A disputed king King de France (1559-1560).
Oldest son of Henri II and Catherine de Médicis, François was married at fourteen years with the queen of Scotland, Marie Stuart, itself girl of Jacques V of Scotland and Marie de Guise, which reinforced the party of the house of Own way at the court.
The young sovereign died very early, seventeen months after his advent, and could never reign but under the influence of the Own way.
François II was proclaimed king with the death of Henri II, in July 1559. Its advent posed, according to reformed, a major dynastic problem: for them, the young king was to be considered as minor and the power, after convocation of the general states, was to be entrusted to the first princes of royal blood, namely Antoine of Bourbon, king de Navarre, and his brother Louis de Condé, themselves reformed. But the power on the contrary was exerted by name by the king, and the party of the Own way, his/her cousins by alliance, was essential.
A complex situation politico-nun
The reign of François II marked the appearance of two definitely distinct parties: that of the catholics was directed by the Own way, regarded by their adversaries as foreigners, the “Lorraine ones”, whereas they had been naturalized in 1506; that of noble reformed which, in addition to the Bourbon, also counted Coligny-Châtillon, other princes of royal blood, claimed with the legitimacy of the direction of the kingdom - however, Antoine of Bourbon, more worried by the Spanish recovery of Navarre, approached Philippe II of Spain, therefore French catholics.
The party of the Own way
Cousins of the king, the Own way exerted in fact all the power; their policy, although unpopular, could not be suspectée to support contrary interests with those of the kingdom. Thus, as of on on July 14th, 1559, Charles of Own way, cardinal of Lorraine, superintendent of finances, reduced manpower of the armies, thus seeking to avoid the royal bankruptcy to which Henri II seemed to have driven back the kingdom; however, it indirectly supported the rebellion of the men of war, mainly reformed.
Following the tumult of Amboise, the Own way started a repression without fault. In November 1560, whereas François II had settled in Orleans with the Council and the court, the Own way made stop Louis de Condé; he was condemned to died for his participation in the business of Amboise, but the death of the king, by decreasing the power of the Own way brutally, saved the prince.
Policies
Between the two extreme parties, the party of the Policies, who recommended a political solution, and either nun, with the crisis, emerged little by little; for them, indeed, the religious positions were from now on irreconcilable, and it was a question of making cohabit the two communities, in the reciprocal respect of the worships. Michel of Hospital, which was the principal representative of this party, became chancellor of France on on May 20th, 1560.
The religious policy under François II
In the religious field, the reign of François II was marked by the judgment with roughing-hew of Anne du Bourg, to advise at the Parliament of Paris which had criticized the religious policy of Henri II. On March 8th, 1560, the edict of Amboise brought back the edict of Ecouen and granted royal forgiveness to the Protestants. A few days later the conspiracy of Amboise occurred.
However, seeking to continue their policy of conciliation, François II and Catherine de Médicis then proposed for the first reformed and Roman time to convene a national conference joining together; it was to recognize in fact the protesting party, the more so as the second reformed synod, held in Poitiers in March 1560, was appropriate to designate noble deputies attached to the court.
Two months later, the edict of Romorantin prohibited the public meetings and private, without it being possible to apply this measurement; especially, the new edict distinguished between heresy and sedition, the latter only concerning royal courts, which marked an easing compared to the edict of Ecouen, and outlined a political solution which is not at the same time nun.
The last decision of the reign was made at the time of the assembly of Fontainebleau, in August 1560: to convene the general states in December. But François II died on on December 5th, 1560 of an otitis which degenerated into abscess. His/her brother Charles IX, then ten years old, succeeded to him.