Henri IV of France and Navarre, His Wives and Mistresses. Part III.

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Catherine de Médici, César de Bourbon, Countess of Gramont, Diane d'Andouins, Duchess of Beaufort, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henri IV of France and Navarre, Margaret de Valois

In 1585, Henry embarked on a passionate love affair with a widow called Diane d’Andouins, nicknamed La Belle Corisande. Margaret found it impossible to ignore this particular lover of Henri’s, since d’Andouins was pressing Henri to repudiate Margaret so that she could become queen of Navarre herself.

Margaret responded by attempting to poison Henri, and then she shot at him with a pistol but missed. To escape his revenge, she fled the Kingdom of Navarre again, this time to her property at Agen. From there she wrote to her mother begging for money. Catherine sent her enough “to put food on her table” but was contemptuous.

Margaret attempted to strengthen the fortifications at Agen, raise troops, and ally with the Catholic League against her husband. Before long, however, the officials and people of Agen drove her out of the town. Retreating to her lofty and impregnable fortress of Carlat, and refusing her mother’s pleas that she move to a royal manor, she there took a lover called d’Aubiac. Catherine’s patience ran out, and she insisted that King Henry III of France arrest “this insufferable torment” and act “before she brings shame on us again”.

On October 13, 1586, therefore, the king had Margaret forcibly removed from Carlat and locked up in the Château d’Usson. D’Aubiac was executed, though not, as Catherine demanded, in front of Margaret. Catherine cut Marguerite out of her will. Margaret never saw her mother or brother again.

Henri’s mistress Diane d’Andouins, Countess of Gramont, was nicknamed “La Belle Corisande”.

Margaret assumed she was going to die and even employed a food taster at the château. In a “farewell” letter to her mother, she asked that after her execution a post-mortem be held to prove that she was not, despite gossip, pregnant with d’Aubiac’s child. At this point, her luck took a turn for the better.

Her gaoler, the Marquis de Canillac, whom she was rumoured to have seduced, suddenly switched from the royal side in the civil war to that of the Catholic League and released her in early 1587. Her freedom suited the League perfectly: her continued existence guaranteed that Henri of Navarre would remain without an heir. This problem became acute for Henri after he succeeded to the throne of France in 1589.

Henri IV was an energetic soldier who spent long periods at war. After military campaigns, he rewarded himself with bouts of idle pleasure, hunting during the day, gambling in the evening, and womanising at night. His companion in these leisure pursuits was often the banker Sébastien Zamet, who lent him vast sums of money and made his house available to the king for dalliances.

One drawback to Henri’s philandering, however, was a proneness to venereal diseases. In October 1598, he nearly died from an infection of the bladder, and an attack of gonorrhoea a few weeks later briefly brought on a heart problem. On November 6, he wrote to the Duke of Sully that the illness “has made me very depressed [tout chagrin], and I do everything that my doctors recommend, so keen am I to get better”.

Gabrielle d’Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort, came closest of all Henry’s mistresses to marrying him.

Henry’s sexual appetite, said to have been insatiable, was often indiscriminate, but he always recognised a particular mistress as his first lady. One such was Gabrielle d’Estrées, whom he met at Cœuvres in 1590 and later made the duchess of Beaufort.

This relationship was castigated by Henri’s enemies in the church, particularly by the Capuchins. On one occasion, arriving at her apartments near the Louvre, Henri was stabbed in the face by a Jesuit would-be-assassin called Jean Chastel, who slashed his mouth and broke one of his teeth.

In June 1594, d’Estrées bore Henri a son, César, who was legitimized in Jan/Feb 1595. Henri’s duchess had gradually risen in prominence, and she acted as her royal lover’s hostess for diplomatic occasions, such as the surrender talks with the rebel Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, in 1596.

In October of that year, an Italian observer reported that “among the French nobility people begin to expect that the king intends to name as his successor the natural son born of Gabrielle”. Henri’s advisers were deeply opposed to any such plan, however, which would guarantee a war of succession—but, for a while, Henri seemed determined.

When the last of the Catholic League rebels, Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, surrendered in 1598, Henri and Gabrielle’s son, César, was ceremonially promised in marriage to Mercœur’s daughter, though both were small children. The chronicler Pierre de L’Estoile records a vignette of Gabrielle d’Estrées’ status at this time: “

The duchess of Beaufort [was] seated in a chair, and Madame de Guise brought her the various dishes with great ceremony. Gabrielle took what she most liked with one hand, and gave her other to be kissed by the king, who was near her”.

Henri IV of France and Navarre, His Wives and Mistresses. Part II.

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Catherine de Médici, Charlotte de Sauve, Françoise de Montmorency-Fosseux, Huguenot, King Henri III of France, King Henri IV of France and Navarre, Lovers War, Margaret of Anjou

Until 1576, Henri remained at court, siding with Margaret and her brother François Duke of Alençon against King Henri III of France who became king in 1574. During this time, Henri of Navarre often ignored Margaret and instead slept with his mistress, Charlotte de Sauve.

It appeared, in the words of Henri’s biographer David Buisseret, as if “the pleasure-loving and libidinous elements of his ancestry had finally gained the upper hand”. A rivalry developed between him and Alençon over the beautiful de Sauve, who was one of Catherine de’ Medici’s so-called “flying squadron”, a group of “court lovelies” whom Catherine used to lure noblemen to court and, it was rumoured, as informants.

According to Margaret’s Memoirs, de Sauve “treated both of them in such a way that they became extremely jealous of each other… to such a point that they forgot their ambitions, their duties and their plans and thought of nothing but chasing after this woman”. De Sauve may have been acting as a tool of Henri III and Catherine in their attempts to split the two men. Henri of Navarre’s good judgement was already known to desert him when it came to women.

Margaret’s behaviour was also the subject of scandal. On one occasion in 1575, Catherine de’ Medici was heard yelling at her, accusing her of taking a lover. In a separate incident, the king sent a band of assassins to murder Margaret’s lover Bussy d’Amboise, a friend of Alençon’s, who managed to escape.

As Catherine’s biographer Leonie Frieda puts it: “he then decided to leave the Court immediately citing health reasons, which happened to be nothing less than the truth”. In 1576, King Henri III accused Marguerite of improper relations with a lady-in-waiting.

Margaret claimed in her Memoirs that he would have killed her if Catherine had not stopped him. Despite their sexual infidelities, Margaret remained politically loyal to her husband during the early period of their marriage and helped him negotiate the complexities of the court. By 1575, however, their relations were no longer physical: “I could not endure the pain that I felt”, she recalled in her Memoirs, “and I stopped sleeping with the King my husband”.

In 1576, Henri of Navarre managed to slip away while hunting and made for his kingdom, where he abjured the Catholic religion on June 13. For a time, the abandoned Margaret found herself imprisoned, suspected of complicity, and was afterwards distrusted by her own family.

Charlotte de Sauve

Henri of Navarre eventually demanded that she be brought to him. In 1578, therefore, Catherine de’ Medici travelled south to Nérac and duly delivered Margaret to her husband. At first, in this new phase in their marriage, the couple managed a show of harmony, but strains were apparent.

In 1580 a religious war, later called the “Lovers’ War”, broke out between the Huguenots and King Henri III. Although inaccurate, this name for the war relates to a series of scandals at the Navarre court and to the notion that Henri of Navarre took up arms in response to jibes about his love life from the French court.

At this point, he was conducting a passionate affair with a mistress Françoise de Montmorency-Fosseux, known as “La Belle Fosseuse”, while Margaret was involved with one of his own commanders, the Vicomte de Turenne. Henri wrote to Margaret apologising for the state of affairs between them. He expressed “extreme regret that instead of bringing you contentment… I have brought the opposite”.

In 1582, Margaret returned to the French court without her husband, who was still openly besotted with La Fosseuse. Before long, she began taking lovers again, such as Harlay de Champvallon, one of her brother François’s retinue, and acting more scandalously than ever. After a rumour that she had borne Champvallon a child, Henry III ordered her back to Navarre and then had her carriage searched and detained her in an abbey for questioning.

Françoise de Montmorency-Fosseux

Henri of Navarre at first refused to take Margaret back unless Henri III made a public statement asserting her innocence of all the charges against her. Catherine de’ Medici sent Pomponne de Bellièvre south to smooth things over and arrange Margaret’s return.

In a letter, she spelled out to Margaret that a royal wife must bear her husband’s affairs without complaint, recalling proudly that her own conduct as a wife had been impeccable, despite all provocation. Margaret was reunited with Henri of Navarre on April 13, 1584, but she failed to heed her mother’s words, even though the death of her brother François in June 1584 made her husband heir presumptive to the French throne.

Henri of Navarre himself was under increased pressure to produce an heir. He was advised by his closest friend Philippe Duplessis-Mornay that it was now “time to make love to France”.

Henri IV of France. His Wives and Mistresses. Part I.

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Catherine de Médici, Jeanne d'Albret, King Charles IX of France, King Henri IV of France and Navarre, King Philip II of Spain, Pope Gregory XIII, Princess Margaret de Valois, Queen Joan III of Navarre, Queen of France and Navarre, St. Bartholomew's Day massacre

Henri IV of France’s wives and mistresses played a significant role in the politics of his reign.

Henri’s womanising became legendary, earning him the nickname of Le Vert Galant. His sexual appetite was said to have been insatiable, and he always kept mistresses, often several at a time, as well as engaging in random sexual encounters and visits to brothels. Even so, he tended to elevate one mistress above the others and shower her with money, honours, and promises.

First Marriage

After the signature of the peace of Saint-Germain, Catherine de’ Medici, the powerful mother of King Charles IX, was convinced by François of Montmorency to marry her daughter Margaret with Henri III of Navarre.

The match was in fact assumed almost thirteen years earlier by the late King Henri II. Catherine, who believed in dynastic marriage as a potent political tool, aimed to unite the interests of the Valois and the Bourbons, and create harmony between Catholics and Huguenots in the reign of France.

By all accounts, Margaret of Valois was deemed highly attractive, even sexually magnetic: “The beauty of that princess is more divine than human, she is made to damn and ruin men rather than to save them”, said about her Don Juan of Austria came to court just to see her.

King Henri IV of France and Navarre

Margaret had also an enterprising and flirtatious character. Shortly before this marriage plan with Henri of Navarre, she had been involved in a scandal: it was discovered that she encouraged the handsome Henri of Guise, who intended to marry her, entertaining a secret correspondence with him. When her family discovered it put an end to the crush between them and sent Henri of Guise away from court.

Some sources claim the duke of Guise was Margaret’s first lover, but this is highly unlikely. For political reasons, the duty of a Daughter of France was to be a virgin at the wedding and for this she was very guarded.

If Margaret had really compromised her reputation, Jeanne d’Albret (Queen Joan III of Navarre) would not accept the marriage between her son Henri and the princess. Although certainly after the wedding, Margaret was unfaithful to her husband, many of the extramarital adventures are the result of pamphlets that have had to politically discredit her and her family: the most famous was Le Divorce Satyrique (1607), who described her as a nymphomaniac.

Margaret complied with her mother’s desire to marry Henri of Navarre, provided she was not forced to convert to Protestantism. When Jeanne d’Albret arrived at the French court after receiving numerous pressures from Catherine, she was extremely impressed by Margaret: “She has frankly owned to me the favourable impression which she has formed of you.

With her beauty and wit, she exercises a great influence over the Queen-Mother and the King, and Messieurs her younger brothers.” The problems began when the Protestant Jeanne discovered that Margaret had no intention of abjuring Catholicism. Meanwhile the marriage negotiations were repeatedly impeded by the Pope Gregory XIII and King Felipe II of Spain.

Tired of the duration of the negotiations, Charles IX decided that the wedding would be celebrated by the Cardinal of Bourbon even without papal dispensation, so Jeanne gave her consent to the wedding by promising that Henri could remain a Huguenot.

When Jeanne arrived in Paris to buy clothes for the wedding, she was taken ill and died, aged forty-four; and Henri succeeded her as the King Henri III of Navarre. Henri arrived in Paris in July 1572 and saw Margaret after six years of separation (they had spent their childhood together with the French court). Despite subsequent historiographic interpretations, contemporaries do not point out any mutual dissatisfaction between future spouses.

Princess Margaret de Valois, Queen of France and Navarre

The controversial wedding took place on August 18, 1572 at Notre-Dame, Paris. After a nuptial lunch, four days of balls, masques and banquets ensued, only to be interrupted by the outbreak of violence in Paris.

After the attempted assassination of the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny on August 18, 1572, Dowager Queen Catherine and King Charles IX, to forestall the expected Huguenot backlash, ordered the murder of the Huguenot leaders gathered in Paris for the wedding. The result was the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris and throughout the reign.

Margaret later described in her Memoirs the chaos and bloodshed in the Louvre Palace, where she and her new husband were lodged. Henri found himself escorted to a room with his cousin Henri of Condé, and told to choose between death and conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Henri chose the latter. After the massacre, the Queen-Mother proposed to her daughter that the marriage be annulled, but Margaret replied that this was impossible because she had already had sexual relations with Henri and was “in every sense” his wife. She wrote in her Memoirs: “I suspected the design of separating me from my husband was in order to work some mischief against him.“

December 5, 1559: Accession of Charles IX as King of France

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Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, Catherine de Médici, King Charles IX of France, KIng François II of France, King Henri II of France, King Henri III of Navarre, King Henri IV of France and Navarre, Queen Mary I of Scotland, Queen of France, St. Bartholomew's Day massacre

Charles IX (June 27, 1550 – May 30, 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother François II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the House of Valois.

Prince Charles Maximilien of France, third son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne.

Prince Charles Maximilien was born on June 27, 1550 at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was the fifth of ten children born to the royal couple. Styled since birth as Duke of Angoulême, he was created Duke of Orléans after the death of his older brother Louis, his parents’ second son, who had died in infancy on October 24, 1550.

Charles’ father, King Henri II, died in 1559, and was succeeded by Charles’ elder brother, King François II, who was married to Queen Mary I of Scotland. Therefore, François II was also King Consort of Scotland and died at a young age in 1560.

King Charles IX of France

The ten-year-old Charles Maximilian was immediately proclaimed King Charles IX of France on December 5, 1560, and the Privy Council appointed his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, as governor of France (Regent) with sweeping powers, at first acting as regent for her young son.

On 15 May 1561, King Charles IX was consecrated in the cathedral at Reims. Prince Antoine of Bourbon, himself in line to the French throne and husband to Queen Joan III of Navarre, was appointed Lieutenant-General of France.

Charles IX’s reign saw the culmination of decades of tension between Protestants and Catholics. Civil and religious war broke out between the two parties after the massacre of Vassy in 1562.

On November 26, 1570, Charles married Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, with whom he fathered one daughter, Princess Marie Elisabeth of France. In 1573, Charles fathered an illegitimate son, Charles, Duke of Angoulême, with his mistress, Marie Touchet.

Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria was a member of the House of Habsburg, she was the daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife and his first cousin, Infanta Maria of Spain, and she herself was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Carlos I of Spain) and Infanta Isabella of Portugal.

Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France

In 1572, following several unsuccessful attempts at brokering peace, Charles IX arranged the marriage of his sister Margaret to King Henri III of Navarre, a major Protestant nobleman in the line of succession to the French throne, in a last desperate bid to reconcile his people.

Facing popular hostility against this policy of appeasement and at the instigation of his mother Catherine de’ Medici, Charles IX oversaw the massacre of numerous Huguenot leaders who gathered in Paris for the royal wedding, though his direct involvement is still debated.

This event, known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, was a significant blow to the Huguenot movement, and religious civil warfare soon began anew. Charles IX sought to take advantage of the disarray of the Huguenots by ordering the siege of La Rochelle, but was unable to take the Protestant stronghold.

Many of Charles’ decisions were influenced by his mother, a fervent Roman Catholic who initially supported a policy of relative religious tolerance. However, after the events of St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, he began to support the persecution of Huguenots.

However, the incident haunted Charles IX for the rest of his life, and historians suspect that it caused his physical and mental health to deteriorate in his later years. King Charles IX died of tuberculosis in 1574 without legitimate male issue, and was succeeded by his brother as King Henri III of France, whose own death in 1589 without issue allowed for the ascension of King Henri III of Navarre to the French throne as King Henri IV of France and Navarre establishing the House of Bourbon as the new French royal dynasty.

November 22, 1602: Birth of Elisabeth of France, Queen of Spain

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Élisabeth of France, Balthasar Carlos, Catalan Revolt, Catherine de Médici, Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, Felipe IV of France, King Henri IV of France, Louis XIII of France, Louis XIV of France, Maria Theresa of Spain, Philip Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont, Regent

Elisabeth of France (November 22, 1602 – October 6, 1644) was Queen of Spain from 1621 to her death and Queen of Portugal from 1621 to 1640, as the first spouse of King Felipe IV. She served as regent of Spain during the Catalan Revolt in 1640-42 and 1643–44.

Elisabeth, Madame Royale, was born at the Château de Fontainebleau on November22, 1602. She was the eldest daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second spouse Marie de’ Medici. According to the court, her mother showed a cruel indifference to her, because she had believed the prophecy of a nun who assured her that she would give birth to three consecutive sons.

Shortly after her birth, she was betrothed to Philip Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont, son and heir of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, by Infanta Catherine Michaela of Spain, a daughter of King Felipe II of Spain. Philip Emmanuel died in 1605.

As a daughter of the King of France, she was born a Fille de France. As the eldest daughter of the king, she was known at court by the traditional honorific of Madame Royale. The early years of Madame Royale were spent under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a quiet place away from the Parisian court in which she shared education and games with her legitimate siblings and the bastard children that her father had from his constant love affairs.

Besides the Dauphin, (future King Louis XIII) the other Enfants de France (Henri IV’s legitimate children) were Christine Marie, later Duchess of Savoy; Nicholas Henri, Duke of Orléans, who died in infancy; Gaston, Duke of Orléans; and Henrietta Maria, later Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. When King Henri IV was assassinated outside the Palais du Louvre in Paris on May 14, 1610, her brother the Dauphin (with whom Elisabeth had a very close relationship) succeeded him to the throne as King Louis XIII of France under the Regency of their mother Marie de’ Medici.

When Elisabeth was ten years old, in 1612, negotiations were begun for a double marriage between the royal families of France and Spain; Elisabeth would marry the Prince of Asturias (the future Felipe IV of Spain) and her brother Louis XIII the Spanish Infanta Anne.

Marriage

After her proxy marriage to the Prince of Asturias and Louis XIII’s proxy marriage to the Infanta Anne, Elisabeth and her brother met their respective spouses for the first time on November 25, 1615 on the Pheasant Island in the river Bidassoa that divides France and Spain between the French city of Hendaye and the Spanish city of Fuenterrabía.

This was the last time Louis would see his sister. In Spain, Elisabeth’s French name took on the Spanish form of Isabel. The religious ceremony took place in the Saint Mary Cathedral in Burgos. At the time of her marriage, the thirteen-year-old Isabel became the new Princess of Asturias.

This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to 1559 with the marriage of King Felipe II of Spain with the French princess Elisabeth of Valois, the daughter of King Henri II of France, as part of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. The Exchange of the Princesses at the Spanish Border was painted by Peter Paul Rubens as part of his Marie de’ Medici cycle.

Queen

Elisabeth was renowned for her beauty, intelligence and noble personality, which made her very popular in Spain.

In 1621, by the time of the birth of the couple’s first child, the couple had ascended to the throne of Spain upon the death of Felipe III of Spain. The new queen of Spain was aware that her husband had mistresses.

Elisabeth herself was the subject of rumors about her relations with the noted poet Peralta (Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana), who was her gentleman-in-waiting.

She was regent of Spain during the Catalan Revolt and supported the Duke of Nochera against the Count-Duke of Olivares in favor of an honorable withdrawal from the Catalan Revolt.

Prior to 1640, the queen does not appear to have had much influence over state affairs, which was largely entrusted to Olivares. Elisabeth did not get along with Olivares, who reportedly assisted her spouse in his adultery and prevented her from achieving any political influence and once famously remarked, when she presented a political view to the king, that priests existed to pray as well as queens existed to give birth.

Between 1640 and 1642, Elisabeth served as regent for the king in his absence during the Catalan revolt and was given very good marks for her efforts. She was reputed to have influenced the fall of Olivares as a part of a “women’s conspiracy” alongside the duchess of Mantua, Ana de Guevara, María de Ágreda and her chief lady-in-waiting Luisa Manrique de Lara, Countess Paredes de Nava.

The fall of Olivares made the king consider her his only political partner, and when the king left again for the front in 1643, Elisabeth was again appointed regent assisted by Juan Chumacero Carrillo y Sotomayor. Her second regency was also given good reviews, and she was credited by the king for her efforts to provide vital supplies for the troops as well as for her negotiations with the banks to provide finances for the army, offering her own jewelry as security. It was rumored that she was intending to follow the example of queen Isabella the Catholic and lead her own army to retake Badajoz.

The Queen died in Madrid on October 6, 1644 at the age of forty-one, leaving two children: Balthasar Carlos and Maria Theresa. After her death, her husband married his niece Mariana of Austria.

Elisabeth’s last child, Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, would later become queen of France as the wife of her nephew, the future Louis XIV. Unlike her husband and sister-in-law, she would not see the wedding that cemented the peace between her homeland and adopted country, Spain; the countries would be at war until 1659.

One of her great-grandsons, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, became King Felipe V of Spain, and through him, Elisabeth is an ancestor of the subsequent Spanish monarchs

June 30, 1644: Birth of Henrietta Anne of England, Duchess of Orléans

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Catherine de Médici, Charles I of England, Charles II of England, Henri IV of France, Henrietta Anne of England, Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, Louis XIV of France, Philippe of Orleans, The Fronde

From the Emperor’s Desk: instead of doing an entire biography of Henrietta Anne of England in this entry I will focus on her move to France and her marriage to Philippe duc d’Orléans.

Henrietta Anne of England (June 26, 1644 – June 30, 1670) was the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and Queen Henrietta Maria.

Henrietta was born on June 26, 1644, on the eve of the Second Battle of Newbury during the Civil War, at Bedford House in Exeter, a seat of William Russell, 5th Earl of Bedford, who had recently returned to the Royalist side.

Her father was King Charles I of England, her mother the youngest daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici. All her life, Henrietta had a close relationship with her mother, Queen Henrietta Maria. Her connections with the French court as niece of Louis XIII and cousin of Louis XIV proved very useful later in life.

Shortly before Henrietta’s birth, her mother had been forced to leave Oxford for Exeter, where she arrived on May 1, 1644. Many thought she would not survive the birth due to her state of health. After a particularly difficult birth, Henrietta was put in the care of Anne Villiers, Countess of Morton, known at that time as Lady Dalkeith.

For Henrietta’s safety, the queen made her way to Falmouth and then returned to France to ask Louis XIV to assist her husband’s war efforts. Arriving at Falmouth in mid-July, the queen was informed that Henrietta had been taken ill with convulsions, from which she recovered. On July 26, Henrietta met her father, Charles I of England, for the first time. Before his arrival, he had ordered that Henrietta be baptised in accordance with the rites of the Church of England, and she was baptised Henrietta at Exeter Cathedral on July 21.

A canopy of state was erected in honour of her dignity as a princess of England. Henrietta was moved to Oatlands Palace outside London, where she and her household lived for three months before fleeing secretly in June 1646; Lady Dalkeith ensured Henrietta’s safe arrival in France, where she was reunited with her mother.

While living at the French court, Henrietta was given the name Anne in honour of her aunt, the French queen Anne of Austria. When she first arrived, she was known as Henrietta d’Angleterre or the princesse d’Angleterre in France. She and her mother were given apartments at the Louvre, a monthly pension of 30,000 livres and the use of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This lavish establishment soon diminished, as all the money Queen Henrietta Maria received was given to her husband in England or to exiled cavaliers who had fled to France.

During the Fronde, the civil war that raged in France from 1648 to 1653, Henrietta and her mother stayed at the Louvre.

In February 1649, Henrietta’s mother was informed of the execution of her husband, who had been beheaded on January 30. At the end of the Fronde, Queen Henrietta Maria and her daughter moved into the Palais Royal with the young Louis XIV and his mother and brother Philippe.

At the same time, Queen Henrietta Maria decided to have her daughter, who had been baptised in the Church of England, brought up as a Catholic. With the arrival of Henrietta’s brother, Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, in 1652, their small court was increased.

After the Fronde was over, the French court made it a priority to find a bride for the young king of France. Queen Henrietta Maria hinted at the idea of a union between Henrietta and Louis XIV but Queen Anne rejected the idea, preferring instead her niece by blood, Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain. Louis XIV and Infanta Maria Theresa married in June 1660, after which Queen Anne turned her attentions to her unmarried son Philippe.

While residing at the Château de Colombes, Henrietta Maria’s personal residence outside Paris, mother and daughter heard of the restoration of the monarchy in England under Henrietta’s brother Charles II of England, and returned to Paris. This change of fortunes caused the flamboyant Philippe, a reputed homosexual who had been party to a series of sexual scandals, to propose to Henrietta. Before this, there were rumours at court that Henrietta had received proposals from Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and the Grand Prince of Tuscany, but nothing came of them as a result of her status as an exile.

The impatient Philippe was eager to make sure he married Henrietta as soon as possible, but Queen Henrietta Maria was intent on going to England to sort out her debts, secure a dowry for Henrietta, and prevent the Duke of York’s announcement of his marriage to Anne Hyde, a former maid-of-honour to the Princess Royal.

During this time, Henrietta became distraught when her brother the Duke of Gloucester died of smallpox in September 1660. In October, Henrietta and her mother embarked at Calais for Dover, where they stayed at Dover Castle. The French court officially asked for Henrietta’s hand on November 22 and her dowry was arranged. Charles II agreed to give his sister a dowry of 840,000 livres and a further 20,000 towards other expenses. She was also given, as a personal gift, 40,000 livres annually and the Château de Montargis as a private residence.

Henrietta’s return to France was delayed by the death from smallpox of her elder sister Mary, Princess of Orange. She finally left England in January 1661. She and Philippe signed their marriage contract at the Palais Royal on March 30, 1661; the ceremony took place the next day. The marriage was elaborately celebrated and she and her husband moved into the Palais des Tuileries. As she had married Monsieur, Henrietta was styled Madame, la duchesse d’Orléans.

The marriage started well and Philippe seems to have been a doting husband. A year into the marriage, Henrietta gave birth to a daughter later baptised Marie Louise.

The child’s paternity was doubted by some of the court, who insinuated Louis XIV or the Count of Guiche was the father. Henrietta and Guiche may have started an affair early in her marriage, despite his having been an alleged former lover of Philippe. These flirtations made the once-adoring Philippe intensely jealous, and he complained to Queen Anne.

Soon after, Louis XIV started an affair with one of Henrietta’s ladies-in-waiting, Louise de La Vallière, who had joined her household at the end of 1661 and protected Henrietta with regard to the affair of Guiche.

The couple’s next child was a son born in July 1664 who was given the title Duke of Valois. The son died in 1666 of convulsions after being baptised Philippe Charles hours before death. The loss of the little Duke of Valois affected Henrietta greatly. She gave birth to a stillborn daughter in July 1665, but another daughter was born in 1669 who was baptised Anne Marie in 1670.

In 1666, her husband’s most prominent alleged lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine, became attached to the Orléans household. Lorraine often vied for power within Philippe’s household, an unusual arrangement for the time.

Jacobite claims to the British throne after Henry Benedict Stuart’s death descend from Henrietta Anne’s daughter Anne Marie, Queen of Sardinia.

June 27, 1550: Birth of Charles IX, King of France

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Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, Catherine de Médici, Charles IX of France, Henri II of France, Henri III of France, Henri of Navarre, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, Margaret de Valois

Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; June 27, 1550 – May 30, 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574 from tuberculosis. He ascended the throne of France upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560.

Born Prince Charles Maximilian de Valois, third son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici, in the royal chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and styled Duke of Angoulêm from birth, he was created Duke of Orléans after the death of his older brother Louis, his parents’ second son, who had died in infancy on October 24, 1560.

King Henri II died on July 10, 1559, and was succeeded by his eldest son, King François II (who married Mary I, Queen of Scots on April 6, 1558). After François II’s short rule, (François II died December 5, 1560) the ten-year-old Charles Maximilian was immediately proclaimed King Charles IX of France.

When François II died, the Privy Council appointed his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, as governor of France (gouvernante de France), with sweeping powers, at first acting as regent for her young son. On May 15, 1561, Charles IX was consecrated in the cathedral at Reims. Prince Antoine of Bourbon, himself in line to the French throne and husband to Queen Joan III of Navarre, was appointed Lieutenant-General of France.

On November 26, 1570 Charles IX married Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria of Spain (daughter of Carl V, Holy Roman Emperor and King Carlos I of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal).

With her flawless white skin, long blond hair and perfect physique, Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria was considered one of the great beauties of the era. She was also regarded as demure, pious, and warmhearted but naive and intensely innocent because of her sheltered upbringing

After decades of tension, war broke out between Protestants and Catholics after the massacre of Vassy in 1562. In 1572, after several unsuccessful peace attempts, Charles ordered the marriage of his sister Margaret of Valois to Henri of Navarre (the future King Henri IV of France), a major Protestant nobleman in the line of succession to the French throne, in a last desperate bid to reconcile his people.

Facing popular hostility against this policy of appeasement, Charles allowed the massacre of all Huguenot leaders who gathered in Paris for the royal wedding at the instigation of his mother Catherine de’ Medici. This event, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, was a significant blow to the Huguenot movement, though religious civil warfare soon began anew. Charles sought to take advantage of the disarray of the Huguenots by ordering the siege of La Rochelle, but was unable to take the Protestant stronghold.

All his decisions were influenced by his mother, a fervent Roman Catholic who initially sought peace between Catholics and Protestants but after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre supported the persecution of Huguenots.

Charles died of tuberculosis in 1574, without legitimate male issue, and was succeeded by his brother as King Henri III.

December 5, 1560: Death of King François II of France and Scotland

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Catherine de Médici, Francis II of France, Henry II of France, Jousting, Marie de Guise, Mary I of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, Regency

François II (January 19, 1544 – December 5, 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary I, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.

He ascended the throne of France at age 15 after the accidental death of his father, Henry II, in 1559. His short reign was dominated by the first stirrings of the French Wars of Religion.

Although the royal age of majority was 14, his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, entrusted the reins of government to his wife Mary’s uncles from the House of Guise, staunch supporters of the Catholic cause. They were unable to help Catholics in Scotland against the progressing Scottish Reformation, however, and the Auld Alliance was dissolved.

François was succeeded by two of his brothers in turn, both of whom were also unable to reduce tensions between Protestants and Catholics.

Childhood and education (1544–1559)

François was born 11 years after his parents’ wedding Henri II and Catherinede Médici. The long delay in producing an heir may have been due to his father’s repudiation of his mother in favour of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, but this repudiation was mitigated by Diane’s insistence that Henri spend his nights with Catherine.

François was at first raised at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was baptised on February 10, 1544 at the Chapelle des Trinitaires in Fontainebleau. His godparents were François I (who knighted him during the ceremony), Pope Paul III, and his great-aunt Marguerite de Navarre. He became governor of Languedoc in 1546 and Dauphin of France in 1547, when his grandfather François I died.

King Henri II, his father, arranged a remarkable betrothal for his son to Mary I, Queen of Scots, in the Châtillon agreement of January 27, 1548, when François was only four years old. Mary had been crowned Queen of Scotland in Stirling Castle on September 9, 1543 at the age of nine months following the death of her father James V. Mary was a granddaughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, a very influential figure at the court of France.

Once the marriage agreement was formally ratified, the six-year-old Mary was sent to France to be raised at court until the marriage. She was tall for her age and eloquent, and Francis was unusually short and stuttered. Henri II said, “from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time”.

On April 24, 1558, François and Mary married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a union that could have given the future Kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England. As a result of the marriage, François became King Consort in Scotland until his death. The marriage produced no children, and may never even have been consummated, possibly due to François illnesses or undescended testicles.

Becoming king

A little over a year after his marriage, on July 10, 1559, François became king at age 15 upon the death of Henri II, who died from injuries that he suffered in a jousting accident. On September 21, 1559, François II was crowned king in Reims by his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. The crown was so heavy that nobles had to hold it in place for him. The court then moved to the Loire Valley, where the Château de Blois and the surrounding forests were the new king’s home. Francis II took the sun for his emblem and for his mottoes Spectanda fides (This is how faith should be respected) and Lumen rectis (Light for the righteous)

Death

The king’s health deteriorated in November 1560. On November 16, he fainted. After only 17 months on the throne, François II died on December 5, 1560 in Orléans, Loiret, from an ear condition. Multiple diseases have been suggested, such as mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis exacerbated into an abscess.

Ambroise Paré, the royal surgeon, considered performing a trepanation. Some suspected Protestants of having poisoned the king, a view held by Catholics as the tensions between them and Protestants were on the rise, but this has not been proven.

François II died childless, so his younger brother Charles, then ten years old, succeeded him as King Charles IX of France. On December 21, the council named Catherine de Médici Regent of France. The Guises left the court, while MaryI, Queen of Scots, François II’s widow, returned to Scotland. Louis, Prince of Condé, who was jailed and awaiting execution, was freed after some negotiations with Catherine de Médici.

On December 23, 1560, François II’s body was interred in the Basilica of St Denis by the Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon.

May 21, 1527: Birth of Felipe II, King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily.

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Archduke of Austria, Carlos I of Spain, Catherine de Médici, Catherine of Aragon, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, House of Habsburg, King Henri II of France, Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, Kingdom of Portugal, Philip II of Spain, Queen Mary I of England

Felipe II (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598) was King of Spain (1556–98), King of Portugal (1581–98, as Filipe I), King of Naples and Sicily (both from 1554), and jure uxoris King of England and Ireland (during his marriage to Queen Mary I from 1554 to 1558). He was also Duke of Milan, and from 1555, lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. As a member of the Austrian Habsburg Family, Felipe II was also an Archduke of Austria.

Filipe II, King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily.

The son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Carlos I of the Spanish kingdoms) and Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Felipe was called Felipe el Prudente (“Philip the Prudent”) in the Spanish kingdoms; his empire included territories on every continent then known to Europeans, including his namesake the Philippines. During his reign, the Spanish kingdoms reached the height of their influence and power. This is sometimes called the Spanish Golden Age.

Felipe’s mother, Infanta Isabella of Portugal, was the daughter King Manuel I of Portugal and Infanta Maria of Aragon, Isabella was the granddaughter of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Throughout her life, many compared her to her grandmother for her intelligence and determination. Her personal motto was “aut Caesar aut nihil” (‘either Cesar or nothing’). Felipe’s grandmother, Infanta Maria of Aragon, was the third surviving daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (the Catholic monarchs).

Charles V-I, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain

Infanta Isabella of Portugal

Felipe led a highly debt-leveraged regime, seeing state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1569, 1575, and 1596. This policy was partly the cause of the declaration of independence that created the Dutch Republic in 1581. On December 31, 1584 Felipe signed the Treaty of Joinville, with Henri I, Duke of Guise signing on behalf of the Catholic League; consequently Felipe supplied a considerable annual grant to the League over the following decade to maintain the civil war in France, with the hope of destroying the French Calvinists.

A devout Catholic, Felipe saw himself as the defender of Catholic Europe against the Ottoman Empire and the Protestant Reformation. He sent an armada to invade Protestant England in 1588, with the strategic aim of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England and re-establishing Catholicism there; but it was defeated in a skirmish at Gravelines (northern France) and then destroyed by storms as it circled the British Isles to return to Spain. The following year Felipe’s naval power was able to recover after the failed invasion of the English Armada into Spain.

The military under Felipe constituted about 9,000 men a year on average were which were recruited from Spain; in crisis years the total could rise to 20,000. Between 1567 and 1574, nearly 43,000 men left Spain to fight in Italy and the Low Countries (modern-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands).

Filipe II, King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily.

Philip was described by the Venetian ambassador Paolo Fagolo in 1563 as “slight of stature and round-faced, with pale blue eyes, somewhat prominent lip, and pink skin, but his overall appearance is very attractive.” The Ambassador went on to say “He dresses very tastefully, and everything that he does is courteous and gracious.”

King of Portugal

In 1578 young king Sebastian of Portugal died at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir without descendants, triggering a succession crisis. His granduncle, the elderly Cardinal Henrique, succeeded him as king, but Henrique had no descendants either, having taken holy orders. When Henrique died two years after Sebastian’s disappearance, three grandchildren of Manuel I claimed the throne: Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza, António, Prior of Crato, and Felipe II of Spain.

António was acclaimed King of Portugal in many cities and towns throughout the country, but members of the Council of Governors of Portugal who had supported Felipe escaped to the Spanish kingdoms and declared him to be the legal successor of Henrique. Felipe II then marched into Portugal and defeated Prior António’s troops in the Battle of Alcântara. The Portuguese suffered 4,000 killed, wounded, or captured, while the Spanish sustained only 500 casualties.

Filipe II, King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily.

The troops commanded by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo the 3rd Duke of Alba imposed subjection to before entering Lisbon, where he seized an immense treasure. Felipe II of Spain was crowned Felipe I of Portugal in 1581 (recognized as king by the Portuguese Cortes of Tomar) and a near sixty-year personal union under the rule of the Philippine Dynasty began. that saw Portugal share a monarch with that of Spain. The next independent monarch of Portugal would be João IV, who took the throne after 60 years of Spanish rule.

Felipe was married four times and had children with three of his wives.

Felipe II’s first wife, Infanta Maria-Manuela, Princess of Portugal, was his double first cousin. She was a daughter of Felipe’s maternal uncle, King João III of Portugal, and paternal aunt, Archduchess Catherine of Austria. They were married at Salamanca on November 12, 1543. The marriage produced one son in 1545, after which Maria-Manuela died 4 days later due to hemorrhage.

Infanta Maria-Manuela, Princess of Portugal

* Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545-1568), died unmarried and without issue.

Felipe II’s second wife was his first cousin once removed, Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Mary was the only child of King Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the niece of Felipe’s father, Emperor Charles V. The marriage, which took place on 25 July 25, 1554 at Winchester Cathedral, was political. By this marriage, Felipe II became jure uxoris King of England and Ireland, although the couple was apart more than together as they ruled their respective countries. The marriage produced no children, although there was a false pregnancy, and Mary died in 1558, ending Felipe II’s reign in England and Ireland.

Queen Mary I of England and Ireland

Felipe II’s third wife was Princess Elisabeth de Valois, the eldest daughter of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici. The original ceremony was conducted by proxy (the Duke of Alba standing in for Felipe) at Notre Dame prior to Elisabeth’s departure from France. The actual ceremony was conducted in Guadalajara upon her arrival in Spain. During their marriage (1559–1568) they conceived five daughters and a son, though only two of the girls survived. Elisabeth died a few hours after the loss of her last child.

Princess Elisabeth de Valois

Their children were:

* Stillborn son (1560)
* Miscarried twin daughters (August 1564).
* Isabella-Clara-Eugenia (1566-1633), married Albrecht VII, Archduke of Austria,
* Catherine-Michelle (1567-1597), married Carlo-Emmanuele I, Duke of Savoy, and had issue.
* Miscarried daughter (1568).

Felipe II’s fourth and final wife was his niece, Archduchess Anna of Austria, eldest daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Infanta Maria of Spain, who were first cousins. Archduchess Anna of Austria’s mother, Infanta Maria of Spain, was Felipe II’s sister and therefore daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal.

Archduchess Anna of Austria

By contemporary accounts, this was a convivial and satisfactory marriage (1570–1580) for both Felipe and Anna. This marriage produced four sons and one daughter. Anna died of heart failure 8 months after giving birth to Maria in 1580.

Their children were:

* Fernando , Prince of Asturias (1571-1578), died young.
* Carlos-Laurence (1573-1575), died young.
* Diego-Félix, Prince of Asturias (1575-1582), died young.
* Felipe III, King of Spain (1578-1621).
* Maria (1580-1583), died young.

King Felipe II outlived all four of his wives.

Death

Felipe II died of cancer, aged 71, in El Escorial, near Madrid, on September 13, 1598. He was succeeded by his 20-year-old son, Felipe III. He was the son with fourth wife, and niece, niece, Archduchess Anna of Austria.

May 14, 1610: Assassination of Henri IV, King of France and Navarre. Part I.

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Assassination, Catherine de Médici, Catholic League, Henri III of France, Henri IV of France, Henri of Guise, Louis IX of France, Marie de' Medici, Roman Catholic Church, St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Wars of Religion

Henri IV (December 13, 1553 – May 14, 1610), also known by the epithet Good King Henri or Henri the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henri III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty.

Prince Henri de Bourbon was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn. His parents were Queen Jeanne III of Navarre (1528-1572) and her consort, Prince Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (1518-1562). Although baptised as a Catholic, Henri was raised as a Protestant by his mother, who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre.

Henri IV, King of France and Navarre

Henri’s father, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme did not appear to have any real religious conviction and officially changed religions several times. Antoine’s reconversion to Catholicism separated him from his wife and he threatened to repudiate her. He had an affair with Louise de La Béraudière de l’Isle Rouhet, “la belle Rouet,” with whom he had a son, Charles III de Bourbon (1554–1610) who became archbishop of Rouen.

On June 4, 1572, two months before the wedding was due to take place, Queen Jeanne III returned home from one of her shopping excursions feeling ill. The next morning she woke up with a fever and complained of an ache in the upper right-hand side of her body. Five days later she died.

Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (father of Henri IV)

Queen Jeanne III of Navarre (mother of Henri IV)

A popular rumour which circulated shortly afterward, maintained that Jeanne had been poisoned by Catherine de’Medici (1519-1589) wife of King Henri II (1519-1559) who allegedly sent her a pair of perfumed gloves, skillfully poisoned by her perfumer, René, a fellow Florentine. An autopsy, however, proved that Jeanne had died of natural causes.

On June 9, 1572, upon his mother’s death, the 19-year-old became Henri de Bourbon became King Henri III of Navarre.

First marriage and Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

At the time Queen Joan’s death, it was arranged for Henri III, King of Navarre to marry Marguerite of Valois, daughter of Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici. The wedding took place in Paris on August 18, 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral.

On August 24, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre began in Paris. Several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henri’s wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed. HenrI narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and his promise to convert to Catholicism.

Marguerite of Valois

He was forced to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On February 5 of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the military conflict. He named his 16-year-old sister, Catherine de Bourbon, regent of Béarn. Catherine held the regency for nearly thirty years.

Claim to the throne of France

Henri III of Navarre and his predecessor Henri III of France were direct descendants of King Louis IX (1214-1270). Henri III of France belonged to the House of Valois, descended from Philippe III of France, elder son of Louis IX. Henry IV belonged to the House of Bourbon, descended from Robert, Count of Clermont, younger son of Louis IX. As Head of the House of Bourbon, Henry was “first prince of the blood”.

King Louis IX of France

Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henri III of France in 1589, Henri was called to the French succession by the Salic law.

Henri became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of François, Duke of Anjou, brother and heir to the Catholic Henri III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574. Given that Henri of Navarre was the next senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate successor. Salic law barred the king’s sisters and all others who could claim descent through only the female line from inheriting. Since Henri of Navarre was a Huguenot, the issue was not considered settled in many quarters of the country, and France was plunged into a phase of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries.

Henri III and Henri of Navarre were two of these Henries. The third was Henri I, Duke of Guise, who pushed for complete suppression of the Huguenots and had much support among Catholic loyalists. Political disagreements among the parties set off a series of campaigns and counter-campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Coutras.

Henri I, Duke of Guise

However, at the death in 1584 of François, Duke of Anjou, the king’s brother, Henri of Guise concluded the Treaty of Joinville with Felipe II of Spain. This compact declared that the Charles de Bourbon, Cardinal de Bourbon should succeed Henri III, in preference to HenrI of Navarre. Charles de Bourbon, Cardinal de Bourbon was the eighth child of Charles IV de Bourbon, duke of Vendôme, paternal grandfather of Henri IV. His mother was Françoise d’Alençon. Henri III now sided with the Catholic League (1585), which made war with great success on the Protestants.

In December 1588, Henri III had Henri of Guise murdered, along with his brother, Louis, Cardinal de Guise. Henri III thought the removal of the brothers would finally restore his authority. However, the populace was horrified and rose against him. The title of the king was no longer recognized in several cities; his power was limited to Blois, Tours, and the surrounding districts. In the general chaos, Henri III relied on King Henri of Navarre and his Huguenots.

On 25 July 1593, with the encouragement of his great love, Gabrielle d’Estrées, Henri permanently renounced Protestantism and converted to Catholicism — in order to secure his hold on the French crown, thereby earning the resentment of the Huguenots and his former ally Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was said to have declared that Paris vaut bien une messe (“Paris is well worth a mass”), although there is some doubt whether he said this, or whether the statement was attributed to him by his contemporaries.His acceptance of Catholicism secured the allegiance of the vast majority of his subjects.

Henri’s first marriage was not a happy one, and the couple remained childless. Henri and Marguerite separated even before Henri acceded to the throne of France in August 1589; Marguerite retired to the Château d’Usson in the Auvergne and lived there for many years. After Henri became king of France, it was of the utmost importance that he provide an heir to the crown to avoid the problem of a disputed succession.

Henri favored the idea of obtaining an annulment of his marriage to Marguerite and taking his mistress Gabrielle d’Estrées as his bride; after all, she had already borne him three children. Henri’s councillors strongly opposed this idea, but the matter was resolved unexpectedly by Gabrielle’s sudden death in the early hours of April 10, 1599, after she had given birth to a premature and stillborn son.

Marie de’ Medici of Tuscany

His marriage to Marguerite was annulled in 1599, and Henri married Marie de’ Medici, daughter of Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, in 1600.