Three Henrys Walk into a War...

This is Dana Schwartz. One quick note of housekeeping before we begin. If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon. Patreon.com slash Noble Blood Tales for scripts, some bonus content, some exclusive stickers, and this is the brand new update, ad-free episodes. So if you're looking for your episodes ad-free, go to Patreon.com slash Noble Blood Tales. Now, let's get into the show. Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild from Aaron Menke.

Listener discretion advised. On June 10, 1584, François, Duke of Anjou, died after several months of illness. He was just 29 years old, and the news of his death was met with much anxiety. because François was the younger brother of the reigning King Henry III, and though the king had been married for nearly a decade, Henry III had no children and seemed unlikely to produce a suitable heir any time soon, which meant his brother François was next in line to the throne, or rather he had been before he died. Francois' unexpected death meant that the next king of France would likely not be a member of the Valois dynasty, the family that had ruled France since 1328. Instead, the heir apparent to the throne was now a man

from the Bourbon dynasty, Henry, king of Navarre. The Valois were descendants of Philip III, king of France from 1270 to 1285. The Bourbons, meanwhile, were descendants of Philip's younger brother, Robert. According to the Salic law, the monarchy of France could be inherited only by a male heir and was to be passed down through the male line. As the son of Antoine of Bourbon, heir of the Bourbon family, Henry of Navarre, was the next heir in line. The inheritance rules of the French monarchy were complex, but they seemed pretty clear in this case. Henry of Navarre would be the next king of France. There was just one problem.

And in the 1500s, this was a big problem. Henry of Navarre was not Catholic. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. Henry of Navarre was born on December 13th, 1553. Our story is going to be about something called the War of the Three Henrys, and so let's think of Henry of Navarre as Henry No. 1. He was the son of Antoine of Bourbon and his wife, who became the king and queen of Navarre in 1555. Despite those titles, they actually ruled only part of Navarre, as the Spanish monarch Ferdinand II of Aragon had conquered part of the region earlier in the 16th century. Still, Antoine and his wife Jeanne controlled a considerable territory in southwestern France, including Lower Navarre and the province of Bearn. Antoine and Jeanne

began their rule in a time of religious turmoil. In 1517, Martin Luther, professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, wrote his 95 Theses, opposing the Catholic Church's practice of indulgences. This is often seen as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, although in many ways the movement developed out of earlier calls to reform the Church. Following the 95 Theses, Luther wrote several other works criticizing the Catholic Church and the Pope.

who excommunicated him in 1521. Support for Luther's ideas spread, while other reform movements formed and developed their own ideas that differed from Luther's. Rather than leading to an agreement to reform certain aspects of Christian belief and practice, the Reformation divided Western Christianity into the Catholic Church, and various forms of Protestantism. It also contributed to a long period of intense religious conflict in Europe. In Europe at this time, religion was not simply a matter of personal faith. It had important implications for for the entire community. As historian Mac P. Holt puts it, religion was understood as, quote, a body of believers rather than just a body of beliefs.

As such, Holt explains, quote, Protestants and Catholics alike in the 16th century each viewed the other as pollutants of their own particular notion of of the body social, as threats to their own conception of ordered society, end quote. Essentially, religious nonconformity threatened the spiritual health of the community, as well as the proper functioning of society. Religion could also be deeply political. French monarchs had long been associated with Christianity and were viewed as responsible for protecting and defending the Christian Church. After the Reformation, this became a responsibility to defend the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Protestantism developed an association with rebellion. Between the 1520s and early 1560s, Protestantism grew

increasingly popular in France. This was especially true of the branch of Protestantism known as Reformed Christianity. It is often called Calvinism, after one of its main theologians and popularizers, John Calvin. Calvin was a French Protestant who had fled France after the so-called Affair of the Placards in 1534, when Protestant writings were posted in Paris and other cities.

After that event, King Francois I began persecuting French Protestants. As a result, many, like Calvin, fled France and resettled in Protestant areas of Europe Calvin went to Switzerland, and while there, he wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion, which outlined his version of Protestantism. The first edition of the Institutes was published in Latin in 1536, and a French edition appeared in 1541. More editions in French, Latin, and other languages followed. Calvin's work was very influential, and despite a ban on Protestantism issued by King Henry II in 1551, the reformed tradition gained a number of adherents in France, who became known as Huguenots. The Huguenots counted members of the French aristocracy among their supporters- and that included,

a name that might sound familiar, Antoine of Bourbon and his wife, Jeanne of Navarre. They allowed Reformed Christianity or Calvinism to flourish in their territory, and Jeanne publicly declared her Reformed faith in late December 1560. Their son, of course, was Henry of Navarre. After his father's death in 1562, Henry of Navarre was educated and raised primarily by Protestants, with his mother encouraging him to maintain his Reformed faith.

When she died in 1572, her territory passed to Henry. Later that same year, Henry married Marguerite, the sister of the reigning king Charles IX. Unfortunately, the beginning of their marriage would be less than auspicious. In Paris, on August 24, 1572, a few days after their wedding occurred, anti-Protestant violence broke out in what became known as the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which very long-time listeners of this show might remember from the, ahem, 11th episode, The Wedding Ended in Blood. Facing the threat of injury or death, Henry of Navarre agreed to convert to Catholicism. He spent the next few years at the royal court before he managed to finally leave in 1576.

After that, he renounced his conversion to Catholicism. Henry of Navarre's faith was, to put it mildly, a problem for many French Catholics. especially when it became clear how close he was to the crown. Being Catholic, those critics argued, was a requirement for holding the French throne, one that was so important that it overruled other succession laws, like the Salic Law, which held that the throne could not be inherited by women or pass down the maternal line.

Among those who opposed Henry of Navarre's succession were members of the aristocracy, in particular the Guise family of Lorraine. The Guise were an incredibly powerful and influential noble family, and they gained much of this power and influence from their involvement with the Catholic Church and their profession of the Catholic faith. In 1584, the head of the Guise family was, you guessed it, you've been waiting for it, another Henry. Henry number two, Henry of Lorraine. This Henry became Duke of Guise in 1563, when he was just 12 years old, after his father was shot and killed by a Huguenot assassin, You can imagine that must have made quite the impression. Thereafter, this Henry and his Guise

family continued to be key players in the French wars of religion, establishing themselves as defenders of the faith in the eyes of many Catholics. Henry, the new Duke of Guise, and his allies joined together in an organization known as the Catholic League. which had its origins in an earlier organization that they had formed in 1576. The League soon gained support in several French cities and towns, including Paris, where its faction became known as the Sixteen. What drew people to the Catholic League? Partly, it was the unpopularity of King Henry III. Conveniently, Henry number three in our story.

which the League drew on to further their cause. King Henry III was born on September 19, 1551. He became King of France only after the death of his older brother, Charles, in May 1574. Charles had only been 23 when he died, and Henry's ascension to the throne was unexpected. In fact, Henry had not even been in France at the time.

He was in Krakow after his coronation as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and he did not make it back to France until September. During his reign as king of France, Henry III developed a reputation for extravagance and doting on his favorites at court. His image was not helped by the poor economic situation in France during his rule, something that never helps with a monarch's popularity. His subjects faced burdensome taxes and high prices. For example, the cost of bread, a staple component of people's diets, doubled between 1578 and 1586.

Many Catholics also feared that What would happen to them if a Protestant became king? Would they be persecuted? Executed as heretics? In the months following the death of the king's younger brother, when the question of who would be next in line for the throne was more pressing than ever, everyone prepared for war. On December 15th, 1584, the very not-Catholic Henry of Navarre, our first Henry, allied with several Protestant powers, including Elizabeth I of England and the Protestant German princes. Then, on December 31st, our Henry number two, the Duke of Guise, His allies and representatives of Philip II of Spain signed a treaty that named Henry of Navarre's uncle, Cardinal Charles of Bourbon, the true heir to

the French throne. The treaty also stipulated that Philip II of Spain would provide financial assistance to the Catholic League's armies, meaning that the League now had the support of of one of the most powerful Catholic monarchies in 16th century Europe. In July 1585, King Henry III and the League signed a treaty overturning Huguenot protections, while the king also agreed to declare war on Henry of Navarre, who was, if you're keeping track, still technically the heir to the throne.

The alliance between Henry III and the League, though, was fragile. The king's relationship with the Duke of Guise had been strained in the years leading up to the king's brother's death, and it continued to be so afterward, despite the fact that they were both Catholic. What's more, opposition to King Henry III was mounting in Paris. where the Catholic League's branch, the Sixteen, was growing increasingly popular and radical. In the spring of 1588, Henry III heard that members of the Guise family had planned a plot against him. In response, he banned the Duke of Guise from Paris and took steps to secure the city. Hoping that a compromise could be reached, the king's mother, Catherine de' Medici, invited the

duke to Paris anyway, and he was allowed to enter the city on May 9th. Things at first appeared cordial. However, after learning that the Duke of Guise's troops happened to be very close to Paris... King Henry ordered around 6,000 troops into the city on the night of May 11th. The presence of those troops upset many Parisians, as they were supposed to be in charge of their own defenses.

On May 12th, now known as the Day of the Barricades, Parisians started putting up barricades, such as barrels and carts. If you've seen Les Miserables, you probably know what to imagine. King Henry III, who had decided to hide out in the Louvre, asked the Duke of Guise to calm the situation down, but he wasn't able to do so. The Duke requested reinforcements from one of his allies, and the Leaguers planned to move against the vulnerable king. Henry fled Paris on the evening of May 13th, after which the Duke of Guise and the Catholic League took control of the city. Unable to return to Paris, Henry III went to Chartres. After several months of attempting to negotiate with the League, Henry signed a treaty with them in July.

He agreed to many of their demands, clearing the guises of any wrongdoing on the day of the barricades, and naming the Duke of Guise his commander-in-chief. In October, Henry called for a meeting of the Estates General, an assembly of representatives from different regions of France, that could be convened to advise the king on important matters. The selected individuals represented the three main social groups, or estates. The first estate, the clergy, the second estate, the nobility, and the third estate, the commoners. The interests of the League were well represented in the Estates General, especially within the third estate. The Estates General made many demands and refused to cooperate as King Henry had hoped. despite attempts by

the Duke of Guise to mediate on the king's behalf. There were also rumors circulating that the duke was still seeking more power and authority. By December, the king had grown tired of the affronts to his authority, and he hatched a plan to get rid of the Duke of Guise once and for all. On the morning of December 23rd, 1588, the duke was summoned to Henry's personal chambers in the royal castle at Blois. There he was met with the king's guards, the 45. While accompanying him to where the meeting was supposed to occur, the guards surprised him and stabbed him to death. The king also had the duke's brother, Cardinal Louis of Guise, arrested and then killed. Whatever King Henry III had hoped he would gain from arranging the

deaths of the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Guise, it ended up spectacularly backfiring on him. The third estate continued to be uncooperative, and the estate's general was disbanded on January 16, 1589. In Paris, the Catholic League gained even more support and became even more radical after hearing what the king had done. Considerable opposition came from members of the clergy, who helped stoke the flames of outrage, and numerous anti-Henry publications were printed in Paris. Some even claimed that Henry III was no longer the rightful king, but instead a tyrant who could and should be opposed.

To be clear, not all French Catholics shared the League's militant stance. During the previous French Wars of Religion, a group of moderates had emerged, known as the politiques, They privileged peace and objected to the violence caused by hardline Catholics and Protestants in the quest for religious uniformity. It is also possible that many Parisians disagreed with some of the League's more extreme actions, even if they did not support Henry III or his later successors. The League took steps to rid Paris of the perceived threat of moderates and royalists. They purged the Parliament of Paris in January 1589, dismissing magistrates they felt did not adequately support their cause.

Individuals suspected of being moderate politique or royalists were also subjected to other forms of harassment and violence. In some cases, the League even had them executed. In March 1589, King Henry moved his court to Tours, after which the League set up new systems of administration in Paris, where they still held the city. the League managed to gain the support of several important nobles, including the Duke of Mayenne, the Duke of Guise's brother, who became the organization's new leader. Meanwhile, discontent with King Henry III grew in other areas of France, and several towns rebelled against him in December 1588 and early 1589, only adding to the League's base of support.

Faced with the considerable threat posed by the League and its supporters, Henry III turned to Henry of Navarre for help. Remember him? The two Henrys formed an alliance in April 1589. In the summer, they began laying groundwork to take back Paris, besieging and occupying towns along Parisian supply routes. With Paris cut off from crucial supplies and a large army behind them, it looked like their plan was going to work. But as it turned out, King Henry III would not get the chance to see it through. On the morning of August 1st, 1589, King Henry III was at Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris, where his army was preparing to launch an attack on the capital. At around 8 a.m., two visitors were escorted into his chambers. Jacques de La Guelle,

a magistrate who had served as the king's prosecutor in the Parliament of Paris, and a friar named Jacques Clement. Originally from a village in Burgundy, Jacques Clement was a member of the Dominicans, a Catholic religious order. He had been living with the Dominicans in Paris, where he had become an ardent supporter of the League. In the days leading up to August 1st, Clement had been able to secure papers that appeared to be signed by some of Henry's allies in Paris, which had allowed him to pass himself off as a friend to the king, which, spoiler alert, he was not. Clement met L'Aguel on the way to St. Cloud, apparently claiming that he had been tasked with delivering an important highly sensitive message from officials detained by the League

in Paris. Clement and LaGueule arrived at St. Cloud on July 31st, and LaGueule helped arrange a meeting between Clement and the King. The next morning, LaGueule and Clement were granted entry into King Henry III's chambers. LaGueule introduced Clement who explained why he had been sent and asked to speak to the king in private. Henry agreed. Clement moved closer to the king, acting like he was going to whisper something into his ear. Instead, he took out a concealed knife and stabbed the king in the stomach. Henry cried out, alerting some of his guards and servants. They rushed to his aid. and Clement was restrained and killed.

Although the king's wound was severe, it initially seemed like he might survive. After the attack, he dictated several letters and met with Henry of Navarre. However, the king's condition soon worsened, and he died on August 2nd. Two of our three Henrys assassinated. With the death of King Henry III, Henry of Navarre, our first Henry, was now officially King Henry IV of France. But not everyone agreed with that.

The League proclaimed that actually the Cardinal of Bourbon was the rightful king. However, the Cardinal could not take up that role effectively, given that he was being held captive by Protestant forces. The new King Henry IV, who I will, forgive me, continue to refer to as Henry of Navarre for the sake of clarity, also faced difficulties with his newly acquired troops. While some in the royal army supported him as the new king, many others deserted. This greatly reduced the size of his army, forcing him to abandon his siege of Paris for the time being. Over the next few months, the armies of the new king, Henry of Navarre, and the League traded blows, with Henry obtaining significant victories in September 1589 and March 1590. In May

of 1590, Henry began another siege of Paris, which lasted for four months. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the siege caused severe famine and led to many deaths in the city. Pierre Latoile, who was present in Paris during the siege, described the famine in vivid detail in his diaries. He recounted that the siege caused scarcity and high prices, even of foods that were not normally consumed. Things were especially bad among the city's impoverished inhabitants. who were apparently forced to eat things like dogs, rats, mice, animal hides, and grass because they couldn't afford anything else. He noted that he saw one woman eating a dog hide one day and a man eating the grease used to make candles on another.

He even mentioned that human bones were used to make bread. Recognizing the dire situation that Paris was in, the League appealed to Spain for assistance. Philip II agreed to send the army of Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, who arrived in France in late August, and managed to relieve Paris. On May 9, 1590, Cardinal Charles of Bourbon died. The League had declared that the Cardinal was the rightful king of France after Henry III died. Now, they had to find a new person that they were putting up as the rightful king. However, there were considerable disagreements among the League's different members and factions. In 1593, the Estates General of the League met in Paris to decide who would succeed the Cardinal as their king. Various candidates were proposed,

including the Duke of Mayenne and Henry II of Lorraine, son of the deceased Duke of Guise. our second Henry who had been assassinated. Remember him? Some people even argued that Philip II of Spain or a member of his family should take the throne. Then the situation changed dramatically. In July 1593, Henry of Navarre abjured Protestantism and converted to Catholicism. He is famously quoted as having said, Paris is well worth a mass, though he probably never actually said it. Historians have debated exactly what Henry thought about his conversion and whether he viewed it in purely political terms.

For whatever reason he was doing it for, it worked. Despite some skepticism regarding whether his conversion was truly genuine, the conversion increased support for his rule and weakened the League's case against his presence on the throne. The meaning of the League's Estates General ended in August without having reached a decision to about who would succeed the Cardinal of Bourbon as their candidate for king. On February 27, 1594, Henry of Navarre, King Henry IV, was crowned in Chartres.

Just under a month later, with the support of the city's new governor, Henry returned to Paris and re-established Parliament. Although Henry had regained control over Paris, there were still other cities holding out against him. In addition, Spain was still providing the League with military support. King Henry declared war on Spain in January of 1595 and defeated Spanish troops near Burgundy that summer. After that, the Duke of Mayen, one of the League's leaders, reached a peace agreement with King Henry. Other members of the League followed, with the last holdout recognizing Henry as king in early 1598. On April 30th of that year, Henry signed the Edict of Nantes.

The edict granted Huguenots a degree of toleration, though it was not unlimited. They had the right to worship under certain circumstances. Some of their additional rights included being allowed to acquire and inherit offices of state, pursue any profession, and attend all schools and universities. They were also permitted to maintain a certain number of fortified towns. The War of the Three Henrys is often considered the eighth and final conflict in the series of civil wars known as the French Wars of Religion, which devastated France during the second half of the 16th century. However, the Edict of Nantes by no means entirely solved the problem of religion in France. Religious tensions would continue to break out well

through the 17th century, usually involving at least someone named Henry. That's the story of the War of the Three Henrys, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a bit more about the unfortunately violent end of the final Henry in this story. Like the Duke of Guise and Henry III, Henry of Navarre would meet a violent end.

On May 14th, 1610, Henry and several of his advisors were traveling through Paris on the way to a meeting. At one point, his carriage had to stop because something was blocking the road. Unbeknownst to Henry of Navarre, a man had been following him, waiting for an opportunity to strike. When the carriage stopped moving, the man jumped onto it and stabbed Henry three times, killing him. The assassin was a man named François Raviac, a Catholic from Angoulême. François viewed Henry's apparent unwillingness to do anything about the continued existence of Huguenots as an unacceptable tolerance for heretics. Hoping to persuade Henry to change his stance, François Raviac tried to gain an audience with the king several times without success.

When he grew convinced that King Henry was plotting against the Pope, Raviac decided that he had to kill the king. If you're keeping track, it means that all three Henrys in the War of the Three Henrys were assassinated. Following Henry of Navarre's assassination, the throne went to his eight-year-old son, Louis XIII, with Louis' mother, Marie de' Medici, acting as regent. Louis' reign would see a renewal of religious conflict in France.

with several bouts of Huguenot resistance against him. Ultimately, Huguenot resistance against Louis was unsuccessful and left them in a much weaker position politically and militarily. But they continued to have a limited right to practice their faith. This changed in 1685 when Louis XIV, Henry of Navarre's grandson, revoked the Edict of Nantes, and outlawed Protestantism in France. This remained the law in France for the next century. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz.

Writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffe, Natasha Lasky, and me, Dana Schwartz. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk and Gnomes Griffin, with supervising producer Rima Ilkayali, and executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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