- Henry II of France can also refer to Henry VI of England.
Henry II | |
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Reign | 31 March 1547 – 10 July 1559 |
Coronation | 25 July 1547 |
Predecessor | Francis I |
Successor | Francis II |
Consort | Catherine de' Medici |
Issue | |
Francis II of France Elisabeth, Queen of Spain Louis of Valois Claude, Duchess of Lorraine Charles IX of France Henry III of France Margaret, Queen of Navarre and France Francis, Duke of Anjou |
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House | House of Valois |
Father | Francis I of France |
Mother | Claude, Duchess of Brittany |
Born | Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye |
31 March 1519
Died | 10 July 1559 Place des Vosges |
(aged 40)
Burial | Saint Denis Basilica |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Henry II (31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.[1] Henry II's reign was dominated by war against the House of Habsburg, chiefly in Italy. He suffered an untimely death in a jousting tournament held to celebrate the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis at the conclusion of the conflict. During Henry's reign, Protestantism became an important minority religion in France, in spite of his efforts to suppress it. His death led to a weakening of French royal authority that helped spur decades of religious violence between Protestants and Catholics.
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Early years
Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany (daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany).
His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and held prisoner in Spain.[2] To obtain his release it was eventually agreed that Henry and his older brother be sent to Spain in his place. They remained in captivity for three years.
Henry married Catherine de' Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) on 28 October 1533, when they were both fourteen years old. The following year, he became romantically involved with a thirty-five-year-old widow, Diane de Poitiers. They had always been very close: she had publicly embraced him on the day he set off to Spain, and during a jousting tournament, he insisted his lance carry her ribbon instead of his wife's. Diane became Henry's most trusted confidante and, for the next twenty-five years, wielded considerable influence behind the scenes, even signing royal documents. Extremely confident, mature and intelligent, she left Catherine powerless to intervene.[3] She did, however, insist that Henry sleep with Catherine in order to produce heirs to the throne.[4]
When his elder brother, Francis, died in 1536 after a game of tennis, Henry became heir apparent to the throne. He succeeded his father on his 28th birthday and was crowned King of France on 25 July 1547 at Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims.
Reign
Henry's reign was marked by wars with Austria, and the persecution of the Protestant Huguenots. Henry II severely punished them, particularly the ministers: burning them at the stake or cutting off their tongues for uttering heresies. Even those only suspected of being Huguenots could be imprisoned. The Edict of Châteaubriant (27 June 1551) called upon the civil and ecclesiastical courts to detect and punish all heretics and placed severe restrictions on Huguenots, including the loss of one-third of their property to informers, and confiscations. It also strictly regulated publications by prohibiting the sale, importation or printing of any unapproved book. It was during the reign of Henry II that Huguenot attempts at establishing a colony in Brazil were made, with the short-lived formation of France Antarctique.[5]
Italian War of 1551–1559
The Italian War of 1551–1559, sometimes known as the Habsburg–Valois War, began when Henry declared war against Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. Henry II allied with German Protestant princes at the Treaty of Chambord in 1552. Simultaneously, the continuation of his father's Franco-Ottoman alliance allowed Henry II to push for French conquests towards the Rhine while a Franco-Ottoman fleet defended southern France.[6] An early offensive into Lorraine was successful, with Henry capturing the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and securing them by defeating the Habsburg army at the Battle of Renty in 1554. However the attempted French invasion of Tuscany in 1553 was defeated at the Battle of Marciano.
After Charles's abdication in 1556 split the Habsburg empire between Philip II of Spain and Ferdinand I, the focus of the war shifted to Flanders, where Phillip, in conjunction with Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, defeated the French at St. Quentin. England's entry into the war later that year led to the French capture of Calais, and French armies plundered Spanish possessions in the Low Countries. Henry was nonetheless forced to accept the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, in which he renounced any further claims to Italy.
The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between Elizabeth I of England and Henry on 2 April and between Henry and Philip II of Spain on 3 April 1559 at Le Cateau-Cambrésis, around twenty kilometers southeast of Cambrai. Under its terms, France restored Piedmont and Savoy to the Duke of Savoy, but retained Saluzzo, Calais and the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Spain retained Franche-Comté. Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, married Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry, the sister of Henry II, and Philip II of Spain married Henry's daughter Élisabeth.
Henry raised the young Mary, Queen of Scots, at his court, hoping to use her ultimately to establish a dynastic claim to Scotland. On 24 April 1558, Henry's fourteen-year-old son Francis was married to Mary in a union intended to give the future king of France not only the throne of Scotland but a claim to the throne of England. Henry had Mary sign secret documents, illegal in Scottish law, that would ensure Valois rule in Scotland even if she died without an heir (Guy 2004:91). Mary's claim to the English throne quickly became an issue when Mary I of England died later in 1558, Henry and his Catholic advisers regarding Elizabeth I unfit to reign because of her illegitimacy.
Patent innovation
Henry II introduced the concept of publishing the description of an invention in the form of a patent. The idea was to require an inventor to disclose his invention in exchange for monopoly rights to the patent. The description is called a patent “specification”. The first patent specification was submitted by the inventor Abel Foullon for "Usaige & Description de l'holmetre" (a type of rangefinder). Publication was delayed until after the patent expired in 1561.[7]
Death
Henry II was an avid hunter and a participant in jousts and tournaments. On 30 June 1559, at the Place Royale at the Hôtel des Tournelles, during a match to celebrate the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with his longtime enemies, the Habsburgs of Austria, and to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Elisabeth of Valois to King Philip II of Spain, King Henry was mortally wounded by the lance of Gabriel Montgomery, captain of the King's Scottish Guard.[8] Henry suffered a mortal head wound from a lance fragment and, despite the efforts of royal surgeon Ambroise Paré, he died on 10 July 1559 from septicaemia.[9][10] was buried in a cadaver tomb in Saint Denis Basilica. Henry's death was a factor in the end of jousting as a sport.[11]
As Henry lay dying, Queen Catherine limited access to his bedside and denied his mistress Diane de Poitiers access to him, even though he repeatedly asked for her. Following his death, Catherine sent Diane into exile, where she lived in comfort on her own properties until her death.[12]
It was the practice to enclose the heart of the king in an urn. The Monument to the Heart of Henry II is in the collection of the Louvre, but was originally in the Chapel of Orleans beneath a pyramid. The original bronze urn holding the king's heart was destroyed during the French Revolution and a replica was made in the 19th century. The marble sculpture of the Three Graces holding the urn, executed from a single piece of marble by Germain Pilon the sculptor to Catherine de' Medici, survives.[13]
Henry was succeeded by his sickly fifteen-year old son, Francis II, who was married to sixteen-year old Mary Queen of Scots, who had been his childhood friend and fiancee since her arrival at the French court when she was five . Francis II died 18 months later in 1560 and Mary returned to Scotland the following summer. Francis II was succeeded by his ten-year old brother Charles IX. His mother, Catherine de Medici acted as Regent. Starting in 1562 and for the forty years following, France was filled with turbulence as Protestants and Catholics fought the bitter French Wars of Religion.[8][14]
Ancestors and Descendants
Ancestors of Henry II of France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See Children of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici
Henry II also had three illegitimate children:
- By Filippa Duci:[15]
- Diane, duchesse d'Angoulême (1538–1619). At the age of fourteen, the younger Diane married Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro, who died young in battle. Her second marriage was to François, duc de Montmorency.
- By Lady Janet Stewart (1508–1563), the illegitimate daughter of James IV of Scotland:[16]
- Henri d'Angoulême (1551 – June 1586). He was legitimized and became governor of Provence.
- By Nicole de Savigny:[17]
- Henri de Saint-Rémy (1557–1621). He was given the title of comte de Saint-Rémy. One of his last descendants was Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, Comtesse de la Motte, famous for her role in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.
Prophecy
Royal styles of King Henry II Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France |
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Reference style | His Most Christian Majesty |
Spoken style | Your Most Christian Majesty |
Alternative style | Monsieur le Roi |
Nostradamus, a French astrological writer known for his prophecies, is often said to have become famous when one of his quatrains was construed as a prediction of the death of King Henry II:
CI, Q 35 The young lion shall overcome the older one,
on the field of combat in single battle,
He shall pierce his eyes in a golden cage,
Two forces one, then he shall die a cruel death.
But, in fact, the link was first proposed in print only in 1614,[18] fifty-five years after the event and forty-eight after Nostradamus' death; thus it qualifies as a postdiction, or vaticinium ex eventu. The Italian astrologer Luca Gaurico, a contemporary of Nostradamus, is also said to have predicted the king's death.
Gallery
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Henry II, here standing on an oriental carpet, continued the policy of Franco-Ottoman alliance of his father Francis I. Painting by François Clouet.
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"Bastard culverin" of 1548, with arms of Henri II and Catherine de Medicis and crescent of Diane de Poitiers. Caliber: 85mm, length: 300 cm, weight: 1076kg.
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A cypher machine in the shape of a book, with arms of Henri II.
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Monument to the Heart of Henry II, Louvre, Paris, sculpture of the Three Graces by Germain Pilon holding a replica of the urn that contained the king's heart
See also
Media related to Henry II of France at Wikimedia Commons
Notes
- ^ Patrick, David, and Francis Hindes Groome, Chambers's biographical dictionary: the great of all times and nations, (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1907), 482.
- ^ Tazón, Juan E., The life and times of Thomas Stukeley (c.1525–78), (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2003), 16.
- ^ Arnold-Baker, Charles, The companion to British history, (Routledge, 1996), 254.
- ^ Princess Michael of Kent (2004). The Serpent and The Moon: two rivals for the love of a Renaissance king. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5104-0.
- ^ France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history Volume 3, By Bill Marshall, Cristina Johnston p.185ff
- ^ The Cambridge History of Islam, p.328
- ^ M. Frumkin, "The Origin of Patent", Journal of the Patent Office Society, March 1945, Vol. XXVII, No. 3, p.143 et Seq.
- ^ a b Faria, Miguel A. The Death of Henry II of France. Journal of Neurosurgery 1992;77:964-969.
- ^ Classic Encyclopedia Web, Based on 1911 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
- ^ Baumgartner, Frederic J., "Henri II: King of France, 1547-1559", 1988, Durham, N.C.
- ^ See History of Jousting.
- ^ Princess Michael of Kent, "The Serpent and the Moon: Two rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King" (2005) p. 432 ISBN-0743251040.
- ^ Goldberg, Victoria L. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 1966;29:206-218.
- ^ Fisher, David Hackett, "Champlain's Dream", 2008, Alfred A. Knopf Canada
- ^ Considerations on "Les Amours de I. du Bellay", Robert V. Merrill, Modern Philology, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Nov., 1935), 133.
- ^ Robert J. Sealy, The Palace Academy of Henry III, (Droz, 1981), 206.
- ^ (FR)Pere Anselme, Histoire de la Maison royale de France, Vol. 9, Part 2, (Librairie de Firmin-Didot et Cie., 1879), 33.
- ^ César Nostradamus, Histoire et Chronique de Provence, Lyon, Simon Rigaud, 1614
References
- Arnold-Baker, Charles, The companion to British history, Routledge, 1996.
- Baumgartner, Frederic J., "Henri II: King of France, 1547 - 1559", 1988, Durham, N.C.
- Frumkin, M., The Origin of Patents, Journal of the Patent Office Society, March 1945, Vol. XXVII, No. 3, 143.
- Guy, John, My Heart is my Own, London, Fourth Estate, 2004, ISBN 978-1-84115-752-8.
- Nostradamus, César, Histoire et Chronique de Provence, Lyon, Simon Rigaud, 1614
- Princess Michael of Kent, The Serpent and the Moon: Two rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King, 2005, ISBN 0-7432-5104-0.
- Patrick, David, and Francis Hindes Groome, Chambers's biographical dictionary: the great of all times and nations, J.B. Lippincott Company, 1907.
- Tazón, Juan E., The life and times of Thomas Stukeley (c.1525–78), Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2003.
Henry II of France
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 31 March 1519 Died: 10 July 1559 |
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Regnal titles | ||
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Preceded by Francis I |
King of France 31 March 1547 – 10 July 1559 |
Succeeded by Francis II |
French royalty | ||
Preceded by Francis |
Dauphin of France 10 August 1536 – 31 March 1547 |
Succeeded by Francis |
French nobility | ||
Preceded by Francis III |
Duke of Brittany 10 August 1536 – 31 March 1547 |
Merged in crown |
Vacant
Title last held by
Louis II |
Duke of Orléans 1519–1536 |
Succeeded by Charles II |
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