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.

September 11, 1476: Birth of Louise of Savoy

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Charles Orléans, Count of Angoulême, Duchy of Savoy, Francis I of France, Henri IV of France, Kingdom of France, Louise of Savoy

Louise of Savoy
Mother of King Francis I of France (1476-1531)

Louise of Savoy (September 11, 1476 – September 22, 1531) was a French noble and regent, Duchess suo jure of Auvergne and Bourbon, Duchess of Nemours, and the mother of King François I of France. She was politically active and served as the regent of France in 1515, in 1525–1526 and in 1529.

Family and early life

Louise of Savoy was born at Pont-d’Ain, the eldest daughter of Philip II, Duke of Savoy and his first wife, Margaret of Bourbon. Her brother, Philibert II, Duke of Savoy, succeeded her father as ruler of the duchy and head of the House of Savoy. He was, in turn, succeeded by their half-brother Charles III, Duke of Savoy.

Because her mother died when she was only seven, she was brought up by Anne de Beaujeu,who was regent of France for her brother King Charles VIII of France. At Amboise she met Margaret of Austria, who was betrothed to the young king and with whom Louise would negotiate peace several decades later.

Marriage

At age eleven, Louise married Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême, aged 29, on February 16, 1488 in Paris. She only began living with him when she was fifteen, though. Despite her husband having two mistresses, the marriage was not unhappy and they shared a love for books.

The household of Charles was presided over by his châtelaine, Antoinette de Polignac, Dame de Combronde, by whom he had two illegitimate daughters, Jeanne of Angoulême and Madeleine.

June 2, 1489: Birth of Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme.

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Charles de Bourbon, Charles III of Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, Francis I of France, Henri IV of France, House of Bourbon, Kingdom of France, Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Conde

Charles de Bourbon (June 2, 1489 – March 25, 1537) was a French Prince du Sang and military commander at the court of King François I of France. He is notable as the paternal grandfather of King Henri IV of France and Navarre.

Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme

Charles was born at the Château de Vendôme, eldest son of François de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme and Marie of Luxembourg. Marie of Luxembourg (died April 1, 1547) was a French princess, the elder daughter and principal heiress of Peter II of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol and Soissons, and Margaret of Savoy, a daughter of Louis I, Duke of Savoy. She belonged to the French, cadet branch of a dynasty which had reigned as Dukes of Luxembourg, and whose senior line provided several Holy Roman Emperors, before becoming extinct in 1437.

Charles succeeded his father as Count of Vendôme in 1495. Charles’s first military service was in Italy, under King Louis XII of France. In 1514, he was created Duke of Vendôme when the county of Vendôme was elevated into a duchy. He fought at the Battle of Marignano (1515) and participated in the Flemish campaign. Because of his loyalty to the King, he was appointed head of the council when King François I was captured at the Battle of Pavia.

On May 18, 1513, Charles married Françoise d’Alençon (1490 – September 14, 1550) she was the eldest daughter of René of Alençon and Margaret of Lorraine, and the younger sister and despoiled heiress of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon.

They had thirteen children:

1. Louis de Bourbon (1514–1516), died in infancy.
2. Marie de Bourbon (1515–1538), unmarried, prospective bride of King James V of Scotland in 1536.
3. Marguerite de Bourbon (1516–1589), married in 1538, Francis I, Duke of Nevers (1516–1561)
4. Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (1518–1562)
5. François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien (1519–1546), unmarried.
6. Madeleine de Bourbon (1521–1561), Abbess of Sainte-Croix de Poitiers.
7. Louis de Bourbon (1522–1525), died in infancy.
8. Charles de Bourbon (1523–1590), Archbishop of Rouen.
9. Catherine de Bourbon (1525–1594), Abbess of Soissons.
10. Renée de Bourbon (1527–1583), Abbess of Chelles.
11. Jean de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and Enghien (1528–1557), married in 1557, his first cousin, Marie, Duchess of Estouteville (1539–1601).
12. Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1530–1569), married Eléonore de Roye, daughter of Charles de Roye, Count of Royce.
13. Léonore de Bourbon (1532–1611), Abbess of Fontevraud.

The successive deaths of his cousins Charles IV, Duke of Alençon (1525) and Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1527) made him the fourth in the order of succession to the French throne, just behind the king’s sons. At the natural course of affairs his wife, a sister of the last duke of Alençon, would have been the heiress of her brother; but François I allowed his sister, Marguerite of Angoulême, the late duke’s wife, to keep them, even though they did not have children.

Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme

Charles would also have been heir to the duchy of Bourbon, but it was forfeited to the crown by the treason of the last holder. At the death of Constable de Bourbon in 1527, he became the Head of the House of Bourbon.

His son Antoine married Jeanne III d’Albret, Queen of Navarre, daughter of Marguerite of Angoulême, settling the Alençon inheritance. Their son would succeed to the French throne as Henri IV. Antoine and Louis, Prince of Condé, became powerful military leaders on opposite sides in the French Wars of Religion. Charles died at Amiens in 1537 at the age of 47.

May 14, 1643: Death of Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre. Part I.

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Charles d'Albert, Henri IV of France, Henri of Condé, Jeanne III d'Albret, king James I-VI of England and Scotland, Louis XIII of France, Marie de' Medici, Palace of Fontainebleau, Prince de Condé, Queen and Regent of France., Queen of Navarre, the Grand Falconer of France

Louis XIII, also known as Louis the Just; (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643) was King of France from 1610 to 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown.

Young Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre.

Born at the Palace of Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of King Henri IV of France And Navarre and his second wife Marie de’ Medici. As son of the king, he was a Fils de France (“son of France”), and as the eldest son, Dauphin of France. His father HenrI IV was the first French king of the House of Bourbon, having succeeded his second cousin, Henri III (1574–1589), in application of Salic law.

Louis XIII’s paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, and Jeanne III d’Albret, Queen of Navarre. His maternal grandparents were Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia and HungarY.

Eleonora de’ Medici, his maternal aunt, was his godmother. As a child, he was raised under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat.

The ambassador of King James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland to the court of France, Sir Edward Herbert, who presented his credentials to Louis XIII in 1619, remarked on Louis’s extreme congenital speech impediment and his double teeth:

his words were never many, as being so extream [sic] a stutterer that he would sometimes hold his tongue out of his mouth a good while before he could speak so much as one word; he had besides a double row of teeth, and was observed seldom or never to spit or blow his nose, or to sweat much, ‘tho he were very laborious, and almost indefatigable in his exercises of hunting and hawking, to which he was much addicted.

Louis XIII ascended the throne in 1610 upon the assassination of his father, May 14, 1610 and his mother Marie de’ Medici acted as his Regent. Louis XIII was considered to have become of age at thirteen (1614). Although his coming-of-age technically ended Marie’s Regency, she remained the de facto ruler of France. His mother did not give up her position as Regent until 1617, when he was 16. Marie maintained most of her husband’s ministers, with the exception of Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, who was unpopular in the country.

Marie de’ Medici, Queen and Regent of France.

As regent Marie came to rely increasingly on Concino Concini, an Italian who assumed the role of her favourite, and was widely unpopular because he was a foreigner. This further antagonized Louis XIII’s cousin, Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646) who launched another rebellion in 1616. Huguenot leaders supported Condé’s rebellion, which led the young Louis XIII to conclude that they would never be loyal subjects. Eventually, Condé and Queen Marie made peace via the Treaty of Loudun, which allowed Condé great power in government but did not remove Concini. With growing dissatisfaction from nobles due to Concini’s position, Queen Marie, with Louis’s help, imprisoned Condé to protect Concini, leading to renewed revolts against the Queen and Concini.

Henri, Prince of Condé

In the meantime, Charles d’Albert, the Grand Falconer of France, convinced Louis XIII that he should break with his mother and support the rebels. Louis staged a palace coup d’état. As a result, Concini was assassinated on April 24, 1617. His widow Leonora Dori Galigaï was tried for witchcraft, condemned, beheaded, and burned on July 8, 1617, and Marie was sent into exile in Blois. Later, Louis conferred the title of Duke of Luynes on d’Albert.

Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes soon became as unpopular as Concini had been. Other nobles resented his monopolisation of the King. Luynes was seen as less competent than Henri IV’s ministers, many now elderly or deceased, who had surrounded Marie de’ Medici.

The Thirty Years’ War broke out in 1618. The French court was initially unsure of which side to support. On the one hand, France’s traditional rivalry with the House of Habsburg argued in favour of intervening on behalf of the Protestant powers (and Louis’s father Henri IV of France had once been a Huguenot leader). On the other hand, Louis XIII had a strict Catholic upbringing, and his natural inclination was to support the Holy Roman Emperor, the Habsburg Ferdinand II.

The French nobles were further antagonised against Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes by the 1618 revocation of the paulette tax and by the sale of offices in 1620. From her exile in Blois, Marie de’ Medici became the obvious rallying point for this discontent, and Armand Jean du Plessis, the Bishop of Luçon (who became Cardinal Richelieu in 1622) was allowed to act as her chief adviser, serving as a go-between Marie and the King.

In 1621 Louis XIII was formally reconciled with his mother. Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes was appointed Constable of France, after which he and Louis XIII set out to quell the Huguenot rebellion. The siege at the Huguenot stronghold of Montauban had to be abandoned after three months owing to the large number of royal troops who had succumbed to camp fever. One of the victims of camp fever was, Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes who died in December 1621.

Following the death of Luynes, Louis determined that he would rule by council. His mother returned from exile and, in 1622, entered this council, where Condé recommended violent suppression of the Huguenots.

Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre

Spain was constantly interfering in the Valtellina, which angered Louis, as he wanted to hold possession of this strategically important passageway. (In these years the French kingdom was literally surrounded by the Habsburg realms, for the Habsburgs were Kings of Spain as well as Holy Roman Emperors. In addition, the Spanish and Holy Roman empires included the territories of today’s Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and northern Italy.)

Charles de La Vieuville Superintendent of Finances was also chief adviser to King Louis XIII. Charles de La Vieuville held similar views toward Spain as the king, and who advised Louis to side with the Dutch via the Treaty of Compiègne. However, La Vieuville was dismissed by the middle of 1624, partly due to his bad behaviour (during his tenure as superintendent he was arrogant and incompetent) and because of a well-organized pamphlet campaign by Cardinal Richelieu against his council rival. Louis XIII needed a new chief advisor; Cardinal Richelieu would be that counsellor.

Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu

Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII’s reign from 1624, determining France’s direction over the course of the next eighteen years. As a result of Richelieu’s work, Louis XIII became one of the first examples of an absolute monarch. Under Louis and Richelieu, the crown successfully intervened in the Thirty Years’ War against the Habsburgs, managed to keep the French nobility in line, and retracted the political and military privileges granted to the Huguenots by Henry IV (while maintaining their religious freedoms). Louis XIII successfully led the important Siege of La Rochelle. In addition, Louis had the port of Le Havre modernised, and he built a powerful navy.

On 24 November 1615, Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of Felipe III of Spain, his wife Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and thus the paternal granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I.

The couple were second cousins, by mutual descent from Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. 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 the marriage of Louis VII of France and Constance of Castile.

Anne of Austria (Spain)

The marriage was only briefly happy, and the King’s duties often kept them apart. After twenty-three years of marriage and four stillbirths, Anne finally gave birth to a son on 5 September 1638, the future Louis XIV.

Many people regarded this birth as a miracle and, in show of gratitude to God for the long-awaited birth of an heir, his parents named him Louis-Dieudonné (“God-given”). As another sign of gratitude, according to several interpretations, seven months before his birth, France was dedicated by Louis XIII to the Virgin Mary, who, many believed, had interceded for the perceived miracle.

However, the text of the dedication does not mention the royal pregnancy and birth as one of its reasons. Also, Louis XIII himself is said to have expressed his scepticism with regard to the miracle after his son’s birth. In gratitude for having successfully given birth, the queen founded the Benedictine abbey of the Val-de-Grâce, for which Louis XIV himself laid the cornerstone of its church, an early masterpiece of French Baroque architecture.

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.

Accession of Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

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Charles I of England, English Civil War, Henri IV of France, Henrietta-Maria of France, Henry Frederick Prince of Wales, James VI-I of Scotland and England, Marie de' Medici, Monarchy, Parliament

Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from March 27, 1625 until his execution in 1649.

Charles was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603 (as James I), he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life. He became heir apparent to the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1612 on the death of his elder brother Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. An unsuccessful and unpopular attempt to marry him to the Spanish Habsburg princess Maria Anna culminated in an eight-month visit to Spain in 1623 that demonstrated the futility of the marriage negotiations. Two years later he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France, the youngest daughter of Henri IV of France (Henri III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici, and named after her parents.

Henrietta Maria of France

After his succession on March 27, 1625, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the divine right of kings, and was determined to govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, and perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch. His religious policies, coupled with his marriage to a Roman Catholic, generated the antipathy and mistrust of Reformed groups such as the English Puritans and Scottish Covenanters, who thought his views were too Catholic. He supported high church Anglican ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years’ War. His attempts to force the Church of Scotland to adopt high Anglican practices led to the Bishops’ Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments, and helped precipitate his own downfall.

From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors’ demands for a constitutional monarchy, and temporarily escaped captivity in November 1647. Re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England was established as a republic. The monarchy would be restored to Charles’s son, Charles II, in 1660.

French Dynastic Disputes: Part IV (b).

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Catherine de Médici, Charles Cardinal de Bourbon, Chartres, Henri IV of France, Henry of Navarre, Roman Catholic Church, Salic Law, The Catholic League

At one point Henri of Navarre had been excluded from the succession.

Catherine de’ Medici (spouse of King Henri II) had ensured her regency of the nine-year-old King Charles IX in 1560 only by making a deal with Antoine of Bourbon, who many considered had the right, as First Prince of the Blood, to be the regent.

Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France

In a kingdom that the Salic Law excluded women from succession to the throne, Catherine had overcome prejudice against government by a woman and been elected governor (gouvernante) of France with sweeping powers. However, she accepted that none of her three daughters would ever inherit the French throne. By 1572, only two of her sons remained alive, she brokered a marriage between her daughter Margaret and Henry, who that year became King Henry III of Navarre after the death of his mother, Jeanne d’Albret while she was buying clothes for the wedding in Paris. The marriage was intended to unite the interests of the house of Valois with the house of Bourbon.

Henri of Navarre always emphasised the significance of his blood, rather than religion, when he challenged the Guise-led Catholic League. After the League forced Henry III to sign the Treaty of Nemours, which excluded Navarre from the succession, in July 1585, the latter issued a manifesto condemning the pact as:

A peace made with foreigners at the expense of the princes of the blood; with the House of Lorraine at the expense of the House of France; with rebels at the expense of obedient subjects; with agitators at the expense of those who have brought peace by every means within their power…. I intend to oppose it with all my heart, and to this end to rally around me… all true Frenchmen without regard to religion, since this time it is a question of the defence of the state against the usurpation of foreigners.

The pull of such propaganda remained so potent that even after 25 years of civil war, “many good Catholics flooded to his standard”.

Henri of Navarre’s pedigree gave him a special place of honour in the French nobility since all scions of the Bourbon line were acknowledged as the princes of the blood. As Head of the House of Bourbon, Henri was officially the First Prince of the Blood, the first nobleman of the kingdom.

At the death of Henri III, Henri of Navarre became Henri IV of France and Navarre. He was the legitimate successor designated by the Salic law, but his authority was rejected by most of Catholic France. Next in line to Henri in the throne of France was his elderly uncle Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon. The cardinal had been detained by Henri III for having been the royal candidate of the Catholic League and Spain.

Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon

The Parlement of Paris proclaimed the Cardinal de Bourbon as King Charles X of France in 1589. But despite their similar names, the French Parlement is not an equivalent of the British Parliament, which had the power to choose the king and regulate the succession. The French Parlement is a court of justice, not a sovereign legislative body.

Events favored the cause of Henri IV. He won brilliant victories at Arques and Ivry. In 1591, the Cardinal de Bourbon died. The heir presumptive of Henri IV was now the infant Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646) son of a Protestant prince. The remaining Bourbons supported the claim of their chief. The Catholic League were left without a plausible successor to the throne. Henri converted to Catholicism in 1593, and was anointed at Chartres the next year.

The proclamation of Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, as King Charles X, went against the principle of primogeniture, and was therefore void. By the principle of continuity of the crown, the reign of Henri IV is dated from 1589, immediately after the death of his predecessor, and not from 1594, when he was crowned, or in 1593, when he became a Catholic. Contrary to the interpretation of the League, the late conversion of the “relapsed heretic” Henri IV was not enough to exclude him from the succession.

Henri IV, King of France and Navarre

Arrêt Lemaistre emphasized the fulfillment of all the principles of royal succession prior to the recognition of a king:
* Masculinity could be fulfilled by any male;
* Male collaterality could only be fulfilled by an agnate of the royal line;
* Primogeniture could only be fulfilled by one person, the head of the royal line;
* Inalienability meant that no member of the royal line can be deprived of his position, since it would break the order of primogeniture;
* Catholicity can be fulfilled by any Catholic.

Hence, at any point in time only one person has the potential of fulfilling all the conditions of French kingship — the chief of the Capetian dynasty. His non-fulfillment of the only remaining condition, Catholicism, will not necessarily exclude him, such being contrary to the inalienability principle. By not being a Catholic, what he actually does is to delay the full acquisition of his royal powers, which would be exercised by other persons, as happened during the Protestantism of Henri IV (1589-1593).

French Dynastic Disputes: Part IV (a).

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Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown, Henri III of France, Henri IV of France, Henri of Navarre, House of Bourbon, House of Valois, Louis IX of France, Louise of Lorraine, Salic Law

The Bourbon succession

At the time of the accession of Henri III, upon the death of his brother, Charles IX on May 30, 1574, France was plagued by the Wars of Religion, and Henri III’s authority was undermined by violent political parties 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 Henri III’s own brother, the Duke of Alençon, which was a party of Catholic and Protestant aristocrats who jointly opposed the absolutist ambitions of the king. Henri III was himself a politique, arguing that a strong and religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse.

Henri III, King of France.

He was expected to produce an heir after he married Louise of Lorraine, age 21, on February 1575, no issue resulted from their union. Louise was the third daughter and youngest child of Nicholas of Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur, and Countess Marguerite d’Egmont. However, as early as the death of François, Duke of Anjou, brother of Henri III of France, in 1584, the succession of Henri of Navarre, Head of the House of Bourbon, had been a likely eventuality. Henri III was the sole remaining representative of the House of Valois, and he was still childless.

Reports that Henri III engaged in same-sex relations with his court favourites, known as the mignons, date back to his own time. Certainly he enjoyed intense relationships with them. The scholar Louis Crompton maintains that all of the contemporary rumours were true. Some modern historians dispute this. Jean-Francois Solnon, Nicolas Le Roux, and Jacqueline Boucher have noted that Henri III had many famous mistresses, that he was well known for his taste in beautiful women, and that no male sex partners have been identified. They have concluded that the idea he was homosexual was promoted by his political opponents (both Protestant and Catholic) who used his dislike of war and hunting to depict him as effeminate and undermine his reputation with the French people.

Louise of Lorraine

The laws of succession designated the head of the next branch of the Capetian family as heir presumptive. Normally this would not have been controversial; but the 16th century was a period of religious discord in France, and Henri of Navarre was the chief of the Protestant party and he was also next in line to the French throne.

This was an unacceptable choice for Catholic France which was considered the eldest daughter of the Church; and anointing the king implied that he must belong to the Catholic faith. Ultra-Catholics rejected Henri of Navarre as a relapsed heretic; they would not accept him even if he converted. Moderate Catholics supported Navarre, provided that he would convert.

How did Henri of Navarre derive his claim to the French throne? And the objection to his claim was not predicated solely on religious reasons, but also upon genealogical issues.

Bourbon claim to the throne

Henri of Navarre was descended through his father from King Louis IX of France, via Robert, Count of Clermont (d. 1317), the sixth and youngest son of Louis IX, and the only son besides Philippe III to produce a surviving line. Robert married Beatrix of Bourbon and assumed the title of sire de Bourbon. Bourbon was elevated into a duchy for Robert’s son Louis, who became the first Duke of Bourbon.

At the death of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon in 1525, all cadet branches of the House of Valois had become extinct, with the only remaining Valois being the royal family itself. The chief of the Bourbons became the first prince of the blood, the closest to the succession to the throne should the immediate family of the king become extinct. At the death of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon in 1527, the Vendôme branch of the House of Bourbon became the senior line of the family. At that time, represented by Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme. His son Antoine de Bourbon was the King of Navarrethrough his marriage (jure uxoris) to Queen Jeanne III of Navarre. Antoine’s son, Prince Henri of Navarre, inherited the throne of Navarre on his death from an arquebus wound at the siege of Rouen in 1562.

Despite meeting the criteria for the crown under the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, the legitimacy of Henri of Navarre’s claim to the throne was still questioned, however. In similar cases, the throne had earlier passed to successors with a much closer blood link to the throne. Louis XII had succeeded Charles VIII as his second cousin once removed in the male line. François I had succeeded Louis XII as his cousin five times removed in the male line. The successions were legally unproblematic because consanguinity was acknowledged in law to the tenth degree.

Henri of Navarre

Henri of Navarre, on the other hand, could claim only an agnatic relationship to Henri III in the twenty-second degree. When Henri of Navarre had become the heir presumptive to the throne in 1584, on the death of François, Duke of Anjou, polemicist Jean Boucher had been among those who protested that such a distance in blood meant Henri of Navarre’s claim to the throne had effectively lapsed and that therefore the French States-General had the right to elect a new king.

Charles II: Anniversary of his birth and restoration.

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Charles I of England, Charles II, Charles II of England and Scotland, Declaration of Breda, English Civil War, Henri IV of France, Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of Ireland, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Louis XIII of France, Louis XIV, Oliver Cromwell

On this date in history: May 29, 1630. The birth of Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland. On this date in history, May 29, 1660 the restoration of Charles II.


The future Charles II was born at St James’s Palace on May 29, 1630. His parents were Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) and Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, the youngest daughter of Henri IV, King of France and Navarre and Marie de’ Medici. This made Henrietta Maria the sister of the French king Louis XIII and aunt of Louis XIV. Charles was their second child. Their first son was Charles James, Duke of Cornwall born and died on March 13, 1629.


Charles was baptized in the Chapel Royal, on June 27, 1630 by the Anglican Bishop of London, William Laud. The three kingdoms were experiencing great religious diversity at this time. England was predominantly Anglican, while Scotland was staunchly Presbyterian and Ireland was dominantly Catholic. He was brought up in the care of the Protestant Countess of Dorset, though his godparents included his maternal uncle Louis XIII and his maternal grandmother, Marie de’ Medici, the Dowager Queen of France, both of whom were Catholics. With his mother being Catholic this would heavily influence Charles throughout his life.

Upon his birth Charles automatically became inherited the titles Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. When he became eight he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. Despite never being formally vested with that title he was officially referred to as the Prince of Wales and is counted as one of the 21 heirs to the throne that borne that prestigious title.


At the end of the Second English Civil (1648–1649) his father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on January 30, 1649. Shortly thereafter the monarchy was officially abolished in England. Charles was publicly proclaimed King Charles II of Scotland on February 5, 1649 in Edinburgh. On the Isle of Jersey on February 17, 1649 in the Royal Square in St. Helier the former Prince of Wales was proclaimed King. Despite the Parliament of Scotland proclaiming Charles II king, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell.


The new king was still willing to fight for his crown. The Parliamentary Army proved to be the greater force and Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. Life was difficult for the king-in-name-only as finances were slim and he relied on the good graces of others.


A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658. Cromwell’s son, Richard, ruled as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Richard’s regime soon collapsed and as the three kingdoms teetered on the brink of anarchy, General George Monck, Governor of Scotland under the Cromwells, believed the only one that could restore order was the King. Monck marched south with his army from Scotland and communications with Charles began.

On April 4, 1660, Charles II released the Declaration of Breda, which made known the conditions of his acceptance of the Crown of England, Scotland and Ireland. Monck organised the Convention Parliament, which met for the first time on April 25, 1660. On May 8, 1660, the Convention Parliament declared that King Charles II had reigned as the lawful monarch since the execution of Charles I in January 1649. Charles returned from exile on May 23, 1660. On May 29, 1660, the populace in London acclaimed him as king. It was his 30th Birthday. A new era had begun.

On this date in History: February 13, 1575, King Henri III of France is crowned at Reims

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Charles IX of France, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Henri III of France, Henri IV of France, House of Bourbon, Housevof Valois, King of Poland, Louise of Lorraine, Reims

Henri III (19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589; Alexandre Édouard de Valois of France) was King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1575 and King of France from 1574 until his death in 1589. He was the last French monarch of the House of Valois.

Henry was born at the royal Château de Fontainebleau, the fourth son of King Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici and grandson of Francis I of France and Claude of France. His older brothers were Francis II of France, Charles IX of France, and Louis of Valois. He was made Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans in 1560, then Duke of Anjou in 1566.

As the fourth son of King Henri II of France, he was not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the vacant throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was elected King/Grand Duke in 1573. During his brief rule, he signed the Henrician Articles into law, recognizing the Polish nobility’s right to freely elect their monarch. Aged 22, Henri abandoned Poland-Lithuania upon inheriting the French throne when his brother, Charles IX, died without issue.

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

Henri III was crowned at Reims on February 13, 1575 and the very next day he married Louise of Lorraine and I will have more to say on that tomorrow.

After the death of Henri’s younger brother Francis, Duke of Anjou, and when it became apparent that Henri would not produce an heir, the Wars of Religion developed into a succession crisis, the War of the Three Henrys. Henri III’s legitimate heir was his distant cousin Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre, a Protestant. The Catholic League, led by Henri I, Duke of Guise, sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henri III’s heir.

In 1589, Jacques Clément, a Catholic fanatic, murdered Henri III. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre who, as Henri IV, assumed the throne of France after converting to Catholicism, as the first French king of the House of Bourbon.