Henry III de Valois King of France ¹⁸⁹¹

  General Notes:

Henri was born at the Royal Château of Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, fourth son of King Henri II and Catherine de Medici, grandson of François I and Claude de France, and brother of François II and Charles IX of France.

Prior to ascending the throne, he was a leader of the royal army in the French Wars of Religion against the Huguenots and took part in the victories over them at Jarnac and Moncontour. While still Duke, he aided his mother in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed; his reign as king would see France in constant turmoil over religion.


In 1573 Henri was elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As prerequisite to his "free election," he was compelled to sign the pacta conventa and the Henrician Articles, pledging religious tolerance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Henri chafed at the restrictions on monarchic power under the Polish-Lithuanian political system of "Golden Liberty".

Shortly afterwards, upon the death of his brother Charles IX, Henri fled Poland to return to France, where he was crowned King in 1575 at Reims Cathedral.

Although he married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont (February 13, 1575) and expected to produce an heir, the transvestite Henri III was not highly respected by citizens or nobility as he paraded about in women's clothes, accompanied by youthful male attendants referred to as his mignons (darlings).

In 1576 Henri signed the Edict of Beaulieu, granting minor concessions to the Huguenots. His action resulted in the Catholic extremist Henry I, Duke of Guise, forming the Catholic League. After much posturing and negotiations, Henri was forced to rescind most of the concessions that had been made to the Protestants in the Edict of Beaulieu.

In 1584 the King's youngest brother and heir presumptive, François, Duke of Anjou, died. Under Salic Law, the next heir to the throne was Protestant Henri of Navarre, a descendant of St. Louis IX. Under pressure from the Duke of Guise, Henri III issued an edict suppressing Protestantism and annulling Henri of Navarre's right to the throne.

On May 12, 1588, when the Duke of Guise entered Paris, Henri III fled the city.

On December 23, 1588, at the Château de Blois, the Duke of Guise arrived in the council chamber where his brother the Cardinal waited. The Duke was told that the King wished to see him in the private room adjoining the royal bedroom. There guardsmen murdered the Duke, then the Cardinal. To make sure that no contender for the French throne was free to act against him, the King had the Duke's son imprisoned.

The Duke of Guise had been highly popular in France, and the citizenry turned against King Henri for the murders. The Parlement instituted criminal charges against the King, and he fled Paris to join forces with Henri of Navarre.

Henri III. Drawing by Jan Matejko.On August 1, 1589, Henry III lodged with his army at Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, prepared to attack Paris, when a young fanatical Dominican friar, Jacques Clément, carrying false papers, was granted access to deliver important documents to the King. The monk gave the King a bundle of papers and stated that he had a secret message to deliver. The King signaled for his attendants to step back for privacy, and Clément whispered in his ear while plunging a knife into his abdomen.

At first the wound did not appear fatal, but the King enjoined all the officers around him, in the event that he did not survive, to be loyal to Henri of Navarre as their new king. The following morning - the day that he was to have launched his assault to retake Paris - Henri III died.

Henri III was interred at the Saint Denis Basilica. Childless, he was the last of the Valois kings. Henri of Navarre succeeded him as Henri IV, the first of the Bourbon kings. ¹⁸⁹³

  Life Events:

1. Acceded: King of Poland, 1573-1574. ¹⁸⁹¹

2. Acceded: King of France, 30 May 1574-2 Aug 1589. ¹⁸⁹³

Henry married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on 15 Feb 1575.¹⁸⁹¹ (Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont was born in 1553,¹⁸⁹¹ died in 1601 ¹⁸⁹¹ and was buried in Saint Denis Basilique (Saint Denis, Centre, France) ¹⁸⁹⁰.)