The Renaissance

which appeared in 1609. He was a mem-
ber of the East India Company and also
joined the Northwest Passage Company,
meant to discover a northern route to Asia
that would avoid the seas controlled by
Spain.

SEEALSO: exploration; Raleigh, Sir Walter

Henri III .........................................

(1551–1589)

The last king of the Valois dynasty of
France was born in the chateau of Fon-
tainebleau, the son of King Henri II and
Catherine de Médicis, and the grandson of
Francis I. At the age of nine he was named
as the duke of Angouleme and Orléans,
and six years later became the Duke of
Anjou. A dedicated Catholic, Henri led the
French army against the kingdom’s Protes-
tants (known as Huguenots) and scored
important victories at the battles of Jarnac
and Moncontou. He presided over the
bloody event known as the Saint
Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, when Catho-
lics murdered Protestants throughout the
kingdom by the thousands. He ascended
to the throne in 1575; in the same year he
married Louise de Lorraine, who doomed
the Valois dynasty by failing to produce an
heir. When in 1576 Henri signed the Edict
of Beaulieu that temporarily resolved the
religious conflict in France, he made an
enemy of Duke Henry of Guise, who
formed the Catholic League to oppose the
agreement. Unwilling to lead the kingdom
into all-out civil war, Henri rescinded the
Edict of Beaulieu in the face of the duke’s
challenge.

The death of Henri’s younger brother
Francis (Francois) left the succession to
the throne of France to Henri of Navarre,
a Protestant. The king issued an edict ban-
ning Protestantism and denying Henri of

Navarre’s rights. The Duke of Guise in-

vaded Paris in 1588, driving Henri from

the city. Determined to rid himself of

Guise, Henri invited the duke to a council

at the chateau of Blois. The duke was

seized and murdered by three of Henri’s

guards, after which the duke’s son was

thrown in prison. The murder caused an

uproar in France. Citizens mobbed the

streets while the king was charged with

crimes by the Parlement, which forced him

to again flee Paris. While in camp with his

army at Saint-Cloud, Henry was stabbed

by a Dominican friar, who had entered the

camp claiming to have a secret message

for the king. Henri soon died of his

wounds. He was succeeded by Henri of

Navarre, who reigned as Henri IV, the first

ruler of the Bourbon dynasty.

SEEALSO: Médicis, Catherine de; Henri IV

Henri IV .........................................

(1553–1610)

The first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty

of France, Henri IV was king from 1589

until his assassination in 1610. He was

born in the town of Pau, the son of Anto-

ine de Bourbon, the Duke of Vendome,

and Jeanne d’Albret, the Queen of Navarre,

a committed Calvinist Protestant.

He fought for the Huguenots

(Protestants) during the Wars of Religion.

In 1572, he became Henri III, king of Na-

varre. His marriage in 1572 to Marguerite

de Valois, the sister of King Charles IX, in-

spired the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Mas-

sacre of August 24, in which Protestants

throughout the kingdom were murdered

by the thousands. Henri claimed to con-

vert to Catholicism, the faith of his new

bride, but he was held under arrest for

several years. He escaped his confinement

in 1576 and took the field at the head of

the Huguenot forces.

Henri IV