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The future King Francis II was born into the family of Henry II (1519-1559) and Catherine de Medici (1519-1589). This happened in the eleventh year of the crowned couple's marriage, on January 19, 1544. The child was named after his grandfather. Due to the fact that Catherine could not give birth to an heir for a long time, she was removed from the king, who began to live with his favorite Diane de Poitiers.
Infancy
Francis II grew up in the Saint-Germain Palace. It was a residence in a Parisian suburb on the banks of the Seine. The child was baptized on February 10, 1544 in Fontainebleau. The Grandfather King then knighted him. Paul III and aunt became godparents
In 1546, the baby became governor of Languedoc, and a year later received the title of Dauphin, after his grandfather died and his father Henry II became king. The child had many mentors, including a Greek scientist from Naples. The growing heir learned to dance and fencing (this was a sign of good manners in that era).
Organization of marriage
The issue of engagement and continuation of the dynasty was important. Henry II decided that his son would marry Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. She was born on December 8, 1542 and from the very first days received her title, because her father, James V, died at the same time. In fact, her closest relative, James Hamilton (Earl of Arran), ruled for her.
At that time, the religious issue was acute. France and Scotland were Catholic countries. England received its Protestant Church. Therefore, the authorities of the three countries were not in too much of a hurry to conclude alliances. When the “French” party finally won in Scotland, the nobles decided to marry the little queen to the Dauphin from Paris. The initiator of such an alliance was Cardinal David Beaton, who removed Hamilton.
At the same time, British troops suddenly invaded the country. Catholic churches were destroyed and peasant lands were ruined. The Protestants carried out individual terror against the Scottish nobles who did not want to make concessions to their southern neighbor. Finally, Mary's regents turned to France for help. Troops came from there in exchange for the promised wedding. In August 1548, Mary, who had just turned five, boarded a ship and went to her future husband.
Wedding with Mary Stuart
The girl, among other things, was also the granddaughter of Claude de Guise, a peer of France and one of the most influential aristocrats in the country. He looked after her and helped at court until his death, which overtook the venerable nobleman in 1550. The bride was unusually tall for her age, while Francis II, on the contrary, was short. Despite this, Henry II liked his future daughter-in-law, and he said with satisfaction that the children would get used to each other over time.
The wedding took place on April 24, 1558. The new marriage meant that in the future the descendants of this couple would be able to unite the thrones of Scotland and France under one scepter. In addition, Mary was the great-granddaughter of the English king Henry VII. This fact would give her children a legitimate reason to claim the throne in London. Until his death, Francis II remained King Consort of Scotland. This title did not give real power, but secured the status of the ruler's husband. But the couple never had children during their short marriage. This was due to the young age and possible illnesses of the Dauphin.
Succession to the throne
Just a year after the wedding (July 10, 1559), Francis II of Valois became king due to the premature death of his father. Henry II celebrated the wedding of one of his daughters and, according to tradition, organized a knightly tournament. The king fought with one of the guests - Gabriel de Montgomery. The count's spear broke on Henry's shell, and a fragment of it hit the ruler in the eye. The wound turned out to be fatal because it caused inflammation. The king died, despite the fact that he was assisted by the best doctors in Europe, including Andreas Vesalius (the founder of the modern teaching of anatomy). It is believed that Henry's death was predicted by Nostradamus, who, by the way, was still alive at that time.
On September 21, 1559, Francis II of Valois was crowned in Reims. The ritual of laying on the crown was entrusted to Cardinal Charles de Guise. The crown turned out to be so heavy that the courtiers had to support it. Charles became one of the regents along with Mary's uncles from the Guise family. The mother, Catherine de Medici, also had a great influence on the child. The young monarch spent all his free time on entertainment: hunting, organizing amusing tournaments and traveling around his palaces.
His reluctance to delve into state affairs further fueled the enmity between various court clans that longed for manifestations of real power. The Gizas, who actually began to rule the country, were faced with a sea of internal problems, each of which overlapped with the other.
Problems with the treasury
First of all, there was a financial issue. Francis II and Mary Stuart gained the throne after several costly wars with the Habsburgs started by previous Valois. The state borrowed from banks, resulting in a debt of 48 million livres, while the royal treasury received only 12 million in income per year.
Because of this, the Gizas began to pursue a policy of financial austerity, which was one of the reasons for their unpopularity in society. In addition, the brothers deferred payments to the military. The army was generally reduced, and many soldiers were left without work, after which they became robbers or participated in religious wars, profiting from the confrontation of all against all. The courtyard, which had lost its usual luxury, was also dissatisfied.
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, Francis II and his advisers tried to continue efforts to strengthen and maintain the peace that came after the end of the Italian Wars. It was a series of armed conflicts that stretched from 1494 to 1559. Henry II, shortly before his death, concluded the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresia. The agreement consisted of two papers.
The first treaty was signed with the Queen of England. According to it, the captured coastal Calais was assigned to France, but in exchange for this, Paris had to pay 500 thousand ecus. However, Giza, faced with a mass of debts within the country, decided not to provide money for the fortress. Time has shown that 500 thousand ecus remained only on paper, while Calais turned out to be the property of France. Nobody opposed this, including Francis II. The biography of the young monarch eloquently suggests that he generally did not like to take the initiative into his own hands.
Territorial concessions
The second treaty, concluded at Cateau-Cambresis, reconciled France and Spain. It was much more painful. France lost large territories. She gave the Habsburgs Thionville, Marienburg, Luxembourg, as well as some areas in Charolais and Artois. The Duke of Savoy (an ally of Spain) received Savoy, Piedmont from Paris. The Genoese Republic received Corsica.
Francis had no choice but to fulfill the points of the agreement drawn up by his father, because of which Spain finally took a leading position in the Old World, while France, busy with internal strife, could not oppose anything to this.
Another interesting clause in the treaty stated that Emmanuel Philibert (Duke of Savoy) married Francis' aunt, Margaret. This marriage took place already during the reign of the young monarch. Another wedding took place between Philip of Spain and Francis' sister Elizabeth.
Also during Francis's reign, lengthy negotiations continued with the Spanish crown on the return of hostages from both sides of the border to their homeland. Some of them had been in prison for decades.
At the same time, an uprising of Protestant lords against the French regents began in Scotland. The official religion was changed, after which all Parisian managers hastily left the country.
Religious War
The Guise brothers were fanatical Catholics. It was they who initiated a new wave of repression against Protestants living in France. This measure was allowed by King Francis II, who gave the go-ahead for freedom of action to his wife’s uncles. Huguenots were persecuted to the point of mass executions. The places of their gatherings and meetings were destroyed, as if they were plague barracks.
The actions of the Catholics were opposed by the Protestant party, which also had its leaders at the royal court. These were distant relatives of the ruler Antoine de Bourbon (king of the small mountain Navarre) and Louis Condé. They were also called “princes of the blood” (that is, they were representatives of the Capetian dynasty, to which the reigning Valois also belonged).
Ambauz conspiracy
In March 1560, the Huguenots, in response to the actions of the Catholics, staged the Ambausian Conspiracy. This was an attempt to capture Francis and force him to alienate the Guise brothers. However, the plans became known in advance, and the royal court took refuge in Ambause, a city located on the Loire and the heart of all France. Nevertheless, the conspirators decided to take a risk. Their attempt failed, the invaders were killed by guards.
This was the reason for a wave of persecution of Protestants. They were executed practically without trial. Antoine de Bourbon and Louis Condé were also arrested and charged with conspiracy. They were saved only by the fact that the king’s mother, Catherine de’ Medici, stood up for them. She, like many aristocrats behind her, was a moderate on religious matters and tried to reach a compromise between Catholics and Huguenots. It was December 1560.
Policy of reconciliation
After such heightened passions, religious policy became softer, which was ratified by Francis II. His reign was marked by the release of all prisoners based on their religion. This was the first relaxation since the time of Henry II. In May 1560, an edict was issued and signed by Francis II. The Duke of Brittany (this is one of his many titles) first spoke about
In April, the Queen Mother announced Michel de l'Hopital as Chancellor of France. He was a famous civil servant, poet and humanist of the era. The writer published poems in Latin, in which he imitated the ancient Horace. His father formerly served Charles de Bourbon. Tolerant Michel began to pursue a policy of tolerance. For a dialogue between the warring faiths, they were convened (for the first time in 67 years). Soon a decree was adopted, which was drawn up by de l'Hopital. He abolished the death penalty for crimes against religion. The rest of the politician’s activities remained outside the board, whose face was Francis II. The children on the throne began to replace each other, like a charming coquette changing gloves.
Death of Francis and fate of Mary
Francis II, the king of France, could no longer follow these events. A fistula suddenly formed in his ear, causing fatal gangrene. On December 5, 1560, the 16-year-old monarch died in Orleans. The next son of Henry II, Charles X, ascended the throne.
Francis' wife Mary Stuart returned to her homeland, where by that time the Protestants had triumphed. Their faction demanded that the young queen break with the Roman Church. The girl managed to maneuver between the two sides of the conflict until she was deprived of the throne in 1567, after which she fled to England. There she was imprisoned by Elizabeth Tudor. The Scot was seen in careless correspondence with a Catholic agent, with whom she coordinated an assassination attempt on the Queen of England. As a result, Mary was executed in 1587 at the age of 44.
Brief reign of Francis II
Francis II, King of France and, through his marriage to Mary Stuart, nominally also King of Scotland, was a sickly and mentally unstable teenager of less than sixteen years of age when an accident at a tournament with his father in July 1559 brought him to the throne of France. In the sense of generally accepted legal understanding, the king was of age, therefore, despite his painful condition, the question of regency did not arise. However, there was no doubt that the choice of his closest advisers, in view of the natural weakness of his authority, acquired particular importance. Now the hour has come for the Guises, Duke Francis and his brother Charles, the refined and sharp-tongued Cardinal of Lorraine. Under Henry II, both representatives of the junior branch of the Lorraine ducal family repeatedly yielded to the constable de Montmorency; in the person of the new queen Mary Stuart, daughter of James V of Scotland and their sister Mary of Guise, they found significant support. In addition, Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici shared their dissatisfaction with the Montmorency-inspired peace at Cateau-Cambresy and became close to them in the last months of Henry II's life.
Thus, with the coming to power of Francis II, significant changes took place at court. Francis II did not engage in state affairs, entrusting them to the Guise brothers. Nevertheless, the old favorite of Henry II de Montmorency, who had influential supporters, did not experience too much humiliation. True, he lost real power, but retained the prestigious title of Constable of France, which theoretically implied supreme command of the royal army during the war, and was also confirmed to govern Languedoc.
Diane de Poitiers' star has set. The longtime friend and mistress of Henry II left the court and, in addition, was forced to cede her castle of Chenonceau, located on the Loire, to Catherine de Medici in exchange for the less luxurious Chaumont. Anyone who advanced thanks to her patronage had to give way to those close to Catherine de Medici or Guizov.
However, the latter had to reckon not only with old rivals, like Montmorency and his like-minded people. Aristocrats who were related to the royal house, and if the direct line ended, had the right to succession to the throne (the so-called “princes of the blood”), given the existing weakness of the monarchy, posed a serious danger to leading ministers. Two representatives of the House of Bourbon were in this regard the most dangerous rivals of the Guises: Antoine, Duke of Vendôme and, thanks to his marriage to Jeanne d'Albret, the King of Navarre, and his younger brother Louis de Condé. Due to their special relationship with the royal house, they easily became the center of various opposition groups and both made no secret of their inclination towards Protestantism. It was in the sphere of religious policy that the Guises prompted Francis II to continue the inflexible line of his predecessor. Henry II, in the Edict of Écouen of June 2, 1559, ordered the crime of heresy to be punished by death by burning; now they were other measures were added that touched the vital nerve of the Protestant church that existed underground: houses that served as meeting places were to be destroyed, allowing or organizing secret meetings was punishable by death, and owners of feudal estates with judicial powers were deprived of judicial rights if they carelessly prosecuted religious apostates. the authorities encouraged denunciations of Protestants by declaring excommunication if they failed to report heresy. At the same time, a wave of searches increased the number of arrests of adherents of the new doctrine. Religious antagonism began to penetrate into the lower strata of the population: mutual provocations and bloody clashes between Catholics and Protestants became more and more frequent.
Subsequently, the radicalization of French Protestantism was inevitable, to which active elements joined due to the increasing influx of nobles. The elimination of “foreign” favorites, who were seen as the perpetrators of the crown’s irreconcilable policy, and a more active participation in power of the domestic nobility were the main goals of the movement, which was soon headed by Louis de Condé. Unlike his brother, who was rather indecisive in character, Conde was prone to energetic and bold actions. With his knowledge and approval, a secret meeting took place in Nantes in February 1560 under the leadership of a native of Péri-Hore, a provincial nobleman named La Renaudie, who had converted to Protestantism in Geneva. This assembly, which considered itself the legitimate representative of the entire nation, decided on armed action directed only against the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, but not against the crown.
The costly preparations for such an undertaking could not go unnoticed. When the first reports of the plot appeared, the king and his retinue left undefended Blois and went down the Loire. The court retreated to the castle of Amboise, which was immediately prepared for defense by the Duke of Guise.
On March 16, La Renaudie attempted to storm Amboise. Troops loyal to the king dispersed the poorly organized attackers, among whom were many artisans untrained in military affairs, and captured a large number of prisoners. La Renaudie himself died in the battle, but those who survived were convicted as state traitors by a criminal court. In the following days, Amboise became the site of numerous executions; According to contemporaries, even the walls and gates of the castle were hung with the bodies of those executed. Although the armed uprising was a complete collapse, the events in Amboise were not without consequences. In the immediate circle of the king, voices were heard louder and louder, placing responsibility for the uprising on the Guises, and in the interests of the state they advised to treat Protestants with greater tolerance. Timid steps in this direction soon followed: even with the first reports of the conspiracy on March 2, 1560, the Royal Council drafted an order promising amnesty to those Protestants who were ready to change their religion. The Edict of Romorantin limited the competence of secular courts in religious matters and assigned only ecclesiastical courts the task of making decisions on heresy as a crime.
This trend towards more flexible policies was inspired and supported by Catherine de' Medici. The Queen Mother began to move away from her previous reserve and play the role of a deft, if necessary even shameless, defender of the interests of the monarchy and thereby her own house. Whether she really had, as many Protestants hoped and believed, a secret sympathy for the teachings of Calvin seems doubtful; but it is absolutely certain that intransigence in religious matters was absolutely not consistent with its pragmatic nature. What now prompted her to interfere in political events was a clear awareness of the danger to which the crown was exposed by being on the side of the Guises.
The appointment of Michel de l'Hôpital, a humanistically educated lawyer imbued with the spirit of religious equality, to replace Chancellor Olivier, who died in February 1560, was the work of Catherine. Also when Admiral Coligny, Maupmorency's nephew and a moderate representative of the Protestants, advised convening the notables of the kingdom to resolve internal problems, she supported him. The Guises, who, as before, were subjected to fierce attacks by Protestant propaganda, had no choice but to take a conciliatory position, moreover, their position was undermined by foreign policy failures: in Scotland in February 1560, the regent Maria of Guise, supported by her brothers, suffered a decisive defeat from the Protestants, acting with English help.
The meeting initiated by Coligny took place on 10.08 in Fontainebleau. Many notables openly criticized the uncompromising policy of the Guises; representatives of the highest clergy even recommended convening a national Council in the event that the General Council to eliminate the confessional schism failed. The Gizas realized that they had to make concessions. The Cardinal of Lorraine, however, in his objection sharply spoke out against far-reaching concessions to the Protestants, but no longer questioned the temporary and limited religious tolerance. His proposal to convene the Estates General of the kingdom as quickly as possible received full approval.
True, Navarre and Conde, two prominent representatives of the highest aristocracy, were not present at Fontainebleau. Both Catherine and the Guises had no doubt from the very beginning about Condé's involvement in the La Renaudie uprising. Condé was at court during the assault on Amboise and even after it, but under the impression of first hidden and then open hints about his connection with the rebels, he left it and went with his brother to southwestern France. Until the Bourbons were taken out of the game, it was hardly possible to suppress the repeatedly flaring uprisings in individual provinces, primarily in Provence and Dauphine. Catherine de Medici and Guise persuaded the king to categorically summon Navarre and Conde to the court so that they would justify themselves regarding the reproach thrown at them for high treason. The perpetrators could hardly ignore this order. Philip II of Spain, at the request of Catherine, by concentrating troops on the Pyrenean border, did more than he should have done in order to intimidate the King of Navarre.
10/31/1560 Navarre and Condé arrived in Orleans, where the Estates General were to meet. Francis II met Conde with sharp reproaches, he was arrested and brought before a special court. At the end of November, two “princes of the blood” were sentenced to death for treason. True, not all the judges agreed with the verdict, which gave Chancellor L'Hôpital the opportunity to counteract the Guises' desire to immediately carry it out. In fact, Catherine de' Medici was afraid that the execution of Condé would plunge the crown into even deeper contradictions with the French Protestants and would again hand it over to hands of the Guises. For her, it was important to politically tame the “princes of the blood” and their supporters, without pushing them to further radicalization, especially since it was now clear that the days of her eldest son were numbered. A fistula had formed in the king’s left ear, which doctors could not resolve nothing could be done, and the illness offered no chance of recovery. Francis II's heir presumptive was his ten-year-old brother Charles, and the shadow of a regency hung over the kingdom, in which the "princes of the blood" were to take a decisive part. Consequently, it was important for the Queen Mother to use the remaining time to regroup forces and prevent the monarchy from drowning in a maelstrom of factional and party battles. And the last thing she wanted was for a Bourbon regent to replace the Guises.
The King of Navarre was left free, but he was in constant fear not only for his brother’s life, but also for his own. Catherine took advantage of this uncertainty of the first “prince of the blood.” In the presence of the Guises, she accused Navarre of treason and outright denied him the right to be regent for the minor heir. To bolster assurances of his innocence, and in exchange for vague promises of the title of "Lieutenant General of the Realm", Navarre offered to renounce his rights to the regency in favor of the Queen Mother, to which Catherine immediately readily agreed. At the same time, Catherine provided an important service to the Guises: thanks to the dying king's statement that he acted on his own decision, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine were released from responsibility for the arrest and conviction of Condé, which made at least an external reconciliation with the Bourbons possible.
By the end of the reign of Francis II, Catherine, through deft tactics, managed to achieve her goal - to preserve the independence of the crown in the face of intensified strife between Catholics and Protestants, supporters of the Guises, on the one hand, and the “princes of the blood” on the other.
Palace of Fontainebleau (France)
Orleans (France)
Francis's childhood
Eldest son of Henry II, named after his grandfather, Francis I. On April 24, 1558, he married the young Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart (he was the first of her three husbands); after this marriage he became King Consort of Scotland. The agreement on this marriage was concluded on January 27, 1548 (when the bride and groom were 4 and 6 years old, respectively), and for the next 10 years, Maria was raised at the French court.
Accession to the throne
Francis was a sickly, capricious and mentally unstable teenager of 15 years old when, on July 10, 1559, an accident at a tournament with his father Henry II placed him on the throne of France and on September 21 he was crowned at Reims. According to French law, he was considered an adult, but there was no doubt that he would never be able and would not want to rule without outside help.
Indeed, Francis did not engage in state affairs, entrusting them to Mary Stuart’s uncles, the Guise brothers: Duke Francois and his brother Charles, the refined and sharp-tongued Cardinal of Lorraine. His mother Catherine de Medici also had a huge influence on her son. If during the previous reign the Guises had to constantly cede primacy to Constable Montmorency, now, thanks to their niece Queen Mary Stuart, they have gained undivided power. The king did not delve into anything, and all his time was spent having fun, traveling around country palaces, and hunting trips.
Religious politics
The Guises were zealous Catholics, so their influence was especially strong in the field of religious politics. They encouraged Francis to continue the inflexible line of his father Henry II, who, in his 1559 edict, ordered the punishment of death for all those guilty of heresy. Now other measures were added: houses that served as meeting places for Protestants were to be destroyed, and the death penalty was imposed for participation in secret meetings. The persecution of the Huguenots caused retaliatory actions on their part.
The Protestant party was then led by two princes from the house of Bourbon: Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and his brother Louis of Condé. Constable Montmorency's nephew, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, also played a major role. With their direct participation in Nantes, the so-called Amboise conspiracy took shape, organized by the provincial nobleman La Renaudie. The conspirators intended to capture the king with his entire court at the castle of Blois, force him to renounce religious persecution and remove the Guises from themselves. This enterprise, however, was discovered much earlier than its implementation. The court hastily took refuge in Amboise. When La Renaudie finally tried to carry out his plan, he suffered a complete failure: his people were killed, and he himself died in battle. Many Protestants suspected of treason were captured and executed almost without any trial. In December 1560, Antoine de Bourbon and the Prince of Condé were arrested when they arrived in Orleans for a meeting of the Estates General. Both of them were sentenced to death, but thanks to the intervention of Catherine de Medici and French Chancellor Michel de l'Hopital, who led the party of moderate Catholics ("politicians"), they escaped immediate reprisals.
Death of Francis
In the midst of these events, the king was suddenly brought to the grave by a quick and fatal illness: a fistula formed in his left ear, gangrene began, and, having been ill for less than two weeks, Francis II died in Orleans shortly before his 17th birthday. He had no children, and his 10-year-old brother Charles IX ascended the throne.
Film incarnations
- Richard Dennig in Mary Queen of Scots (1971)
- Sylvain LeWitt in the film Mary Queen of Scots (2013)
- Toby Regbo in the television series “Reign” (2013-2016)
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Literature
- Ryzhov K.// All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. - M.: Veche, 1999. - 656 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7838-0374-X.
- Henri Naef, La Conjuration d'Amboise et Genève, in Mémoires et documents publiés par la Société d"histoire et d"archéologie de Genève, 32 (2e sér., 2.2), 1922.
- Lucien Romier, La Conjuration d"Amboise. L"aurore sanglante de la liberté de conscience, le règne et la mort de François II, Paris, Librairie academique Perrin et Cie, 1923. 292 p.
- Louis-Raymond Lefèvre, Les Français pendant les guerres de religion. Le Tumulte d'Amboise, Paris, Gallimard, NRF, 1949. 256 p.
- Corrado Vivanti, "La congiura d'Amboise" in , Publications de l'École française de Rome, 1996, pp. 439–450. ISBN 2-7283-0362-2
- Elizabeth A. R. Brown, “La Renaudie se venge: l"autre face de la conjuration d"Amboise" in Complots et conjurations dans l"Europe moderne, Publications de l'École française de Rome, 1996, pp. 451–474. ISBN 2-7283-0362-2
- Arlette Jouanna, "Le thème polémique du complot contre la noblesse lors des prizes d"armes nobiliaires sous les derniers Valois " in Complots et conjurations dans l"Europe moderne, Publications de l'École française de Rome, 1996, pp. 475–490. ISBN 2-7283-0362-2
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| Hugo Capet | Robert II | Henry I | Philip I | Louis VI | Louis VII | Philip II | Louis VIII | ||||||||
| 1226 | 1270 | 1285 | 1314 | 1316 | 1316 | 1322 | 1328 | ||||||
| Louis IX | Philip III | Philip IV | Louis X | John I | Philip V | Charles IV | |||||||
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| Philip VI | John II | Charles V | Charles VI | Charles VII | Louis XI | Charles VIII | |||||||
| 1498 | 1515 | 1547 | 1559 | 1560 | 1574 | 1589 | |||||
| Louis XII | Francis I | Henry II | Francis II | Charles IX | Henry III | ||||||
| – I’ll believe it! Rostov bet 5 rubles on the card and lost, bet again and lost again. Dolokhov killed, that is, he won ten cards in a row from Rostov. “Gentlemen,” he said, after spending some time, “please put money on the cards, otherwise I might get confused in the accounts.” One player said he hoped he could be trusted. – I can believe it, but I’m afraid of getting confused; “Please put money on the cards,” Dolokhov answered. “Don’t be shy, we’ll get even with you,” he added to Rostov. The game continued: the footman, without ceasing, served champagne. All Rostov's cards were broken, and up to 800 tons of rubles were written on him. He was about to write 800 thousand rubles on one card, but while he was being served champagne, he changed his mind and wrote the usual jackpot again, twenty rubles. “Leave it,” said Dolokhov, although he did not seem to look at Rostov, “you’ll get even sooner.” I give to others, but I beat you. Or are you afraid of me? - he repeated. Rostov obeyed, left the written 800 and placed the seven of hearts with a torn off corner, which he picked up from the ground. He remembered her well afterwards. He placed the seven of hearts, writing 800 above it with a broken piece of chalk, in round, straight numbers; drank the served glass of warmed champagne, smiled at Dolokhov’s words, and with bated breath, waiting for the seven, began to look at Dolokhov’s hands holding the deck. Winning or losing this seven of hearts meant a lot for Rostov. On Sunday last week, Count Ilya Andreich gave his son 2,000 rubles, and he, who never liked to talk about financial difficulties, told him that this money was the last one until May, and that is why he asked his son to be more economical this time. Nikolai said that this was too much for him, and that he gave his word of honor not to take any more money until spring. Now 1,200 rubles of this money remained. Therefore, the seven of hearts meant not only a loss of 1,600 rubles, but also the need to change this word. With a sinking heart, he looked at Dolokhov’s hands and thought: “Well, quickly, give me this card, and I’ll take my cap, go home to dinner with Denisov, Natasha and Sonya, and I’ll certainly never have a card in my hands.” At that moment, his home life, jokes with Petya, conversations with Sonya, duets with Natasha, a picket with his father, and even a calm bed in the Cook's house, presented themselves to him with such strength, clarity and charm, as if all this were long past, lost and priceless happiness. He could not allow that a stupid accident, forcing the seven to lie first on the right than on the left, could deprive him of all this newly understood, newly illuminated happiness and plunge him into the abyss of an as yet unexperienced and uncertain misfortune. This could not be, but he still waited with bated breath for the movement of Dolokhov’s hands. These broad-boned, reddish hands with hair visible from under the shirt, put down a deck of cards, and took hold of the glass and pipe being served. - So you're not afraid to play with me? - Dolokhov repeated, and, as if in order to tell a funny story, he put down the cards, leaned back in his chair and slowly began to tell with a smile: “Yes, gentlemen, I was told that there is a rumor spread in Moscow that I am a cheater, so I advise you to be careful with me.” - Well, swords! - said Rostov. - Oh, Moscow aunties! - said Dolokhov and took up the cards with a smile. - Aaah! – Rostov almost shouted, raising both hands to his hair. The seven he needed was already at the top, the first card in the deck. He lost more than he could pay. “However, don’t get too carried away,” said Dolokhov, glancing briefly at Rostov and continuing to throw. After an hour and a half, most of the players were already jokingly looking at their own game. |
Francis II, King of France and, through his marriage to Mary Stuart, nominally also King of Scotland, was a sickly and mentally unstable teenager of less than sixteen years of age when an accident at a tournament with his father in July 1559 brought him to the throne of France. In the sense of generally accepted legal understanding, the king was of age, therefore, despite his painful condition, the question of regency did not arise. However, there was no doubt that the choice of his closest advisers, in view of the natural weakness of his authority, acquired particular importance. Now the hour has come for the Guises, Duke Francis and his brother Charles, the refined and sharp-tongued Cardinal of Lorraine. Under Henry II, both representatives of the junior branch of the Lorraine ducal family repeatedly yielded to the constable de Montmorency; in the person of the new queen Mary Stuart, daughter of James V of Scotland and their sister Mary of Guise, they found significant support. In addition, Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici shared their dissatisfaction with the Montmorency-inspired peace at Cateau-Cambresy and became close to them in the last months of Henry II's life.
Thus, with the coming to power of Francis II, significant changes took place at court. Francis II did not engage in state affairs, entrusting them to the Guise brothers. Nevertheless, the old favorite of Henry II de Montmorency, who had influential supporters, did not experience too much humiliation. True, he lost real power, but retained the prestigious title of Constable of France, which theoretically implied supreme command of the royal army during the war, and was also confirmed to govern Languedoc.
Diane de Poitiers' star has set. The longtime friend and mistress of Henry II left the court and, in addition, was forced to cede her castle of Chenonceau, located on the Loire, to Catherine de Medici in exchange for the less luxurious Chaumont. Anyone who advanced thanks to her patronage had to give way to those close to Catherine de Medici or Guizov.
However, the latter had to reckon not only with old rivals, like Montmorency and his like-minded people. Aristocrats who were related to the royal house, and if the direct line ended, had the right to succession to the throne (the so-called “princes of the blood”), given the existing weakness of the monarchy, posed a serious danger to leading ministers. Two representatives of the House of Bourbon were in this regard the most dangerous rivals of the Guises: Antoine, Duke of Vendôme and, thanks to his marriage to Jeanne d'Albret, the King of Navarre, and his younger brother Louis de Condé. Due to their special relationship with the royal house, they easily became the center of various opposition groups and both made no secret of their inclination towards Protestantism. It was in the sphere of religious policy that the Guises prompted Francis II to continue the inflexible line of his predecessor. Henry II, in the Edict of Écouen of June 2, 1559, ordered the crime of heresy to be punished by death by burning; now they were other measures were added that touched the vital nerve of the Protestant church that existed underground: houses that served as meeting places were to be destroyed, allowing or organizing secret meetings was punishable by death, and owners of feudal estates with judicial powers were deprived of judicial rights if they carelessly prosecuted religious apostates. the authorities encouraged denunciations of Protestants by declaring excommunication if they failed to report heresy. At the same time, a wave of searches increased the number of arrests of adherents of the new doctrine. Religious antagonism began to penetrate into the lower strata of the population: mutual provocations and bloody clashes between Catholics and Protestants became more and more frequent.
Subsequently, the radicalization of French Protestantism was inevitable, to which active elements joined due to the increasing influx of nobles. The elimination of “foreign” favorites, who were seen as the perpetrators of the crown’s irreconcilable policy, and a more active participation in power of the domestic nobility were the main goals of the movement, which was soon headed by Louis de Condé. Unlike his brother, who was rather indecisive in character, Conde was prone to energetic and bold actions. With his knowledge and approval, a secret meeting took place in Nantes in February 1560 under the leadership of a native of Péri-Hore, a provincial nobleman named La Renaudie, who had converted to Protestantism in Geneva. This assembly, which considered itself the legitimate representative of the entire nation, decided on armed action directed only against the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, but not against the crown.
The costly preparations for such an undertaking could not go unnoticed. When the first reports of the plot appeared, the king and his retinue left undefended Blois and went down the Loire. The court retreated to the castle of Amboise, which was immediately prepared for defense by the Duke of Guise.
On March 16, La Renaudie attempted to storm Amboise. Troops loyal to the king dispersed the poorly organized attackers, among whom were many artisans untrained in military affairs, and captured a large number of prisoners. La Renaudie himself died in the battle, but those who survived were convicted as state traitors by a criminal court. In the following days, Amboise became the site of numerous executions; According to contemporaries, even the walls and gates of the castle were hung with the bodies of those executed. Although the armed uprising was a complete collapse, the events in Amboise were not without consequences. In the immediate circle of the king, voices were heard louder and louder, placing responsibility for the uprising on the Guises, and in the interests of the state they advised to treat Protestants with greater tolerance. Timid steps in this direction soon followed: even with the first reports of the conspiracy on March 2, 1560, the Royal Council drafted an order promising amnesty to those Protestants who were ready to change their religion. The Edict of Romorantin limited the competence of secular courts in religious matters and assigned only ecclesiastical courts the task of making decisions on heresy as a crime.
This trend towards more flexible policies was inspired and supported by Catherine de' Medici. The Queen Mother began to move away from her previous reserve and play the role of a deft, if necessary even shameless, defender of the interests of the monarchy and thereby her own house. Whether she really had, as many Protestants hoped and believed, a secret sympathy for the teachings of Calvin seems doubtful; but it is absolutely certain that intransigence in religious matters was absolutely not consistent with its pragmatic nature. What now prompted her to interfere in political events was a clear awareness of the danger to which the crown was exposed by being on the side of the Guises.
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The appointment of Michel de l'Hôpital, a humanistically educated lawyer imbued with the spirit of religious equality, to replace Chancellor Olivier, who died in February 1560, was the work of Catherine. Also when Admiral Coligny, Maupmorency's nephew and a moderate representative of the Protestants, advised convening the notables of the kingdom to resolve internal problems, she supported him. The Guises, who, as before, were subjected to fierce attacks by Protestant propaganda, had no choice but to take a conciliatory position, moreover, their position was undermined by foreign policy failures: in Scotland in February 1560, the regent Maria of Guise, supported by her brothers, suffered a decisive defeat from the Protestants, acting with English help.
The meeting initiated by Coligny took place on 10.08 in Fontainebleau. Many notables openly criticized the uncompromising policy of the Guises; representatives of the highest clergy even recommended convening a national Council in the event that the General Council to eliminate the confessional schism failed. The Gizas realized that they had to make concessions. The Cardinal of Lorraine, however, in his objection sharply spoke out against far-reaching concessions to the Protestants, but no longer questioned the temporary and limited religious tolerance. His proposal to convene the Estates General of the kingdom as quickly as possible received full approval.
True, Navarre and Conde, two prominent representatives of the highest aristocracy, were not present at Fontainebleau. Both Catherine and the Guises had no doubt from the very beginning about Condé's involvement in the La Renaudie uprising. Condé was at court during the assault on Amboise and even after it, but under the impression of first hidden and then open hints about his connection with the rebels, he left it and went with his brother to southwestern France. Until the Bourbons were taken out of the game, it was hardly possible to suppress the repeatedly flaring uprisings in individual provinces, primarily in Provence and Dauphine. Catherine de Medici and Guise persuaded the king to categorically summon Navarre and Conde to the court so that they would justify themselves regarding the reproach thrown at them for high treason. The perpetrators could hardly ignore this order. Philip II of Spain, at the request of Catherine, by concentrating troops on the Pyrenean border, did more than he should have done in order to intimidate the King of Navarre.
10/31/1560 Navarre and Condé arrived in Orleans, where the Estates General were to meet. Francis II met Conde with sharp reproaches, he was arrested and brought before a special court. At the end of November, two “princes of the blood” were sentenced to death for treason. True, not all the judges agreed with the verdict, which gave Chancellor L'Hôpital the opportunity to counteract the Guises' desire to immediately carry it out. In fact, Catherine de' Medici was afraid that the execution of Condé would plunge the crown into even deeper contradictions with the French Protestants and would again hand it over to hands of the Guises. For her, it was important to politically tame the “princes of the blood” and their supporters, without pushing them to further radicalization, especially since it was now clear that the days of her eldest son were numbered. A fistula had formed in the king’s left ear, which doctors could not resolve nothing could be done, and the illness offered no chance of recovery. Francis II's heir presumptive was his ten-year-old brother Charles, and the shadow of a regency hung over the kingdom, in which the "princes of the blood" were to take a decisive part. Consequently, it was important for the Queen Mother to use the remaining time to regroup forces and prevent the monarchy from drowning in a maelstrom of factional and party battles. And the last thing she wanted was for a Bourbon regent to replace the Guises.
The King of Navarre was left free, but he was in constant fear not only for his brother’s life, but also for his own. Catherine took advantage of this uncertainty of the first “prince of the blood.” In the presence of the Guises, she accused Navarre of treason and outright denied him the right to be regent for the minor heir. To bolster assurances of his innocence, and in exchange for vague promises of the title of "Lieutenant General of the Realm", Navarre offered to renounce his rights to the regency in favor of the Queen Mother, to which Catherine immediately readily agreed. At the same time, Catherine provided an important service to the Guises: thanks to the dying king's statement that he acted on his own decision, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine were released from responsibility for the arrest and conviction of Condé, which made at least an external reconciliation with the Bourbons possible.
By the end of the reign of Francis II, Catherine, through deft tactics, managed to achieve her goal - to preserve the independence of the crown in the face of intensified strife between Catholics and Protestants, supporters of the Guises, on the one hand, and the “princes of the blood” on the other.
After the king's death, the throne was inherited by Francis II, one of Henry II's ten children born to Catherine de' Medici. After her wedding to Henry II on October 28, 1533, Catherine could not become pregnant for a long time. In 1537, Henry II had an illegitimate child, which confirmed rumors about Catherine's infertility. But on January 20, 1544, Catherine gave birth to a son - news that came as a complete surprise at court. After her first pregnancy, Catherine seemed to no longer have problems conceiving. With the birth of several more heirs, Catherine strengthened her position at the French court.
The long-term future of the Valois dynasty seemed assured. The sudden miraculous cure for infertility is associated with the famous doctor, alchemist, astrologer and fortuneteller Michel Nostradamus, one of the few who was part of Catherine’s close circle of confidants. During the reign of her husband King Henry, Catherine had only minimal influence in the administration of the kingdom. Henry became interested in Diane de Poitiers and gave the castle of Chenonceau to his new favorite, who completely took Catherine’s place for many years.
Catherine had to come to terms with it. She was an educated and intelligent woman, but, apparently, did not have strong moral principles. Her only desire was to maintain power in the hands of her children, or rather, in her own hands. In pursuing her goals, she was cruel and cunning, showing the merciless cunning that narrow-minded people usually attribute to snakes.
Henry II died on July 10, 1559. Catherine, who loved her husband no matter what, from that day chose a broken spear with the inscription “Lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor” (“from this all my tears and my pain”) as her emblem and until the end of her days she wore black ones as a sign of mourning. clothes. Catherine de Medici mourned for her husband for 30 years and went down in French history under the name “The Black Queen.” In Catherine’s new heraldry there was also an ouroboros - a snake devouring its own tail. Nostradamus predicted this in the first two lines of Quatrain 19 of Centuria I:
"When the snakes surround the altar,
Trojan blood will be shed..."
The second line is a perfect example of the fact that Nostradamus preferred to hide the meaning behind vague hints. Here and in other passages from the Centuries, “Trojan blood” is a coded designation for the French royal family, based on a medieval legend according to which members of this family were descendants of the mythical Frank, the son of King Priam of Troy.
The almost thirty-year period during which Catherine and her offspring - the snake and her offspring - carried out affairs in France, apparently especially attracted the attention of Nostradamus. No other era was honored with so many of his quatrains, unless you count the era of the French Revolution and the First Empire, which became its culmination. Perhaps he was fascinated by the personality of Catherine de Medici, about whom he wrote, although objectively, but still with some bias.
Here, for example, is quatrain 63 of Centuria VI:
“The incomparable lady was left alone in the kingdom.
Her only one fell on the bed of honor.
She will mourn him for seven years,
Then a long life for the good of the kingdom."
After the death of Henry II, Catherine really did not tie herself to anyone by marriage. It is also true that she observed official mourning for seven years and then lived a long life. However, few historians would agree with Nostradamus’s opinion that she devoted the rest of her life to the “good of the kingdom.” It is obvious that the predictor was biased in his judgments, or, since the quatrain clearly spoke about Catherine - and it saw the light both during her life and during the life of the author - he may have simply wanted to flatter her. Having become regent, Catherine de Medici was constantly with the little king, who cried during his coronation, all the time, spent the night in his chambers, exercised control over the king’s council, made political decisions, and was engaged in state affairs.
However, Catherine never ruled the country as a whole, which was in chaos and on the brink of civil war. Many parts of France were dominated by the nobility. The complex tasks that Catherine faced were confusing and somewhat difficult to understand. She called on church leaders from both sides to engage in dialogue to resolve their doctrinal differences. Despite her optimism, the Conference of Poissy ended in failure on 13 October 1561, dissolving itself without the queen's permission. Catherine's point of view on religious problems was naive, because she saw the schism between the churches from a political perspective. She underestimated the power of religious conviction, imagining that all would be well if only she could persuade both parties to agree. But Catherine de Medici learned from her mistakes. Francis II, the eldest of Catherine's five sons and the first husband of Mary Queen of Scots, remained on the throne for only two years.
In Nostradamus's "Centuries" there are only two mentions of him, one of them is very vague. Although officially he had reached the age to rule the kingdom, he was nevertheless considered too young for this, and during the short reign of Francis II, Mary's uncles, the brothers of Guise, were the actual rulers of France. A complex conspiracy known as Amboise was woven against the brothers, with Protestants acting as instigators. The conspiracy failed, and its participants were severely punished, which, apparently, was predicted by Nostradamus in the quatrain of the 13th Century I. He wrote about this, however, in general terms, but nevertheless it was about a conspiracy of Protestants, overwhelmed by “anger and animal hatred."
The death of Francis II in 1560 did not seem to threaten the continued reign of the Valois dynasty. Although his two sisters could not, according to the Salic law adopted in the 6th century, inherit the throne, he had four more younger brothers. However, Nostradamus knew that they all had to die, leaving no legitimate heirs to the throne. This is clear from quatrain 10 Centuria I:
“The coffin is placed in an iron crypt,
Where are the king's seven children?
Their ancestors will rise from the depths of hell,
Mourning the fruits of their dead race."
Without a doubt, Nostradamus' quatrain refers both to the end of the Valois dynasty and to one specific event that occurred in 1610 - the transfer of the remains of the last of the Valois, Henry III, who died in 1589, from his temporary burial to the family crypt in Saint Denis. After the death of Francis II, the throne of the King of France was taken by his younger brother Charles IX, who reigned from 1560 to 1574. However, power was actually in the hands of his queen mother, the snake queen Catherine de Medici, who instigated many of the dramatic events that took place during this reign. Most of them were predicted by Nostradamus.
