Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/267

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HENRY


227


HENRY


credits him with projecting a coalition of all the states of the empire against the Hapsburgs of Vienna and Madrid, and with planning, on their downfall, a re- division of Europe into fifteen states (six hereditary- monarchies, six elective monarchies, and three re- publics), between which peace would be guaranteed by congresses of perpetual peace. It is now proved that this pretended plan, called by many historians the grand dessein of Henry IV, was entirely the prod- uct of Sully's imagination, and that he amused himself in his old age with forging letters and stories wholesale to have the history of this " great design" beUeved.

The domestic policy of Henry IV was marked by an increased centralization of the royal authority and by great industrial, commercial, and agricultural pros- perity, due in a large measure to the intelligent solici- tude of Sully. France enjoyed a period of genuine religious peace during the last twelve years of Henry's reign. The Edict of Nantes (see Fhance; Hugue- NOT.'s) guaranteed security to the Protestants, and Catholicism arose from the ruin caused by the long years of religious warfare. In the name of the Assem- bly of the Clergy in 1.596, Claude d'Angennes de Ram- bouillet. Bishop of Le Mans, complained to Henry IV of the appointment of unworthy candidates and of children to aljbacies and liishoprics. Henry promised to give the matter his attention; he nominated d'Ossat bishop and tried to induce St. Francis de Sales to settle in France. But the abuses continued, when it suited the whims of the king; he appointed one of his illegitimate sons Bishop of Metz at the age of six, and a child of four years of age Bishop of Lodevc. The reform of the Church was begun through the initiative of Catholic piety and not Ijy the influence of royalty. Henry IV, however, contributed towards it, owing to the influence of Pere Colon (q. v.), by favouring the work of the Jesuits, who, although they had been banished by a decree of the Parlement of Paris, were left undisturbed in the districts under the jurisdiction of the Parlements of Bordeaux and Toulouse. The Edict of Rouen (160.3) authorized them to remain in all places where they were established, and, further, to found colleges at Lyons, Dijon, and La Fleche, and in 160.5 they were permitted to return to their College de Clermont at Paris.

Henry IV, despite the efforts of d'Ossat and Duper- ron, did not dare, through fear of the reformers and the parlementaires, to allow the publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent in France, but the researches of the .4bbe Couzard with regard to the em- bassy of Philippe de Bethime, a younger brother of Sully, and a convert from Protestantism, at Rome (September, 1601-June, 1605) show that the relations of Henry towards the Holy See were marked by a very cordial respect, frankness, and a conciliating attitude. The frivolity of Henry IV in his private life won for him the nickname Vert galant; the royal mistresses Gabrielle d'Estr('>es and Henriette d'Entraigues are notorious. He was assassinated by Ravaillac on 14 May, 1610.

Berger de Xivrey and Guadet, Recueil des leftres missives de Henri IV (9 vols., Paris, 1843-76): Lestoile, Memoires journaux (10 vols., Paris, 1875-88); Duperron, Ambassades et ni'vociations (Paris, 162.'}); Amelot de la Houssaye, Lettrea duCardinal d'Ossat (5 vols., Paris, 1708); Ddple-ssis-Mornay, Mcmoires etCorrespondance {i() \'o]s., Paris, 1824-5); Poirson, Hisloire du r^gne de Henri IV (4 vols., Paris, 1862); de La- combe, Henri IV et sa politique (Paris, 1877); Willert. Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots of France {'London, 189.3); Blair, Henry of Navarre and the Religious Wars (Philadclpliia, 1895) ; Philippson, Heinrich IV. und Philipp III., die He,iruridung dea franzosischen Uebergeunehtes in Europa (.3 vols.. Hcrliii, 1.S71- 76) ; Pfister, Les Economies royales et le grand dessein de Henri IV in Revue hislorique (1894), LIV, LV, LVI; DE LA BriiVre, La conversion de Henri IV: Saint-Denis et Rome (Paris, 1905); Feret, Henri IV et VEglise (Paris, 1875); Idem, Le Cardinal Du Perron (P.lris, 1877); Prat, Hecherches sur la Compagnie de Jesus en France au temps du P. Colon (5 vols., Lyons, 1876); Perrens, L'Eglise et I'Etat en France sous le regne de Henri IV (Paria. 1873); Couzard, Une ambassade a Rome sous Henri IV, Septembre, WOl-Juin, 1605 (Paris, 1900).

Georges Goyau.


Henry II, Saint, German King and Roman Em- peror, son of Duke Henry II (the Quarrelsome) and of the Burgundian Princess Gisela; b. 972; d. in his palace of Grona, at Gottingen, 13 July, 1024. Like his predecessor, Otto III, he had the literary educa- tion of his time. In his youth he had been destined for the priesthood. Therefore he became acquainted with ecclesiastical interests at an early age. Willingly he performed pious practices, gladly also he strength- ened the Church of Germany, without, however, ceasing to regard ecclesiastical institutions as pivots of his power, according to the views of Otto the Great. With all his learning and piety, Henry was an emi- nently sober man, endowed with sound, practical com- mon sense. He went his way circimispectly, never attempting anything but the possible and, wherever it was practicable, applying the methods of amiable and reasonable good sense. This prudence, however, was comljined with energy and conscientiousness. Sick and suffering from fever, he traversed the empire in order to maintain peace. At all times he used his power to adjust troubles. The masses especially he wished to help.

The Church, as the constitutional Church of Ger- many, and therefore as the advocate of German unity and of the claims of inherited succession, raised Henry to the throne. The new king straightway resumed the policy of Otto I both in domestic and in foreign affairs. This policy first appeared in his treatment of the Eastern Marches. The encroachments of Duke Boleslaw, who had founded a great kingdom, im- pelled him to intervene. But his success was not marked. In Italy the local and national opposition to the univcrsalism of the German king had found a champion in Arduin of Ivrea. The latter assumed the Lombard crown in 1002. In 1004 Henry crossed the Alps. Arduin yielded to his sujierior power. The Archbishop of Milan now crowned him King of Italy. This rapid success was largely due to the fact that a large part of the Italian epfscopate upheld the idea of the Roman Empire and that of the imity of Church and State. On his second expedition to Rome, occasioned by the dispute between the Counts of Tuscany and the Crescentians over the nomination to the papal throne, he was crowned emperor on 14 February, 1014. But it was not until later, on his third expedition to Rome, that he was able to restore the prestige of the empire completely.

Before this happened, however, he was obliged to intervene in the west. Disturbances were especially prevalent throughout the entire nortli-west. Lor- raine caused great trouble. The Counts of Liitzelburg (Luxemburg), Ijrothers-in-law of the king, were the heart and soul of the disaifection in that country. Of these men, Adalbero had made himself Bishop of Trier by uncanonical methods (1003); but he was not recognized any more than his brother Theodoric, who had had himself elected Bishop of Metz. True to his duty, the king could not be induced to abet any selfish family policy at the expense of the empire. Even though Henry, on the whole, was able to hold his own against these Counts of Lutzelburg, still the royal authority suffered greatly by loss of prestige in the north-west. Burgimdy afforded compensation for this. The lord of that country was Rudolph, who, to protect himself against his vassals, joined the party of Henry II, the son of his sister, Gisela, and to Henry the childless duke bequeathed his duchy, despite the opposition of the nobles (1006). Henry had to imdertake several campaigns before he was able to enforce his claims. He did not achieve any tangible result, he only bequeathed the theoretical claims on Burgundy to his successors.

Better fortune awaited the king in the central and eastern parts of the empire. It is true that he had a quarrel with the Conradinians over Carinthia and Swabia; but Henry proved victorious because his