As a child, Henry and his elder brother spent over four years in captivity in Spain as hostages in exchange for their father. Henry pursued his father's policies in matters of art, war, and religion. He persevered in theItalian Wars against theHabsburgs and tried to suppress theReformation, even as theHuguenot numbers were increasing drastically in France during his reign.
Under the April 1559Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis which ended the Italian Wars, France renounced its claims in Italy, but gained certain other territories, including thePale of Calais and theThree Bishoprics. These acquisitions strengthened French borders while the abdication ofCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor in January 1556 and division of his empire betweenSpain andAustria provided France with greater flexibility in foreign policy.Nostradamus also served King Henry as physician and astrologer.
In June 1559, Henry was injured in ajousting tournament held to celebrate the treaty, and died ten days later after his surgeon,Ambroise Paré, was unable to cure the wound inflicted byGabriel de Montgomery, the captain of hisScottish Guard. Though he died early, the succession appeared secure, for he left four young sons – as well as a widow (Catherine de' Medici) to lead a capable regency during their minority. Three of those sons lived long enough to become king; but their youth and sometimes infirmity, and the unpopularity of Catherine's regency, led to challenges to the throne by powerful nobles, and helped to spark theFrench Wars of Religion betweenCatholics andProtestants, and an eventual end to theHouse of Valois as France's ruling dynasty.
Henry's father was captured at theBattle of Pavia in 1525 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and held prisoner inSpain.[2] To obtain his release, it was agreed that Henry and his older brother Francis be sent to Spain in his place.[3] They remained in captivity for over four years.[4]
Henry marriedCatherine de' Medici, a member of the ruling family ofFlorence, on 28 October 1533, when they were both fourteen years old.[5] The wedding was officiated byPope Clement VII, himself aMedici.[5] At this time, Henry's brother Francis was alive and there was little prospect of Henry coming to the throne. The following year, he became romantically involved with a thirty-five-year-old widow,Diane de Poitiers. Henry and Diane had always been very close: the woman had fondly embraced Henry on the day he, as a seven-year-old child, set off to captivity in Spain, and the bond had been renewed after his return to France.[6] At the tournament to honour his father's new bride,Eleanor, in 1531, Henry and Francis dressed as chevaliers, and Henry wore Diane's colors.[6]
Extremely confident, mature and intelligent, Diane left Catherine powerless to intervene.[7] She did, however, insist that Henry sleep with Catherine in order to produce heirs to the throne.[7] The couple struggled to produce an heir in the first decade of their marriage but the physicianJean Fernel, who may have noticed slight abnormalities in the couple's sexual organs, advised them how to solve the problem. However, he denied ever providing such advice.[8]
When his elder brother Francis died in 1536 after a game of tennis, Henry became heir apparent to the throne.[9]
His attachment to Diane caused a breach with his father in 1544; the royal mistressAnne de Pisseleu d'Heilly persuaded Francis that Henry and Diane were conspiring on behalf ofthe Constable Montmorency, who had been banished from court in 1540. Francis banished Diane from court.[10] Henry also withdrew to theChâteau d'Anet; father and son were reconciled in 1545.[11]
He succeeded his father on his 28th birthday and was crowned King of France on 25 July 1547 atReims Cathedral.[12]
Henry's reign was marked by the persecution of Protestants, mainly Calvinists known asHuguenots. Henry II severely punished them, particularly the ministers, for example byburning at the stake or cutting off their tongues for utteringheresies.[13]
TheEdict 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. The Edict 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 inBrazil were made, with the short-lived formation ofFrance Antarctique.[16] In June 1559, with war against the Habsburgs concluded, Henri established inletters patent his desire to task much of theGendarmerie that had been involved in the foreign wars with the extirpation of domestic heresy.[17]
TheItalian War of 1551–1559 began when Henry declared war on Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. Persecution of Protestants at home did not prevent him from becoming allied with German Protestant princes at theTreaty of Chambord in 1552. Simultaneously, the continuation of his father'sFranco-Ottoman alliance allowed him to invade theRhineland while a Franco-Ottoman fleet defended southern France.[18] Although an attempted 1553 invasion ofTuscany ended with defeat atMarciano, in return for his support in theSecond Schmalkaldic War, Henry occupied theThree Bishoprics ofToul,Verdun andMetz, acquisitions secured with victory atRenty in 1554.[19]
The Peace was signed between Henry andElizabeth I on 2 April[21] and between Henry and Philip of Spain on 3 April 1559 atLe Cateau-Cambrésis. Under its terms, France restoredPiedmont andSavoy to Emmanuel Philibert, but retainedSaluzzo,Calais and the Three Bishoprics. The agreement was reinforced by a marriage between Henry's sisterMargaret and Emmanuel Philibert, while his daughterElisabeth of Valois became Philip's third wife.[22]
Henry raised the youngMary, Queen of Scots, at his court, hoping to establish a dynastic claim to theKingdom of Scotland byher marriage toDauphin Francis on 24 April 1558. Their son would have been King of France and King of Scotland, and also a claimant to the throne ofEngland. Henry had Mary sign secret documents, illegal in Scottish law, that would ensure Valois rule in Scotland even if Mary died without leaving a child by Francis.[23] As it happened, Francis died without issue a year and half after his father, ending the French claim to Scotland.
Henry II introduced the concept of publishing the description of an invention in the form of apatent. 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 inventorAbel Foullon forUsaige & Description de l'holmetre (a type ofrangefinder). Publication was delayed until after the patent expired in 1561.[24]
The fatal tournament between Henry II andMontgomery (Lord of "Lorges")
Henry II was an avid hunter and a participant injousts and tournaments. On 30 June 1559, a tournament was held nearPlace des Vosges to celebrate the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with his longtime enemies, the Habsburgs of Austria, and to celebrate the marriage of his daughterElisabeth of Valois to KingPhilip II of Spain. During a jousting match, King Henry, wearing the colours of his mistressDiane de Poitiers,[25] was wounded in the eye by a fragment of the splintered lance ofGabriel Montgomery, captain of the King'sScottish Guard.[26] Despite the efforts of royal surgeonsAmbroise Paré andAndreas Vesalius, the court doctors ultimately "advocated a wait-and-see strategy";[27] as a result, the king's untreated eye and brain damage led to his death bysepsis on 10 July 1559.[28] His autopsy found that he had a cerebral abscess and the infection that he got through sepsis probably travelled to his brain.[29] He was buried in acadaver tomb inSaint Denis Basilica. Henry's death played a significant role in the decline of jousting as a sport, particularly in France.[30]
As Henry lay dying, Queen Catherine limited access to his bedside and denied Diane de Poitiers permission to see 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.[25]
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 theLouvre, 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 theThree Graces holding the urn, executed from a single piece of marble byGermain Pilon, the sculptor toCatherine de' Medici, survives.[31]
Henry was succeeded by his sickly fifteen-year-old son,Francis II.[32] Francis was married to sixteen-year-oldMary, Queen of Scots, who had been his childhood friend and fiancée since her arrival at the French court when she was five.[33] Francis II died in December 1560, and Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561.[34] Francis II was succeeded by his ten-year-old brotherCharles IX. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, acted asregent.[35]
In the premiere ofThe Serpent Queen (2022), a young Henri (Alex Heath) is shown meeting and marrying Catherine de' Medici, performing consummation of the marriage, jousting, and snuggling in the older Diane's arms. Beginning with the fourth episode, older Henri is portrayed byLee Ingleby.
Acypher machine in the shape of a book, with arms of Henri II.
Monument to the Heart of Henry II, Louvre, Paris, sculpture of theThree Graces byGermain Pilon holding a replica of the urn that contained the king's heart
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