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There are figures in history whose orientation is still debated. This is the French king Henry III of Valois, who ruled France in the second half of the 16th century. His extravagance in clothing and behavior, and his obvious penchant for exclusively male society gave rise to rumors and gossip, which are sometimes difficult to understand.

Henry III of Valois - gay on the throne?...

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- Tell me about him, I’m interested...

Since childhood, my mother dressed her up in girls' dresses and generally raised her as a girl. Obviously, the daughters God sent her were not enough.

One, Princess Claude, who, by the way, married one of the Guises, was hunchbacked and lame. Nevertheless, - mother's favorite! Still, Catherine de Medici had a truly kind heart, despite all the cruelties attributed to her. She loved the ugliest of her daughters. Which, having given birth to a bunch of children, died quite early.

The eldest daughter Elizabeth left for Spain, where she was to be married to Don Carlos, the heir to the throne.

But she was such a beauty, and Don Carlos was such a madman, that Philip II married her himself. The princess, accustomed to a cheerful and pleasant life in Paris, did not live long in the gloomy, seven-times Catholic Madrid with her stern, pompous husband.

- You would have survived married to Philip No. 2, huh?)

So she couldn’t.

And the indignant madman Don Carlos was thrown into prison, where he was poisoned, according to rumors. In Verdi’s opera he is all noble and progressive, but in life the Infante was disgusting and outspoken. All like his father, who reigned like a real Catholic monster. But extremely useful for the state - like all monsters, however.

The longing for a real, full-fledged, “long-lasting” daughter tormented the mother, since the youngest, Margarita, although she was quite “long-lasting” and lived well, was a person of such easy virtue - from the very, very early years - that there was no sympathy This nymphomaniac did not cause a strict Catholic mother. However, so much has been written about “Queen Margot” that it’s not worth discussing. It’s always more interesting to write about whores, and even more so to read.

Perhaps it was precisely the desire to have a daughter nearby that led to the fact that from the son of Alexander Edward - the future Henry III - Catherine de Medici sculpted who knows what: neither a boy nor a girl, nor a mouse, sorry, nor a frog.

Then it was customary to change names at confirmation - so the prince became Henry.

But whether educational pressure prevailed there (clearly ahead of its time) or whether the loving mother indulged the natural inclinations of her son - which was also unusual - remained unknown. But it is known that “iron ladies” often give birth to boys who imitate not the “iron” component of their mothers, but the “ladylike” one. The argument that a gay man is easier to control does not stand up to criticism: could Catherine have foreseen that her third son would become king?

They say that the mother not only ordered her son to dress up in girls’ dresses, but even encouraged his interest in his peers. There you have it, an “ardent Catholic”! Even in the 21st century it would be too progressive!

But at the beginning of his “creative journey” the prince turned out to be quite bright, even outstanding! - a commander, winner of various battles, for example, at Jarnac and Moncontour. And he was not even twenty years old!

Let them then say that gays are degenerates and cannot be anything other than stylists and designers!

He still had problems with orientation. He surrounded himself with men. Virtually no mistresses, and if there were, they were nominal: “I appoint you as my favorite, and you tell everyone that I’m sleeping with you. Take advantage of my kindness, bitch!”

Is it the mother's fault, orientation?

But the presence of his minions - “favorites” - at the throne attracted everyone’s attention at that time. As well as the grandiose masquerade balls, where men danced in women's costumes and were served by young men in transparent tunics... And these earrings of his, showered with precious stones? In principle, many noble men wore earrings back then, but SUCH huge and expensive ones - yes, just a missile base! - no one wore it!

Our Empress, the meek-hearted Elisaveta Petrovna, loved dressing up in men’s clothes, believing that it suited her extremely well. And Heinrich loved - in feminine clothes, which, one must think, also suited him extraordinarily!)

If we leave fiction alone, then there are not so many direct indications of his unconventional orientation, more and more guesses, gossip, the notorious earrings and satirical couplets sung in the streets.

What about his affair with Maria of Cleves?

I like these novels: two hundred fasteners on top, bottom and sides, and three dozen maids who are sure to peep. The “romance” most likely became known from the maids. Good historians who collect this “information”!

But he was humane and educated. In principle, all the children of Catherine de Medici were very educated. A prince who grew up at the most brilliant court in Europe could not be uneducated. Everything there was strictly instituted. Up to and including corporal punishment for poor performance.

Henry would have reigned as a completely good sovereign, especially with his mother’s endless wise advice. It was just a very bad time for him. But times, as they say, do not choose...

Confusion Reel. This league is “sacred”. Religious wars were all the more terrible because people did not know what they were actually fighting for. Because even at a high level, people did not really understand what they believed.

Do you understand? Well, that's it!

And among the people! Huguenots, not Huguenots, who is it? What, in general, is this idiotic word, which at first was even offensive?

The difference was primarily in the social aspect.

The Huguenots were richer, like any other Protestants, they knew how to work, this was what their religion was designed for. They worked from morning to night... and, naturally, they were wealthier, which aroused hatred among the bardacz, in general, French Catholics.

Well, envy is natural. So that envy, but without fierce hatred...

Almost impossible.

And in this era of terrible instability, he was forced to reign. Like our Nicholas II...

- Maybe it would be better if he stayed in Poland, being the “elected” king?

Yes, it was an interesting story: shortly before his death, King Charles IX gave his august consent to the election of his hated brother as King of Poland. It’s hard to say why he hated her, apparently he despised her for women’s shameful “things” and was afraid of poisoning. Although he himself was already breathing his last and died quickly after his brother’s departure.

So yes, the almighty Polish Sejm elected him, and Henry was forced to go there, unfortunate, “to the Tatars and asps.” For him, one must think, Poland was the same as for our chairman of the government Malenkov the position of director of the Ust-Kamenogorsk hydroelectric power station was.

He spent several months in Krakow while his brother the king was still alive, slowly dying either from syphilis or tuberculosis, it is now difficult to establish, this needs to be opened to the tomb and understood, but no one does this. And why?

– During their Great Revolution, all the kings were thrown into one ditch and the Abbey of Saint-Denis was ruined.

Well, yes, it wasn’t enough for them to cut off the heads of the living king and queen; they also had to vindictively disturb the long-dead ones. Still, the rebel redneck - it’s hard to imagine anything more vile!

Nothing, after the revolution the august bones were safely collected and placed in - hussars, be silent! - "ossuary". This is a chest with bones, supposedly sacred.

But the main thing there is the sarcophagi with images, the bones of all people are the same...

So, Henry III, you are always distracting...

Yes, if he ruled in Poland, despite the nominal nature of the royal title there, it would be better. But the king was there in those years - well. The main thing was the Sejm. A kind of democracy. Just remember that in those years such “democracy” was worse than individual tyranny, since each tycoon pursued his own goals and the state ended up with not one head, but a hundred, like a hydra. This is the kind of hydra Poland was then.

Well, okay, to hell with him, with the Sejm, the Poles - they are beautiful, and glory is that not everything went to one nation. They've had enough of their looks.

They are still beautiful - I’ve been to Poland: you can curl your neck on the street, following people you meet and cross!

But Henry, perhaps due to the fact that he was educated, from a very good family, is the authority of France! - he could turn the polity in this very vast state in a more reasonable direction.

Poland was there then - you won’t believe it! - much more than France.

But he was quite frightened by being practically in custody, so that God forbid he would not get out and say: “I am a king! I want this! This is my will!!”

So the French prince - simply, stupidly, at night - escaped from Krakow, secretly made his way to his homeland through Venice and, finally, to the moment when...

– He should have married Anna Jagiellonka...

“I should have, it’s true.” By the way, there were so many “Jagiellonians” in the history of Poland that historians still rummage through them like garbage...

But what if you were forced to marry a woman who was good enough to be a mother? Moreover, magical beauty - the blood in your veins froze at one glance at this “treasure of the good”! And so that the entire Diet would stand with torches, watching the intercourse, according to their then custom?

Don't judge by the Polish beauties: the appearance of dynastic princesses, as a rule, is “terror flying on the wings of the night”! Brrr! And the Sejm, meanwhile, pressed on! Apparently, the “perverts” were impatient to look at the “coitus”.

I would have run away too. I would run away first!

It was one artist Matejko who knew how to imagine Polish queens in such a way that you would rock! I still adore him. And at the same time I hate it for being biased!

Henry then - having returned and reigned - still got married. “Noblesse lick” - “lick your nobless”, gee-gee - on Louise de Vaudemont, from the Lorraine dynasty, in order to reconcile at least a little of the Guises and Valois, but nothing special came of it. That is, categorically.

What should have happened? Heroic men - Henry of Guise and Henry of Navarre - are desperately striving for the throne, and he is like a sodomite mattress without heirs.

Louise was feminine and beautiful, but she never gave birth to anyone...

They wandered around the monasteries, ordered prayer services, but what was the point. Children are not born of the Holy Spirit.

Well, if you believe the rumor, he needed “courageous and deceitful”... And, how to say, less beautiful than himself. By the way, these were not difficult to find.

In appearance, this scion of the great dynasty was quite handsome. Look at the portrait of him in his youth - a “charman”!

In short, in 1588, Henry III of Valois ordered the murder of the Duke of Guise, or his name was used by his inner circle to remove the king's main rival and pretender to the throne from the game, bypassing everything and everyone.

He was still a “contender”, I must say!

In this case, I could also lay claim to the throne. I’ll concoct a “gynecological tree” and also become a “descendant of Charlemagne”! Judging by the fact that everything in the “holy league” rested not on the legal rights to the throne, but on the charm of the personality of the Duke of Guise himself, there is no need to particularly understand the intrigues of the Lorraineers.

And in 1589 he himself was stabbed to death by some Jacques Clement, an ultra (and contra) Catholic. People do not forgive unpopular actions. And when you are also accused of having the “wrong” orientation, then it’s completely lost: they’ll definitely kill you!

A stupefied fanatic stabbed with a knife, who, perhaps, sincerely believed that sodomy on the throne was an “insult to royal power,” maybe he believed that... but who knows what this freak “believed”?

What to take from a fanatic? Only such mentalities wander from century to century and are still attractive to some stupid individuals. And, as soon as possible, a political opponent is declared gay in order to completely discredit him.

Why look far for examples? A few years ago, oligarch Prokhorov, a contender for... sorry, presidential candidate, was quickly declared gay, beyond even his dreams. Probably, everything was much more complicated there, of course, but a rumor was started - it was!

Okay, I got distracted again. Well, the mother of Henry III, Catherine de Medici, died a year earlier and did not see how all the work of her hands collapsed. After all, I tried so hard! She cared for France in general, and for her dynasty in particular... She agreed to St. Bartholomew's Night... I don't think it was easy.

It is common to imagine this queen as a monster, but she was both smart and beautiful. She just got a husband... “a gerontophile on the throne.”

Diana de Poitiers, the “official favorite” of Henry II, was twenty years older than her crowned lover. You should have seen her portrait. Such ladies here sell gloves in large shopping centers, not considering it necessary to smile at customers.

In short, Henry III was killed and, in fact, the kirdyk came to Valuyam.

After several years of religious and political wars, quite bloody, Henry IV (already Bourbon) declared that “Paris is worth the masses” - and the box office, I note! Having finally ceased to be a Huguenot, he converted to one hundred percent Catholicism.

And the era of the Time of Troubles ended. Slightly anticipating the same “Time of Troubles” in Russia, which happened 15 years later.

In general, France has become glamorously pacified. A new dynasty, a new good-natured king, he promises fat capons to everyone, he loves women - he won’t let them through their skirts! “Don’t we like it? And capons, again!!” - the people thought and rejoiced.

And the fact that he was a Huguenot is nonsense, who cares! Look, our current president was a KGB officer, and that’s okay!

And in the memory of mankind, Henry of Valois remained not a talented commander, and not a wise sovereign, and not a tragic victim of an assassination attempt, but a mother’s boy and a man with a mysterious sexual orientation...

However, Henry IV of Bourbon was also slaughtered over time. Despite the fact that the skirtmaker was first-class...

The French king Henry III of Valois seemed to resurrect the type of pampered and corrupted Caesars from the times of the decline of the Roman Empire. When he was still a child, the ladies-in-waiting of his mother, Catherine de Medici, often dressed him in women's clothes, sprayed him with perfume and decorated him like a doll. From such a childhood, he still had unusual habits - wearing rings, necklaces, earrings, putting on powder and enlivening his lips with lipstick...

However, in other respects he was a completely normal prince: he participated in all the court drinking parties, did not miss a single skirt and even, according to the chronicler, earned fame “ the most amiable of the princes, the best built and the most handsome at that time.”

Catherine de' Medici with her children - Charles, Margarita, Henry and Francois.

He was born in 1551 and was the most “charismatic” of the sons of the “tiger” Catherine de Medici. Graceful, handsome, elegant and charming, Prince Henri outshone his older brothers from childhood. At the coronation of Charles IX in 1560, the crowd cheered Prince Henry more than Charles himself. Meanwhile, one was only 10 at the time, and the other was 9 years old...

Henry III was not the most ambitious, talented or brilliant French monarch of the 16th century, but, of course, it was in his personality and fate that all the conflicts of the era received their most complex and extravagant embodiment.

In 1573, as a result of unimaginable intrigues, Catherine de Medici achieved the election of Henry to the Polish throne. But already on June 15, 1574, three months after arriving in Warsaw, Henry received a letter from his mother, in which she informed him of the death of Charles IX and called her son to Paris to snatch the crown from the hands of Henry of Navarre, leader of the Huguenots.

Henry knew true love - for the pretty Mary of Cleves, the wife of Prince Condé. After a short but passionate correspondence, Maria allowed the prince to wear a miniature portrait of herself around his neck. However, two years later she died.

Henry was inconsolable: for eight days he alternately screamed and sighed and refused to eat. Finally he appeared in public in an almost masquerade costume, hung with signs and objects reminiscent of death. He attached images of skulls to his shoes, and the same dead heads dangled from the ends of the suit laces.

Later, visiting Venice, he made acquaintance with the courtesan Veronica, a friend of Titian. This red-haired beauty introduced him to activities, according to a contemporary, “not very decent and extremely vicious, called Italian love.” Henry left Venice a different man, or, so to speak, not quite a man.

Upon his return to Paris, he opened a carnival in his new kingdom. Following some imperious call of his nature, he dressed up his body and soul at the same time.

One Epiphany, he appeared before the stunned court dressed in a dress with a round neckline on his bare chest, with his hair entwined with pearl threads, sucking sweets and playing with a silk fan. “It was impossible to understand, writes an eyewitness, “You see in front of you a female king or a male queen.”

So that the courtiers could address him as a woman, Henry was the first in Europe to accept the title of Majesty, which outraged the free minds of the time. The poet Ronsard wrote to one of his friends: “ At court the only conversation is about His Majesty: It came, It went, It was, It will be. Doesn’t this mean that the kingdom has become rich?”

Young people appeared near Henry, popularly nicknamed “minions” (“cuties”). " These adorable cuties- a contemporary testifies, - wore rather long hair, which they constantly curled using various devices. From under the velvet caps, curled locks fell onto her shoulders, as is usually the case with whores in a brothel.

They also liked linen shirts with heavily starched ruffled collars, half a foot wide, so that their heads looked like the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And all the rest of their clothes were in the same spirit.”

Satire of the time calls the court of Henry III the Island of Hermaphrodites.

Royal lust was directed towards other boys, both noble and commoner. One day, Henry fell asleep at the sight of the palace upholsterer. " Seeing how he, standing high on two staircases, cleaned the candlesticks in the hall, writes an eyewitness, the king fell so in love that he began to cry...”

The king introduced extremely refined etiquette at court, making his bedroom and his bed an object of worship. A royal bed (even an empty one) had to be bowed, just as in Spain they bowed to an empty royal chair at that time.

The monarch attached particular importance to clothing and personal care. " After the toilet, Henry put on a tight-fitting suit, most often black or dark brown, and attached a hat with an aigrette decorated with a precious stone to his head with a special pin.".

He always wore three rings on his hands, and on his neck a gold chain with a bottle of musk, as well as two pairs of gloves: thinner and more magnificent, with large clasps secured with a silk cord. The king also always slept in gloves soaked in hand cream, and ate with a fork with two prongs, and very long ones, because the huge plywood collar (“cutter”) prevented his hand from reaching his mouth.

Henry traveled in a huge van-like carriage with his friends, jesters, dogs (of which, generally speaking, he had several hundred), parrots and monkeys.

The sovereign's going to sleep was described as the soaring of the spirit in aromas and sounds that were blissful to the body. Judge for yourself: in the evening in the royal bedchamber" the floor was covered with a thick carpet of roses, violets, red carnations and lilies, and fragrant incense was burned in incense burners.

A skilled barber covered the royal face with pink cream and put on a linen mask so that the cream would not smear; I lubricated my hands with almond paste before putting on huge waterproof gloves. Lying on his bed, warmed by the warm vapors of coriander, fragrant incense and cinnamon, the king listened to a reading from Machiavelli"

Ladislav Bakalovich "Ball at the court of Henry III.

Alas, the life of this hedonist was not easy and not happy. In 1578, during a mass duel, almost all of his “minions” died. The king erected a mausoleum for each, and made the two survivors peers of France.

Of course, this was the second terrible blow for Henry. He plunged into the deepest depression, made pilgrimages to monasteries, lived like a monk in crypt-like cells. He slept on a straw mattress and observed all the monastic restrictions and rituals. He was tormented by nightmares. The king ordered to kill all the predators in his menagerie, because he once dreamed that lions were tearing his body to pieces...

The Parisians, as good subjects, began to imitate the royal inclinations (this was especially necessary for those courtiers who wanted to please the king). Women, deprived of male attention, also began to seek consolation from each other... " Just as men found a way to get by without women, the chronicler writes bitterly , - women have learned to do without men».

Henry III's religious mysticism included both magic and blasphemy. In one book of hours, he ordered his minions and mistresses to be painted in the costumes of saints and virgin martyrs, and he carried this blasphemous prayer book with him to church.

In the tower of the Vincennes castle, where he lived, all the paraphernalia of witchcraft were kept: cabalistic inscriptions, magic wands made of walnut wood, mirrors for summoning spirits, tanned children's skin covered with devilish signs. The most scandalous thing was a golden crucifix, supported by two obscene figures of satyrs, intended, it seemed, for the altar of the black mass at the Sabbath.

Nowadays, Henry would suffer only from the annoying attention of incessant paparazzi. But in 16th-century France, torn apart by religious wars, such a king had no chance.

Henry III of Valois

The royal court resembled a ship with a drunken crew, which the furious wind of the century carried to the coastal cliffs. Henry III was surrounded only by traps, conspiracies and betrayals. The flaring fire of religious wars licked his throne from both sides.

The Huguenots, united around Henry of Navarre, and the Catholics, led by the Duke of Guise, equally hated him. Next to him were his brother, the Duke of Alençon, ready for fratricide, and his mother, Catherine de Medici, an old spinner of court intrigue. Unrest and unrest were already sweeping the south of the country. Beyond the borders of the state, Philip II of Spain created a European alliance against France.

In one of the Parisian monasteries lived a twenty-two-year-old monk, Jacques Clément, a former peasant (in the monastery he was nicknamed “Captain Clément” because of his passion for military affairs). Spiritual mentors had long since instilled in him faith in his chosenness; they even convinced him that he had the miraculous gift of becoming invisible by force of will.

Clement was in a state of constant exaltation - perhaps drugs were mixed into his food. In visions it was revealed to him that the reward for the murder of Henry III would be a cardinal's hat and immortal glory.

Henry III received his fatal blow on August 1, 1589, when, sitting on a toilet seat ( this was in the customs of the French court: toilet seats at that time were considered luxury items, upholstered in silk and velvet - see: F. Erlanger, p. 135), gave an audience to his killer.

Under the pretext of delivering a letter to the king from one of his followers, and after waiting until the king was deep in reading the letter, Clément snatched a knife from under his cassock and plunged it into the barren womb of the female king. Then he froze, convinced that he had become invisible.

Assassination of Henry III.

— Damn monk, he killed me!- Heinrich exclaimed.
Having pulled the knife out of the wound, he hit Clement in the forehead with it. The guards who ran in finished off the wounded monk, threw the corpse out of the window and, after much torture, burned it. Henry did not survive his assassin for long.

Let us remember that Henry III, the last Valois, was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible, about whom for some reason it is customary to write as the only monster of his time.

And yet, to the credit of this complex and unhappy man, it must be said: he did everything so that the crown would go to the most talented of his possible heirs - Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre...

Compilation of material – Fox

Henry III

French King Henry III was the sixth child of Henry II and Catherine de Medici. Like all the last representatives of the Valois family, he was distinguished by a weak build, but grew up as a cheerful, friendly and intelligent child. In his youth, he read a lot, willingly held conversations about literature, studied diligently, danced and fenced well, and knew how to charm with his charm and elegance. Like all nobles, he began early to engage in various physical exercises and later, during military campaigns, showed good skill in military affairs. In 1561, during the coronation of Charles IX in Reims, he made a more favorable impression on the people than his brother. Catherine herself, who loved Henry more than all her children, dreamed of bringing him the royal crown.

Henry's military and political career began very early. In November 1567, at sixteen years of age, he was appointed lieutenant general of France and, with this rank, received command of the royal troops. Although the direct leadership of military operations was carried out by more experienced military leaders, it was Henry who was credited with two important victories over the Huguenots - at Yarnac and at Moncontour, in March and September 1569. Covered with glory, he returned to Paris and here he made his first victories over the hearts of the court ladies.

Following St. Bartholomew's Night, the civil war between Catholics and Huguenots resumed. In February 1573, Henry took command of the army and arrived at La Rochelle. After a fierce bombardment, the royal troops unsuccessfully tried several times to storm the fortress walls, and then began a blockade. Meanwhile, Henry's emissaries petitioned the Polish Sejm for his election as Polish king. The local gentry, before yielding the throne to the French prince, demanded from him many new liberties and privileges. By their combined action, the power of the Polish king was reduced to a minimum, and the nobility received almost unlimited influence on all state affairs. In June, the Diet elected Henry as king by a majority vote. Having learned about this, he hastily concluded a very beneficial peace with the besieged and set off for his new kingdom. In February 1574, Henry was solemnly crowned in Krakow. His short reign lasted 146 days and was filled with feasts and celebrations. In June 1574, news arrived of the death of Charles IX. Henry and a handful of his associates secretly left Krakow and fled to their homeland. In September he was already in France.

Even before the coronation, Henry announced his intention to marry. As his wife, he chose the meek and benevolent Louise de Vaudemont, whom he had only glimpsed once before in 1573 in Blamont. On February 13, 1575, the king's coronation took place, followed two days later by his betrothal to Louise. After the magnificent celebrations, the couple returned to Paris. The new king had a lively mind and good memory, was sharp-witted and could speak fluently. However, Henry’s numerous ill-wishers left very unflattering reviews about him. Thus, the Venetian Jean Michel wrote: “He is so devoted to idleness, pleasures occupy his life so much, he avoids all activities so much that this baffles everyone. The king spends most of his time in the company of ladies, smelling perfume, curling his hair, putting on various earrings and rings...” Another contemporary, Zuniga, reports that every evening Henry throws a party and that, like a woman, he wears earrings and coral bracelets, she dyes her red hair black, draws in her eyebrows and even uses blush. Archbishop Frangipani also reproached Henry for his idleness. “At 24 years old,” he wrote, “the king spends almost all his time at home and a lot of it in bed. You have to really intimidate him to get him to do anything.” Henry valued very little the usual entertainments of the nobles - tournaments, fencing, hunting. But he surprised his close associates with his passion for children's games, like bilboke. The king’s immoderate passion for minions (“favorites”) even gave rise to obscene suspicions. In 1578, a famous duel took place, known from the descriptions of many contemporaries and later novelists, in which almost all of the king’s minions fell. Henry came to the mortally wounded Kelus every day and promised the doctors 100 thousand francs if they cured him. When he finally died, the king’s grief was immeasurable. He never parted with his hair again and sighed heavily every time his name was mentioned. He ordered the bodies of the dead to be buried in beautiful mausoleums and erected magnificent marble sculptures over them. He then had only two “favorites” left - Joyez and Epernon. Henry showered them with endless tokens of his attention and bestowed on both the titles of duke and peer.

His melancholy intensified and over the years turned into deep depression. At the same time, a craving for monastic solitude appeared. In 1579, the king and queen made their first pilgrimage to holy places, praying in vain for an heir. Beginning in 1583, Henry lived for a long time in one or another monastic monastery. Together with all the brethren, he got up before dawn and attended all services. His food these days was very meager. The king devoted five hours a day to singing services and four hours to praying out loud or silently. The rest of the time was occupied by processions and listening to sermons. He slept on simple straw, resting no more than four hours a day. A characteristic feature of Henry, which explains a lot of his contradictory actions, was suspiciousness that went beyond all reasonable limits. So, in 1583, Henry ordered to kill all the lions, bears and bulls in the royal menagerie because he had a bad dream: he dreamed that he was torn apart and devoured by lions.

Thus, Henry could not be called an active and energetic ruler. Meanwhile, the reign that fell to his lot was one of the most alarming in French history. Religious strife worsened every year. Upon his return, Henry found France close to civil strife. Hopes that the king would be able to reconcile the different parties did not materialize. Soon a new war began, in which Henry's younger brother, Francis, fought on the side of the Huguenots. However, the fighting was limited to only minor skirmishes. Henry himself fought without any inspiration, was burdened by the inconveniences of camp life and wanted to return to Paris as soon as possible. In 1576, a peace treaty was signed at Beaulieu. Francis of Valois received Anjou, Touraine and Berry; Henry of Navarre - Guyenne; Prince of Condé - Picardy. The king granted freedom of religion to Protestants, but not in Paris and not at the royal court. In addition, he gave them eight fortresses in which they could find safe refuge. All estates taken from the Huguenots were to be returned to their former owners. This treaty could be considered a victory for the Protestants, who defended their rights in a difficult war. The Protestant republic after this turned into a kind of independent state: it had its own religious charters, its own civil administration, its own court, its own army, its own trade and finance.

The king's compliance was extremely displeasing to the Catholic party. Its head, Duke Henry of Guise, in 1576, with the help of devoted accomplices, began to form secret societies of defenders of the Catholic faith (Catholic League) in different regions of France. The main command over them was concentrated in Paris under the name of the central committee. With the assistance of the parish priests, the league grew incredibly, and with it the power of Guise itself grew to dangerous limits. Soon he could count that, having stood at the head of the religious movement, he could easily overthrow Henry III and take his place. Thanks to papers found in 1577 from a courier who died in Lyon on his way to Rome, the king learned of the existence of the league and guessed the real intentions of his opponent. However, Henry understood that the persecution of Guise would incite half of the kingdom against him. Therefore, he confirmed the formation of the league by personal decree and proclaimed himself its head. The edict signed at Beaulieu was revoked, and the religious war resumed. The Catholics soon achieved some success at Bergerac. Therefore, the peace concluded in 1577 in Poitiers was much less favorable for the Huguenots.

But in the mid-1580s, the situation in France again deteriorated to the extreme. In 1584, the king's younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, died. Henry himself had no heirs. The Valois dynasty faced complete degeneration in the coming years, and the closest heir to the throne was the head of the Huguenots, Henry of Navarre. In the face of this threat, the Ligists resumed their activities. The Guises entered into an alliance with Spain and proclaimed Cardinal Charles of Bourbon heir to the throne. As Giza grew stronger, the king's power became more and more elusive. Both the Huguenots and Catholics were hostile to him. In order to keep at least the latter with him, Henry had to agree in 1585 to the signing of the Edict of Nemours, which prohibited, under threat of death penalty, in France any other confession of faith except Catholicism. By this edict, the King of Navarre was removed from the legal right to inherit the throne after the death of Henry. The civil war broke out with renewed vigor. In October 1587, the Huguenots defeated the Catholics at the Battle of Coutras. Henry was considered the main culprit of the defeat. When he returned to the capital in December, the Parisians greeted him with great hostility. The king understood that the arrival of Guise in the rebellious capital would be a signal of general indignation, and forbade him to return to the city. As if mocking his decrees, Guise arrived in Paris in May 1588 and was greeted by jubilant crowds of people. The king tried to bring troops into the city, but on May 12 the Parisians blocked their road with barricades. The next day, Henry rode from Paris to Chartres. In vain did the Duke of Guise convince the king that there was nothing dangerous for him in the mood of the Parisians. On August 2, he himself arrived in Chartres. Henry, apparently, reconciled with him, granted him the title of generalissimo, but refused to return to Paris. The court moved to Blois. This was the time of the greatest power of Henry of Guise. He behaved in the capital like an uncrowned king, only out of politeness showing the legitimate monarch the proper signs of attention. Paris unquestioningly obeyed his every order. Many openly said then that it was time for King Henry, like the last of the Merovingians, Childeric, to go into a monastery and cede power to the one “who really rules.” Henry's sister Guise, Duchess de Montpensier, openly carried scissors on her belt, with which she threatened to cut a tonsure on the head of the last Valois. But it turned out that the Gizas celebrated their victory early. The king was secretly preparing a retaliatory strike. On November 23, he invited the Duke to his palace. On the way to Henry's office, he was surrounded by 45 nobles - the king's bodyguards. With swords and daggers they inflicted many wounds on Giza, from which he died immediately. His brother, the cardinal, was thrown into prison and killed the next day.

The news of the death of the Guises struck with horror all of Paris, and then all of France. Catholics everywhere cursed the king. Masses were served in churches with prayers for the death of the Valois dynasty. The Parisians proclaimed Henry of Guise's brother Charles, Duke of Mayenne, as the head of the league, and Charles of Bourbon as the king. Henry III, rejected by the Catholic party, had to become close to the Huguenots. In April 1589, in the park of Plessis-les-Tours, he met with Henry of Navarre and officially recognized him as his heir. Having united their troops, both Henrys approached rebellious Paris. In May, the pope excommunicated the king. From that time on, in the eyes of fanatics, he became the embodiment of all evil. Many of them were ready to kill him and accept the crown of martyrdom for their faith. On August 1, Jacques Clement, a monk from the Jacobite order, came to the besieging camp in Saint-Cloud as if with news from Paris. Admitted to the king, he handed him some papers, and then stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger. Heinrich pushed the killer away and grabbed the knife from the wound. The guards ran up and hacked the monk to pieces. But the job was already done - the wound turned out to be fatal, and the king died the next day. Shortly before his death, he once again declared Henry of Navarre as his successor and demanded that everyone present take an oath of allegiance to him.

In Paris, the news of the death of Henry III caused great joy. The townspeople celebrated it with illuminations and riotous feasts. The Duchess of Montpensier took off her mourning for her brothers and traveled around the city in festive clothes. Thanksgiving prayers were held in all churches.

Alla Pugacheva has a song “Kings Can Do Anything”, many have probably heard it. The point is that kings can do everything except one thing - marry for love. Indeed, there was no place for feelings in royal marriages, and monarchs often became hostages to politics. This happened with Henry III of Valois.

Henry III went down in history as a strange man, prone to exaltation, a lover of women's clothing, who surrounded himself with his favorite minions. Evil tongues did not forgive him for his “oddities” and branded him a “sodomite.” But was this really so, and if so, what was the reason for this?

Henry III of Valois

The future king of France was born in 1551 and was the favorite son of Catherine de Medici. Already in his youth he showed himself to be an educated man, a good organizer and a brave warrior. He was very charming, witty and easy to talk to. He was considered the most elegant of the princes. By the way, he was not a bad ruler, despite the assurances of his enemies.

Fatal meeting

There is a romantic legend about the meeting of Henry III and Mary of Cleves. In 1572, a ball was given in honor of the marriage of the King of Navarre and Margaret of Valois. Maria went into the room next to the ballroom to take off her shirt; she was sweating heavily from the heat. Soon Prince Henry ran there and by mistake, instead of a towel, grabbed Mary’s shirt, wiped his face with it and mystically fell in love with the owner of this shirt.

At the ball, he found out who the owner of the thing was and wrote her a passionate message. Maria was shocked to learn that the most handsome of the princes had fallen in love with her. The lovers met secretly and exchanged letters. Henry seriously expected to marry his beloved, but then the first blow of fate overtook him.

Catherine de Medici passionately wanted her beloved son to become king. But while there was a king in France, his older brother Charles. Through intrigue, she managed to ensure that Henry, also known as the Duke of Anjou, was elected to the Polish throne in 11573. He had to go to Poland. The Poles did not like the new king; they considered him too cutesy and not masculinely sophisticated.

Henry was not very interested in Polish affairs, which he did not particularly understand. In addition, a bride was attached to the Polish throne - the elderly Anna Jagiellonka. Henry diplomatically avoided the issue of marrying her. Every month he wrote many letters to his mother. And beloved Mary. At this time she was married to the Prince of Condé. Henry seriously considered the issue of getting their marriage dissolved.

Flight of the King

In 1574, King Charles IX died after a long illness. When Henry received the letter, he diplomatically hid his joy and assured his ministers that he would not go to France. Then the vaudeville began. A grand ball was held, at which all the Poles got dead drunk. And Henry and his faithful friends, having changed clothes, fled to the border of Austria. His former subjects chased him, but did not catch him.

As soon as the king was safe, he immediately wrote a letter to Mary saying that he would soon arrive in Paris. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out soon. Henry arrived in France only at the end of September, and a rebellion in the south detained him in Lyon. The delay turned out to be fatal... Heinrich wrote another passionate letter to his beloved, but she no longer received it. Maria died from an unsuccessful birth.

Tragic news

Henry III did not immediately learn that his beloved Mary was no longer there. The Queen Mother placed the letter with the news among other letters. Heinrich’s reaction apparently shocked everyone - after reading the sad news, he lost consciousness. Henry developed a fever and locked himself in his chambers for several days. There he refused to eat and lay all day looking at the ceiling. Sometimes he started screaming or crying out loud. They began to seriously fear for his sanity.

French high society was not accustomed to such vivid manifestations of feelings and the grief of the future king did not evoke due sympathy. Quite the contrary. When he finally appeared in public, covered in symbols of death, he was laughed at. It was not customary to experience such deep affection, much less demonstrate it publicly. The French king should have a wife and mistresses, this was in the order of things.

Life after love

In 1575 Henry was crowned. After the death of his beloved, he was disgusted with marriage, but it was unacceptable for the king to remain single and not have an heir. He married a modest girl from the junior branch of the ducal house, Louise de Vaudemont. Unfortunately, the marriage turned out to be childless and the Valois family died out on Henry. And it was in this last period of his life that all the “oddities” of King Henry, which his ill-wishers called vices, fully manifested themselves.

And he was not vicious, he was a very sensitive and subtle person, most likely very unhappy. Although this is not surprising for a person with a fine mental organization who has experienced such a deep personal drama. What contemporaries could not or did not want to understand. Let's look at these rather ridiculous accusations. The king was addicted to elaborate attire, although in those days it was not considered shameful for men to wear jewelry, so he simply decorated himself a little more than usual.

He was not the only one who wore earrings and necklaces; his grandfather Francis did the same, as did many wealthy contemporaries. Heinrich also loved to choose styles of women's dresses, and even sewed them himself. There is nothing wrong with that; the best tailors, as you know, are men. The king loved to study all his life and continued his self-education. He was ridiculed for this too. Henry did not have illegitimate children and for this... he was also ridiculed.

His minions were brave and courageous people, which they proved many times on the battlefield. And it is unlikely that they were connected with the king by anything more than good friendship. All accusations of unconventional orientation and unmasculine behavior are simply evil gossip of enemies, because King Henry lived and ruled in a very difficult time for France. His life ended tragically - in 1589 from the dagger of a fanatic killer sent to him.

Henry III of France. King of France

Maria of Cleves, the king's great love, found herself in the position of a straw widow in the spring of 1574: her husband fled to Germany, she did not want to follow him. Henry was already thinking about how to organize the recognition of Condé’s marriage as invalid, but Catherine, who sensed a dangerous rival in Mary, who had reappeared on the scene, took care to keep her son away from Paris, where the princess was at that time. And in Lyon, Henry learned that on October 30, 1574, Mary died in childbirth. The news literally crushed him. He came down with a fever and retired to his chambers for many days. The courtiers, accustomed to fairly easy morals, were amazed that the king of France was displaying such deep feelings. When, returning to society, he appeared in a dress on which numerous skulls were embroidered, those around him hardly hid their ridicule.

Only under the impression of the loss of his beloved Mary, Henry agreed to the marriage in order to ensure the continuation of the dynasty and displace the rebellious Alençon (now, however, “Anjou”) from the first place in the row of heirs to the throne. To everyone's surprise, his choice fell on a meek and benevolent girl whom he had glimpsed in 1573 in Blamont, Louise de Wodsmont (1553 - 1601), who came from a junior branch of the Ducal House of Lorraine. She had no special pretensions or bright prospects, but one could expect that she would become a faithful and devoted wife to the king. Henry's decision in favor of Louise was partly a protest against Catherine - the first step towards the emancipation of his loving son from his domineering mother, who wanted to participate in all his decisions and, naturally, had a completely different candidate in mind. However, this time she resigned herself.

On February 13, 1575, the coronation and ordination of the king took place in the Reims Cathedral; On February 15, the engagement to Louise followed. Henry (“hungry for perfection”) personally took care of the bride’s outfit, jewelry and hairstyle - so thoroughly that the wedding mass had to be postponed to the afternoon.

Louise became the queen he could always lean on. She had no desire for power at all and never forgot how high Henry raised her. All her life she remained, faithful and grateful, in the shadow of the king. The whole kingdom was sympathetic to this marriage; however, he was childless, which caused bewilderment and was incomprehensible to his contemporaries. Apparently, Louise became infertile after an induced abortion, complicated by chronic inflammation of the uterus. She suffered from the consequences of this operation for many years.

At court, the blame for the childlessness of the marriage was readily placed on Henry, since he - a completely unusual phenomenon for French kings - did not have illegitimate children, although from 1569 he had intimate relationships with many court ladies. However, he did not have an official mistress, and after his marriage he almost stopped his love affairs altogether. In the summer of 1582, Henry vowed to renounce sexual relations with other women, as his confessor explained that childlessness was God's punishment for casual relationships. However, this did not help; Repeated pilgrimages to holy places, to the cathedrals of Chartres and d’Epins between 1679 and 1589, were also in vain.

Although Henry did not give up the hope of having male offspring until the very end, from 1582 he found inner peace in a deep religious feeling. He easily submitted to the incomprehensible zero of God. When the heir to the throne of Anjou unexpectedly died in 1584, Henry - although at first not without hesitation - agreed to recognize Navarre as the new claimant, who had the legal right to do so. When the religious and political situation in 1588/89 changed radically and Henry III found himself virtually alone against an unruly country, a rebellious capital and the Guises striving for the crown, he showed the breadth of a true statesman by reaching an agreement with the only legitimate heir to the throne, Navarre. His firm determination ensured the continuity of the state during the process of changing the reigning dynasty.

Henry III was a diligent monarch. He had a remarkable memory and a sharp mind. Whenever possible, he conducted government affairs himself. With his bureaucratic zeal he resembled Philip II of Spain. Because of his numerous legislative initiatives, his contemporaries nicknamed him the “King of Solicitors.” Of particular importance for many areas of public and private life was the Ordinance issued in Blois (1579), where in 363 provisions the wishes and difficulties were discussed, which were raised by the Estates General assembled in 1576.

Economically, Henry succeeded in attracting the clergy, who were exempt from paying taxes, to participate in government spending. In 1579/80, he obtained that an assembly of clergy promised him an “ecclesiastical loan” in the amount of about 1.3 million livres for a period of six years. In 1586 this loan was extended for 10 years. Since the crown did not want to lose this source of income in the future, the general meeting of the clergy was forced to legitimize the emerging practice of the clergy providing a tax in the form of a voluntary donation, which was collected every ten years throughout the existence of the old regime.

In addition to church tithes under Henry III, a direct tax was also levied on the church for several years. All these payments seemed to the clergy a lesser evil compared to the threatening expropriation of church property, which the crown always saw as a means of pressure: three times Henry alienated part of the church property (in 1574, 1576, 1586). Of all the French rulers, Henry III was the king who demanded the most from the clergy.

Only after Alina Karper’s research did the significance of the noble assembly convened by Henry III for the “modernization of France” become known. From November 1583 to the end of January 1584, in the Saint-Germain suburb, the political and administrative elite of the country - 66 people - discussed an extensive list of issues proposed by the king, which related to the tax system, state budget, sale of positions, administrative structure, army, economy, etc. The discussion was, as the imperial envoy noted, about the general reform of the kingdom, which the king expected from this meeting of specialists. The results of the meetings were presented to the government in the form of “Opinions of the Assembly”, processed by it and published. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these decisions were considered “a monument to statesmanship, which only due to unfavorable political conditions could not bear fruit.” The fact is that it was this year that the peaceful respite that had lasted since 1577 actually ended. Numerous reforms that Henry began to carry out back in 1584 stalled; there was no need to think about them in the face of the threat of a brewing new civil war.

Historiographers contemporary to Henry already noted that at the end of his reign he aroused a hostile attitude towards himself in everyone. Unkind exaggerations and misrepresentations of the preferences and interests of the king completely discredited this sovereign, who was treated with equal hatred and prejudice by both Catholics and Protestants.

A critical attitude towards Henri III permeates all historiography, right up to the 20th century. Only the works of Pierre Champion laid the foundation for a new direction in the study of Henry's biography. Pierre Chevalier dedicated a solid work to him, published in 1986, in which he examines all the rumors, half-truths, insults and accusations accumulated over centuries, with documents in hand. The results are striking: although many details remain unclear, a critical analysis of the sources gives a completely new assessment of Henry III, the king and the man. This work allows us to see the personality of Henry III more clearly than before.

The main attacks related primarily to the “minions” - a group of four young nobles whom Henry kept at court and showered with favors, honors, and gifts. All of them distinguished themselves in the military field, were loyal and devoted to him, and must have allowed themselves daring antics towards the conservative aristocracy. These four musketeers, who were later joined by several others, dressed provocatively and valued entertainment and gallant (and other) adventures. The duel of minions, which took place on April 27, 1578, and claimed four lives, is notorious; it was, strictly speaking, a reflection of the struggle between warring Catholic factions.

Of the four first favorites, Saint-Sulpice was killed in 1576, Caillus died 33 days after the mentioned duel, Saint-Luc, who had spilled the king’s alcove secrets to his wife, fell out of favor in 1580 and barely escaped a trial; the fourth, François d'O, whom Henry called "my great steward" because of his excellent financial management, retired from the court in 1581, when his star began to decline.

Since 1578/79, two other favorites of the king have come to the attention of researchers: Anne de Joyeuse and Jean-Louis de la Valette. Both of them were called "archimignons" by their contemporaries, both rose above their predecessors and received the title of duke (de Joyeuse and d'Epernon). The king’s attitude towards these favorites, whom he sometimes called “my brothers,” was perhaps best expressed by the Tuscan envoy Cavriana, who in 1586 commented on their military success: “The father rejoices greatly to see how both his adopted sons prove their worth "

Michelet already warned against an overly negative attitude towards minions. Although Dodu called them “ministers of his voluptuousness,” it is likely that neither they nor the king were homosexuals. Here it is worth quoting the weighty words of Chevalier: “Henry III and his favorites are an unfounded and slanderous legend.”

Other characteristics of the king, partly inherited by him from the Medici family, also served as a target for criticism over the centuries - a passion for luxurious fancy clothing, jewelry, and incense.

He had a clear understanding of beauty and elegance, but was prone to rather flirtatious forms of self-expression. He loved carnivals, balls and masquerades, appreciated literature, poetry and theater, while caring about the preservation of court ceremonial and etiquette. On some occasions he willingly outlined detailed rules and regulations - for example, when he founded the Knightly Catholic Order of the Holy Spirit in 1578.

Henry loved small dogs, of which he had several hundred, rare birds and exotic animals. He valued the usual entertainments of nobles - knightly tournaments, fencing, and hunting - less. Sometimes the king surprised his entourage with children's games like bilboke - a game in which you need to pick up a ball with a sharp end or a curved stick. He enjoyed carving miniatures, which he later used as decorations.

On the other hand, Heinrich had increased nervous sensitivity and, as a result, a predisposition to disease. His childlessness and worries about the moral decline of the kingdom torn by civil war led him to deep piety in 1582/83. The desire to openly demonstrate his piety, which, perhaps, also had a political background, the desire to give everything some kind of mystical shine, prompted him until about 1587 to take part in processions, often in a white hair shirt, especially in the processions founded by Henry himself in March 1583 "Brotherhood of Penitent Sinners of Our Lady of the Annunciation." The members of this brotherhood - including both archimignons, many courtiers, members of parliament and noble citizens - wore a white Capuchin robe made of Dutch wool with two holes for the eyes. Shortly before a new outbreak of civil war, when Henry saw the final collapse of his policy of compromise and experienced a period of deep melancholy, he founded, this time without noise or show, the “Brotherhood of the Death and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” This small community met on Fridays in the Louvre, where they prayed together, sang psalms and spent time in spiritual exercises, penance and even self-flagellation.

From his very first stay at the Pauline monastery and January 1583, Henry retreated more and more from the world. He felt great behind the monastery walls, and was happy with what the monks themselves were content with. He ordered the reconstruction and expansion of the old Hieronymite monastery in the Bois de Vincennes, where several cells were reserved for him and his often very large retinue (since, in spite of everything, he did not let political issues out of his sight). From 1584, Henry regularly spent several days in this monastery for three years, which was later transferred to the Paulines. It is unlikely that Henry found understanding with anyone: Catherine, his wife or his subjects. Even the pope did not approve of Henry, whom his contemporaries sometimes called the monk king.

This certainly exaggerated religious zeal, reaching the point of excesses, was associated with a characteristic feature of the king, which he himself once expressed as follows: “What I love, I love to the end.” This was the real weakness of the king: his nervous constitution often led him to extremes. Whatever the king did, due to his temperament, he indulged in it excessively.

Many of the king's ways of spending his time indicate his extravagance, which was based on certain character traits. Although his ingenuousness was obvious, it was sometimes funny and aroused ridicule and anger among his opponents. Henry was an unusual child for his time and his parents. However, for centuries no one was willing to admit this.