654 HENKY II. (FBANCE) HENRY III. (FRANCE) was afflicted by a dreadful famine and by many private wars. The church attempted to allay the latter curse, by enforcing agreements known as the "peace of God" and "truce of God ;" but Henry declined to abide by them. By Anna, daughter of Yaroslav, grand duke of Russia, he had Philip, who was his successor, and Hugh, who became count of Vermandois. HENRY II., tenth king of the Valois family, born in St. Germain-en-Laye, March 31, 1519, died in Paris, July 10, 1559. The only survi- ving son of Francis I. by his queen Claude of France, he succeeded his father, March 31, 1547, adhering to whose policy, he engaged abroad in the great struggle to destroy the ascendancy of the house of Austria, while he persecuted the Protestants at home. Being entirely under the control of his mistress, Diana of Poitiers, who acted in concert with the great constable Montmorency and the brothers Guise, he had many of the Protes- tants arrested, tried, and burned at the stake in Paris, Lyons, Angers, Blois, and Bordeaux. By his edicts of Chateaubriant (1552) and Ecouen (1553) the punishment of death was decreed for attendance at secret religious meetings. In 1557 ecclesiastics, under the title of inquisitors, were introduced into the parliaments to sit as judges in all cases against heretics. Finally, in 1559, two members of the parliament of Paris, Du Faur cle Pibrac and Anne du Bourg, having been bold enough to advocate in his presence the liberty of con- science, were incarcerated, and Du Bourg was publicly hanged and burned. These bloody measures were the forerunners of religious wars. Henry's foreign policy was partially successful. The English, who were then in alliance with the emperor Charles V., were desirous of securing the union of Scotland by the marriage of young Edward VI. with Mary Stuart ; French troops were sent to Scot- land, and Mary was brought to France and affianced to the dauphin Francis. Meanwhile Boulogne was besieged, and England gave it up in 1550, for one third of the sum which had been stipulated for its surrender. In Italy, Henry protected Ottavio Farnese, duke of Par- ma, against the imperial troops ; and in 1552 he became the ally of Maurice of Saxony and the other Protestant princes who were struggling to throw off the yoke of Charles V., and soon after seized the episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Charles, having concluded the treaty of Passau with his German opponents, tried to reconquer those cities, and in 1553 made a fruitless attack upon Metz, which was de- fended by Francois de Guise, and avenged his defeat by pillaging Picardy, but was once more defeated at Renty in 1554. The French at the same time were successful in Italy, where Bris- sac conquered Savoy and Piedmont. Charles having abdicated in favor of his son Philip II., a five years' truce was signed at Vauxcelles in February, 1556. Henry II., however, soon re- newed the war, but unsuccessfully ; the duke of Guise was foiled in his attempt against the kingdom of Naples by the superior ability of the duke of Alva, and the constable Montmo- rency was totally defeated near St. Quentin, in 1557, by Duke Philibert Emmanuel of Savoy. Had Philip II. improved the opportunity, Paris would have been taken; but his delay gave time to his rival to make preparations for de- fence; and Guise, being recalled from Italy, revenged the disgrace of Montmorency's defeat by the conquest of Calais in 1558, the only place that the English still possessed on French soil. But the Spanish troops under Egmont having won a new victory, Henry II., weary of war and yielding to the entreaties of his mistress, concluded, April 2, 1559, the disas- trous peace of Cateau-Cambr6sis. He kept Ca- lais, Metz, Toul, and Verdun, but consented to restore all his conquests in Italy and the Neth- erlands, including nearly 200 strong places. Henry's daughter Elizabeth was to be married to Philip, and his sister Margaret to the duke of Savoy. During the celebration of the peace and the double marriage, Henry II. was mor- tally wounded in a tilt with the count de Mont- gomery, the captain of his guards, and his sceptre passed to his eldest son, Francis II., the husband of Mary, queen of Scots. HENRY III., the last king of the Valois fam- ily, born in Fontainebleau, Sept. 19, 1551, died Aug. 2, 1589. He was the third son of Henry II., and the favorite of his mother, Catharine de' Medici, and before his accession bore the title of duke of Anjou. Being placed at the head of the Catholic army in the reign of Charles IX., he won in 1569 the victories of Jarnac and Moncontour over the Protestants. He participated in the councils that brought about the St. Bartholomew massacre in 1572. His military reputation, aided by his mother's intrigues, procured his election to the throne of Poland in 1573 ; but his refined and effeminate habits were distasteful to the Poles, while he disliked their independent spirit and coarse manners. On hearing of the death of his bro- ther Charles IX. in 1574, he secretly escaped and returned to France, passing through Vienna and Venice. His arrival was marked by the renewal of civil war. The Protestant party, being strengthened by their alliance with that party of Catholics known as the politiques, had taken up arms ; but their German auxiliaries were defeated at Dormans, Oct. 11, 1575, by the duke of Guise ; and the king, fearful of the growing popularity of that prince, hastened to conclude the peace of Beaulieu, in May, 1576, the terms of which were so favorable to the Protestants as to be considered a betrayal of the Catholic cause. This gave rise to the holy league, which, under pretence of protecting re- ligion, aimed chiefly at furthering the ambitious designs of the house of Guise. Henry attempted to avert the danger by declaring himself chief of the league during the session of the states general which met at Blois in December, 1576 ; but the association clung faithfully to Guise as
