Hero or Tyrant? Henry III, King of France, 1574-89

Robert J. Knecht

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781472429308
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317122135
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

King Henry III of France has not suffered well at the hands of posterity. Generally depicted as at best a self-indulgent, ineffectual ruler, and at worst a debauched tyrant responsible for a series of catastrophic political blunders, his reputation has long been a poor one. Yet recent scholarship has begun to question the validity of this judgment and look for a more rounded assessment of the man and his reign. For, as this new biography of Henry demonstrates, there is far more to this fascinating monarch than the pantomime villain depicted by previous generations of historians and novelists. Based upon a rich and diverse range of primary sources, this book traces Henry's life from his birth in 1551, the sixth child of Henri II and Catherine de' Medici. It following his upbringing as the Wars of Religion began to tear France apart, his election as king of Poland in 1573, and his assumption of the French crown a year later following the death of his brother Charles IX. The first English-language biography of Henry for over 150 years, this study thoroughly and dispassionately reassesses his life in light of recent scholarship and in the context of broader European diplomatic, political and religious history. In so doing the book not only provides a more nuanced portrait of the monarch himself, but also helps us better understand the history of France during this traumatic time.

Chapter 1
Childhood

The people of Marseilles had good reason to feel excited on the morning of 11 October 1533 for no less a person than Pope Clement VII was due to arrive in the city that day. The purpose of his coming was political rather than religious: it was to seal an accord with King Francis I of France. The Holy See had originally sided with his arch-rival, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, but after Francis’s defeat and capture at the battle of Pavia in 1525, it had drawn closer to France as the lesser of two evils. Francis was keen to recover the duchy of Milan which he had lost in 1522. In order to achieve this, he needed to gain the co-operation of the Holy See. Clement was ready to oblige. But Clement’s coming to France was not simply to sign a treaty; it was also to seal it matrimonially. A marriage had been arranged between his young cousin, Catherine de’ Medici, and Francis I’s second son Henri, duc d’ Orléans.¹

As signals fired from the château d’If and Notre-Dame de La Garde announced the imminent arrival of the pope’s flotilla, small boats, carrying a host of noblemen and musicians, set off to meet it. Clement’s arrival was greeted by salvoes from three hundred shore batteries and by a general ringing of church bells. Anne de Montmorency, the Constable of France who had overseen the elaborate preparations for the pope’s reception, sailed in a frigate to the centre of the harbour whence, after welcoming Clement, he led him to ‘the king’s garden’ situated close to the abbey of Saint-Victor. Here the pope was greeted by his legate, cardinal Duprat, and other prelates. Early next day, the pope made his entry into Marseilles. Seated on his portable throne, he was preceded by a white horse carrying the Blessed Sacrament in a casket. Clement was followed first by the cardinals riding in pairs, then by Catherine surrounded by a brilliant suite of lords and ladies.²

On Monday 13 October King Francis I made his own entry into Marseilles accompanied by his queen, princes of the blood, high court dignitaries and a military escort. He then called on the pope. After he had prostrated himself at the feet of the Holy Father, the two men got down to business. On 27 October the contract for Catherine’s marriage was signed, and, next day, she and Henry were married amidst great pomp. That night the newlyweds, both aged 14, were led by Queen Eleanor and her ladies to a sumptuous nuptial chamber where they allegedly consummated their union in the presence of Francis who declared that ‘each had shown valour in the joust’. Next morning, Pope Clement found them still in bed and noted their satisfied expressions.

Catherine de’ Medici spent the first 14 years of her married life at the court of her father-in-law, Francis I. He was 39 years old in 1533 and had been on the throne 18 years. Tall and well-built, he was above all a man of action. Forever on the move within his own kingdom, he was a passionate huntsman, a notable patron of the arts and the builder of many fine châteaux. Catherine soon gained his affection, for she shared his taste for the great outdoors and was, it seems, an outstanding rider. Catherine soon joined the ‘fair band of ladies’ who accompanied the king on his hunts.³

Henri, duc d’ Orléans, was a sturdy lad, tall for his age. He became a keen sportsman excelling at the jeu de paume, the ancestor of modern tennis. Riding and hunting were among his favourite activities, yet he lacked his father’s joie de vivre. Contemporaries described him as secretive by nature and melancholic. Deprived of motherly affection during a period of captivity in Spain, Henri attached himself to Diane de Poitiers, one of his grandmother’s ladies-in-waiting. A widow, 20 years his senior, Diane was renowned for her physical charms which she evidently exploited with consumate skill.⁴

Fraught from the start, Catherine’s marriage had come about for political reasons. By forming an alliance with the pope, Francis hoped to consolidate and enhance his interests in Italy, but Clement VII died in September 1534, less than a year after his visit to Marseilles. The subsequent election of a member of the Farnese family as pope effectively destroyed the raison d’être of Catherine’s marriage. Her status was instantly reduced to that of a foreigner of relatively modest origin. Francis allegedly complained that he had been given the girl ‘stark naked’. Her position became even more difficult following the sudden death of Francis I’s eldest son, the Dauphin François, on 10 August 1536. Henri, Catherine’s husband, now became the king’s heir presumptive. As yet, she had not produced a child and the future of the dynasty hung in the balance. Her predicament became worse still when her husband had an illegitimate daughter thereby proving his virility. Happily for Catherine, on 20 January 1544 she at last gave birth to a boy. Her relations with her husband were, of course, bedevilled by his love for Diane de Poitiers who became his mistress about 1538. It has been suggested that their love was only platonic, but there is much evidence to the contrary.⁵

Birth and Childhood

The accession of Henry II, following the death of Francis I on 31 March 1547, was followed by a Palace Revolution. He cashiered his father’s ‘fair band’, some of whom sought shelter in the household of Francis I’s widow, Queen Eleonor. She soon returned to Spain where she died in 1558. Two principal beneficiaries of the Palace Revolution were Anne de Montmorency, who had fallen from power in 1541, and the king’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers. The former resumed his functions as the king’s chief minister, while Diane was showered with gifts of money and property, including the pretty château of Chenonceau. In October 1548 she was made duchess of Valentinois, the highest honour any female commoner could receive. It was in this capacity that she walked among the princesses of the blood at Catherine’s coronation at the abbey of Saint-Denis on 10 June 1549.⁶ As queen, Catherine was not called upon to be active politically. She served twice as regent during her husband’s absence on military campaigns, but with powers narrowly circumscribed. This was just as well as she was almost continually pregnant. Having already produced two children – François and Elizabeth – during Francis I’s reign, she produced eight more during the 12 years of Henry II’s reign: Claude, born at Fontainebleau on 12 November 1547; Louis, duc d’Orléans, on 3 February 1549, Charles-Maximilien – the future Charles IX, on 27 June 1550, Alexandre- Edouard, the future Henry III – at Fontainebleau on 19 September 1551; Marguerite – the future ‘Reine Margot’ – at Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 14 May 1553; Hercule – the future François, duc d’Anjou – at Fontainebleau on 18 March 1555, and, lastly, female twins, Jeanne and Victoire – on 24 June 1556. According to Simon Renard, the Spanish ambassador, their birth nearly killed Catherine. Victoire lay dead in her womb for six hours and her leg had to be broken to save her mother’s life. Jeanne died seven weeks later.⁷

The future Henry III was the sixth child and fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici. His birth at the château of Fontainebleau on the night of the 18 to the 19 of September 1551 was announced by Anne de Montmorency in a letter to provincial governors: ‘I must not forget to inform you,’ he wrote, ‘that last night the queen was delivered of a fine boy. Both mother and son are well, thank God!’ The new prince was christened Alexandre-Edouard. Alexandre was a name much favoured by the House of Bourbon to which his godfather, Antoine de Bourbon (father of the future Henry IV), belonged. The name, Edouard, was given in honour of Edward VI, the young king of England who was another godfather. The prince’s godmother was Maria Paleologo, the wife of Federico II Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, who, as a boy, had been sent to the court of Francis I. Alexandre-Edouard, who was given the title of duc d’ Angoulême, did not remain for long at Fontainebleau. He soon joined his brothers and sisters at Blois. For the sake of simplicity we shall call him Alexandre until his confirmation in 1566 when he acquired the new name of Henri.

Royal children in sixteenth-century France were kept away from the court. The recent discovery of correspondence in the Gonzaga archives in Mantua sheds much light on the lives of Henry II’s children.⁸ Whenever the court stayed at the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, they were sent elsewhere. An account book of 1549–51 refers to the Dauphin being at the château of Carrières. We know from an Italian letter, dated 24 February 1551, that during the court’s residence at Blois, the royal children were some 15 kilometres away at the château of Villelouet. This was for two reasons: to reduce the risk of catching plague or some other disease, and to shelter them from the chaotic, violent and often dissolute life of the court. An axiom of sixteenth-century medical science was the necessity of breathing ‘wholesome air’ (bon air), which may explain why three of the residences chosen to house the royal children – Saint-Germain, Blois and Amboise – were situated on wind-swept promontories overlooking rivers. It would also have been unsettling for royal children to be constantly on the move, as the court usually was. Their education called for a more sedentary existence.

Just as individual members of the royal family had their own households, so did the children of Henri and Catherine. It was run by Jean d’Humières and his wife, Françoise de Contay, who were respectively the gouverneur and gouvernante of the ‘children of France’. Following Jean d’Humières’ death in 1550, his place was taken by Claude d’Urfé, while Françoise Contay retained her position. In 1550–51 the household comprised some 250 people to whom must be added the household of Mary Stuart, comprising 30 officials and ladies, which had arrived in France in August 1548. Some rooms at Saint-Germain had to be partitioned to accommodate them. In addition to household staff, the young princes had a number of socially mixed companions: some were the sons of domestic servants while others were members of the highest families in the land.

The close attention paid by Catherine to her children’s upbringing is reflected in her letters.⁹ ‘They are ill,’ she once wrote ‘from being too fat rather than too thin.’ When plague hit Blois, the children were moved to Amboise. Catherine asked for their portraits. ‘Do not fail,’ she wrote to d’Humières, ‘to order your artist to paint from life all my children, both boys and girls exactly as they are, without omitting any facial detail. Drawings will suffice as they can be done faster, and send them to me as soon as you can…’ One such drawing is of Alexandre. A large bonnet covers part of his high forehead. Catherine also asked for her children’s horoscopes to be drawn up. Michel de Notre Dame, better known as Nostradamus, was summoned to Blois in 1553.¹⁰ He prophecied that Henry II’s four sons would all be crowned in turn. Events were to prove him wrong: François, duc d’Alençon, never became king.

As her children grew up, Catherine wished to be closer to them. In 1553, the ‘little court’ was divided: while the Dauphin François, now 10 years’ old, settled at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, his brothers and sisters remained at Amboise. Among their playmates, called enfants d’honneur, were three of the Constable’s sons, also Jean de Luxembourg, Gilbert de Léris, the young Coligny, Théligny, Philippe Strozzi and Guy du Lude. A letter written by the cardinal of Lorraine on 27 February 1553 to Mary Stuart gives the name of Alexandre’s tutor as the sieur de Montpipeau. He was soon eclipsed by Jacques Amyot, who had been recommended to Henry II by cardinal François de Tournon. The son of a butcher of Melun, Amyot had entered the church and become abbot in commendam of Bellozane, a Premonstratensian house in the diocese of Rouen. Having mastered Greek, he translated the Romance of Theagenes and Choricleia by Heliodorus. Among other Greek texts which he translated into French were Daphnis and Chloe by Longus and the Parallel Lives of Plutarch.¹¹

Alexandre’s earliest surviving letter dates from 1557. It was written to his brother, François, who was unwell at the time: ‘Monsieur,’ wrote Alexandre, ‘I am very sad that you should be ill and for so long. I would like to have something that pleases you and to be with you so as to help you pass the time. Monsieur, I am still studying hard so that I may serve you once I grow up. I pray God that you may soon be cured. Your very humble and obedient brother, Alexandre de France…’¹² On 24 April 1558 all the royal children were in Paris for the wedding of the Dauphin François with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. He was 15 and she one year older. Such was Catherine’s delight at seeing her children that she decided to keep them in Paris, but not at the Louvre. She bought for them a hôtel in the rue des Poulies and they were given a new gouverneur in the person of Louis Prévost de Sansac who was assisted by Jacques de Labrosse.¹³

In April 1559 France and Spain made peace at Cateau-Cambrésis. The treaty caused much rejoicing in France as it seemed to mark the end of the rivalry between the two royal houses that had caused so much war and suffering. It also enabled Henry II to attend to the problem of heresy. Ever since the reign of Francis I, the kingdom’s religious unity had been challenged by people disenchanted with the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic church. The king could not stand aside. He was bound by his coronation oath to extirpate heresy from his kingdom. The peace was sealed by a marriage between Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth of Valois, and Philip II of Spain who had lost his first wife, Mary Tudor. He was 32 and his bride only 14. On 18 June the peace was sworn in Notre-Dame and four days later the marriage was celebrated. Among those who attended was young Alexandre. Three days later the duke of Savoy and Henry II’s sister, Marguerite were married, also in Paris. To honour the two marriages the king ordered a magnificent tournament scheduled to last five days. It took place in the rue Saint-Antoine in front of the old royal palace of the Tournelles. On the third day of the tournament, Henry II appeared in the lists riding a Turkish stallion and wearing a black and white outfit in honour of Diane de Poitiers, ‘the lady whom he served’. He ran two courses, vanquishing his opponents, but in the third he was seriously jolted by Gabriel de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish guard. Refusing to accept this humiliation, the king challenged his rival to another contest against the advice of his queen and others. Falling on each other furiously, the combatants splintered each other’s lance. As Montgomery’s glanced upwards, it struck the king’s visor, lifting it up. Several needle-sharp splinters of wood penetrated his forehead just above the right eye. Some noblemen caught Henry as he was about to fall ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• 1 Childhood
• 2 Years of Apprenticeship
• 3 Catholic Hero
• 4 The Siege of La Rochelle
• 5 King of Poland
• 6 Homeward Bound
• 7 King of France
• 8 Henry III, the Man
• 9 The King’s Peace
• 10 A Tiresome Brother
• 11 The Court of Henry III
• 12 The Archimignons
• 13 The Catholic League
• 14 Annus Horribilis: 1588
• 15 Paris in Revolt
• 16 Nemesis
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index