CHARLES Vin exchange for the freedom to take Verdun,
Metz, and Toul. Despite successes by Francis of Guise, in-
cluding the capture of Calais (1558), Henry decided on
peace. Financial difficulties, some setbacks in battle, and
his eagerness to concentrate his efforts on the elimination
of heresy led to the Peace of CATEAU-CAMBRÉSIS(1559).
Henry was mortally injured while jousting in a tourna-
ment.
Henry III (1551–1589) King of France (1574–89)
The third son of HENRY IIand CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, Henry
abandoned the Polish throne, to which his mother had
arranged his election (1573), in order to succeed his
brother Charles IX as the last VALOISking of France. His
reign was overshadowed by religious conflict. When the
Protestant Henry of Navarre (later HENRY IV) became heir
to France (1584), Henry was faced with the wrath of the
diehard Catholics led by the GUISE FAMILY. Losing control
of Paris, Henry had to grant wide powers to the duke of
Guise (1588), but then arranged Guise’s assassination
(December 1588) at Blois. Henry III was in turn assassi-
nated by a fanatical friar. Henry had cultivated tastes, but
his attachment to his mignons (effeminate young men)
discredited the French court.
Henry IV (1553–1610) King of France (1589–1610) and
king of Navarre (1572–1610)
Henry was born at Pau, the son of Antoine de Bourbon
and JEANNE D’ALBRET, queen of Navarre. Although brought
up a Protestant, he was forced to renounce his faith fol-
lowing the MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW(1572), which
took place shortly after his marriage to the king’s sister,
Margaret of Valois. He escaped from the French court in
1576 and rejoined the HUGUENOTforces. The political and
religious conflicts intensified after Henry was designated
heir to the throne (1584), but he was reconciled to HENRY
III shortly before the king’s assassination (1588). The
dying king acknowledged Henry of Navarre as his heir.
On his accession as the first Bourbon king of France,
Henry IV had first to establish his power; his conversion
to Catholicism helped persuade Paris to accept him
(hence his reputed comment, “Paris is well worth a
Mass”), but he was still opposed by the hardline Catholics.
Gradually he gained control of all France and in 1598
granted the Huguenots religious toleration by the Edict of
NANTES.
Relying on trusted advisers, such as the duke of SULLY,
the king started to restore order and prosperity. It was his
declared aim that even the poorest peasant should be able
to afford a chicken in his pot on Sundays. He reformed the
administration and put the royal finances to rights. He en-
couraged the economy, especially agriculture and the
cloth industry: the improvements in communications in-
cluded an impressive network of canals. A program of
public works beautified Paris. In foreign affairs Henry IV
opposed Spanish power, but he helped negotiate the 1609
truce between the Netherlands and Spain. Henry IV had
no children by Margaret, whom he divorced in 1599; by
his second wife, MARIE DE’ MEDICI, niece of the grand duke
of Tuscany, he had six. He also had numerous lovers. De-
spite his general popularity, he was assassinated by a
Roman Catholic fanatic, François Ravaillac, leaving his
kingdom to his young son Louis XIII, under the regency
of Marie de Medici.
Further reading: Mark Greengrass, France in the Age
of Henri IV: The Struggle for Stability (London and New
York: Longman, 1984; 2nd ed. 1995).Henry VIII (1491–1547) King of England (1509–47) and
Ireland (1540–47)
The second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, he
was descended from the houses of both Lancaster and
York. Henry was a popular and accomplished young king,
with an interest in HUMANISM. Later in his reign many re-
garded him as a ruthless tyrant whose hands were stained
with much innocent blood.
Henry first married (1509) CATHERINE OF ARAGON,
widow of his elder brother Arthur. He soon embarked on
an ambitious foreign policy, which proved both expensive
and fruitless. He defeated France at the battle of the Spurs
(1513), then confirmed an alliance with FRANCIS Iat the
FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD(1520), but soon afterwards
was again at war with France.
Henry was well served by his chief minister, Thomas
WOLSEY, until slow progress in the king’s attempt to have
his marriage to Catherine annulled caused Wolsey’s dis-
grace. Catherine had borne one healthy daughter, later
MARY I, but Henry wanted a son to secure the succession.
With the support of Thomas CROMWELLand Archbishop
CRANMER, Henry defied the pope by dismissing Catherine
and marrying Anne BOLEYN(1533). This precipitated the
English Reformation which made Henry the supreme
head of the Church of England and the master of its
wealth—a strange irony in that he had earlier been hon-
ored by Pope LEO Xfor his opposition to LUTHER. Anne Bo-
leyn had a daughter, later ELIZABETH I, but was beheaded
to make way for Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour
(1509–37), who died shortly after giving birth to a son,
later EDWARD VI. Cromwell then persuaded the king to
marry the Lutheran princess, Anne of Cleves (1515–57),
in order to bolster England’s links with Protestant Europe,
but Henry found both her and the political strategy she
represented unattractive. A speedy divorce and Cromwell’s
execution followed. A fifth marriage to young Catherine
Howard (1542) ended in her execution. Finally he mar-
ried the widowed Catherine PARR, who survived him.
Henry, particularly in his early days, enjoyed a repu-
tation as a patron of learning and the visual arts. Among
his more lasting contributions to the former was the es-
tablishment of a professorship of Hebrew at CambridgeHHeennrryy VVIIIIII 2 23355