HENRI IL, born in 1618, succeeded his father, Francis I., in 1547.
In 1550 be concluded the war which was then pending with England, which gave up to him Boulogne for the sum of 400,000 crowns. About this time Mary Stuart, the queen of Scotland, then a minor, came to France under the guardianship of her uncles of Guise, and was betrothed to Francis, son of Henri. In 1552 Henri assisted Maurice, elector of Saxony, and Albert, marquis of Brandenburg, who had united for the defence of the religious and civil liberties of Germany against Charles V. Henri invaded Lorraine, and took Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which were from that time annexed to France. It is curious to see the French government, which persecuted Protestantism at home, taking up arms for the professed purpoSe of supporting the Protestants of Germany. After the abdication of Charles V. the war continued between his successor Philip II. and Henri, whose troops, under the command of the Constable Montmorency, were defeated by the Spaniards at the battle of St. Quentin in 1557: the French arms were likewise unsuccessful on the aide of Italy, where the Duke of Alba commanded the Spaniards. The war ended in 1559 by the peace of Chftteau.Cambresis, by which Calais, which had been taken the year before by the Duke of Guise, remained in the hands of the French. At the same time a double marriage was concluded between Elizabeth, Henri's daughter, and Philip II. of Spain ; and between Margaret, Henri'a sister, and the Duke of Savoy. The festivals given on this occasion had a trap cal end. Henri was accidentally wounded at a tournament by the Count of Montgomery with the shaft of his broken spear, which struck the king on the right eye. Henri died shortly after, July 10th 1559. By his wife, Catherine de' Medici, he had four sons, of whom three reigned in succession after him, beginning with the eldest, Francis II. He also left several natural children by various mistresses. He had none however by his principal female favourite, Diana de Poitiers, whom he made Duchess of Valentinois, and who survived him. The great influence of the Guises began under his
reign. pulse, DUKES OF.] HEN tI III., born at Fontainebleau in 1551, was the third son of Henri II. Under the reign of his brother, Charles IX., when he was called the Duke of Anjou, he fought courageously at the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour against the Huguenots. In 1573 he was elected King of Poland and the successor of Sigismund Augustus. Henri was crowned at Cracow; but a few months after, upon hearing of the death of his brother, Charles IX., he suddenly quitted Poland and returned to France, where he assumed the title of Henri III. His reign was a reign of unworthy favourites. A mixture of bigotry and debauchery, of vico and folly, characterised his court. Under his weak administra tion, factions and civil and religious wars desolated France ; and instead of checking party spirit he was himself the leader of a party, and that party not the strongest. The king's party stood between the other two parties, that of the Ligueurs under Henri of Guise and that of tho Huguenots under Henri of Navarre, and the war which ensued was appropriately called the War of the Three Henria. At last Paris revolted in favour of the Guises, and Hefiri had recourse to assassin ation, by causing the Duke of Guise and his brother the cardinal to be murdered. Most of the towns of France, indignant at this base act, rebelled; the parliamont of Paris instituted his trial; and the pope excommunicated him. In this emergency, Henri felt for a moment his old spirit revive; he applied for assistance to his generous enemy, Henri of Navarre, who joined him with his army, repulsed the Duko of Mayeene, the leader of tho League, and the two kings laid siege to Paris. During this siege a Dominican monk, named Jacques Cl6ment, excited by the declamations of the Ligucurs, assassinated Henri III. at St. Cloud. Henri died on the 2nd of August 1589. He left no issue, and in him terminated the dynasty of Valois, which had reigned in France since the accession of Philip VI. in 1328.