HENRY 



2772 



HENRY 



Agincourt 

 Becket, Thomas a 

 Boleyn, Anne 

 Cabot, John and 



Sebastian 



Catharine of Aragon 

 Charles of France 

 Cromwell, Thomas 

 England, subtitle 



History 

 Field of the Cloth of 



Gold 

 Hundred Years' War 



Joan of Arc 



John 



Lancaster, House of 



Montfort, Simon de 



Plantagenet 



Reformation 



Richard 



Roses, Wars of the 



Stephen 



Tudor 



William 



York, House of 



HENRY, the name of four French kings. 

 HENRY I (1008-1060) was the grandson of Hugh 

 Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty. His 

 reign marks the height of the feudal system 

 in France. 



Henry II (1519-1559), son and successor of 

 Francis I, ascended the throne in 1547. During 

 his reign the French won from the English the 

 important port of Calais, their last possession 

 in France, but in a war with Philip II of Spain 

 the French king was less successful, and after 

 suffering severe defeats was obliged to sign 

 an unfavorable treaty at Cateau-Cambresis 

 (1559). His persecution of the Huguenots 

 sowed the seeds of the terrible religious wars 

 that desolated France during the reigns of his 

 sons, Charles IX and Henry III. Henry's wife 

 was the famous Catharine de Medici. 



Henry III (1551-1589), third son of Henry II, 

 succeeded his brother Charles in 1574. During 

 his entire reign the country was harassed by 

 the struggles between the Protestant and 

 Catholic parties. By granting certain conces- 

 sions to the Huguenots, Henry so alarmed the 

 opposite faction that, under the leadership of 

 the Duke of Guise, they formed a Catholic 

 League. Through the influence of the League 

 the privileges of the Huguenots were repealed, 

 bringing on a war in which the Protestants, led 

 by King Henry of Navarre, were successful. 



Then followed the assassination of two 

 Catholic leaders, the Duke of Guise and the 

 Cardinal of Lorraine, which aroused the bitter 

 indignation of all Catholics of France and 

 prompted Henry to place himself under the 

 protection of Navarre. The two kings then 

 came to an understanding and planned the 

 capture of Paris, but as they were advancing 

 toward the city at the head of a great army 

 Henry of France was assassinated. He was the 

 last ruler of the House of Valois. 



Henry IV (1553-1610), successor of Henry III, 

 is best known as HENRY OF NAVARRE. He is 

 one of the most imposing figures in French 

 history for two centuries and one of the great- 



est of the Bourbon line of kings. He was the 

 son of Anthony of Bourbon, Duke of Ven- 

 dome, and of Jeanne d' Alhret, queen of 

 Navarre. His mother brought him up in the 

 Protestant faith, and in his early manhood he 

 joined the Huguenot army in France. In 1572 

 he married Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles 

 IX, and after the Massacre of Saint Bartholo- 

 mew's Day, which took place during the mar- 

 riage festivities, he was forced to accept the 

 Catholic faith. Escaping from Paris, in 1576, 

 he retracted his statement of conversion and 

 placed himself at the head of the Huguenots, 

 winning a decisive victory over the Catholic 

 League at Coutras, in 1587. 



Two years later King Henry III was assassi- 

 nated. Before he died he named Henry of 

 Navarre as his successor, but the latter had to 

 assert his claim to the throne by force of arms. 

 At Ivry, on March 14, 1590, he won the splen- 

 did victory which Macaulay has celebrated in 

 his Battle of Ivry. Its opening lines are fa- 

 mous: 



Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from 



whom all glories are ! 

 And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King 



Henry of Navarre. 

 Now let there be the merry sound of 



music and the dance, 

 Through thy cornfields' green and sunny 



vines, oh ! pleasant land of France. 



Even this victory did not smooth the way 

 for him, and, in order to bring peace to his 

 distracted country, he declared himself a 

 Catholic and was crowned king in 1594. In 

 1598, when tranquillity had been restored 

 throughout the kingdom, he issued the famous 

 Edict of Nantes, granting religious liberty to 

 his Protestant subjects. He then turned his 

 attention to the development of his country's 

 resources, and France enjoyed a period of 

 prosperity not known for many years. In 1610, 

 while he was preparing to make war on the 

 House of Austria, he was struck down by the 

 dagger of an assassin. 



Consult Williams' Henry II, His Times; Freer's 

 Henry III, His Court and Times; Burton's The 

 Fate of Henry of Navarre. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes contain much information as to 

 the history of France during the periods of these 

 kings : 



Bourbon Huguenots 



Capetian Dynasty Nantes, Edict of 



Catharine de' Medici Navarre 

 France, subtitle History Valois 

 Guise 



HENRY, the name borne by seven rulers 

 who wore the crown of the Holy Roman 



