The early and youthful years of Henry Valois

Henry III always considered his birthday to be September 18, 1551, although in reality he was born 40 minutes after midnight, that is, the nineteenth. At baptism the boy received a name Alexander-Eduard (Alexandre-Edouard listen)) and the title of Duke of Angoulême. His parents, King Henry II and Catherine de Medici, were married in 1533; for the first eleven years they had no children.

Henry had four older siblings: François (Francis II), the "little Dauphin", born in 1544, officially declared Dauphin in 1547 when his father took the throne; Elizabeth, who later became the wife of Philip II of Spain; Claude, who in 1559 married Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and de Bar, and Charles-Maximilian, to whom the early death of his first-born brother brought the crown, making him Charles IX. The fifth child, Louis, died in October 1550, at 20 months of age.

Henry's younger siblings were Margaret, better known as "Queen Margot" (who was also rumored to be his mistress), who married Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV, King of France, a week before St. Bartholomew's Night, and Hercule, the only four brothers, who never became king. A long series of births in 1556 ended with twins - sisters Jeanne and Victoria were born, but died soon after.

The high infant mortality rate characteristic of that era did not spare the royal family; yet, thanks to better medical care and favorable living conditions, this did not have such catastrophic consequences for her as for the lower strata of the population. Of the six siblings who survived childhood, five died before Henry. Only Margarita survived him and reached the age of 62. She and Henry, the only ones of ten children, remained alive on the day of their mother's death - January 5, 1589. All representatives of the last generation of Valois were weakly built and sickly; Their terrible scourge was tuberculosis, against which the medicine of that time knew no remedy. During his confirmation on March 17, 1565, Alexander-Edward received the name Henry in honor of his father. His younger brother Hercule (Hercules), whose " physical and intellectual deformities were completely inconsistent with his name"(Holt), a year later received his grandfather's name in the same way, Francois.

Henry and St. Bartholomew's Night

Catherine’s conciliatory policy, renewed with the conclusion of the Peace of Saint-Germain, made it possible for the return in 1571 to the court - and even to the royal Council - of Admiral Coligny, the “hanged in absentia” leader of the Huguenots, sentenced to death in 1569. He tried to implement his political plans - to provide military assistance to the Netherlands, which had been fighting Spain since 1566. To this end, he intended to organize a European Protestant alliance against Philip II. However, after the crushing defeat at Saint-Quentin (August 10, 1557), nothing frightened Catherine more than the war with Spain. Military experts unanimously supported her: France will inevitably lose this war. The defeat of the French reinforcements, to whose campaign Charles IX simply turned a blind eye, strengthened the unanimous decision of the Royal Council: to avoid war with Spain under any circumstances. However, Coligny did not deviate from his plans and put forward in their defense, in the form of military-political blackmail, an alternative he himself invented, by no means inevitable: war with Spain or civil war. This step made him - here the opinions of all researchers agree - a state traitor, whose elimination was required by the interests of the state. Catherine and Anjou, without the knowledge of the king, prepared an assassination attempt on Coligny, which took place on August 22, 1572. In the light of new research, this situation looks completely different. In mid-August 1572, Coligny was in complete political isolation and did not represent any real military force. It is even possible that while he was thinking about ruling the king, he was actually being used: by the fact that he persuaded him to send Protestant troops to the Netherlands, that is, to certain death.

This alone made Coligny, although weak, a politically important figure in the political arena: “ The French monarchy made Coligny too important a person to think about getting rid of him." This thesis breaks the harmonious concept that has been built over centuries about the time and method of joint preparation for the murder of the admiral by Catherine and Henry of Anjou. Both did not need this death, and they did not even know about the assassination attempt. In one work, argued exclusively by sources of that era, the true culprits of the crime are brought to light: “ The soul of the conspiracy was none other than Philip II"; strong suspicion is expressed regarding the Duke of Alba that he “ remotely directed the assassination attempt on the admiral with the active complicity of a handful of ultra-Catholics, supporters of the Guises" Burgeon also gives a completely new interpretation of the background to St. Bartholomew's Night - the events of the two days that passed after the assassination attempt on Coligny. Due to the poor state of the sources, it is easier to say what did not happen than to substantiate some positive statements. But the fact that neither Catherine nor Henry had any influence on the bloody action planned by anyone, which took place on the night of August 24, 1572, the feast of St. Bartholomew seems quite likely. St. Bartholomew's Night was by no means a demonstration of royal power; on the contrary, it was the result of a complete - albeit temporary - collapse of the king's power. Apparently, at some point during the night, Charles IX yielded to the ultimatum presented by the Spanish-Guise party and agreed to the murder of the Huguenot leaders - and only they were discussed.

The murder of the Huguenot general staff by Guise adherents was one thing, but the massacre that claimed the lives of hundreds of Protestants was completely different. This bloody action agitated Paris, which received a convenient opportunity to express its protest against the religious, economic and foreign policies pursued since -1571; St. Bartholomew's Night became a rebellion against royal power. The royal family did not have to take part in the events of the following days: as if the king and the municipality did not exist, power in the city for three days was taken over by auxiliary troops recruited by one of the former burgomasters and friend of the Guises, Marcel. From their number, squads of murderers and bandits were formed, who, in order to enrich themselves, shamelessly robbed and killed predominantly - but by no means exclusively - the Huguenot population, thus trying, under the cover of religious struggle, to restore social justice at their own discretion. This point of view contradicts the thesis put forward by contemporaries of the events, and recently actively revived, that the city police in full force actively participated in the pogroms. To clarify how things really were, even more detailed research is needed. Protestants responded to St. Bartholomew's Night with a fourth civil war. Its culmination was the siege of La Rochelle. After Charles IX officially accepted responsibility for the events of St. Bartholomew's Night, the Huguenots abandoned the loyalty they had always maintained towards the king. La Rochelle seemed to feel like an independent republic and refused to even let Governor Biron, sent by the king, into the city.

Henry was not tormented by doubts: “France and you, mother, are more important than Poland,” he wrote to his mother a few days later. However, first it was necessary to calm the Poles. Some of the ministers expressed fear that he would have to leave, but he reassured them: “I am first of all the King of Poland,” he said, “and I will not leave you.” For several days, Henry pretended to grant regency to Catherine and, perhaps, to appoint a viceroy in France, but all these were just excuses to lull the suspicions of the Poles. Four days later, on June 18, Henry threw a grand dinner, getting everyone so drunk that the most noble lords fell under the table, dead drunk.

Escape from Poland

Meanwhile, the dangerous prospect of the Protestant leader taking the throne was not at all included in the plans of the Guises. The League received financial and military assistance from Philip II, as well as moral assistance from Pope Sixtus V, who cursed Henry of Bourbon. In 1585, another war broke out, called the war of the three Henrys (the king, Bourbon and Guise). Henry of Navarre won landslide victories. He was supported by Queen Elizabeth of England and German Protestants. King Henry III tried with all his might to end the war, but it was very difficult to achieve this...

On May 12, 1588, Paris rebelled against the king, who was forced to hastily leave the capital and move his residence to Blois. Heinrich Guise solemnly entered Paris. The Duke of Lorraine already felt like a king. Yes, in fact, he was two steps away from the throne. He was enthusiastically greeted by the residents of the capital. Increasingly, “Sire” was used when addressing the Duke. The few months spent in Paris became the happiest in the life of Heinrich Guise. In this situation, only the most drastic measures could save Henry III. The king convened the States General, to which his enemy also arrived. On December 23, 1588, Henry of Guise went to a meeting of the States. Unexpectedly, the king’s guards appeared on his way, who first killed Giza with several dagger blows, and then destroyed all the duke’s guards.

The next day, by order of the king, Henry of Guise's brother, Louis, Cardinal of Lorraine, was also captured and then killed. Now the king had burned all his bridges - he had no way back. Most Catholics turned their backs on Henry. And the latter entered into an alliance with his recent enemy - Heinrich Bourbon. Having learned about this, Pope Sixtus V also cursed the king. Meanwhile, both Henrys besieged Paris with their joint forces.

Death of Henry III

Assassination of Henry of Guise

Assassination of Henry III

The murder of the Guise brothers stirred the minds of many Catholics. Among them was the 22-year-old Dominican friar Jacques Clément. Jacques was an ardent Catholic and an enemy of the Huguenots. After the Pope's curse (which especially affected him), Clement made a firm decision to kill King Henry III. His plan received the approval of some League leaders. The monk was provided with partly genuine, partly false letters from royalist prisoners addressed to the king. And then, on July 31, he left Paris and went to Saint-Cloud - the estate of the Duke of Retz, where the king settled during the siege of the capital. Having asked for an audience, he was received by the king the next day. Jacques handed him the papers, informing him that they contained important information intended exclusively for reading by the king personally. At these words, the guards retreated several steps from Henry...

The king began to read deeply. Suddenly, Clement grabbed a stiletto from his bosom, rushed towards the king and plunged the stiletto into his abdomen. Everything happened so suddenly that the guards did not even have time to understand what was happening. Heinrich staggered and suddenly began to sag, shouting: “He killed me, you vile monk! Kill him!". The king managed to pull out the stiletto and even strike Jacques, who was confused by what he had done, in the head in the eyebrow area. The monk tried to jump out of the hall, but could not. Here, on the spot, he was stabbed to death by the royal bodyguards Sainte-Maline and Pencornet and thrown out the window (later his body was quartered and burned)…

The king was immediately placed on the bed. The doctors called in put his spilled innards back in and stitched him up. Soon there was some improvement, and Heinrich perked up. But within a few hours he felt death approaching. In the presence of witnesses, he declared Henry of Bourbon as his successor. At night, Henry III asked for his last confession. The king forgave all his enemies, including Jacques Clément. At three o'clock in the morning, King Henry III of Valois of France died. His body was embalmed and buried in Compiegne, in the Abbey of Saint-Cornille. The urn containing the king's heart was buried in the main altar of Saint-Claude Cathedral. After the end of the war, Henry III remained in Compiegne. The new king Henry IV did not transfer the body of his predecessor to the tomb of the French kings - the Basilica of Saint-Denis, since it was prophesied that he himself would lie there a week after Henry III. Only in 1610 were the remains of Henry III finally transferred to Saint-Denis. A few weeks later, Henry IV died at the hands of another killer - Francois Ravaillac.

Henry III in literature and art

Henry appears in the first novel of Alexandre Dumas's trilogy, Queen Margot, as the Duke of Anjou. In the following novels, The Countess de Monsoreau and The Forty-Five, he is one of the main characters (as King Henry III). He is also depicted in the film adaptations of the first two novels. In the French versions, the image of Henry III is embodied by Daniel Ceccaldi (“Queen Margot”) and Denis Manuel (TV series “The Countess de Monsoreau”). In another film adaptation of the novel “

and at the same time the last Renaissance monarch of France, the fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici.

He was succeeded by his older brothers Francis II (1559-60) and Charles IX (1560-74) in 1574. In 1566-74. bore the title of Duke of Anjou. The Queen Mother's favorite son, raised from childhood as a future king, received a good education under the guidance of the humanist Jacques Amiot, becoming a refined intellectual.

From 1567 - commander of the royal troops during the Third War of Religion, became famous for the successful battles with the Huguenots at Jarnac and Moncontour (1569). He is considered one of the organizers of St. Bartholomew's Night in Paris on August 24, 1572, which earned him a reputation as a zealous Catholic.

Despite this, in the spring of 1573 he was elected king of Poland, where he arrived at the beginning of 1574, having signed the “Articles” that limited royal powers. Having learned about the death of Charles IX from his mother's dispatch, in June 1574 he fled from Poland to France, through Austria and Italy. At the beginning of 1575, immediately after the coronation, he unexpectedly married Louise of Lorraine, daughter of the Comte de Vaudemont, rejecting ideas of marriage with Elizabeth of England and the Swedish princess.

The king's reign came at the height of the Religious Wars in France, during which he pursued a generally peacemaking policy: in 1576-1577, thanks to the peace treaties in Beaulieu and Bergerac, he managed to stabilize the situation and maintain relative political calm until 1584. However, after his death Henry III's younger brother François of Anjou, the problem of inheriting the throne, which was supposed to go to the first prince of the blood, the Huguenot Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, became more acute, since the king's marriage was childless.

The re-established Catholic League led by the Dukes of Guise, in order to prevent the Huguenot from the throne, resumed the armed civil conflict - the “war of the three Henrys”, during which Henry III was forced to flee Paris in May 1588 during the uprising of the townspeople - the “Day of the Barricades” "

In December 1588, during a meeting of the States General in Blois, he ordered the murder of Henry de Guise, who openly claimed the French throne. With the support of the King of Navarre, he began the siege of Paris, but on August 1, 1589, he was mortally wounded at his military headquarters in Saint-Cloud by the monk Jacques Clement, sent by Guise. Before his death, he managed to proclaim Henry de Bourbon as his successor.

Known for his legislative initiatives - the “Code of Henry III” - a collection of royal ordinances and legal documents; as well as the regulation of the rules for the functioning of the royal court (especially in 1578 and 1585), with a clear structure and hierarchy of positions, ceremonial and etiquette. In 1579 he established the Order of the Holy Spirit.

The tragic circumstances of the monarch’s biography gave rise to calling him “Shakespeare’s king” (P. Chevalier).

Historical sources:

Lettres de Henri III/Éd. M. François et al. Paris, 1959-2012. T. I - VII;

Pierre de L'Estoile. Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III / Éd. M. Lazard et G. Schrenck. Geneve, 1992-2003. T. I - VI.

Illustration:

Clouet School. Duke of Anjou (future Henry III). OK. 1573

Henry was born on the night of September 18-19, 1551. He was the sixth (fifth who did not die in childhood) child of Catherine de Medici. At baptism, the future king was named Alexander Edward, and during confirmation on March 17, 1565, he received the name Henry in honor of his father.

Heinrich grew up as an active and intelligent child. Its education was carried out by famous people of their time - Francois de Carnavalet and Bishop Jacques Amiot. Like all nobles, Henry began to engage in various physical exercises early and later, during military campaigns, showed good skill in military affairs. Henry was his mother's favorite. But he had a strained relationship with his older brother: he, who had no legal heirs, saw his brother as a competitor.

In the middle of the 16th century, religious contradictions began to manifest themselves more and more in France: Calvin’s teachings penetrated deeper into society; Many representatives of the upper strata of society and even some representatives of the highest nobility joined the ranks of his supporters. It became obvious that the royal authorities would somehow have to regulate relations with this religious minority. Catherine de' Medici tried to pursue a policy of religious tolerance, but her efforts were in vain thanks to the leaders of the ultra-Catholic Guizam party. The massacre in the town of Vassy, ​​committed by François de Guise, escalated into a civil war between Catholics and Protestant Huguenots. Since the king, who was in poor health, did not consider it possible to risk his life during military operations, in 1567 the command of the French army was formally entrusted to the sixteen-year-old Prince Henry. Although, of course, the direct leadership of military operations was carried out by more experienced military leaders, Henry returned to Paris in the aura of a winner. However, the peace did not last long. The assassination attempt on the Protestant leader Admiral Coligny and the subsequent massacre of the Huguenots, which took place on the night of August 24, 1572, the feast of St. Bartholomew, led to a new round of confrontation. Henry returned to the battlefield and in February 1573 took command of the siege of La Rochelle.

At the same time, through his emissaries, Henry sought his election as king of Poland, where the childless king was dying. The first embassy of Jean de Balagny, who tried in 1572 to marry the king's sister to Henry, returned empty-handed. Soon after his death, a new ambassador, Jean de Montluc, left for Poland. From April 5 to May 10, 1573, in Prague (a place on the banks of the Vistula, opposite Warsaw), elections for the king were held, in which, in addition to Henry, Archduke Ernst Habsburg, the Swedish king, the Transylvanian prince and the Moscow Tsar took part (however, his chances were initially slim). On April 5, in the presence of 50 thousand nobles, Henry Valois was elected king. Soon those present swore allegiance to him on the so-called “Henry's Articles” - a kind of constitution that defined the relationship between the king and the people. The most important point of the articles was the establishment of the order of succession to the throne: the king could only be elected, no heirs were provided for. Every two years, on the third year, the king was obliged to convene a Diet. The king did not have the right to give his resolutions at the diets. Without the consent of the Senate, the king had no right to start a war or make peace. The king must protect the borders of the state and take care of the return of lands taken from him. If the king violated these conditions, his subjects could refuse to obey him. How brief Henry's reign in Poland was, so important was the influence of the "Articles" on the further history of Poland.

In addition to the "Articles" it was accepted "Pacta conventa", which concerned Heinrich personally: he undertook to pay off all his predecessor’s debts, provide training for Polish youth in Paris, send French regiments against, and the French fleet to the Baltic. In addition, Henry had to contribute 450 thousand zlotys from his personal funds to the Polish treasury.

Painting by Teodor Aksentovich, circa 1910

On August 24, 1573, the Polish delegation brought documents signed by Monluc to Paris for ratification. For France, where absolutism began to flourish, such a position for the king was unheard of, and therefore all the necessary papers were signed only a month later. Henry was in no hurry to leave for a new and unfamiliar country. He set off only on December 2 and remained on the road for almost two months. On February 21, 1574, the solemn coronation of Henry Valois as King of Poland took place in Wawel Cathedral. The ceremony was interrupted by the Cracow voivode Jan Firlei, who demanded that Henry sign three documents guaranteeing the rights of Polish Protestants.

The arrival of the French delegation was a cultural shock for Polish society. Paris was already known as the European capital of fashion. Representatives of the Polish nobility, especially ladies, immediately began to alter their costumes in the French style. At the same time, the effeminate French nobles hung with jewelry and doused in perfume (and, first of all, the king himself) disgusted many Poles. In turn, the French were shocked by the rude manners of the Poles and their penchant for drinking.

Henry was not at all interested in the internal affairs of the country. I have not studied Polish. Participation in official ceremonies and public life irritated him. At night the king had fun at balls and feasts, and slept during the day; Card losses were compensated from the state treasury.

Henry's election to the Polish throne implied his wedding to the late king's sister. However, marriage with a woman old enough to be his mother, who had never been married before, did not appeal to Henry. He put off the unpleasant event in every possible way, either by feigning illness or by simply locking himself in his chambers. Finally, a magnificent ball was scheduled for June 15, 1574, at which the upcoming wedding was to be announced. However, on the morning of the previous day, the king learned from the emperor about the death of his brother. And the next day a letter arrived from Paris from my mother. The French throne became vacant, and Catherine de Medici wanted to see her beloved son on it. To lull the suspicions of the Poles, Henry pretended that he wanted to transfer the regency to his mother and even appoint a viceroy of France, but at that time he himself was preparing to escape. On June 18, he gave a great feast at Wawel Castle. After all the nobles present fell asleep dead drunk under the table, Henry, in the strictest secrecy, without notifying the Senate, accompanied by several courtiers, left Wawel and moved towards the border. A chase was set up for the king, led by the warrior castellan Jan Tenczynski. He caught up with Henry, but the king managed to convince the nobleman how important his presence was now in France and promised to return in a few months. Henry returned to his homeland, avoiding Protestant territories, and on September 3 he already set foot on French soil. Meanwhile, in August, a Diet was convened in Poland, setting Henry the condition to return by June 1575. Without doing this, Henry lost his rights to the Polish throne.

On February 11, 1575, Henry was crowned at Reims Cathedral, and two days later he married Louise do Lorien-Vaudemont. The new king was smart and eloquent, but he preferred court life and idleness to military and state affairs. Henry surrounded himself with several favorites (“minions”) from among the courtiers. Like a woman, he wore earrings, rings, bracelets, dyed his hair, penciled his eyebrows, and blushed his cheeks. All this gave reason to suspect the king of homosexuality, although many of his “minions” were known as brave knights and conquerors of ladies’ hearts. In 1578, a famous duel took place, in which almost all of the king’s “minions” died. The bodies of the victims were buried in beautiful mausoleums built especially for them. Only two survived, Joyeuse and Epernon, whom Henry showered with immense honors. However, the king’s melancholy grew more and more intense, and he began to think about entering a monastery.

Painting by Charles Durup, first half of the 19th century

Meanwhile, a new confrontation with the Huguenots was brewing. Having no funds to continue the war, the king made concessions to them. Huguenots received freedom of religion and the opportunity to participate in local parliaments. Thus, some localities inhabited exclusively by Protestants effectively became independent from the king’s authority. Dissatisfied with this turn of affairs, Henry of Guise began to form secret societies of defenders of the Catholic faith (Catholic League) in different regions of France, and could soon find himself at the head of a powerful religious movement, but the king accidentally learned about the existence of the League, and immediately legitimized its formation by making himself one of them. head.

In 1584, the king's younger brother, Francis of Alençon, died unexpectedly. The childless king was faced with the question of an heir to the throne. The closest blood relative in the 21st tribe turned out to be... the leader of the Huguenots. Such a prospect was not part of the plans of the Giuses. They also enlisted the support of the pope who cursed them.

In 1585, Henry was forced to sign the Edict of Nemours, which prohibited any religion other than Catholic. This led to the outbreak of a new war known as the "War of the Three Henrys" (Valois, Bourbon and Guise). won one victory after another. On May 12, 1588, an uprising broke out in Paris. Henry III hurriedly left for Blois, and Guise, who already felt like a king, entered the capital. Henry III convened the Estates General, to which Guise was invited. On December 23, 1588, on the way to the meeting, forty-five bodyguards of the king attacked him, killing all the duke’s guards and finishing him off with several blows of a dagger. The next day, the younger Guise, Cardinal Louis of Lorraine, was also killed. After these crimes, most of the subjects turned away from the king. Dad cursed him too.

Henry III had no choice but to enter into an alliance with, recognizing him as his heir. Together they laid siege to Paris. During the siege, the king stayed in Saint-Cloud. There, the Dominican monk Jacques Clement asked for an audience with him. He handed Heinrich some papers. When the king was deep in reading, the monk snatched a stiletto from his bosom and plunged it into the monarch’s stomach. Henry managed to take out the stiletto and strike back at Clement (when he jumped out of the room, the royal bodyguards finished him off). Heinrich, bleeding, was laid on the bed. Doctors stitched up his stomach, but on the night of August 2, 1589, he died. Henry's death caused great joy in Paris and served as an occasion for celebrations and thanksgiving services in churches.

Henry III of France. King of France

Maria of Cleves, the king's great love, from the spring of 1574 found herself in the position of a straw widow: her husband fled to Germany, she did not want to follow him. Henry was already thinking about how to organize the recognition of Condé’s marriage as invalid, but Catherine, who sensed a dangerous rival in Mary, who had reappeared on the scene, took care to keep her son away from Paris, where the princess was at that time. And in Lyon, Henry learned that on October 30, 1574, Mary died in childbirth. The news literally crushed him. He came down with a fever and retired to his chambers for many days. The courtiers, accustomed to fairly easy morals, were amazed that the king of France was displaying such deep feelings. When, returning to society, he appeared in a dress on which numerous skulls were embroidered, those around him hardly hid their ridicule.

Only under the impression of the loss of his beloved Mary, Henry agreed to the marriage in order to ensure the continuation of the dynasty and displace the rebellious Alençon (now, however, “Anjou”) from the first place in the row of heirs to the throne. To everyone's surprise, his choice fell on a meek and benevolent girl whom he had glimpsed in 1573 in Blamont, Louise de Wodsmont (1553 - 1601), who came from a junior branch of the Ducal House of Lorraine. She had no special pretensions or bright prospects, but one could expect that she would become a faithful and devoted wife to the king. Henry's decision in favor of Louise was partly a protest against Catherine - the first step towards the emancipation of his loving son from his domineering mother, who wanted to participate in all his decisions and, naturally, had a completely different candidate in mind. However, this time she resigned herself.

On February 13, 1575, the coronation and ordination of the king took place in the Reims Cathedral; On February 15, the engagement to Louise followed. Henry (“hungry for perfection”) personally took care of the bride’s outfit, jewelry and hairstyle - so thoroughly that the wedding mass had to be postponed to the second half of the day.

Louise became the queen he could always lean on. She had no desire for power at all and never forgot how high Henry raised her. All her life she remained, faithful and grateful, in the shadow of the king. The whole kingdom was sympathetic to this marriage; however, he was childless, which caused bewilderment and was incomprehensible to his contemporaries. Apparently, Louise became infertile after an induced abortion, complicated by chronic inflammation of the uterus. She suffered from the consequences of this operation for many years.

At court, the blame for the childlessness of the marriage was readily placed on Henry, since he - a completely unusual phenomenon for French kings - did not have illegitimate children, although from 1569 he had intimate relationships with many court ladies. However, he did not have an official mistress, and after his marriage he almost stopped his love affairs altogether. In the summer of 1582, Henry vowed to renounce sexual relations with other women, as his confessor explained that childlessness was God's punishment for casual relationships. However, this did not help; Repeated pilgrimages to holy places, to the cathedrals of Chartres and d’Epins between 1679 and 1589, were also in vain.

Although Henry did not give up the hope of having male offspring until the very end, from 1582 he found inner peace in a deep religious feeling. He easily submitted to the incomprehensible zero of God. When the heir to the throne of Anjou unexpectedly died in 1584, Henry - although not without hesitation at first - agreed to recognize Navarre as the new claimant, who had the legal right to do so. When the religious and political situation in 1588/89 changed radically and Henry III found himself virtually alone against an unruly country, a rebellious capital and the Guises striving for the crown, he showed the breadth of a true statesman by reaching an agreement with the only legitimate heir to the throne, Navarre. His firm determination ensured the continuity of the state during the process of changing the reigning dynasty.

Henry III was a diligent monarch. He had a remarkable memory and a sharp mind. Whenever possible, he conducted government affairs himself. With his bureaucratic zeal he resembled Philip II of Spain. Because of his numerous legislative initiatives, his contemporaries nicknamed him the “King of Solicitors.” Of particular importance for many areas of public and private life was the Ordinance issued in Blois (1579), where in 363 provisions the wishes and difficulties were discussed, which were raised by the Estates General assembled in 1576.

Economically, Henry succeeded in attracting the clergy, who were exempt from paying taxes, to participate in government spending. In 1579/80, he obtained that an assembly of clergy promised him an “ecclesiastical loan” in the amount of about 1.3 million livres for a period of six years. In 1586 this loan was extended for 10 years. Since the crown did not want to lose this source of income in the future, the general meeting of the clergy was forced to legitimize the emerging practice of the clergy providing a tax in the form of a voluntary donation, which was collected every ten years throughout the existence of the old regime.

In addition to church tithes under Henry III, a direct tax was also levied on the church for several years. All these payments seemed to the clergy a lesser evil compared to the threatening expropriation of church property, which the crown always saw as a means of pressure: three times Henry alienated part of the church property (in 1574, 1576, 1586). Of all the French rulers, Henry III was the king who demanded the most from the clergy.

Only after Alina Karper’s research did the significance of the noble assembly convened by Henry III for the “modernization of France” become known. From November 1583 to the end of January 1584, in the Saint-Germain suburb, the political and administrative elite of the country - 66 people - discussed an extensive list of issues proposed by the king, which related to the tax system, state budget, sale of positions, administrative structure, army, economy, etc. The discussion was, as the imperial envoy noted, about the general reform of the kingdom, which the king expected from this meeting of specialists. The results of the meetings were presented to the government in the form of “Opinions of the Assembly”, processed by it and published. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these decisions were considered “a monument to statesmanship, which only due to unfavorable political conditions could not bear fruit.” The fact is that it was this year that the peaceful respite that had lasted since 1577 actually ended. Numerous reforms that Henry began to carry out back in 1584 stalled; there was no need to think about them in the face of the threat of a brewing new civil war.

Historiographers contemporary to Henry already noted that at the end of his reign he aroused a hostile attitude towards himself in everyone. Unkind exaggerations and misrepresentations of the preferences and interests of the king completely discredited this sovereign, who was treated with equal hatred and prejudice by both Catholics and Protestants.

A critical attitude towards Henri III permeates all historiography, right up to the 20th century. Only the works of Pierre Champion laid the foundation for a new direction in the study of Henry's biography. Pierre Chevalier dedicated a solid work to him, published in 1986, in which he examines all the rumors, half-truths, insults and accusations accumulated over centuries, with documents in hand. The results are striking: although many details remain unclear, a critical analysis of the sources gives a completely new assessment of Henry III, the king and the man. This work allows us to see the personality of Henry III more clearly than before.

The main attacks related primarily to the “minions” - a group of four young nobles whom Henry kept at court and showered with favors, honors, and gifts. All of them distinguished themselves in the military field, were loyal and devoted to him, and must have allowed themselves daring antics towards the conservative aristocracy. These four musketeers, who were later joined by several others, dressed provocatively, valued entertainment and gallant (and other) adventures. The duel of minions, which took place on April 27, 1578 and claimed four lives, is notorious; it was, strictly speaking, a reflection of the struggle between warring Catholic factions.

Of the four first favorites, Saint-Sulpice was killed in 1576, Caillus died 33 days after the mentioned duel, Saint-Luc, who had spilled the king’s alcove secrets to his wife, fell out of favor in 1580 and barely escaped a trial; the fourth, François d'O, whom Henry called "my great steward" because of his excellent financial management, retired from the court in 1581, when his star began to decline.

Since 1578/79, two other favorites of the king have come to the attention of researchers: Anne de Joyeuse and Jean-Louis de la Valette. Both of them were called "archimignons" by their contemporaries, both rose above their predecessors and received the title of duke (de Joyeuse and d'Epernon). The king’s attitude towards these favorites, whom he sometimes called “my brothers,” was perhaps best expressed by the Tuscan envoy Cavriana, who in 1586 commented on their military success: “The father rejoices greatly to see how both his adopted sons prove their worth "

Michelet already warned against an overly negative attitude towards minions. Although Dodu called them “ministers of his voluptuousness,” it is likely that neither they nor the king were homosexuals. Here it is worth quoting the weighty words of Chevalier: “Henry III and his favorites are an unfounded and slanderous legend.”

Other characteristics of the king, partly inherited by him from the Medici family, also served as a target for criticism over the centuries - a passion for luxurious fancy clothing, jewelry, and incense.

He had a clear understanding of beauty and elegance, but was prone to rather flirtatious forms of self-expression. He loved carnivals, balls and masquerades, appreciated literature, poetry and theater, while caring about the preservation of court ceremonial and etiquette. On some occasions he willingly outlined detailed rules and regulations - for example, when he founded the Knightly Catholic Order of the Holy Spirit in 1578.

Henry loved small dogs, of which he had several hundred, rare birds and exotic animals. He valued the usual entertainments of nobles - knightly tournaments, fencing, and hunting - less. Sometimes the king surprised his entourage with children's games like bilboke - a game in which you need to pick up a ball with a sharp end or a curved stick. He enjoyed carving miniatures, which he later used as decorations.

On the other hand, Heinrich had increased nervous sensitivity and, as a result, a predisposition to disease. His childlessness and worries about the moral decline of the kingdom torn by civil war led him to deep piety in 1582/83. The desire to openly demonstrate his piety, which, perhaps, also had a political background, the desire to give everything some kind of mystical shine, prompted him until about 1587 to take part in processions, often in a white hair shirt, especially in the processions founded by Henry himself in March 1583 "Brotherhood of Penitent Sinners of Our Lady of the Annunciation." The members of this brotherhood - including both archimignons, many courtiers, members of parliament and noble citizens - wore a white Capuchin robe made of Dutch wool with two holes for the eyes. Shortly before a new outbreak of civil war, when Henry saw the final collapse of his policy of compromise and experienced a period of deep melancholy, he founded, this time without noise or show, the “Brotherhood of the Death and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” This small community met on Fridays in the Louvre, where they prayed together, sang psalms and spent time in spiritual exercises, penance and even self-flagellation.

From his very first stay at the Pauline monastery and January 1583, Henry retreated more and more from the world. He felt great behind the monastery walls, and was happy with what the monks themselves were content with. He ordered the reconstruction and expansion of the old Hieronymite monastery in the Bois de Vincennes, where several cells were reserved for him and his often very large retinue (since, in spite of everything, he did not let political issues out of his sight). From 1584, Henry regularly spent several days in this monastery for three years, which was later transferred to the Paulines. It is unlikely that Henry found understanding with anyone: Catherine, his wife or his subjects. Even the pope did not approve of Henry, whom his contemporaries sometimes called the monk king.

This certainly exaggerated religious zeal, reaching the point of excesses, was associated with a characteristic feature of the king, which he himself once expressed as follows: “What I love, I love to the end.” This was the real weakness of the king: his nervous constitution often led him to extremes. Whatever the king did, due to his temperament, he indulged in it excessively.

Many of the king's ways of spending his time indicate his extravagance, which was based on certain character traits. Although his ingenuousness was obvious, it was sometimes funny and aroused ridicule and anger among his opponents. Henry was an unusual child for his time and his parents. However, for centuries no one was willing to admit this.