man was the preferred son of his mother, Catherine de Médicis, who moreover was persuaded that it would reign, as well as had predicted Nostradamus to him. The principal advisers of Henri, whereas he was yet only duke of Anjou, were the cardinal of Lorraine, of the house of Own way, Philippe Hurault, lord de Cheverny, which became chancellor with the death of Birague in 1583, and Gaspard de Saulx-Tavannes, its mentor on the military level.

The fight against the Protestants

In November 1567, Charles IX appointed it general lieutenant of the kingdom, and it succeeded Anne of Morello cherry in charge of the royal army. It is under the direction of Saulx-Tavannes that Henri of Anjou overcame the Protestants with Jarnac then with Moncontour (1569), without these victories being decisive. In 1569, Charles IX created for his brother the new title of general intendant of the king; the duke of Anjou was to help the king in his task, but in the facts, its role was limited to contresign the orders, which remained inspired by Catherine de Médicis.

In 1571, Henri of Anjou cancelled officially his project of marriage with Elisabeth of England: on the one hand, it rejected the idea to marry with a noncatholic queen; in addition, this one had refused the least concession on the exercise of the catholic worship in its kingdom.

In 1572, at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, it approved the decisions of his mother and Charles IX; to protect the house where rested the admiral de Coligny, wounded in the attack of August 22nd, it had made name the Master of camp of the guards of the king, Caussens, which was a personal enemy of the Protestant chief and who took part in his assassination. Thereafter, whereas he was candidate with the throne of Poland, Henri made publish a Brief and true account of the last disorder from France to Paris, in which the admiral perishes; he tried to clear himself there, denying to have taken part in the Council of the king during which the decision of the massacre was made.

January to July 1573, during the fourth war of religion, Henri of Anjou carried out the royal armies at the time of the seat of the La Rochelle. The news of its election to the throne of Poland, which reached him on on June 19th, decided it to find a compromise with the insurrectionists, in order not to alienate those of its future subjects which were Protestant. It raised the seat on on July 6th.

Sigismond-Auguste, last king of the dynasty of Jagellon, which reigned on Poland, died on on July 7th, 1572. The new sovereign was to be elected by the assembly of noble of the kingdom.

The election of Henri I ^er

During the meeting of the electoral diet, the bishop of Valence, Jean de Monluc, so skilfully represented the interests of the duke of Anjou that this one was elected on on May 11th, 1573 against the Ernest archduke, son of the emperor Maximilien II.

However, the bishop of Valence had had to make certain concessions with noble Polish, which amounted limiting the power of the king; also the Poles sent an embassy to obtain the confirmation of Henri. This one hesitated but, in front of the firmness of the Polish delegation (“Jurabis aut not regnabis! ”, “you are will swear or you will not reign! ”), ends up accepting, not without to have taken care to obtain by letters patent of Charles IX, on on September 10th, 1573, the insurance to succeed to him the throne of France if he died without male heir.

The reign and the return in France

Henri I ^er of Poland reigned only a hundred and forty six days, of January 24th, 1574, dates from his entry in Poland, on June 18th from the same year, goes back to his escape. More interested by the French business than Polish, Henri I ^er did not have time to play some part that it is. He prepared his escape as soon as he learned death from his brother Charles IX, on on June 14th. Four days later, he flees in middle of the night, was caught up with by his chamberlain only at the border, which he could however cross.

Its return voyage was done by Vienna - where it met the emperor and refused his offer to marry his daughter, the widow of Charles IX -, by Venice, finally by Turin where it met Henri of Morello cherry-Damville, in order to dissuade it to proceed in the way of the revolt. It agreed to restore with the duke of Savoy the fortified towns which France still had under the terms of the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, in particular Pignerol.

Henri III wrote in June 1574 with his mother that “France and are better you than Poland”. The new king however knew that it was going at once to have to face the religious question, and a rising of part of the nobility. He returned to France on on September 5th, 1574, stopping initially in Lyon. One of the first measurements that it took there was to restrict its Council with eight members: the chancellor Birague, Jean de Monluc, Morvilliers, Aubespine, Paul de Foix, Pibrac, Cheverny and Bellièvre. It joined again thus with the narrow Council which could only dissatisfy the nobility, which reproached it to him in its declarations of the years 1574-1576. Lastly, the financial position which Henri III found was disastrous; the State was involved in debt considerably, and the gap widened between the values legal and commercial of the currency, impoverishing the humblest subjects.

The sacring of the new king took place in Rheims on on February 13th, 1575, and, two days later, he married Louise de Vaudémont, niece of the duke Charles III of Lorraine.

Monarchomaques policies, malcontents and

Following the death of Henri II, in 1559, and conspiracy of Amboise (1560), the kings and their advisers had initially sought to establish the religious harmony, without succeeding there; then, under the influence of Michel of Hospital, a possible civil tolerance had been done day. However, the internal wars had ruined the hopes of peace and had revealed important political differences between the partisans in this civil tolerance: if all wished a strong power, they did not conceive the distribution of it in the same way. Also, with the return of Henri III in France, the kingdom was mined by the insubordination of noble, of the Protestants like intransigent catholics, and as of on on September 10th, 1574, the king published a declaration “concerning the return of his subjects in his obedience”.

The party of the “policies” - according to a pejorative name given by the “excessively pious people”, who reproached them their lack of faith -, directly resulting from the theories of Michel of Hospital, insisted on the sovereignty which the assisted king of its Council was to exert; its theses evolved little by little to the importance of a central power extremely, and led to the theories absolutists which triumphed with the advent over Henri IV. The policies were recruited primarily in the middle-class mediums resulting from humanism.

The “malcontents”, resulting from the great nobility, if they were in line with the policies on the importance of royal dignity, sought in same time to draw aside any temptation absolutist; they thus preached an effective division of the power between the king, the nobility and the general states. The principal representatives of the malcontents were Henri of Morello cherry-Damville, Henri de Condé and Henri de Navarre, the future Henri IV, which evolved in the years 1580, as it approached the throne, to the theses absolutists.

Lastly, the monarchomaques ones - pejorative neologism forged on the Greek words monarchos and makhomai, meaning “those which fight the king” - took again the old theories of preeminence of the general states; for them, the king was chosen by God and the people; also they judged legitimates to deposit a “bad king”, the subjects being delivered owe them of obedience since the prince had become an assassin and a tyrant. However, they cannot be regarded as democrats with the modern direction of the term: the people are for them only one legal personality represented by the only general states.

With the death of Charles IX, Morello cherry-Damville had been dislocated of its government of Languedoc by the regent Catherine de Médicis, with the profit of the successor of the admiral de Coligny, the marquis de Villars, an intransigent catholic. From Lyon, Henri III confirmed this decision; at once, Morello cherry-Damville was combined reformed and with to the “peaceful catholics” and entered in open rebellion against the king.

At the same moment, at the end of 1574, Henri III knew the first of his crises of abatement, during which it was devoted to demonstrations of humility, which impressed its contemporaries unfavourably; he thus made penitence with Avignon, barefeet, little before Christmas 1574. The queen-mother then played a decisive part in the negotiations with the noble ones revolted, especially after the escape of François d' Alençon of the court, on on September 15th, 1575, worsened by the escape of Henri de Navarre in February 1576.

By the edict of Beaulieu (May 6th, 1576), Henri III recognized his errors at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and rehabilitated the victims of them. It agreed to join together the general states, hoping that those would cancel the provisions of the edict, too favorable according to him to the Protestants and that it had signed only at the request of the queen-mother. Opposed to the edict, the intransigent catholics created a first League, in charge of which Henri III placed itself, which enabled him to attenuate the political consequences of them.

Contrary to waiting of the malcontents, which had required the meeting of it, the deputies sent to the general states came as a majority from catholic mediums, frightened by the provisions of the edict of Beaulieu. The states sought to control the Council of the king openly and to limit his decision-making power to the only cases where the three orders would not have agreed. But the king refused to reach these requests; he found the assistance of Jean Bodin, who expressed the idea that the division of sovereignty between the king and his states was “impossible whole”. Lastly, the general states failed to find a solution with the financial crisis which the kingdom passed through.

Whereas the composition of the general states, to catholic majority, had led the Protestants to take again the weapons and to open the sixth of the wars of religion as of December 1576, the incapacity of the king to find funds led it to seek peace very quickly.

This catch of weapons was marked by the bags of Issoire and the Charity-on-Loire, and is concluded by peace from Bergerac and the edict from Poitiers (September 17th, 1577). This one restricted the freedom of worship of the Protestants considerably, but, by prohibiting the leagues of all tendencies, it marked a temporary reinforcement of the royal authority. Henri III could consequently hope to reach the civil concord and to harness himself to solve the financial problems.

Henri III proceeded to certain reforms, without however managing to solve the enormous financial deficit. He attempted to create his own party, from which most members were resulting from the average nobility. By doing this, it alienated the support of large, the more so as certain measurements irritated them, like the new label of the court, which lowered noble noble lineages with subordinates roles.

The nice ones of Henri III

Did the private life of the king and his tastes cause the hostility, because of its refinements - jewels, in particular earrings, perfumes, clothing? -, of its nature nonin conformity with the idea that its contemporaries were done of their sovereign - periods of abatement, mystical crises -, and especially of its “nice”.

The nice ones of Henri III were the noble ones of sword, which constituted its favorites - such is indeed the direction of the “nice” word to the XVI ^E century, other than any sexual connotation, even if make out them directed against the king went until speaking about “nice about berth”.

Most famous of nice were both “archimignons”, the dukes of Épernon, and Merry, as François of O. the other nice ones were illustrated, such François d' Espinay of Saint-Luc (1554-1597), who took share with the wars of religion, but which fell quickly in disgrace - thereafter, it was named by Henri IV general lieutenant in Brittany (1592) -, Louis Bérenger, lord of Guast, assassinated in October 1575 undoubtedly on the instigation of Marguerite de Valois, and those which took share with the famous duel of nice, which opposed, on on April 27th, 1578, Jacques de Lévis, count de Quélus (or Caylus, 1554-1578), Louis de Maugiron and Livarot, with three nice of Henri de Guise, Ribérac, Schomberg and Entragues; only Livarot and Entragues survived.

Interior reforms

Henri III started deep reforms in the financial field; he made establish Estat of the field and finances of France (1583), which drew up an inventory of the goods of the crown and evolution of the taxes since the government of Anne de Beaujeu - under her own reign, of 1576 to 1588, the amount of the principal tax, the size, passed from 7 to 18 million books. At the end of important economies, its financial managed to rebalance the royal budget in 1585, limiting the deficit to 360' 000 ecus, against 1 800 000 in 1584. But the disorders of the League ruined these efforts, and the royal debts culminated in 1588 to 133 million books, against 100 million at the beginning of the reign.

In 1578, Henri III instituted a new order of knighthood, to try to stick the faithful ones; he gave him the name of order of the Holy Spirit, which was in conformity with its own designs, sometimes close to mysticism. He created several religious orders, in particular, in 1583, the Oratory of Our-Lady-of-Life-Healthy (in Vincennes), then two others still in 1585. He made write the Code Henri III per Barnabe Brisson, president of the Parliament of Paris, in order to try to unify the various legal habits of the kingdom. The Council of the king became, as from 1578, the Council of State; he was divided into sections and was reorganized. He modified the label of the court and published a payment with the use of the courtiers, which divided those into several levels. In 1582, following the bubble of Gregoire XIII Inter gravissimas, the kingdom gave up the Julien calendar for the Gregorian calendar. Lastly, Henri III being anxious to look further into his own culture, it created the academy of the Palate, around Ronsard and of Of Baïf.

The absence of heir

It very quickly became obvious that the royal couple was sterile - this sterility was perhaps the consequence of a miscarriage of the queen. The royal husbands tried by all kinds of means of obtaining a heir, at the same time by receipts of doctors or healers, by pilgrimages and mortifications. Starting from the death of the duke of Anjou, in 1584, the extinction of Valois became a certainty.

The question of the succession to the throne became the stake of the reign. Henri de Navarre was legitimates it successor of Henri III according to the salic law, but its religion entered in contradiction with a well established tradition, which wanted that king Very-Christian is catholic. More the catholic close relative of Henri III was Charles, cardinal of Bourbon, born in 1523, of which it was certain that it would not have a heir. Henri de Guise was posed consequently as a possible successor; the Own way indeed affirmed to go down directly from Charlemagne, and thus claimed to have rights still more established that the descendants of Hugues Capet.

Henri III then had to face in priority the party of the Own way; its personality, increasingly directed towards the religiosity, attracted to him the hostility of most of its close relations, including that of his mother who considered excessive her demonstrations of piety, and approached the party of the Own way.

The treaty of Nemours

The Own way made public their opposition to the succession of Henri de Navarre by the treaty of Joinville (December 31st, 1584), which required the eradication of the reformed religion. Conscious of new war which prepared and of misery that would involve, Henri III hesitated over the policy to follow. The Own way having summoned it to decide by their Request with the king and last resolution, Henri III began by the edict of Nemours, signed by the queen-mother on on July 7th, 1585, to act to extirpate the reformed religion of the kingdom. The Protestants had only six months to leave the kingdom, or to convert. At this time, Henri III however hoped still that Henri de Navarre would abjure again, which constituted for him the only way of preserving its kingdom. A few weeks later, the pope published a bubble excluding Protestant princes Navarre and Condé from the succession to the throne of France.

After the failure of the negotiations of Saint-Brice between Catherine de Médicis and Henri de Navarre (December 1586 - March 1587), military operations showed the victory of the Protestants with Coutras on on October 20th, 1587, and that of the duke of Own way in Auneau one month later. Henri III negotiated via the duke of Épernon the exit of the foreign troops of the territory, thus frustrating Guise of a more complete victory.

The revolt of Paris

In 1588, Spain prepared with launching its Invincible Armada against England of Elisabeth I ^Re, and the fight between catholics and reformed also reached his paroxysm in France; the duke of Own way failed to get a port on the English Channel with his Spanish ally, but its carried out attracted the hatred of Henri III to him. The situation of the king was dubious, in particular in Paris, where the preachers excited the population against him and where the economic situation was critical.

In spite of the prohibition which the king had made him, Henri de Guise entered Paris on on May 9th, 1588. Henri III gave up requiring his departure, but it made penetrate its troops in the capital, under pretext of drive out the foreigners and the vagrants of them, and the Swiss ones occupied the principal strategic points of them. The members of a league reacted on on May 12th, by drawing up barricades in most districts of Paris, and to the neighborhoods of Louvre. The Parisian ones then required of the king to point out his troops, which Henri III accepted.

On May 13th, however, agitation not falling down, Valois, convinced that the duke of Own way was going to remove his freedom to him, decided to leave Paris; it gave up its capital in the afternoon, and arrived at Chartres the following day. It could not resist to the members of a league any more, and it signed the edict of Union which the duke of Own way proposed to him, which confirmed the treaty of Nemours.

General states of 1588

Henri III convened new general states in Blois (October 16th, 1588 - January 16th, 1589). He could not resist the claims of the deputies, in majority members of a league and asset with the duke of Own way, and had to agree to lower the taxes under penalty of seeing the deputies of the third state leaving the assembly; especially, it granted to the general states a right to watch on the composition of its council.

Henri III had undoubtedly conceived for several months the project to assassinate the duke of Own way; it is only in front of the insubordination of the general states, open partisans of its rival, whom it solved to remove it. It made the decision with some faithful, which organized the attack, of which the execution was entrusted to the members of his personal guard, the Forty-five ones, Gascon men-at-arms entirely devoted to their Master. The king pretexted of his departure to join together his Council early the morning of December 23rd, then it made call the duke of Own way for a maintenance deprived in its room; it is before penetrating in the room of the king that Henri de Guise was assassinated. The men of the king seized themselves moreover of Louis, cardinal of Own way, which they assassinated the next morning.

The king justified his decision by treasons which it charged to the duke of Own way, and procedure by the power that its rival had reached, who prohibited to proceed by the normal ways of justice. The assassination of the cardinal of Own way had the most annoying consequences for the king: the pope Sixte Quint did not accept his justifications and, after Valois had been combined with the Inhabitant of Béarn, it ends up excommunicating it on on May 5th, 1589.

The general states were completed without the king being able to come to end from the rebellion from the deputies from the third. Moreover, the League was not decapitated: Mayenne, the younger brother of the duke, had taken again the head of it, and Paris entered in opened rebellion, being placed under the protection of the duke of Aumale, cousin of the Own way.

The regicide

Agitation was with its roof in the capital, where make out flamers glorified the martyrdom of the Own way and asked the deposition even the execution of the king. The duke of Mayenne granted the title of general lieutenant of the State, while the ligueuses cities were raised against Henri III.

The king folded up himself in Tours, where he sought the support of Henri de Navarre; on April 3rd, 1589, it signed with this one the treaty of Plessis-the-Turns, by which royalist and Protestant concluded a truce and directed their weapons against the League, from now on private of any support - Spain had lost its Invincible Armada. The duke of Mayenne however gained, close to Amboise, the first successes in the new war which engaged (April 28th), but the counter-offensive carried out by the king of France and that of Navarre quickly brought them to Étampes (July 1st) and the doors of Paris.

Henri III is established in Saint-Cloud, on on July 31st. The following day, it agreed to receive Jacques Clément, a Dominican monk, who was carrying secret news. It accepted it in its room, and the monk struck it at a stretch knife with the stomach. The afternoon even, the king had the time to join together his principal vassal, which he asked to recognize Henri de Navarre like his successor; he exhorted this one to convert with Catholicism. Henri III died in the night, on on August 2nd, 1589.