Henry IV of France

"Henry of Navarre" redirects here. For other uses, see Henry of Navarre (disambiguation).
Henry IV
King of France
Reign 2 August 1589 – 14 May 1610
Coronation 27 February 1594
Predecessor Henry III
Successor Louis XIII
King of Navarre
Reign 9 June 1572 – 14 May 1610
Predecessor Jeanne III
Successor Louis II
Spouse Margaret of France
Marie de' Medici
Issue César, Duke of Vendôme
Catherine Henriette de Bourbon
Louis XIII of France
Elisabeth, Queen of Spain
Christine, Duchess of Savoy
Nicholas Henri, Duke of Orléans
Gaston, Duke of Orléans
Henrietta Maria, Queen of England
House Bourbon
Father Antoine de Bourbon
Mother Jeanne III of Navarre
Born 13 December 1553
Pau, Kingdom of Navarre
Died 14 May 1610 (aged 56)
Paris, France
Burial Saint Denis Basilica, France
Religion Roman Catholicism,
previously Reformed

Henry IV (13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), Henri-Quatre (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃ʁiˈkatʁ]), also known by the epithet "Good King Henry", was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 to 1610 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first French monarch of the House of Bourbon.

Baptised as a Catholic but raised in the Protestant faith by his mother Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, he inherited the throne of Navarre in 1572 on the death of his mother. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the French Wars of Religion, barely escaping assassination in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and later led Protestant forces against the royal army.

Henry, as Head of the House of Bourbon, was a direct male-line descendant of Louis IX of France, and "first prince of the blood". Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henry III of France in 1589, Henry was called to the French succession by the Salic law. He initially kept the Protestant faith and had to fight against the Catholic League, which denied that he could wear France's crown as a Protestant, to obtain mastery over his kingdom. After four years of stalemate, he found it prudent to abjure the Calvinist faith. As a pragmatic politician (in the parlance of the time, a politique), he displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the era. Notably, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants, thereby effectively ending the Wars of Religion. He was assassinated by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.[1]

Considered a usurper by some Catholics and a traitor by some Protestants, Henry became target of at least 12 assassination attempts.[2] An unpopular king immediately after his accession, Henry's popularity greatly improved after his death,[3] in light of repeated victories over his enemies and his conversion to Catholicism. The "Good King Henry" (le bon roi Henri) was remembered for his geniality and his great concern about the welfare of his subjects. He was celebrated in the popular song Vive le roi Henri and in Voltaire's Henriade.

Early life

Childhood and adolescence

Henry was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn.[4] His parents were Queen Joan III of Navarre (Jeanne d'Albret) and her consort, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, King of Navarre.[5] Although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother,[6] who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre. As a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion. On 9 June 1572, upon his mother's death, he became King of Navarre.[7]

Henry III of France on his deathbed designating Henry IV of Navarre as his successor in 1589.

First marriage and Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

At Queen Joan's death, it was arranged for Henry to marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. The wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572[8] on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre began in Paris. Several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed. Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and his promise to convert to Catholicism. He was made to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On 5 February of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the military conflict.[7]

Wars of Religion

Henry at the Battle of Arques
Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry, by Peter Paul Rubens
Henry IV, as Hercules vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra (i.e. the Catholic League), by Toussaint Dubreuil, circa 1600

Henry became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of Francis, Duke of Anjou, brother and heir to the Catholic Henry III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574. Because Henry of Navarre was the next senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate successor.[9] Salic law barred the king's sisters from inheriting and all others who could claim descent through the female line. Since Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, the issue was not considered settled in many quarters of the country and France was plunged into a phase of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries. Henry III and Henry of Navarre were two of these Henries. The third was Henry I, Duke of Guise, who pushed for complete suppression of the Huguenots and had much support among Catholic loyalists. Political disagreements among the parties set off a series of campaigns and counter-campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Coutras.[10] In December 1588, Henry III had Henry I of Guise murdered,[11] along with his brother, Louis Cardinal de Guise.[12] Henry III thought that the removal of Guise would finally restore his authority. Instead, however, the populace were horrified and roused against him. In several cities, the title of the king was no longer recognized. His power was limited to Blois, Tours and the surrounding districts. In the general chaos there was still one power on whom the king could rely — Henry of Navarre and his Huguenots.

The two kings were united by a common interest — to rescue France from the League. Henry III acknowledged the King of Navarre as a true subject and Frenchman, not a fanatic Huguenot aiming for the destruction of Catholics. Catholic royalist nobles also rallied to the king's standard. With this combined force the two kings marched to Paris. The morale of the city was low, and even the Spanish ambassador thought that the city could not hold out longer than a fortnight. But Henry III was assassinated shortly thereafter by a fanatic monk.[13]

Upon the death of Henry III on 2 August 1589, Henry of Navarre nominally became king of France. The Catholic League, however, strengthened by support from outside the country—especially from Spain—was strong enough to prevent a universal recognition of his new title. Most of the Catholic nobles who had joined Henry III for the siege of Paris also refused to recognize his title and abandoned him. He had to set about winning his kingdom by military conquest, aided by English money and German troops. Henry's Catholic uncle Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, was proclaimed king by the League, but the cardinal was Henry's prisoner.[14] Henry was victorious at the Battle of Arques and the Battle of Ivry, but failed to take Paris after besieging it in 1590.[15]

When the Cardinal de Bourbon died in 1590, the League could not agree on a new candidate. While some supported various Guise candidates, the strongest candidate was probably the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain, whose mother Elisabeth had been the eldest daughter of Henry II of France.[16] In the religious fervor of the time, the Infanta was recognized to be a suitable candidate, provided that she marry a suitable husband. The French overwhelmingly rejected Philip's first choice, Archduke Ernest of Austria, the Emperor's brother, also a member of the House of Habsburg. In case of such opposition, Philip indicated that princes of the House of Lorraine would also be acceptable to him: the Duke of Guise; a son of the Duke of Lorraine; and the son of the Duke of Mayenne. The Spanish ambassadors then selected the Duke of Guise, to the joy of the League. But at that moment of seeming victory the envy of the Duke of Mayenne was aroused, and he blocked the proposed election of a king.

The Parlement of Paris also upheld the Salic law. They argued that if the French accepted natural hereditary succession, as proposed by the Spaniards, and accepted a woman as their queen, then the ancient claims of the English kings would be confirmed, and the monarchy of centuries past would be nothing but an illegality.[17] The Parlement admonished Mayenne, as Lieutenant-General, that the Kings of France had resisted the interference of the Pope in political matters, and that he should not raise a foreign prince or princess to the throne of France under the pretext of religion. Mayenne was angered that he had not been consulted prior, but yielded, since their aim was not contrary to his present views.

Despite these setbacks for the League, Henry remained unable to take control of Paris.

Jeton with portrait of King Henri IV, made in Nuremberg (Germany) by Hans Laufer
Entrance of Henry IV in Paris, 22 March 1594, with 1,500 cuirassiers

"Paris is well worth a Mass"

On 25 July 1593, with the encouragement of the great love of his life, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henry permanently renounced Protestantism, thus earning the resentment of the Huguenots and his former ally Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was said to have declared that Paris vaut bien une messe ("Paris is well worth a mass"),[18][19][20] although there is some doubt whether he said this, or whether the statement was attributed to him by his contemporaries.[21][22] His acceptance of Roman Catholicism secured for him the allegiance of the vast majority of his subjects, and he was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Chartres on 27 February 1594. He did not forget his former coreligionists, however, and in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted circumscribed toleration to the Huguenots.[23]

Royal styles of
King Henry IV
Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre
Reference style His Most Christian Majesty
Spoken style Your Most Christian Majesty
Alternative style Sire

Second marriage

Henry IV and Marie de Médicis

Henry's first marriage was not a happy one, and the couple remained childless. Henry and Margaret separated even before Henry acceded to the throne in August 1589, and Margaret lived for many years in the Château d'Usson in the Auvergne. After Henry became king of France, it was of the utmost importance that he provide an heir to the crown to avoid the problem of a disputed succession. Henry favoured the idea of obtaining an annulment of his marriage to Margaret and taking Gabrielle d'Estrées as his bride; after all, she had already borne him three children. Henry's councillors strongly opposed this idea, but the matter was resolved unexpectedly by Gabrielle's sudden death in the early hours of 10 April 1599, after she had given birth to a premature and stillborn son. His marriage to Margaret was annulled in 1599, and he then married Marie de' Medici in 1600.

For the royal entry of Marie into Papal Avignon on 19 November 1600, the Jesuit scholars bestowed on Henry the title of the Hercule Gaulois ("Gallic Hercules"), justifying the extravagant flattery with a genealogy that traced the origin of the House of Navarre to a nephew of Hercules' son Hispalus.[24]

Achievements of his reign

Itinerary of François Pyrard de Laval, from 1601 to 1611

During his reign, Henry IV worked through his faithful right-hand man, the minister Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, to regularise state finance, promote agriculture, drain swamps, undertake public works, and encourage education, as with the creation of the Collège Royal Henri-le-Grand in La Flèche (today the Prytanée Militaire de la Flèche). He and Sully protected forests from further devastation, built a new system of tree-lined highways, and constructed new bridges and canals. He had a 1200 metre canal built in the park at the Château Fontainebleau (which may be fished today) and ordered the planting of pines, elms, and fruit trees.

The king restored Paris as a great city, with the Pont Neuf, which still stands today, constructed over the river Seine to connect the Right and Left Banks of the city. Henry IV also had the Place Royale built (since 1800 known as Place des Vosges), and added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre Palace. More than 400 metres long and thirty-five metres wide, this huge addition was built along the bank of the Seine River, and at the time was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. King Henry IV, a promoter of the arts by all classes of people, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the building's lower floors. This tradition continued for another two hundred years, until Emperor Napoleon I banned it. The art and architecture of his reign have become known as the "Henry IV style" since that time.

King Henry's vision extended beyond France, and he financed several expeditions of Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain to North America, which saw France lay claim to Canada.[25]

International relations under Henry IV

Engraving of Henry IV of France
Coin of Henry IV, demi écu, Saint Lô, 1589

The reign of Henry IV saw the continuation of the rivalry among France, the Habsburg rulers of Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire for the mastery of Western Europe, a conflict that would only be resolved after the end of the Thirty Years' War.

Spain and Italy

During Henry's struggle for the crown, Spain had been the principal backer of the Catholic League, and it tried to thwart Henry. Under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma an army from the Spanish Netherlands intervened in 1590 against Henry and foiled his siege of Paris. Another Spanish army helped the nobles opposing Henry to win the Battle of Craon against his troops in 1592.

After Henry's coronation, the war continued as an official tug-of-war between the French and Spanish states that was terminated by the Peace of Vervins in 1598.

This enabled Henry to turn his attention to Savoy, with which he also had been fighting. Their conflicts were settled in the Treaty of Lyon of 1601, which mandated territorial exchanges between France and the Duchy of Savoy.

Germany

In 1609 Henry's intervention helped to settle the War of the Jülich succession through diplomatic means.

It was widely believed that in 1610 Henry was preparing to go to war against the Holy Roman Empire. The preparations were terminated by his assassination, however, and the subsequent rapprochement with Spain under the regency of Marie de' Medici.

Ottoman Empire

Bilingual Franco-Turkish translation of the 1604 Franco-Ottoman Capitulations between Sultan Ahmed I and Henry IV of France, published by François Savary de Brèves in 1615[26]

Even before Henry's accession to the French throne, the French Huguenots were in contact with Aragonese Moriscos in plans against the Habsburg government of Spain in the 1570s.[27] Around 1575, plans were made for a combined attack of Aragonese Moriscos and Huguenots from Béarn under Henry against Spanish Aragon, in agreement with the king of Algiers and the Ottoman Empire, but these projects floundered with the arrival of John of Austria in Aragon and the disarmament of the Moriscos.[28][29] In 1576, a three-pronged fleet from Constantinople was planned to disembark between Murcia and Valencia while the French Huguenots would invade from the north and the Moriscos accomplish their uprising, but the Ottoman fleet failed to arrive.[28] After his crowning, Henry continued the policy of a Franco-Ottoman alliance and received an embassy from Sultan Mehmed III in 1601.[30][31] In 1604, a "Peace Treaty and Capitulation" was signed between Henry IV and the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I. It granted numerous advantages to France in the Ottoman Empire.[31]

In 1606–7, Henry IV sent Arnoult de Lisle as Ambassador to Morocco to obtain the observance of past friendship treaties. An embassy was sent to Tunisia in 1608 led by François Savary de Brèves.[32]

Far-East Asia

During the reign of Henry IV, various enterprises were set up to develop trade with faraway lands. In December 1600, a company was formed through the association of Saint-Malo, Laval, and Vitré to trade with the Moluccas and Japan.[33] Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin, were sent around the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. One was wrecked in the Maldives, leading to the adventure of François Pyrard de Laval, who managed to return to France in 1611.[33][34] The second ship, onboard which was François Martin de Vitré, reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra, but was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre.[33][34] François Martin de Vitré was the first Frenchman to write an account of travels to the Far East in 1604, at the request of Henry IV, and from that time numerous accounts on Asia would be published.[35]

From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry developed a strong enthusiasm for travel to Asia and attempted to set up a French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands.[34][35][36] On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to Dieppe merchants to form the Dieppe Company, giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years. No ships were sent, however, until 1616.[33] In 1609, another adventurer, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe, returned from a circumnavigation of the globe and informed Henry of his adventures.[35] He had visited China and in India, had an encounter with Akbar.[35]

Character

Henry IV, Versailles Museum

Henry IV proved to be a man of vision and courage. Instead of waging costly wars to suppress opposing nobles, Henry simply paid them off. As king, he adopted policies and undertook projects to improve the lives of all subjects, which made him one of the country's most popular rulers ever.

Henry is said to have originated the oft-repeated phrase, "a chicken in every pot". The context in which he is reported to have said this is:

Si Dieu me prête vie, je ferai qu'il n'y aura point de laboureur en mon royaume qui n'ait les moyens d'avoir le dimanche une poule dans son pot!

(If God keeps me, I will make sure that no peasant in my realm will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot on Sunday!)

This statement epitomises the peace and relative prosperity Henry brought to France after decades of religious war and demonstrates how well he understood the plight of the French worker and peasant farmer. This real concern for the living conditions of the "lowly" population – who in the final analysis provided the economic basis on which the power of the king and the great nobles rested – was perhaps without parallel among the kings of France. Following his death Henry would be remembered fondly by most of the population.

Henry's forthright manner, physical courage, and military successes also contrasted dramatically with the sickly, effete languor of the last Valois kings, as evinced by his blunt assertion that he ruled with "weapon in hand and arse in the saddle" (on a le bras armé et le cul sur la selle). He was also a great philanderer, fathering many children by a number of mistresses.

Nicknames

Henry was nicknamed Henry the Great (Henri le Grand), and in France is also called le bon roi Henri ("the good king Henry") or le vert galant ("The Green Gallant", for his numerous mistresses).[37] In English he is most often referred to as Henry of Navarre.

Assassination

Although he is considered a man of kindness, compassion and good humour, and was much loved by his people, Henry was the subject of attempts on his life by Pierre Barrière in August 1593[38] and Jean Châtel in December 1594.[39]

In the third attempt on his life, King Henry IV was assassinated in Paris on 14 May 1610 by a Catholic fanatic, François Ravaillac, who stabbed the king to death in the Rue de la Ferronnerie. Henry's coach was stopped by traffic congestion related to the Queen's coronation ceremony, as depicted in the engraving by Gaspar Bouttats.[40][41] Hercule de Rohan, duc de Montbazon, was with him when he was killed; Montbazon was wounded, but survived. Henry was buried at the Saint Denis Basilica.

His widow, Marie de' Medici, served as regent for their nine-year-old son, Louis XIII, until 1617.[42]

Legacy

Henri IV, Marie de' Medici and family

The reign of Henry IV had a lasting impact on the French people for generations afterward. A statue of him was built in his honour at the Pont Neuf in 1614, only four years after his death. Although this statue—as well as those of all the other French kings—was torn down during the French Revolution, it was the first to be rebuilt, in 1818, and it stands today on the Pont Neuf. A cult surrounding the personality of Henry IV emerged during the Bourbon Restoration. The restored Bourbons were keen to play down the controversial reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI and instead emphasised the reign of the benevolent Henry IV. The song "Vive Henri IV" ("Long Live Henry IV") was popular during the Restoration. In addition, when Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily (a descendant of his) gave birth to a male heir to the throne of France seven months after the assassination of her husband Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, by a Republican fanatic, the boy was conspicuously named Henri in reference to his forefather Henry IV. The boy also was baptised in the traditional way of Béarn/Navarre, with a spoon of Jurançon wine and some garlic, imitating the manner in which Henry IV had been baptised in Pau. That custom had been abandoned by later Bourbon kings.

Henry IV's popularity continued when the first edition of his biography, Histoire du Roy Henry le Grand, was published in Amsterdam in 1661. It was written by Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont, successively bishop of Rhodez and archbishop of Paris, primarily for the edification of Louis XIV, grandson of Henry IV. A translation into English was made by James Dauncey for another grandson, King Charles II of England. An English edition was derived from this, which was published at London two years later in 1663.

Henry served as the loose inspiration behind Ferdinand, the King of Navarre in William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.[43]

Royal Monogram

Genealogy

Ancestors

Patrilineal descent

Marriages and legitimate children

On 18 August 1572, Henry married his second cousin Margaret of Valois; their childless marriage was annulled in 1599. His subsequent marriage to Marie de' Medici on 17 December 1600 produced six children:

NameBirthDeathNotes
Louis XIII, King of France27 September 160114 May 1643Married Anne of Austria in 1615
Elisabeth, Queen of Spain22 November 16026 October 1644Married Philip IV, King of Spain, in 1615
Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy10 February 160627 December 1663Married Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, in 1619
Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans16 April 160717 November 1611
Gaston, Duke of Orléans25 April 16082 February 1660Married (1) Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, in 1626
Married (2) Marguerite of Lorraine in 1632
Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, Queen of Scots, and Queen of Ireland25 November 160910 September 1669Married Charles I, King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland, in 1625

Armorial

The arms of Henry IV changed throughout his lifetime:

Notes

  1. ↑ Baird, Henry M., The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, Vol. 2, (Charles Scribner's Sons:New York, 1886), 486.
  2. ↑ Pierre Miquel, Les Guerres de religion, Paris, Club France Loisirs, 1980 (ISBN 2-7242-0785-8) p. 399.
  3. ↑ Le Figaro, "Henri IV, Dès sa mort, il entre dans la légende", 1 Aug 2009 [http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2009/08/01/01006-20090801ARTFIG00046--henri-iv-des-sa-mort-il-entre-dans-la-legende-.php
  4. ↑ Urzainqui, T./Esarte, P./Et al., p. 17
  5. ↑ de La Croix, René, Duc de Castries, The Lives of the Kings and Queens of France, (Alfred A. Knopf:New York, 1979), 175.
  6. ↑ Henri IV Bourbon, Who's Who in Europe 1450 1750, ed. Henry Kamen, (Routledge, 2002), 145.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Trevor N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson and David L. Bongard, The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, (Castle Books, 1995), 326.
  8. ↑ R.J. Knecht, Catherine de' Medici, (Longman, 1999), 153.
  9. ↑ Baird, Henry M., The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, Vol. 1, (Charles Scribner's Sons:New York, 1886), 269.
  10. ↑ Baird, Vol 1, 431.
  11. ↑ Baird, Vol 2, 96.
  12. ↑ Baird, Vol 2, 103.
  13. ↑ Baird, Vol. 2, 156–157.
  14. ↑ Baird, Vol. 2, 180.
  15. ↑ Baird, Vol. 2, 181.
  16. ↑ Holt, Mack P., The French wars of religion, 1562–2011, (Cambridge University Press, 1995), 148.
  17. ↑ Ranke, Leopold. Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, p. 467
  18. ↑ Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris, Random House, 2004
  19. ↑ F.P.G. Guizot (1787–1874) A Popular History of France..., gutenberg.org
  20. ↑ Janel Mueller & Joshua Scodel, eds, Elizabeth I, University of Chicago Press, 2009
  21. ↑ G. de Berthier de Savigny in his Histoire de France (1977 p.167) claims that the Calvinists in revenge attributed the phrase to him.
  22. ↑ Paul Desalmand & Yves Stallini, Petit Inventaire des Citations Malmenées, 2009.
  23. ↑ de La Croix, 179–180.
  24. ↑ The official account, Labyrinthe royal... quoted in Jean Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods, (B.F. Sessions, tr.) 1995:26.
  25. ↑ de La Croix, 182.
  26. ↑ ',The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Fascicules 111–112 : Masrah Mawlid', by Clifford Edmund Bosworth p.799. Google Books. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  27. ↑ ',Divided by faith', by Benjamin J. Kaplan p.311. Google Books. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 The Moriscos of Spain: their conversion and expulsion by Henry Charles Lea p. 281 –
  29. ↑ L. P. Harvey. Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614. Google Books. p. 343. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  30. ↑ East encounters West: France and the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century Fatma Müge Göçek p.9
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Randall Lesaffer, Peace treaties and international law in European history p.343
  32. ↑ Asma Moalla, "The regency of Tunis and the Ottoman Porte, 1777–1814", p.59
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 1 by Donald F. Lach pp. 93–94
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 The Cambridge History of the British Empire', p.61. Google Books. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Asia in the Making of Europe. Google Books. p. 393. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  36. ↑ A history of modern India, 1480–1950 by Claude Markovits p.144: The account of the experiences of François Martin de Vitré "incited the king to create a company in the image of that of the United Provinces"
  37. ↑ l'Académie française: Dictionnaire de la langue française (Institut de France. 6th edition. 1835): 'C'est un vert galant' se dit d'un homme vif, alerte, qui aime beaucoup les femmes et qui s'empresse à leur plaire. É.Littré: Dictionnaire Française (Hachette. 1863): Hommme vif, alerte, vigoreux et particulièrement empressé auprès de femmes. Grand Larousse de la Langue Française (Paris. 1973): Homme entreprenant auprès de femmes. And see Discussion under the heading Vert Galant – A look at the Dictionaries
  38. ↑ Baird, Vol. 2, 367.
  39. ↑ Baird, Vol. 2, 368.
  40. ↑ Pierre de l'Estoile, Journal du règne de Henri IV. Paris: Gallimard, p 84, 1960.
  41. ↑ Knecht, Robert J. The Murder of le roi Henri, History Today. May 2010 issue.
  42. ↑ Moote, A. Lloyd, Louis XIII, the Just, (University of California Press, Ltd., 1989), 41.
  43. ↑ G.R. Hibbard (editor), Love's Labour's Lost (Oxford University Press, 1990), p.49
  44. ↑ Robert Knecht, Renaissance France, genealogies; Baumgartner, genealogicl tables.

References

Further reading

Non-fiction
  • Baumgartner, Frederic J. (1995). France in the Sixteenth Century. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-62088-7.
  • Briggs, Robin (1977). Early Modern France, 1560–1715. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-289040-9.
  • Bryson, David M. (1999). Queen Jeanne and the Promised Land: Dynasty, Homeland, Religion and Violence in Sixteenth-century France. Leiden and Boston, Massachusetts: Brill Academic. ISBN 90-04-11378-9.
  • Buisseret, David (1990). Henry IV, King of France. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-04-445635-2.
  • Cameron, Keith, ed. (1989). From Valois to Bourbon: Dynasty, State & Society in Early Modern France. Exeter: University of Exeter. ISBN 0-85989-310-3.
  • Finley-Croswhite, S. Annette (1999). Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1589–1610. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62017-1.
  • Frieda, Leonie (2005). Catherine de Medici. London: Phoenix. ISBN 0-7538-2039-0.
  • Greengrass, Mark (1984). France in the Age of Henri IV: The Struggle for Stability. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49251-3.
  • Holt, Mack P. (2005). The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83872-X.
  • Lee, Maurice J. (1970). James I & Henri IV: An Essay in English Foreign Policy, 1603–1610. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-00084-6.
  • LLoyd, Howell A. (1983). The State, France, and the Sixteenth Century. London: George Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-940066-5.
  • Lockyer, Roger (1974). Habsburg and Bourbon Europe, 1470–1720. Harlow, UK: Longman. ISBN 0-582-35029-8.
  • Love, Ronald S. (2001). Blood and Religion: The Conscience of Henri IV, 1553–1593. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2124-0.
  • Major, J. Russell (1997). From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy: French Kings, Nobles & Estates. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5631-0.
  • Mousnier, Roland (1973). The Assassination of Henry IV: The Tyrannicide Problem and the Consolidation of the French Absolute Monarchy in the Early Seventeenth Century. Translated by Joan Spencer. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-684-13357-1.
  • Pettegree, Andrew (2002). Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-20704-X.
  • Pitts, Vincent J (2009). Henri IV of France: His Reign and Age. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9027-7.
  • Salmon, J. H. M. (1975). Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN 0-510-26351-8.
  • Sutherland, N. M. (1973). The Massacre of St Bartholomew and the European Conflict, 1559–1572. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-13629-2.
  • ——— (1980). The Huguenot Struggle for Recognition. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02328-6.
  • ——— (1984). Princes, Politics and Religion, 1547–1589. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 0-907628-44-3.
  • ——— (2002). Henry IV of France and the Politics of Religion, 1572–1596. 2 volumes. Bristol: Elm Bank. ISBN 1-84150-846-2.
Fiction

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Henry IV of France
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henri IV of France.
Henry III of Navarre & IV of France
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 13 December 1553 Died: 14 May 1610
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Jeanne III		 King of Navarre
9 June 1572 – 14 May 1610 		Succeeded by
Louis XIII and II
Preceded by
Henry III		 King of France
2 August 1589 – 14 May 1610
French nobility
Preceded by
Antoine of Navarre		 Duke of Vendôme and Beaumont;
Count of Marle, La Fère and Soissons
17 November 1562–1607 		Merged into the crown
Preceded by
Jeanne III of Navarre		 Duke of Albret
Count of Foix, Armagnac, Comminges,
Bigorre, Limoges and Périgord;
Viscount of Béarn;
Lord of Donezan
9 June 1572–1607