Henry II.

Henry II., king of France, was born at St Germain on 31st March 1519, was married to Catharine de' Medici in 1533, and succeeded his father, Francis I., in 1547. Although an ambitious and stout-hearted prince, Henry suffered himself to be influenced by favourites, women mostly (such as Diana of Poitiers, q.v.). Immediately after his accession he proclaimed himself of the Catholic party, and proceeded to oppress his Protestant subjects. Through the influence of the Guises, whose sister, the dowager-queen of James V. of Scotland, sought the aid of France to support her against the English government, Henry formed an alliance with Scotland, and declared war against England, which ended in 1558 with the taking of Calais, after that city had been 210 years in the hands of the English. In spite of his Catholic proclivities, ambition made him renew the duel with the empire that his father had begun. In 1552 he concluded treaties of alliance with the German Reformers, and sent an army to aid Maurice of Saxony against the emperor. His troops captured Toul and Verdun, while Montmorency seized upon Metz. After a lull in the hostilities war was renewed in 1556. In the following year Guise's design to conquer Naples was frustrated by the generalship of Alva, whilst in the Low Countries the French under Montmorency sustained a crushing defeat at St Quentin. These reverses were followed by the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis (1559). Shortly afterwards Henry was accidentally wounded in a tournament by Montgomery, a Scottish nobleman and captain of his guard. He died from the wound on 10th July 1559. See works cited at FRANCE and CATHARINE DE' MEDICI.