Few were the kings who displayed not only great charisma amongst the citizens of the countries they ruled but were also capable to keep a good opinion of their reigns for a good while like Henry IV of France did even until the days of our contemporarity. The grandfather of the most well known of all French monarchs, Louis XIV, Henry IV was controversial amongst his noble contemparts, seen as traitor by the Protestants and an usurper by the Catholics. And although he sadly had his life taken by an extreme Catholic monk, Henry earned the nickname le bon roi Henri (which in English means the good king Henry) by his subjects and throughout his reign he showed great concern by them. And today we will have a topic about this impressive royal character.
Henry of Navarre (French: Henri de Navarre) was born on the 13th or 14th day of December, 1553, at the chateau of Pau, in Béarn. He was the oldest child of the Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret and her husband, Antoine de Bourbon, duke of Vêndome and her consort. He had a younger sister, named Catherine. In his childhood, his education was firstly supervised by Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, who was his grandfather and a brother-in-law of François I of France, before being replaced by Henry's mother, when she suceeded him on the throne of Navarre as Queen Jeanne d'Albret. That being said, it is said that:
"his formal education from Pierre Victor Palma-Cayet and François de La Gaucherie, who reinforced his Calvinist upbringing in what was otherwise a typical Reinassance curriculum that combined book learning with training in horsemanship and the handling of arms."
Henry was also:
"trained in physicial as well as intellectual disciplines, and his later career showed the results of both aspects of his early life. His physical endurance and vigor were matched by a quick and tolerant mind; his skill as a soldier matched by his diplomatic and political astuteness in the course of his reign."
Other than that, there's not much about his childhood, except that, though he was baptised Catholic, he was raised a Calvinist and his education, as said before, was a proof of this. In his youth, Henry joined the Huguenots (French Protestants who followed Calvin's ideas) in the several battles of the Wars of Religion that would still cuminate in France for some long time. In June 9th, 1572, his mother Jeanne d'Albret, who declared Calvinism the official religion of Navarre after a long struggle against France under the regency of Catherine de' Médici, died and Henry ascended as Henri III de Navarre. Between the time of his mother's death and his ascending as sovereign of Navarre, it was arranged a marriage between Henry and Marguerite de Valois, sister of Henry III of France, and daughter of Henry II with his italian consort.
Despite the apparently efforts of both parts in marrying their children so peace could be brought to former enemies parties, that is, Catholics and Protestants, this match would prove to be a disaster as we can see in the next paragraph:
"The wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 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 throughtout 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 escpaed in early 1576."
As he escaped back to Navarre, where he would spend quite some time away from his stranged wife, popular known as la reine Margot, he also broke his promise of converting and again were at odds with Catholics. Nonetheless, situation in France seemed to change dramatically upon the death of the youngest brother of King Henry III of France, the duke of Alençon, Hercule François, known as François. Henry of Navarre was thus made the heir of the French crown because he was a directly descendant of the pious King Louis IX, but this decision led to another stage of the Wars of Religion:
"Henry's status (...) changed when, according to the Salic law of succession, he became heir presumptive to the French throne as a result of the death on 10 June 1584 of Francis, Duke of Alençon (1555-1584). The specter of a Huguenot sucession caused a clash between the rules governing a hereditary succession and the monarchy's long and close affiliation with Catholicism. As a result, the question of Henry of Navarre's confessional allegiances became the central issue of the day. Militan Catholics rallied to the Holy League revived in 1584 by Henry of Lorraine, duke of Guise (1550-15589), especially after Pope Sixtus V (ruled 1585-1590) excommunicated Navarre the next year. The inability of Henry III (ruled 1574-1589) to maintain order following this humiliating expulsion from Paris on the Day of the Barricades (12 May 1588) culminated in his calamitous decision on 24 December 1588 to order the murders of Henry, duke of Guise, and his brother, Louis, the cardinal of Guise. "
This decision, in the middle of the event that was later regarded as the War of the Three Henrys, proved to be a very impopular one. The French subjects did not receive well to the news and unfortunately for Henry, he was murdered by a fanatical monk on 1 August 1589. As a result of this, the king of Navarre was now also the king of France, except he was now Henri le Quatre (English: Henry the Fourth). But his rise to the throne did not bring peace as expected. Catholics remained a problem for Henry IV, and he was forced to deal with rebellions for at least five years before he agreed to convert to Catholicism, in an act that frustrated his Protestant allies like Queen Elizabeth I of England.
This resolution, some say, was possibly heavily influenced by his Catholic mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées, whom he adored and cherished, and with whom he fathered three sons already; and also from his most trusted ally, a Protestant man named Maximilien de Béthun, baron of Rosny and duke of Sully. However, "the famous phrase 'Paris is worth a mass' actually came from Catholics who wanted to impugn the sincerity of Henry IV's conversion." In 1594, Henry was thus crowned following Catholic rites and in the next year he received a papal bulle from Pope Clement VIII confirming his conversion and "bestowing a papal absolution upon him".
It was not until the success of his entrance in Paris that Henry IV managed to rule properly. He had inherited a country devastated by the years of civil wars, with cities in ruins and several castles destroyed, also affected by plagues and a very broken economy. It is supposed he declared the following quote: "I tell you that at the time God called me for this crown, I found France not merely in a sate of ruin, but nearly lost for Frenchmen." So one of his measures concerned introduced:
"a ministerial style of government that restricted the judicial prerogatives, claimed by the parlements and provincial privileges claimed by local representative assembles. In 1604, Henry IV regularized the heritable nature of venal offices by the payment of a special fee known as the Paulette. He also cultivated close relations with the old nobility by showering them with pensions and titles: those aristocrats who conspired against him felt his full wrath, however, as demonstrated by the execution of Charles, duke of Biron (1562-1602). Henry also encouraged the beginnings of Catholic reform among both churchmen and the lay public, working hard at the same time to uphold the protections recently granted to the Huguenots. On the economic front, the king entrusted to Barthélemy de Laffemas (1545-1611) the execution of innovative measures to restore commerce and living standards--a campaign reflected in the contemporary slogan of a 'chicken in every pot' (la poule an pot)"
He also relied in his privy council, in French called "Conseil des Affaires", which was consulted daily by Henry IV every day and it was also composed by six men. He also depended on written instructions, and on intendants who "were once again used to bring royal authority to the provinces". The apogee of his reign, though, was the Edict of Nantes, in 1598, which was aimed to provide not only an end between the rivalries of Catholics and Protestants, but also to give the Huguentos freedom in practicing their religion, assuring they could do so in public, aside of other important factors.
"Signed by Henry IV of France at Nantes on April 13th, 1598, the edict put a temporary end to the ferocious religious wars between Roman Catholics and Protestants which had torn France apart since the 1560's. (...) After a skilful persuasion by Catholic diplomats and much hard bargaining, they [the Huguenots] accepted a document of ninety-two articles granting them a measure of religious toleration as well as social and political equality. Huguenots were to be entitled to worship freely everywhere in France in private, and publicly in some 200 named towns and on the estates of Protestant landowners. They were permitted to inherit property, engage in trade, attend all schools and universities, and be treated in hospitals on the same basis as everyone else. There was a full amnesty for crimes committed during the wars by both sides and in secret articles, signed on May 2nd, the government agreed to pay the Protestant pastors and subsidise the garrisons of some fifty Huguenot fortified towns."
And although this worked perfectly well on the reign of Henry IV and afterwards on the reign of his son, the edict would be ratified by his grandson Louis XIV. Unlike some of his predecessors, much of what Henry IV did aimed to reach all classes, which explains why his popularity remained intact even when the French Revolution exploded in the end of the 18th century. He supposedly said, in Ordinance of Blois, in 1599, in respect for the draining of mashlan that:
"The power and wealth of kings and sovereign princes consists in the opulence and number of their subjects. And the great and legitimate gain and revenue of people...proceeds essentially from their laboring and cultivation of the land which gives them in return, so pleases God, the fruit of their labor, by producing great quantities of wheat, wine, grains, vegetables and pasture land; sufficient not only to live in comfort, but to entertain traffic and commerce with our neighbors and distant countries."
The same year of the edict of Nantes also came to an end the war with Spain by the signing of the Treaty of Vervins. And in 1599, his marriage to Marguerite de Valois was finally annulled, so the path to marry his lover, though strongly advised in not doing so by his counsellors, was free. However, Gabrielle d'Éstrees died mysteriously this year, putting an end to the king's long desire, leaving him devastated. Her death is a controversial subject: whilst some sources claim she died in childbirth, others point to poisoning as cause of her death. Despite this, "the king instead married Marie de Médicis (1573-1642), daughter of the Duke of Tuscany, in October 1600. On 27 September 1601, she bore him the future Louis XIII (...), who continued the Bourbon line." The marriage would also produce the Queen of England, Henriette Marie, who was born a year before her father's death, and would marry King Charles I of England and Scotland, thus making Henry IV the grandfather of Charles II and James II, and a great-great-great grandfather to Louis XV of France.
Despite the efforts of governing his realm less with strenght than his kind will, Henry IV suffered at least dozen assassination attempts. Eventually, one of those succeeded, and unfortunately on the 14th day of May, 1610, Henry IV was stabbed twice in his chest by a fanatic Catholic. The french sovereign did not make it and he died before getting to his residence. A story tells that his son with his former mistress, Gabrielle, the duke of Vendome told him about a horoscope which predicted his death, but instead of giving ears to such a thing, Henry IV reportedly cried out that "La Brosse is an ass". The king was then buried in Saint Denis Basilica. His consort, Marie de' Médici, served as regent to their son Louis XIII until 1617.
"On the day in question the king started out to visit his minister, Sully, at the Arsenal. It was then in turning from the Rue Saint Honoré into the Rue de la Ferronière that the royal coach, frequently blocked by crowds, offered the opportunity to the assassin Ravaillac, who, jumping upon the footboard, stabbed the king twice in the breast."Henry IV was a very popular king, as already pointed, and for that he was regarded as Le Bon Roi Henri ("The Good King Henry"), or even Henri le Grand ("Henry the Great"). His gallant manners earned him the nickname of Le Vert Gallant (In English:"The Green Gallant") especially after being reputed of having at least 56 mistresses! There is also:
"A description of him in 1567 reads: "He demeans himself towards all the world with so easy a carriage that people crowd around wherever he is. He enters into conversation as a highly polished man. He is well informed and never says anything which ought not to be said. He loves play and good living." Henry's physical skill and military prowess brought him the friendship of many men and his passionate nature brought him the love of many women (too many, his wife and subjects often thought). He also had a reputation for being high spirited and good humoured."
He was one of the few monarchs that still inspired respect after French Revolution, though because of this event, his head was forever lost and until our days it was not found, remaining thus a mystery. In popular culture, he can be seen in the following french movies: "La Reine Margot" and "Henri IV".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France
http://www.biography.com/people/henry-iv-9335199#synopsis
http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/french-history-biographies/henry-iv-france
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/france-in-the-sixteenth-century/henry-iv/
http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/351-07.htm
http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/2014/vereycken-henri_iv-sully.html
http://blog.catherinedelors.com/14th-of-may-1610-assassination-of-king-henri-iv/
http://josfamilyhistory.com/htm/nickel/burch/epperson-stories/henri-iv-assassination.htm
http://www.azquotes.com/author/61286-Henry_IV_of_France
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/edict-nantes
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário