THE ERA OF THE COUNTER-REFORMATION 271 King Henry in. being childless. The Catholic leaders headed by the Guises formed what was called the Catholic League, to exclude the heretic prince from the succession, 8 France : on the principle which Philip of Spain was pro- the Succes- claiming, that any and every heretic was neces- s on * sarily barred from any throne. In passing we may remark that it was on this plea that Philip, who could trace descent from our Edward in., through a sister of our Henry iv., pretended that he was the lawful sovereign of England after Mary Stuart was beheaded. King Henry ill. found himself to his own extreme disgust in the hands of Henry, Duke of Guise, while Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots took up arms to secure the recognition of the Huguenot leader as heir to the throne. Hence arose what is called the War of the Three Henries. Guise was assassinated on behalf of the king; nine months afterwards the king himself was assassinated in Henry IV. return, and Henry iv. had to fight for the throne, of France, to which he was legitimate heir, against the League. The League had no one who could plausibly be proposed as having a legitimate title to the French throne, except by setting aside the law of male succession and nominating the Spanish Princess Isabella, whose mother had been sister of the last three Valois kings. Thus the League assumed the appearance of in effect proposing to subject France to Philip's control; nor were matters improved by the suggestion that the princess should marry either one of the Austrian Hapsburgs or one of the Guises. Henry iv. made the most of this situation, and before very long allowed it to be understood that he was willing to satisfy the Catholics by returning to the bosom of the Church while securing religious liberty to the Protestants. Until then the fortunes of war varied, since Henry's successes were counteracted by the intervention of Parma. But when Parma died, and Henry definitely declared himself Catholic, there was a great accession of Catholics to his side. Philip was now fighting to gain the Crown for his own The Bourbon daughter, and the League was fighting to put a Dynasty Spaniard on the throne. When the Guises obtained estaDlished - terms for themselves Philip's war became hopeless, and the
