King of France Henri IV was born on December 13, 1553, although at his birth he was known as Henri III, and how this story gets a bit confusing. Henri’s mother Jeanne d’Albert was the queen of Navarre and married Antoine de Bourbon, the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty who died in 1572.
That same year just after his father’s death Jeanne and regent to Henri III of France, Catherine de Medici struck a deal when it was apparent that Henri IV was next in line for the throne of France. Catherine’s sons, including three kings, Francis I, Charles IX, and Henri III, died before they could have an heir. Henri IV was a descendant of Louis IX and a Bourbon and next in line and Catherine was always the scheming lady that she knew she should align her daughter to the man that could next be king.
A deal was reached and Jeanne, the leader of the Huguenots had to agree that she would not convert her future daughter-in-law, Marguerite de Valois, and the wedding must take place by August 18, 1572. By the beginning of June, the deal was done. As a thank you, Catherine offered to gift Jeanne a pair of custom leather gloves. On June 9, 1572, Jeanne died, from what many believe was the gloves laced with poison.
The grand wedding on the Parvis of Notre Dame de Paris was held on August 18, 1572, and just six days later, many Protestant guests were killed in the middle of the night. The Saint Bartholomew Day Massacre of August 24, 1572, ordered at midnight from the Louvre by Catherine and her son Charles IX would result in the killing of thousands of Huguenots and the Seine running red from blood.
Henri III of Navarre became king of France, Henri IV after the death of Henri III on August 2, 1589. Coronated in the Cathedral of Chartres as he was still a Protestant and they wouldn’t allow the event in Notre Dame de Reims. Marriage with Marguerite was difficult, they both had many lovers and the kiss of death was Marguerite not giving the throne the all-important heir. Their marriage was annulled by the Pope in 1599 and Henri IV planned to wed his mistress Gabrielle d’Estrées who had already given him three children with one on the one.
Henri met Gabrielle in November of 1590 through her cousin who was a nun and mistress of the king. The Vert Galant as he was known for his high sex drive was deeply in love with the blonde beauty and planned to marry her although all his advisors cautioned against it. Just as his marriage to Marguerite was annulled, Gabrielle died. (For more on Gabrielle, listen to a favorite past episode)
A legitimate heir to the throne was needed and a solution to the debt France was carrying was also solved. The French state owed the Medici banking family more than 600,000 écus. A proposal of marriage between Marie de Medici and the French king would erase the debt as well as come with a dowry of a million écus. A contract was signed in April and on October 5, 1600, the wedding by proxy took place in Florence. Marie’s uncle stood in for the king and a month later she was on the way to meet her new husband. The two wouldn’t meet until December 9, 1600, Henri was busy with a mistress or two for a week in Lyon while Marie waited.
On September 27, 1601, Louis XIII was born, the first of six children and the next king of France. Henri continued his cavorting ways and Marie was a distant mother leaving the children with others to be raised. Ten years after their wedding on May 13. 1610 Marie de Medici has finally crowned the queen of France after urging Henri to set a date for over nine years.
In the Basilique Saint-Denis, as Henri IV looked on his wife was crowned, their eight-year-old sold looked on. They could never imagine how quickly everything would change.
The next afternoon Henri IV left the Palais du Louvre to see his old friend Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully who was ill and at his home in Arsenal. The two men met before the Saint Barthélemy massacre in 1572, Sully was just 13. The two would be close friends and trusted advisor until that fateful day in May. Henri left the Louvre in his carriage and made his way down Rue Saint Honoré. The streets were filled with people and traffic. As the carriage turned onto the Rue de la Ferronnerie, two wagons, one filled with wine and the other with hay blocked the way forcing them to stop.
At 4 pm on May 14, 1610, François Ravaillac, a Catholic zealot jumped onto the step and reached into the king's carriage with a knife, stabbing him three times between the 2nd and 3rd ribs piercing his heart. The attacker was captured immediately and the king returned to the Louvre. Henri IV died quickly after the attack and was rushed into his bedroom in the Louvre.
Louis XIII had been at the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit at the edge of the left bank on the Rue des Grands Augustens and advisors rushed to his side as he was now the king of France, even if he was still a child.
A few days after his death, a wax effigy of the king was created. The life-like image of the king would lay on his bed, wearing a white satin vest and a red velvet nightcap and tucked in like he was simply taking an afternoon nap. The real Henri IV lay beneath the bed in his casket. Twice a day meals would be served before him, at times large tables were set up and the court sat and ate their meals alongside him. The faithful would visit the king in the Salles des Caryatides for three weeks. On July 1, he would finally be interred in the Basilique Saint-Denis, where he had been just the day before his death. Henri IV was the second king of France in succession to be assassinated. At that moment his son Louis XIII became king, and Marie de Medici was regent until he came of age, or so he thought.
As for Ravaillac, he was taken to the Conciergerie interrogated and tortured and on May 27, on the Place de Grève, in front of the Hotel de Ville, killed. Tying each of his limbs to a horse, they would take off and tear him apart.
Listen to the new episode out now. For more on Marie de Medici, Catherine de Medici, and Gabrielle d’Estrées click on their name to hear each of their specific episodes about their lives.
Have a person from French history you want to know more about, let me know.