Charles IX | |
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King of France, Count of Provence (more...) | |
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Reign | 5 December 1560 – 30 May 1574 |
Coronation | 15 May 1561 |
Predecessor | Francis II |
Successor | Henry III |
Consort | Elisabeth of Austria |
Issue | |
Marie Elisabeth of Valois | |
Full name | |
Charles-Maximilien | |
Titles and styles | |
HMCM The King HRH The Duke of Orléans |
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Royal house | House of Valois |
Father | Henry II |
Mother | Catherine de' Medici |
Born | 27 June 1550 Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France |
Died | 30 May 1574 (aged 23) Vincennes, France |
Charles IX (27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) born Charles-Maximilien, was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
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He was born in the royal chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, third son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, grandson of François I and Claude de France, and brother of François II and Henri III. He was one of 10 children:
He was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter on Sunday 14 May 1564 at St George's, Windsor, along with Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford and Sir Henry Sidney. That year, Charles IX issued the Edict of Roussillon fixing 1 January as the first day of the year.
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After the death of his elder brother, François II, in 1560, he inherited the throne and was crowned King of France in 1560 in the cathedral at Reims. The politics of that era were greatly influenced by his mother, Catherine de' Medici, who was regent for the ten-year-old Charles, and by the power of the opposing religious faction leaders; the Protestant-leaning House of Bourbon and the ultra-Catholic House of Guise.
The first of the French Wars of Religion broke out in 1562-1563 when armed Protestant troops seized many French cities following an attack on Protestant worshippers by retainers of the Duke of Guise. After a four-year period of peace, an attempt by Huguenot armies at Meaux to capture and control the king led to the Second War of Religion from 1567 to 1568. A third war raged chiefly in south-western France from 1568 to 1570 with foreign intervention.
On 26 November 1570 Charles married Elisabeth of Austria. They had one daughter, Marie-Elisabeth (27 October 1572 – 9 April 1578). Charles IX also had an illegitimate son, the duc d'Angoulême, with his mistress, Marie Touchet.
In 1572, Charles IX witnessed the massacre of thousands of Huguenots (Protestants) in and around Paris in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.
Charles IX did not long survive the Massacre. He had always been fragile, both emotionally and physically: Emotionally, his moods now swung from coarse boasting about the extremity of the Massacre, to claims that the screams of the murdered Huguenots kept ringing in his ears. Frantically he blamed his mother: "Who but you is the cause of all of this? God's blood, you are the cause of it all!" The Queen-mother responded by declaring she had a lunatic for a son.[2]
Physically, Charles had never been strong, tending towards tuberculosis.
The strain following the Massacres weakened his body to the point where, by spring of 1574, the hoarse coughing turned bloody and the hemorrhages grew more violent. He became bedridden and delusional,
What blood shed! What murders! he cried to his nurse. What evil council I have followed! O my God, forgive me...I am lost! I am lost!"[3]
On his last day, 30 May 1574, at the Château de Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, Charles called for Henry III of Navarre, embraced him, and said, "Brother, you are losing a good friend. Had I believed all that I was told, you would not be alive. But I always loved you...I trust you alone to look after my wife and daughter. Pray God for me. Farewell."[4]
Charles was not yet twenty-four years old. The crown of France now passed to his brother, Henry III of Valois.
Charles IX of France | Father: Henry II of France |
Paternal Grandfather: Francis I of France |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Charles, Count of Angoulême |
Paternal Great-grandmother: Louise of Savoy |
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Paternal Grandmother: Claude of France |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Louis XII of France |
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Paternal Great-grandmother: Anne of Brittany |
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Mother: Catherine de' Medici |
Maternal Grandfather: Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici |
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Maternal Great-grandmother: Alfonsina Orsini |
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Maternal Grandmother: Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne |
Maternal Great-grandfather: John III, Count of Auvergne |
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Maternal Great-grandmother: Jeanne de Bourbon-Vendome |
Charles IX of France
House of Valois, Orléans-Angoulême branch
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: June 27 1550 Died: May 30 1574 |
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Preceded by Louis III |
Duke of Orléans | Succeeded by Henry III |
Regnal titles | ||
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Preceded by Francis II of France |
King of France 5 December 1560–30 May 1574 |
Succeeded by Henry III of France |
Count of Provence and Forcalquier as 'Charles V' 5 December 1560–30 May 1574 |
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Dauphin of Viennois, Count of Valentinois and of Diois as 'Charles IX of Viennois' 5 December 1560–30 May 1574 |
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