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| Henri I de Lorraine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Duke of Guise | |
| Reign | 24 February 1563 – 23 December 1588 |
| Predecessor | François |
| Successor | Charles |
| Born | 31 December 1550 |
| Died | 23 December 1588 (aged 37) Château de Blois,Blois,France |
| Spouse | Catherine of Cleves |
| Issue among others... | |
| House | Guise |
| Father | François, Duke of Guise |
| Mother | Anna d'Este |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
Henri I de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, Prince of Joinville, Count of Eu (31 December 1550 – 23 December 1588), sometimes calledLe Balafré ('Scarface'), was the eldest son ofFrançois, Duke of Guise, andAnna d'Este. His maternal grandparents wereErcole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, andRenée of France. Through his maternal grandfather, he was a descendant ofLucrezia Borgia andPope Alexander VI.
A key figure in theFrench Wars of Religion, he was one of the namesakes of theWar of the Three Henrys. A powerful opponent of the queen mother,Catherine de' Medici,Henri was assassinated by the bodyguards of her son,King Henry III.
Henri was born on 31 December 1550, the eldest son ofFrançois de Lorraine, the duke of Guise, one of the leading magnates of France, and Anna d'Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara.[1]: 311 In his youth he was friends with Henry III, the future king, and at the behest ofJacques, Duke of Nemours tried to persuade the young prince to run away with him in 1561 to join the arch-Catholic faction, much to the fury of his father and uncle.[1]: 186 When he was 12 years old, his fatherFrançois was assassinated and Henri thus inherited the Duke's titles of the Governor ofChampagne andGrand Maître de France in 1563.[1]: 170
The Guise family and Guise (as he will henceforth be referred) craved vengeance againstGaspard II de Coligny, whom they considered responsible for the assassination.[1]: 168 As such, he and his uncleCharles, Cardinal of Lorraine would attempt to make a show of force in entering Paris in 1564, but their entry ended with both besieged in their residence and forced to concede.[1]: 173 When in 1566 the crown forced Charles at Moulins to make the kiss of peace with Coligny to end their feud, Guise refused to attend.[1]: 187 He would also challenge Coligny andAnne de Montmorency to duels, but they rebuffed his attempts.[1]: 187
No longer welcome at court, he and his brotherCharles, Duke of Mayenne decided to crusade against theOttoman Empire inHungary, serving underAlfonso II d'Este, with a retinue of 350 men.[1]: 187 In September 1568 he reached his majority, just as the Guise returned to the centre of French politics with his uncle's readmission to the Privy Council.[1]: 187
Guise took an active military role in the second and third wars of theFrench Wars of Religion, fighting at theBattle of Saint-Denis in 1567, theBattle of Jarnac in 1569, and successfully defendingPoitiers during a siege by Admiral Coligny.[1]: 187 He was wounded at theBattle of Moncontour.[2]
In 1570 the third war of religion was brought to an end with thePeace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, part of which stipulated a marriage between the Protestantking of Navarre (future king Henry IV) and the King's sisterMargaret of Valois as a means of ensuring stability.[1]: 189 Around this time Guise began a romance with the King's sister, apparently with pretensions to her hand in marriage,[3] which quickly became known around court.[1]: 189 Upon discovering this, Margaret's brothersCharles IX and theduke of Anjou, were furious, assaulting Margaret in anger.[1]: 280 While some suggested Guise be punished with assassination, it was settled on banishing him from court for his indiscretions.[1]: 189 On 3 October he marriedCatherine of Cleves, thus assuming the title ofCount of Eu from her inheritance.[1]: 190
The August 1572 marriage between the king of Navarre and Margaret necessitated the presence of the majority of the Protestant leadership in Paris.[4] Shortly after the wedding, Coligny, who had made a rare visit to the capital for the occasion, was shot in the shoulder in an attempted assassination. Guise was a chief suspect of having ordered the attempt, due to his long running feud.[5]
As the situation in Paris deteriorated over the next several days, the royal council planned and executed a targeted elimination of the Protestant leadership in Paris, which would spiral into theSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre.[6] During the massacre Guise would oversee the murder of Coligny, and attempted but failed to capture several other targets, but was displeased at the situation descending into a general massacre, shielding fleeing Protestants in his residence.[1]: 217–218 [6]
When the wars of religion subsequently resumed Guise was wounded at theBattle of Dormans, and was thereafter known, like his father, asLe Balafre.[7] With a charismatic and brilliant public reputation, he rose to heroic stature among the militantCatholic population of France as an opponent of theHuguenots.
In 1576 he formed theCatholic League.[3] His rapidly deteriorating relations with the new King, Henry III (formally the duke of Anjou) created further conflict, known as theWar of the Three Henries (1584–1588).
At the death in 1584 ofFrancis, Duke of Anjou, the king's brother (which left the king of Navarre, theProtestant champion, as heir to the throne), Guise concluded theTreaty of Joinville withPhilip II of Spain. This compact declared that theCardinal de Bourbon should succeed King Henry, in preference to the king of Navarre. Henry now sided with the Catholic League (1585), which made war with great success on the Protestants. Guise sent his cousin,Charles, Duke of Aumale, to lead a rising inPicardy (which could also support the retreat of theSpanish Armada). Alarmed, Henry ordered Guise to remain inChampagne; he defied the king and on 9 May 1588 Guise entered Paris, bringing to a head his ambiguous challenge to royal authority in theDay of the Barricades and forcing King Henry to flee.
The League now controlled France; the king was forced to accede to its demands and created GuiseLieutenant-General of France. But Henry refused to be treated as a mere puppet by the League, and decided upon a bold stroke. On 22 December 1588, Guise spent the night with his current mistressCharlotte de Sauve, the most accomplished and notorious member ofCatherine de' Medici's group of female spies known as the "Flying Squadron".[8]: 277 The following morning at theChâteau de Blois, Guise was summoned to attend the king, and was at once assassinated by "the Forty-five", the king's bodyguard, as Henry looked on.[8]: 277–278 Guise's brother,Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, was likewise assassinated the next day. The deed aroused such outrage among the remaining relatives and allies of Guise that Henry was forced to take refuge with the king of Navarre. Henry was assassinated the following year byJacques Clément, an agent of the Catholic League.
According toBaltasar Gracián inA Pocket Mirror for Heroes, it was once said of him to Henry III, "Sire, he does good wholeheartedly: those who do not receive his good influence directly receive it by reflection. When deeds fail him, he resorts to words. There is no wedding he does not enliven, no baptism at which he is not godfather, no funeral he does not attend. He is courteous, humane, generous, the honorer of all and the detractor of none. In a word, he is a king by affection, just as Your Majesty is by law."
He married on 4 October 1570 in Paris toCatherine of Cleves (1548–1633),Countess of Eu,[9]: 27 by whom he had fourteen children:
The Duke of Guise appears as an archetypalMachiavellian schemer inChristopher Marlowe's playThe Massacre at Paris, which was written about 20 years after the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.[11] The death of the duke is also mentioned, by the ghost of Machiavelli himself, in the opening lines ofThe Jew of Malta. He appears (as The Guise) inGeorge Chapman'sBussy D'Ambois and its sequel,The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois.
John Dryden andNathaniel Lee wroteThe Duke of Guise (1683),[12] based on events during the reign of Henry III.
He appears in the short novelThe Princess of Montpensier, byMadame de La Fayette.He appears in Voltaire's epic poem "La Henriade" (1723).He is one of the characters inAlexandre Dumas's novelLa Reine Margot and its sequels,La Dame de Monsoreau andThe Forty-Five Guardsmen. He also appears prominently in Heinrich Mann's novelYoung Henry of Navarre (1935).
Stanley Weyman's novelA Gentleman of France includes the Duke of Guise in its tale about the War of the Three Henries.
Ken Follett's 2017 novelA Column of Fire features Henri, Duke of Guise as a prominent character, and explores his involvement with theSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
In the 2010 filmThe Princess of Montpensier, he was portrayed by actorGaspard Ulliel.[13]
In the1994 film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel, La Reine Margot, the Duke of Guise was portrayed by actorMiguel Bosé.[14]
Media related toHenry I, Duke of Guise at Wikimedia Commons| French nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Count of Eu 1570–1588 withCatherine | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Duke of Guise 1563–1588 | |
| Prince of Joinville 1563–1588 | ||
