Henry IV of France's wives and mistresses
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Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
(1553–1610) and his first wife Marguerite of Valois, whom he married in 1572, were repeatedly unfaithful to each other, and the collapse of their marriage led to their estrangement and living apart. Although Henry fathered children with a series of mistresses
Mistress (lover)
A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...
, his lack of a legitimate heir became a cause of concern, and his marriage was not annulled
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
until 1599. In 1600, at the age of forty-six, he married his second wife, Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
, who bore him six children, including the future Louis XIII. Henry was unfaithful to his second wife as well and insisted that she raise his illegitimate children along with her own.
Henry's womanising became legendary, earning him the nickname of Le Vert Galant. His sexual appetite was said to have been insatiable, and he always kept mistresses, often several at a time, as well as engaging in random sexual encounters and visits to brothels. Even so, he tended to elevate one mistress above the others and shower her with money, honours, and promises. His two most famous mistresses of this type were Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux was a French mistress of King Henry IV of France, born at either the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire, in Touraine, or at the château de Cœuvres, in Picardy....
, who died in 1599, and her successor, Henriette d'Entragues
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil was the favourite mistress of Henry IV of France after Gabrielle d'Estrées died...
, who involved herself in plots against the crown. Henry promised marriage to each of them, exposing himself to a series of political problems.
Parents
Born in 1553, Henry was the son of Jeanne d'AlbretJeanne III of Navarre
Jeanne d'Albret , also known as Jeanne III or Joan III, was the queen regnant of Navarre from 1555 to 1572. She married Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, and was the mother of Henry of Bourbon, who became King of Navarre and of France as Henry IV, the first Bourbon king...
, who became the Queen Regnant
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
two years after he was born. His father, Antoine of Bourbon
Antoine of Navarre
Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme was head of the House of Bourbon from 1537 to 1562, and jure uxoris King of Navarre from 1555 to 1562.-Family:...
, was constantly unfaithful to Jeanne. The couple also differed over religion: Jeanne became a staunch Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, whereas Antoine wavered, for political reasons, between the Catholicism of his birth and the faith of his wife. His vacillating character earned him the epithet ondoyant (one whose mind changes, or undulates) from the essayist Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
, a description later sometimes applied to his son. The public squabbling between Jeanne and Antoine became scandalous during Henry's childhood, and in 1560, when he was seven, Jeanne took him to the French court. After Antoine ordered her back to her kingdom of Navarre in 1562, she left Henry behind, and she was reunited with him only in 1566 during the royal progress to the south. Among Henry's playmates at the French court were the future Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
and Henry of Guise
Henry I, Duke of Guise
Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este...
.
Marguerite of Valois
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
, the powerful mother of King Charles IX
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
, was seeking a marriage between her youngest daughter Marguerite, also known as Margot, and Henry. Catherine, who believed in dynastic marriage as a potent political tool, aimed to unite the interests of the Valois and the Bourbons
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
. Given the ill health of her sons, she also wished to join the two bloodlines, since Henry of Navarre stood to inherit the French throne should her sons fail to produce male heirs. The seventeen-year-old Marguerite, however, was secretly involved with Henry of Guise
Henry I, Duke of Guise
Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este...
, the son of the late Duke of Guise. When Catherine found this out, she had Marguerite brought from her bed. Catherine and the king then beat her, ripping her nightclothes and pulling out handfuls of her hair. Henry of Guise fled the court and, threatened with death by King Charles IX, hurriedly announced his engagement to Catherine of Cleves. Some sources claim that he narrowly escaped being caught in Marguerite's bed, but biographer Leonie Frieda
Leonie Frieda
Leonie Frieda is a Swedish-born former model, translator, and writer, working and living in the United Kingdom.Educated in the UK, France and Germany, Ms. Frieda speaks five languages...
regards this as unlikely, given the risks.
By all accounts, however, Marguerite was deemed highly attractive, even sexually magnetic. In 1572, the court chronicler Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme was a French historian, soldier and biographer.-Life:Brantôme was born in Périgord, Aquitaine, the third son of the baron de Bourdeille...
, after watching her in a festival procession, described her as follows:
The staunchly Protestant Queen Jeanne was at first strongly opposed to the marriage on religious grounds. Catherine, however, was persistent in her calls for Jeanne to attend the French court. Writing that she wanted to see Jeanne's children, she promised not to harm them. Jeanne replied: "Pardon me if, reading that, I want to laugh, because you want to relieve me of a fear that I've never had. I've never thought that, as they say, you eat little children". When Jeanne did attend court, Catherine piled mental pressure on her. Jeanne wrote to Henry: "I am not free to talk with either the King or Madame, only the Queen Mother, who goads me [me traite á la fourche]… You have doubtless realized that their main object, my son, is to separate you from God, and from me". Catherine played manipulatively on Jeanne's hopes for her son and finally won her agreement to the marriage by promising that Henry could remain a Huguenot. When Jeanne arrived in Paris to buy clothes for the wedding, she was taken ill and died, aged forty-four; and Henry succeeded her as the King of Navarre. Huguenot writers later accused Catherine of murdering Jeanne with poisoned gloves. The wedding took place on 18 August 1572 at Notre-Dame, Paris.
A royal match between a Roman Catholic and a Huguenot was controversial and irregular. The pope refused to grant a dispensation
Dispensation (Catholic Church)
In the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, a dispensation is the suspension by competent authority of general rules of law in particular cases...
for the marriage, and the different faiths of the bridal couple made for an unusual wedding service. For example, Henry did not attend the mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, where his place was taken by Marguerite's brother Henry, Duke of Anjou
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
. After a nuptial lunch, four days of balls, masques and banquets ensued, only to be interrupted by the outbreak of violence in Paris. After the attempted assassination of the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
on 22 August 1572, Catherine de' Medici and King Charles, to forestall the expected Huguenot backlash, ordered the murder of the Huguenot leaders gathered in Paris for the wedding. The result was the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
, beginning before dawn on 24 August, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris and throughout France. Marguerite of Valois later described in her Memoirs the chaos and bloodshed in the Tuileries Palace
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
, where she and her new husband were lodged. Henry found himself escorted to a room with his cousin Henry, prince of Condé
Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Henri de Bourbon-Condé was a French Prince du Sang and Huguenot general like his more prominent father, Louis I, Prince of Condé....
, and told to choose between death and conversion to Roman Catholicism. He chose the latter. For a while, Catherine de' Medici considered having him killed, but when she proposed to her daughter that the marriage be annulled, Marguerite replied that this was impossible because she had already had sexual relations with Henry and was "in every sense" his wife.
François, Duke of Anjou
Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon was the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.-Early years:...
against Henry III
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
, who became king in 1574. During this time, Henry of Navarre often ignored Marguerite and instead slept with his mistress, Charlotte de Sauve
Charlotte de Sauve
Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay, Viscountess of Tours, Baroness de Sauve, Marquise de Noirmoutier was a French noblewoman and a mistress of King Henry of Navarre, who later ruled as King Henry IV of France...
. It appeared, in the words of Henry's biographer David Buisseret, as if "the pleasure-loving and libidinous elements of his ancestry had finally gained the upper hand". A rivalry developed between him and Alençon over the beautiful de Sauve, who was one of Catherine de' Medici's so-called "flying squadron", a group of "court lovelies" whom Catherine used to lure noblemen to court and, it was rumoured, as informants. According to Marguerite's Memoirs, de Sauve "treated both of them in such a way that they became extremely jealous of each other… to such a point that they forgot their ambitions, their duties and their plans and thought of nothing but chasing after this woman". De Sauve may have been acting as a tool of Henry III and Catherine in their attempts to split the two men. Henry of Navarre's good judgement was already known to desert him when it came to women. He wrote to a friend:
Marguerite's behaviour was also the subject of scandal. On one occasion in 1575, Catherine de' Medici was heard yelling at her, accusing her of taking a lover. In a separate incident, the king sent a band of assassins to murder Marguerite's lover Bussy d'Amboise, a friend of Alençon's, who managed to escape. As Catherine's biographer Leonie Frieda puts it: "he then decided to leave the Court immediately citing health reasons, which happened to be nothing less than the truth". In 1576, Henry III accused Marguerite of improper relations with a lady-in-waiting. Marguerite claimed in her memoirs that he would have killed her if Catherine had not stopped him. Despite their sexual infidelities, Marguerite remained politically loyal to her husband during the early period of their marriage and helped him negotiate the complexities of the court. By 1575, however, their relations were no longer physical: "I could not endure the pain that I felt", she recalled in her Memoirs, "and I stopped sleeping with the King my husband".
In 1576, Henry managed to slip away while hunting and made for his kingdom, where he abjured
Abjuration
Abjuration is the solemn repudiation, abandonment, or renunciation by or upon oath, often the renunciation of citizenship or some other right or privilege. .-Abjuration of the realm:...
the Catholic religion on 13 June. For a time, the abandoned Marguerite found herself imprisoned, suspected of complicity, and was afterwards distrusted by her own family. Henry eventually demanded that she be brought to him. In 1578, therefore, Catherine de' Medici travelled south to Nérac and duly delivered Marguerite to her husband. At first, in this new phase in their marriage, the couple managed a show of harmony, but strains were apparent. In 1580 a religious war, later called the "Lovers' War", broke out between the Huguenots and King Henry III. Although inaccurate, this name for the war relates to a series of scandals at the Navarre court and to the notion that Henry of Navarre took up arms in response to jibes about his love life from the French court. At this point, he was conducting a passionate affair with a mistress known as "La Belle Fosseuse", while Marguerite was involved with one of his own commanders, the Vicomte de Turenne. Henry wrote to Marguerite apologising for the state of affairs between them. He expressed "extreme regret that instead of bringing you contentment… I have brought the opposite".
In 1582, Marguerite returned to the French court without her husband, who was still openly besotted with La Fosseuse. Before long, she began taking lovers again, such as Harlay de Champvallon, one of her brother François's retinue, and acting more scandalously than ever. After a rumour that she had borne Champvallon a child, Henry III ordered her back to Navarre and then had her carriage searched and detained her in an abbey for questioning. According to her Memoirs, when Marguerite was interrogated, she screamed, "He complains of how I spend my time? Does he not remember that it was he who first put my foot in the stirrup!"
Henry of Navarre at first refused to take Marguerite back unless Henry III made a public statement asserting her innocence of all the charges against her. Catherine de' Medici sent Pomponne de Bellièvre
Pomponne de Bellièvre
Pomponne de Bellièvre was a French statesman, chancellor of France .-Life:Bellièvre was born in Lyon in 1529....
south to smooth things over and arrange Marguerite's return. In a letter, she spelled out to Marguerite that a royal wife must bear her husband's affairs without complaint, recalling proudly that her own conduct as a wife had been impeccable, despite all provocation. Marguerite was reunited with Henry on 13 April 1584, but she failed to heed her mother's words, even though the death of her brother François in June 1584 made her husband heir presumptive to the French throne. Henry himself was under increased pressure to produce an heir. He was advised by his closest friend Philippe Duplessis-Mornay that it was now "time to make love to France".
Agen
Agen is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in Aquitaine in south-western France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. It is the capital of the department.-Economy:The town has a higher level of unemployment than the national average...
. From there she wrote to her mother begging for money. Catherine sent her enough "to put food on her table" but was contemptuous.
Marguerite attempted to strengthen the fortifications at Agen, raise troops, and ally with the Catholic League
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...
against her husband. Before long, however, the officials and people of Agen drove her out of the town. Retreating to her lofty and impregnable fortress of Carlat
Carlat
Carlat is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France.The "Rocher de Carlat" or rock of Carlat situated above the picturesque commune was once the site of one of the most powerful and impenetrable chateaux in all of France. It was the seat of Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours, and...
, and refusing her mother's pleas that she move to a royal manor, she there took a lover called d'Aubiac. Catherine's patience ran out, and she insisted that Henry III arrest "this insufferable torment" and act "before she brings shame on us again". On 13 October 1586, therefore, the king had Marguerite forcibly removed from Carlat and locked up in the Château d'Usson
Château d'Usson
The Château d'Usson is one of the so-called Cathar castles in what is now southwestern France. It is located in the commune of Rouze, in the Ariège département. It is sited upstream from Axat, along the Aude River gorge, carved out of the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is situated at 920 m in...
. D'Aubiac was executed, though not, as Catherine demanded, in front of Marguerite. Catherine cut Marguerite out of her will. Marguerite never saw her mother or brother again. Marguerite assumed she was going to die and even employed a food taster at the château. In a "farewell" letter to her mother, she asked that after her execution a post-mortem be held to prove that she was not, despite gossip, pregnant with d'Aubiac's child. At this point, her luck took a turn for the better. Her gaoler, the Marquis de Canillac, whom she was rumoured to have seduced, suddenly switched from the royal side in the civil war to that of the Catholic League and released her in early 1587. Her freedom suited the League perfectly: her continued existence guaranteed that Henry of Navarre would remain without an heir. This problem became acute for Henry after he succeeded to the throne of France
Henry IV of France's succession
Henry IV of France's succession to the throne in 1589 was followed by a four-year war to establish his legitimacy. Henry IV inherited the throne after the assassination of Henry III, the last Valois king, who died without children...
in 1589.
Gabrielle d'Estrées
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
, however, was a proneness to venereal diseases. In October 1598, he nearly died from an infection of the bladder, and an attack of gonorrhoea a few weeks later briefly brought on a heart problem. On 6 November, he wrote to the Duke of Sully
Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully
Maximilien de Béthune, first Duke of Sully was the doughty soldier, French minister, staunch Huguenot and faithful right-hand man who assisted Henry IV of France in the rule of France.-Early years:...
that the illness "has made me very depressed [tout chagrin], and I do everything that my doctors recommend, so keen am I to get better".
Henry's sexual appetite, said to have been insatiable, was often indiscriminate, but he always recognised a particular mistress as his first lady. One such was Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux was a French mistress of King Henry IV of France, born at either the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire, in Touraine, or at the château de Cœuvres, in Picardy....
, whom he met at Cœuvres in 1590 and later made the duchess of Beaufort. This relationship was castigated by Henry's enemies in the church, particularly by the Capuchins
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
. On one occasion, arriving at her apartments near the Louvre, Henry was stabbed in the face by a Jesuit would-be-assassin called Jean Chastel, who slashed his mouth and broke one of his teeth. In June 1594, d'Estrées bore Henry a son, César
César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme
César de Bourbon, Légitimé de France , Duke of Vendôme, was the son of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Sometimes simply known as César de Vendôme. Through his daughter, Élisabeth de Bourbon, César was a great-great-great-grandfather of Louis XV of France, merging thereafter...
, who was legitimized in Jan/Feb 1595. Henry's duchess had gradually risen in prominence, and she acted as her royal lover's hostess for diplomatic occasions, such as the surrender talks with the rebel Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne
Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne
Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne , or Charles de Guise, was a French nobleman of the house of Guise and a military leader of the Catholic League, which he headed during the French Wars of Religion, following the assassination of his brothers at Blois in 1588...
, in 1596. In October of that year, an Italian observer reported that "among the French nobility people begin to expect that the king intends to name as his successor the natural son born of Gabrielle". Henry's advisers were deeply opposed to any such plan, however, which would guarantee a war of succession—but, for a while, Henry seemed determined. When the last of the Catholic League
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...
rebels, Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, surrendered in 1598, Henry and Gabrielle's son, César, was ceremonially promised in marriage to Mercœur's daughter, though both were small children. The chronicler Pierre de L'Estoile
Pierre de L'Estoile
-Life:Born in Paris into a middle-class background, Pierre de l'Estoile was tutored by Mathieu Béroalde. He knew Agrippa d'Aubigné. He became a law student at Bourges...
records a vignette
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
of Gabrielle d'Estrées' status at this time: "The duchess of Beaufort [was] seated in a chair, and Madame de Guise brought her the various dishes with great ceremony. Gabrielle took what she most liked with one hand, and gave her other to be kissed by the king, who was near her".
By early 1599, Henry's marriage to Marguerite of Valois looked likely to be annulled
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
at last. And so, at the age of forty-six and still without a legitimate heir, Henry felt free to propose to Gabrielle d'Estrées. On Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
, Henry placed on her finger the ring with which he had "married" France at his coronation in 1593. During Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, however, Gabrielle, who was pregnant at the time, fell ill; by Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...
, to the relief of many in France, she was dead. Rumours flew that she had been poisoned, but in fact she died from an aborted pregnancy. Though grief-stricken, Henry grasped that his fiancée's death had saved him from disaster: his plan to declare his two sons by d'Estrées heirs to the throne would have precipitated a major political crisis. The English agent Edmondes reported:
And the King himselfe doth freelie confesse it, that albeit her death is a great grief unto him, in regard that he did so dearlie love her, and intending as he acknowledgeth to have married her, but that God having directlie manifested that he would not suffer him to fall into the danger of so great an error and inconvenience to himselfe and to his state, that he will not fail to make a lesson thereof.
Henry provided Gabrielle d'Estrées with a grandiose funeral and drowned his sorrows with a sustained spree of womanising. Sir Henry Neville, the English ambassador, reported that Henry was spending time "in secret manner at Zamet's house", where "la belle garce Claude" was known to entertain, and that he was fervently courting Henriette d'Entragues
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil was the favourite mistress of Henry IV of France after Gabrielle d'Estrées died...
, the daughter of Charles IX
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
's former mistress, Marie Touchet
Marie Touchet
Marie Touchet , Dame de Belleville, was the only mistress of Charles IX of France.-Humble origins, mistress to the king:...
. Royal accounts record that Henry was soon making large payments to "Mademoiselle d'Entragues", as well as to "Mademoiselle des Fossez". D'Entragues quickly replaced d'Estrées as Henry's principal mistress. She extracted from him, in Neville's words, "100,000 crowns in ready money and an yearly pension" as proof of his commitment. At about the same time, Henry began affairs with Marie Babou de la Bourdaisière and with two wives of Paris parlement members, madames Quélin and Potier.
Marie de' Medici
In October 1599, the parlement of Paris officially petitioned that Henry marry a princess worthy of his dignity. Henry took note and began considering candidates from several foreign states. According to Sully, however, he ruled out a German wife, on the grounds that it would feel like going to bed with a wine-barrel. Henry was keenest on Maria de' MediciMarie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
, the niece of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I.-Biography:...
, and the daughter of the previous duke, Francesco I de' Medici
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 to 1587.- Biography :...
. What he found particularly attractive about Maria was her enormous wealth.
Proxy marriage
A proxy wedding or is a wedding in which the bride or groom is not physically present, usually being represented instead by another person...
took place in Florence in October 1600, and then Maria—to be known in France as Marie—sailed in great pomp for Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, where she disembarked on 3 November. Henry, on campaign in Savoy
Duchy of Savoy
From 1416 to 1847, the House of Savoy ruled the eponymous Duchy of Savoy . The Duchy was a state in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, with some territories that are now in France. It was a continuation of the County of Savoy...
, rode to meet her at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, where he found her at supper. He visited her afterwards in her chamber; according to Ralph Winwood
Ralph Winwood
Sir Ralph Winwood was an English diplomat and politician.-Life:He was born at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire and educated at St John's College, Oxford....
, secretary to English ambassador Sir Henry Neville:
She met him at the door, and offered to kneel down, but he took her in his arms, where he held her embraced a long time ... He doth profess to the World the great Contentment he finds in her, how that for her Beauty, her sweet and pleasing carrriage, her gracious behaviour, she doth surpass the relation which hath been made of her, and the Expectation which he thereby conceived.
The couple underwent a second marriage ceremony in Lyon; and Marie finally reached Paris on 7 February, already pregnant. She found her new home, the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, so shabby that at first she thought Henry was playing a joke. She gave birth to a son, Louis
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
, at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 7 September 1601, to the delight of Henry, who had rushed from military duties to her bedside to serve, he joked, as one of her midwives. The moment Henry was told that the child was a boy, he ushered two hundred courtiers into the chamber to share the euphoria. The baby was fed a spoonful of wine and handed over to a governess, Baroness Monglat, and to the physician Jean Héroard, an expert on the bone structure of horses. According to Winwood, the baby was a "strong and a goodly prince, and doth promise long life". The birth of a dauphin, as the first son of a French king was known, inspired rejoicing and bonfires throughout France.
Marie believed that after bearing a son, she "would begin to be a queen". However, a few weeks later, Henrietta d'Entragues also produced a son, and Henry not only made just as much fuss over this son but declared that he was better-looking, not fat and dark like Louis and the Medici. In the words of biographer David Buisseret, "the royal couple was well embarked upon nine years of mutual recrimination and misunderstandings, in which the fault plainly lay with the king".
Henry had made Marie's position clear to her from the first. When she began by pressing him to accept the decrees of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
, he told her to keep her nose out of state business and look after herself. Shortly after Marie's arrival in Paris, Henry had introduced Henriette d'Entragues to her, reportedly pushing Henriette further towards the ground when her curtsey was not low enough. He housed his senior mistress close to the Louvre and was seen dining with the queen and d'Entragues together. Marie also had to cope with a second public mistress, La Bourdaisière, as well as with Henry's continued visits to Zamet's house for services provided by "la belle garce Claude". In the next nine years, Marie bore Henry six children; but he also sired five more by d'Entragues, Jacqueline du Beuil, and Charlotte des Essarts. Nonetheless, Henry often wrote affectionate letters to Marie and in other ways treated her with respect.
Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron
Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron was a French soldier.-Biography:He was the son of Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, under whose command he fought for the royal party against the Catholic League in the later stages of the Wars of Religion in France. His efforts won him the name “Thunderbolt of...
in 1602, in which her half-brother, Charles, Count of Auvergne
Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême
Charles de Valois was the Duke of Angoulême and the illegitimate son of Charles IX of France and Marie Touchet; born at the Château de Fayet in Dauphiné. His father, dying in the following year, commended him to the care and favour of his younger brother and successor, Henry III, who faithfully...
, was implicated and she was compromised. Though Biron was executed, Henry released Auvergne to please Henriette. In 1604, she was at the heart of a Spanish-backed plot to install her son by the king as heir to the throne. Her father, the sieur d'Entragues, was involved in this plot, along with, again, her half-brother. Henriette d'Entragues was sentenced to confinement in a convent, but Henry was moved to spare her even that and allowed her to retire to her estate at Verneuil
Verneuil
-Places in France:*Verneuil, Charente, in the Charente département*Verneuil, Cher, in the Cher département*Verneuil, Marne, in the Marne département*Verneuil, Nièvre, in the Nièvre département...
. Despite the king's clemency, Henriette d'Entragues may have continued to plot further against him. According to a government report of 1616, a former companion of d'Entragues, Mlle d'Escoman, had claimed in 1611 that d'Entragues had met François Ravaillac
François Ravaillac
François Ravaillac was a French factotum in the courts of Angoulême and a regicide. A sometime tutor and Catholic zealot, he murdered King Henry IV of France in 1610.-Early life and education:...
, Henry's assassin of 1610. However, this evidence is compromised by the fact that, at the time she made this accusation, Mlle d'Escoman was in prison on another charge .
The dauphin, Louis, turned out to be a difficult and temperamental child, and some historians have blamed this on his parents and the circumstances of his upbringing. He was raised just outside Paris at the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
, not only alongside Marie's other children by Henry but, as Henry insisted, with several children of Henry's mistresses. Henry always seemed to get his mistresses pregnant at the same time as Marie. Just as Marie was in constant competition with Henry's mistresses, so her children were forced to compete with their children for his affection. The fact that Henry's three children by Gabrielle d'Estrées were older than the heir to the throne caused particular problems of rivalry. César
César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme
César de Bourbon, Légitimé de France , Duke of Vendôme, was the son of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Sometimes simply known as César de Vendôme. Through his daughter, Élisabeth de Bourbon, César was a great-great-great-grandfather of Louis XV of France, merging thereafter...
and Alexandre were later to rebel against Louis when he was king. He did not hesitate to throw them into prison.
Louis shared his father's stubbornness, but he may have inherited his temper tantrums from his mother, who often gave Henry tongue-lashings in public. Although Marie has been accused of lacking affection for her children, a study of her letters reveals the contrary, though she was a stern disciplinarian. She wrote to the dauphin's governess, for example, asking her to avoid whippings when the weather was hot and to beat Louis only "with such caution that the anger he might feel would not cause any illness". On another occasion, she reprimanded her middle daughter, Christine, for being ill, accusing her of not following the advice of her doctors. Marie personally educated the children in practical matters, such as etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
. After Henry's assassination in 1610, she became regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of France and retained influence over Louis XIII until he finally rejected her in 1617.
Henry's last passion was for Charlotte of Montmorency
Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency
Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency was an heiress of one of France's leading ducal families, and Princess of Condé by her marriage to Henry de Bourbon. She almost became a mistress of Henry IV of France, but her husband escaped with her after the wedding.-Life:She was the daughter of Henry de...
, the fifteen-year-old wife of Henry, prince of Condé
Henry II de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Henri de Bourbon became Prince of Condé shortly after his birth, following the death of his father Henri I...
, First Prince of the Blood. The king had arranged Charlotte's marriage to Condé for his own convenience, in order to sleep with her himself when he pleased. To escape from this predicament, the couple fled to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. The king was enraged and threatened to march into Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
with an army unless the Habsburg governors returned Condé and his wife at once. At the time, he was also threatening war with the Habsburgs over the succession to the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, so historians are unsure how crucial in itself Charlotte's return was as a reason for war. Condé continued to provoke Henry from Flanders. When asked to drink to the queen of France, he replied that there seemed to be more than one queen of France, maybe as many as four or five.
Legitimate children
On 18 August 1572, Henry married Marguerite de ValoisMarguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois was Queen of France and of Navarre during the late sixteenth century...
; their childless marriage was annulled in 1599. His subsequent marriage to Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
on 17 December 1600 produced six children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louis XIII, King of France Louis XIII of France Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority... |
September 27, 1601 | 14 May 1643 | Married Anne of Austria Anne of Austria Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth... in 1615. |
| Elizabeth, Queen of Spain | 22 November 1602 | 6 October 1644 | Married Philip IV, King of Spain Philip IV of Spain Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640... in 1615. |
| Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy Christine Marie of France Christine of France was the sister of Louis XIII and the Duchess of Savoy by marriage. At the death of her husband Victor Amadeus I in 1637, she acted as regent of Savoy between 1637 and 1648.... |
12 February 1606 | 27 December 1663 | Married Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy in 1619. |
| Nicholas Henri de France, duc d'Orléans | 16 April 1607 | 17 November 1611 | Died young. |
| Gaston, Duke of Orléans Gaston, Duke of Orléans Gaston of France, , also known as Gaston d'Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his wife Marie de Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood... |
April 25, 1608 | 2 February 1660 | Married (1) Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier Marie de Bourbon , Duchess of Montpensier, and Duchess of Orléans by marriage, was a French noblewoman and one of the last members of the House of Bourbon-Montpensier... in 1626. Married (2) Margaret of Lorraine in 1632. |
| Henrietta Maria, Queen of England | 25 November 1609 | 10 September 1669 | Married Charles I, King of England Charles I of England Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles... in 1625. |
Illegitimate children
By Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of BeaufortGabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux was a French mistress of King Henry IV of France, born at either the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire, in Touraine, or at the château de Cœuvres, in Picardy....
:
| Name | Birth | Legitimized | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme César de Bourbon, Légitimé de France , Duke of Vendôme, was the son of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Sometimes simply known as César de Vendôme. Through his daughter, Élisabeth de Bourbon, César was a great-great-great-grandfather of Louis XV of France, merging thereafter... |
1594 | 1595 | 1665 | Married Françoise de Lorraine Françoise de Lorraine (1592–1669) Françoise de Lorraine was a French noblewoman and the daughter-in-law of King Henry IV of France; sometimes known as Françoise de Mercœur, she was the niece of Louise of Lorraine, wife of the previous king, Henry III of France... . In 1626, he participated in a plot against Cardinal Richelieu. He was captured and held in prison until 1630. |
| Catherine-Henriette de Bourbon | 1596 | 1598 | 1663 | Married Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Elbeuf. |
| Alexandre, Chevalier de Vendôme | 1598 | 1599 | 1629 | After the 1626 plot with his brother César, he was held in prison until his death. |
By Henriette d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues
Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil was the favourite mistress of Henry IV of France after Gabrielle d'Estrées died...
:
| Name | Birth | Legitimized | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaston Henri, Duc de Verneuil Henri de Bourbon, duc de Verneuil Gaston Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Verneuil was the bishop of Metz from 1612 to 1652.-Biography:Henri was the illegitimate son of King Henry IV of France and his mistress, Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues. He was born at Château de Vincennes... |
1601 | 1603 | 1682 | Married Charlotte Seguier, daughter of Pierre Séguier Pierre Séguier -Early years:Born in Paris, France of a prominent legal family originating in Quercy. His grandfather, Pierre Séguier , was président à mortier in the parlement of Paris from 1554 to 1576, and the chancellor's father, Jean Séguier, a seigneur d'Autry, was civil lieutenant of Paris at the time of... , Duc de Villemor. |
| Gabrielle Angelique, called Mademoiselle de Verneuil | 1603 | 1627 | Married Bernard de Nogaret de Foix, Duc de La Valette et d'Epernon. |
By Jacqueline de Bueil, Countess of Moret:
| Name | Birth | Legitimized | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antoine, Count de Moret | 1607 | 1608 | 1632 | Abbot of St. Etienne |
By Charlotte des Essarts, Countess of Romorantin:
| Name | Birth | Legitimized | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeanne Baptiste | 1608 | 1608 | 1670 | Abbess of Fontevrault Fontevraud Abbey Fontevraud Abbey or Fontevrault Abbey is a religious building hosting a cultural centre since 1975, the Centre Culturel de l'Ouest, in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in Anjou, France. It was founded by the itinerant reforming preacher Robert of Arbrissel, who had just created a... . |
| Marie Henriette | 1609 | 1629 | Abbess of Chelles Chelles Abbey Chelles Abbey was founded by Saint Balthild, widow of King Clovis II of Neustria circa 658. It was dissolved during the French Revolution.Chelles had been the site of a Merovingian palace, the villa Calae. A church, dedicated to Saint George had been founded at Chelles by Queen Clothilde... . |