Henry IV of France

For other uses, see Henry IV (disambiguation).

"Henry of Navarre" redirects here. For other uses, see Henry of Navarre (disambiguation).

"Henri 4" redirects here. For the 2010 film, see Henri 4 (film).

Henry IV
King of France
Reign	2 August 1589 – 14 May 1610
Coronation	27 February 1594
Predecessor	Henry III
Successor	Louis XIII
King of Navarre
Reign	9 June 1572 – 14 May 1610
Predecessor	Jeanne III
Successor	Louis II
Born	(1553-12-13)13 December 1553 Pau, Navarre
Died	14 May 1610(1610-05-14) (aged 56) Paris, France
Burial	Saint Denis Basilica, France
Spouse	Margaret of France Marie de' Medici
Issue	Louis XIII of France Elisabeth, Queen of Spain Christine, Duchess of Savoy Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans Gaston, Duke of Orléans Henrietta Maria, Queen of England César, Duke of Vendôme (Illegitimate) Catherine Henriette, Duchess of Elbeuf (Illegitimate)
House	Bourbon
Father	Antoine of Navarre
Mother	Jeanne III of Navarre
Religion	see details

Henry IV (Template:Lang-fr, read as [Henri-Quatre] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) pronounced [ɑ̃ʁi.katʁ]; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithet "Good King Henry", was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 to 1610 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first French monarch of the House of Bourbon, a branch of the Capetian dynasty.

Baptised as a Catholic but raised in the Protestant faith by his mother Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, he inherited the throne of Navarre in 1572 on the death of his mother. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the French Wars of Religion, barely escaping assassination in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and later led Protestant forces against the royal army.

Henry, as Head of the House of Bourbon, was a direct male-line descendant of Louis IX of France, and "first prince of the blood". Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henry III of France in 1589, Henry was called to the French succession by the Salic law. He initially kept the Protestant faith and had to fight against the Catholic League, which denied that he could wear France's crown as a Protestant. To obtain mastery over his kingdom, after four years of stalemate, he found it prudent to abjure the Calvinist faith. As a pragmatic politician (in the parlance of the time, a politique), he displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the era. Notably, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes (1598), which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants, thereby effectively ending the Wars of Religion. He was assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.

Considered a usurper by some Catholics and a traitor by some Protestants, Henry became target of at least 12 assassination attempts. An unpopular king immediately after his accession, Henry's popularity greatly improved after his death, in light of repeated victories over his enemies and his conversion to Catholicism. The "Good King Henry" (le bon roi Henri) was remembered for his geniality and his great concern about the welfare of his subjects. He was celebrated in the popular song Vive le roi Henri and in Voltaire's Henriade.

Early life

Childhood and adolescence

Henry was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn. His parents were Queen Joan III of Navarre (Jeanne d'Albret) and her consort, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, King of Navarre. Although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother, who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre. As a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion. On 9 June 1572, upon his mother's death, he became King of Navarre.

Henry III of France on his deathbed designating Henry IV of Navarre as his successor (1589)

First marriage and Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

At Queen Joan's death, it was arranged for Henry to marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. The wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre began in Paris. Several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed. Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and his promise to convert to Catholicism. He was made to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On 5 February of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the military conflict. He named his 16-year-old sister, Catherine de Bourbon, regent of Navarre. Catherine held the regency for nearly thirty years.

Wars of Religion

Henry at the Battle of Arques

Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry, by Peter Paul Rubens

Henry IV, as Hercules vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra (i.e. the Catholic League), by Toussaint Dubreuil, circa 1600

Henry became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of Francis, Duke of Anjou, brother and heir to the Catholic Henry III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574. Because Henry of Navarre was the next senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate successor. Salic law barred the king's sisters and all others who could claim descent through only the female line from inheriting. Since Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, the issue was not considered settled in many quarters of the country and France was plunged into a phase of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries. Henry III and Henry of Navarre were two of these Henries. The third was Henry I, Duke of Guise, who pushed for complete suppression of the Huguenots and had much support among Catholic loyalists. Political disagreements among the parties set off a series of campaigns and counter-campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Coutras. In December 1588, Henry III had Henry I of Guise murdered, along with his brother, Louis Cardinal de Guise. Henry III thought that the removal of Guise would finally restore his authority. Instead, however, the populace were horrified and rose against him. In several cities, the title of the king was no longer recognized. His power was limited to Blois, Tours and the surrounding districts. In the general chaos there was still one power on whom the king could rely — Henry of Navarre and his Huguenots.

The two kings were united by a common interest — to win France from the League. Henry III acknowledged the King of Navarre as a true subject and Frenchman, not a fanatic Huguenot aiming for the destruction of Catholics. Catholic royalist nobles also rallied to the king's standard. With this combined force the two kings marched to Paris. The morale of the city was low, and even the Spanish ambassador believed the city could not hold out longer than a fortnight. But Henry III was assassinated shortly thereafter (2 August 1589) by a fanatic monk.

When Henry III died, Henry of Navarre nominally became king of France. The Catholic League, however, strengthened by support from outside the country—especially from Spain—was strong enough to prevent a universal recognition of his new title. Most of the Catholic nobles who had joined Henry III for the siege of Paris also refused to recognize the claim of Henry of Navarre, and abandoned him. He set about winning his kingdom by military conquest, aided by English money and German troops. Henry's Catholic uncle Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, was proclaimed king by the League, but the Cardinal was Henry's prisoner at the time. Henry was victorious at the Battle of Arques and the Battle of Ivry, but failed to take Paris after besieging it in 1590.

When Cardinal de Bourbon died in 1590, the League could not agree on a new candidate. While some supported various Guise candidates, the strongest candidate was probably the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain, whose mother Elisabeth had been the eldest daughter of Henry II of France. In the religious fervor of the time, the Infanta was recognized to be a suitable candidate, provided that she marry a suitable husband. The French overwhelmingly rejected Philip's first choice, Archduke Ernest of Austria, the Emperor's brother, also a member of the House of Habsburg. In case of such opposition, Philip indicated that princes of the House of Lorraine would also be acceptable to him: the Duke of Guise; a son of the Duke of Lorraine; and the son of the Duke of Mayenne. The Spanish ambassadors then selected the Duke of Guise, to the joy of the League. But at that moment of seeming victory the envy of the Duke of Mayenne was aroused, and he blocked the proposed election of a king.

The Parlement of Paris also upheld the Salic law. They argued that if the French accepted natural hereditary succession, as proposed by the Spaniards, and accepted a woman as their queen, then the ancient claims of the English kings would be confirmed, and the monarchy of centuries past would be nothing but an illegality. The Parlement admonished Mayenne, as Lieutenant-General, that the Kings of France had resisted the interference of the Pope in political matters, and that he should not raise a foreign prince or princess to the throne of France under the pretext of religion. Mayenne was angered that he had not been consulted prior, but yielded, since their aim was not contrary to his present views.

Despite these setbacks for the League, Henry remained unable to take control of Paris.

Jeton with portrait of King Henri IV, made in Nuremberg (Germany) by Hans Laufer

Entrance of Henry IV in Paris, 22 March 1594, with 1,500 cuirassiers

"Paris is well worth a Mass"

On 25 July 1593, with the encouragement of the great love of his life, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henry permanently renounced Protestantism and converted to Roman Catholicism in order to achieve the French crown, rather than his honest belief in it, thus earning the resentment of the Huguenots and his former ally Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was said to have declared that Paris vaut bien une messe ("Paris is well worth a mass"), although there is some doubt whether he said this, or whether the statement was attributed to him by his contemporaries. His acceptance of Roman Catholicism secured the allegiance of the vast majority of his subjects. Since Reims, the traditional location for the coronation of French kings, was still occupied by the Catholic League, he was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Chartres on 27 February 1594. He did not forget his former Calvinist coreligionists, however, and in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted circumscribed toleration to the Huguenots.

Royal styles of King Henry IV Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre
Reference style	His Most Christian Majesty
Spoken style	Your Most Christian Majesty
Alternative style	Sire

Second marriage

Henry IV and Marie de Médicis

Henry's first marriage was not a happy one, and the couple remained childless. Henry and Margaret separated even before Henry acceded to the throne in August 1589, and Margaret lived for many years in the Château d'Usson in the Auvergne. After Henry became king of France, it was of the utmost importance that he provide an heir to the crown to avoid the problem of a disputed succession. Henry favoured the idea of obtaining an annulment of his marriage to Margaret and taking Gabrielle d'Estrées as his bride; after all, she had already borne him three children. Henry's councillors strongly opposed this idea, but the matter was resolved unexpectedly by Gabrielle's sudden death in the early hours of 10 April 1599, after she had given birth to a premature and stillborn son. His marriage to Margaret was annulled in 1599, and he then married Marie de' Medici in 1600.

For the royal entry of Marie into Avignon on 19 November 1600, the citizens bestowed on Henry the title of the Hercule Gaulois ("Gallic Hercules"), justifying the extravagant flattery with a genealogy that traced the origin of the House of Navarre to a nephew of Hercules' son Hispalus.

Achievements of his reign

Henri IV on Horseback Trampling his Enemy. Bronze, circa 1615-1620 CE. From France, probably Paris. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Itinerary of François Pyrard de Laval, (1601–1611)

During his reign, Henry IV worked through his faithful right-hand man, the minister Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, to regularise state finance, promote agriculture, drain swamps, undertake public works, and encourage education, as with the creation of the Collège Royal Henri-le-Grand in La Flèche (today the Prytanée Militaire de la Flèche). He and Sully protected forests from further devastation, built a system of tree-lined highways, and constructed bridges and canals. He had a 1200-meter canal built in the park at the Château Fontainebleau (which may be fished today) and ordered the planting of pines, elms, and fruit trees. He used one construction project to attract attention to his power. When building the Pont-Neuf, a bridge, he placed a statue of himself in the middle.

The King restored Paris as a great city, with the Pont Neuf, which still stands today, constructed over the river Seine to connect the Right and Left Banks of the city. Henry IV also had the Place Royale built (since 1800 known as Place des Vosges), and added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre Palace. More than 400 meters long and thirty-five meters wide, this huge addition was built along the bank of the Seine River, and at the time was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. King Henry IV, a promoter of the arts by all classes of people, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the building's lower floors. This tradition continued for another two hundred years, until Emperor Napoleon I banned it. The art and architecture of his reign have become known as the "Henry IV style" since that time.

King Henry's vision extended beyond France, and he financed several expeditions of Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain to North America, which saw France lay claim to Canada.

International relations under Henry IV

Engraving of Henry IV

Coin of Henry IV, demi écu, Saint Lô (1589)

The reign of Henry IV saw the continuation of the rivalry among France, the Habsburg rulers of Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire for the mastery of Western Europe, a conflict that would only be resolved after the Thirty Years' War.

Spain and Italy

During Henry's struggle for the crown, Spain had been the principal backer of the Catholic League, and it tried to thwart Henry. Under the Duke of Parma, an army from the Spanish Netherlands intervened in 1590 against Henry and foiled his siege of Paris. Another Spanish army helped the nobles opposing Henry to win the Battle of Craon against his troops in 1592.

After Henry's coronation, the war continued as an official tug-of-war between the French and Spanish states, but after victory at the Siege of Amiens in September 1597 the Peace of Vervins was signed in 1598. This enabled him to turn his attention to Savoy, with which he also had been fighting. Their conflicts were settled in the Treaty of Lyon of 1601, which mandated territorial exchanges between France and the Duchy of Savoy.

Germany

In 1609 Henry's intervention helped to settle the War of the Jülich succession through diplomatic means.

It was widely believed that in 1610 Henry was preparing to go to war against the Holy Roman Empire. The preparations were terminated by his assassination, however, and the subsequent rapprochement with Spain under the regency of Marie de' Medici.

Ottoman Empire

Bilingual Franco-Turkish translation of the 1604 Franco-Ottoman Capitulations between Sultan Ahmed I and Henry IV of France, published by François Savary de Brèves (1615)

Even before Henry's accession to the French throne, the French Huguenots were in contact with Aragonese Moriscos in plans against the Habsburg government of Spain in the 1570s. Around 1575, plans were made for a combined attack of Aragonese Moriscos and Huguenots from Béarn under Henry against Spanish Aragon, in agreement with the king of Algiers and the Ottoman Empire, but this project floundered with the arrival of John of Austria in Aragon and the disarmament of the Moriscos. In 1576, a three-pronged fleet from Constantinople was planned to disembark between Murcia and Valencia while the French Huguenots would invade from the north and the Moriscos accomplish their uprising, but the Ottoman fleet failed to arrive. After his crowning, Henry continued the policy of a Franco-Ottoman alliance and received an embassy from Sultan Mehmed III in 1601. In 1604, a "Peace Treaty and Capitulation" was signed between Henry IV and the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I. It granted numerous advantages to France in the Ottoman Empire.

In 1606–7, Henry IV sent Arnoult de Lisle as Ambassador to Morocco to obtain the observance of past friendship treaties. An embassy was sent to Tunisia in 1608 led by François Savary de Brèves.

East Asia

Further information: France-Asia relations

During the reign of Henry IV, various enterprises were set up to develop trade with faraway lands. In December 1600, a company was formed through the association of Saint-Malo, Laval, and Vitré to trade with the Moluccas and Japan. Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin, were sent around the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. One was wrecked in the Maldives, leading to the adventure of François Pyrard de Laval, who managed to return to France in 1611. The second ship, carrying François Martin de Vitré, reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra, but was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre. François Martin de Vitré was the first Frenchman to write an account of travels to the Far East in 1604, at the request of Henry IV, and from that time numerous accounts on Asia would be published.

From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry developed a strong enthusiasm for travel to Asia and attempted to set up a French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands. On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to Dieppe merchants to form the Dieppe Company, giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years. No ships were sent, however, until 1616. In 1609, another adventurer, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe, returned from a circumnavigation of the globe and informed Henry of his adventures. He had visited China and India, and had an encounter with Akbar.

Character

Henry IV, Versailles Museum

Henry IV proved to be a man of vision and courage. Instead of waging costly wars to suppress opposing nobles, Henry simply paid them off. As king, he adopted policies and undertook projects to improve the lives of all subjects, which made him one of the country's most popular rulers ever.

Henry is said to have originated the oft-repeated phrase, "a chicken in every pot". The context for that phrase:

Si Dieu me prête vie, je ferai qu'il n'y aura point de laboureur en mon royaume qui n'ait les moyens d'avoir le dimanche une poule dans son pot! (If God keeps me, I will make sure that no peasant in my realm will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot on Sunday!)

This statement epitomises the peace and relative prosperity which Henry brought to France after decades of religious war, and demonstrates how well he understood the plight of the French worker and peasant farmer. This real concern for the living conditions of the "lowly" population – who in the final analysis provided the economic basis for the power of the king and the great nobles – was perhaps without parallel among the kings of France. Following his death Henry would be remembered fondly by most of the population.

Henry's forthright manner, physical courage, and military successes also contrasted dramatically with the sickly, effete languor of the last Valois kings, as evinced by his blunt assertion that he ruled with "weapon in hand and arse in the saddle" (on a le bras armé et le cul sur la selle). He was also a great philanderer, fathering many children by a number of mistresses.

Nicknames

Henry was nicknamed "the Great" (Henri le Grand), and in France is also called le bon roi Henri ("the good king Henry") or le vert galant ("The Green Gallant", for his numerous mistresses). In English he is most often referred to as Henry of Navarre.

Assassination

Henry was the subject of attempts on his life by Pierre Barrière in August 1593 and Jean Châtel in December 1594.

In the third assassination attempt, King Henry IV was killed in Paris on 14 May 1610 by a Catholic fanatic, François Ravaillac, who stabbed him in the Rue de la Ferronnerie. Henry's coach was stopped by traffic congestion related to the Queen's coronation ceremony, as depicted in the engraving by Gaspar Bouttats. Hercule de Rohan, duc de Montbazon, was with him when he was killed; Montbazon was wounded, but survived. Henry was buried at the Saint Denis Basilica.

His widow, Marie de' Medici, served as regent for their nine-year-old son, Louis XIII, until 1617.

• 
  Assassination of Henry IV,
  engraving by Gaspar Bouttats
• 
  His assassin, François Ravaillac, brandishing his dagger
• 
  Lying in state at the Louvre, engraving after François Quesnel
• 
  Alleged skull of Henry IV in 1933; his tomb was ransacked during the French Revolution

Legacy

Henri IV, Marie de' Medici and family

The reign of Henry IV had a lasting impact on the French people for generations afterward. A statue was erected in his honour at the Pont Neuf in 1614, four years after his death. Although this statue—as well as those of all the other French kings—was torn down during the French Revolution, it was the first to be rebuilt, in 1818, and it stands today on the Pont Neuf. A cult surrounding the personality of Henry IV emerged during the Bourbon Restoration. The restored Bourbons were keen to play down the controversial reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI and instead emphasised the reign of the benevolent Henry IV. The song Marche Henri IV ("Long Live Henry IV") was popular during the Restoration. In addition, when Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily (a descendant of his) gave birth to a male heir to the throne of France seven months after the assassination of her husband Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, by a Republican fanatic, the boy was conspicuously named Henri in reference to his forefather Henry IV. The boy also was baptised in the traditional way of Béarn/Navarre, with a spoon of Jurançon wine and some garlic, imitating the manner in which Henry IV had been baptised in Pau. That custom had been abandoned by later Bourbon kings.

Henry IV's popularity continued when the first edition of his biography, Histoire du Roy Henry le Grand, was published in Amsterdam in 1661. It was written by Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont, successively bishop of Rhodez and archbishop of Paris, primarily for the edification of Louis XIV, grandson of Henry IV. A translation into English was made by James Dauncey for another grandson, King Charles II of England. An English edition was derived from this, which was published at London in 1663.

Henry served as the loose inspiration behind Ferdinand, the King of Navarre in William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.

Royal Monogram

Genealogy

Main article: Henry IV of France's succession

Ancestors

Family of Henry IV of France

16. Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme 8. François, Count of Vendôme 17. Isabelle de Beauvau 4. Charles, Duke of Vendôme 18. Pierre II de Luxembourg 9. Marie de Luxembourg 19. Margaret of Savoy 2. Antoine of Navarre 20. John II of Alençon 10. René of Alençon 21. Marie of Armagnac 5. Françoise of Alençon 22. Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont 11. Margaret of Lorraine 23. Yolande of Anjou 1. Henry IV of France 24. Alain I of Albret 12. John III of Navarre 25. Françoise of Châtillon-Limoges 6. Henry II of Navarre 26. Gaston, Prince of Viana 13. Catherine of Navarre 27. Magdalena of Valois 3. Jeanne III of Navarre 28. John, Count of Angoulême 14. Charles, Count of Angoulême 29. Marguerite de Rohan 7. Marguerite of Angoulême 30. Philip II, Duke of Savoy 15. Louise of Savoy 31. Margaret of Bourbon

Patrilineal descent

Patrilineal descent

Henry's patriline was his line of descent in the male line, that is, from father to son only. Patrilineal descent governs membership and succession in many royal and noble houses. Henry was a scion of the House of Bourbon, which was a branch of the Capetian dynasty, which sprang from the Robertians. Henry's patriline ran through the house of Bourbon-Vendôme (Counts and then Dukes of Vendôme), descended from a younger son of the Count of Marche, descended from a younger son of the Duke of Bourbon, whose father was a younger son of Louis IX. Louis was the direct descendant of Hugh Capet, who became King of France in 987 and made the crown hereditary. Hugh was the heir of the "Robertian" house, Counts of Worms, descended from Robert of Hesbaye. This line has continued to the present day, more than 1,200 years in all, through kings of France, Navarre, France again, Spain, Portugal, and the Two Sicilies, dukes of Parma, grand dukes of Luxembourg, princes of Orléans, and emperors of Brazil. It is one of the oldest royal patrilines in Europe. Robert II of Worms and Rheingau (Robert of Hesbaye), 770–807 Robert III of Worms and Rheingau, 808–834 Robert IV the Strong, 820–866 Robert I of France, 866–923 Hugh the Great, 895–956 Hugh Capet, 941–996 Robert II of France, 972–1031 Henry I of France, 1008–1060 Philip I of France, 1053–1108 Louis VI of France, 1081–1137 Louis VII of France, 1120–1180 Philip II of France, 1165–1223 Louis VIII of France, 1187–1226 Louis IX of France, 1215–1270 Robert, Count of Clermont, 1256–1317 Louis I, Duke of Bourbon, 1279–1342 James I, Count of La Marche, 1319–1362 John I, Count of La Marche, 1344–1393 Louis, Count of Vendôme, 1376–1446 Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme, 1428–1478 François, Count of Vendôme, 1470–1495 Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, 1489–1537 Antoine, King of Navarre, Duke of Vendôme, 1518–1562 Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, 1553–1610

Religion

Henry IV was baptized a Roman Catholic on January 5, 1554. He was raised Reformed by his mother Jeanne III of Navarre. In 1572, after the massacre of French Calvinists, he was forced by Catherine de' Medici and other powerful Roman Catholic royalty to convert. In 1576, as he managed to escape from Paris, he abjured Roman Catholicism and returned to Calvinism. In 1593, in order to become King of France rather than by his own beliefs, he converted again to Roman Catholicism. Although a formal Roman Catholic, he valued his Calvinist upbringing and was tolerant toward the Huguenots until his death in 1610, and issued the Edict of Nantes which granted many concessions to them.

Henry's religious affiliation by date:

None (1553; not baptized yet)
Roman Catholic (1554; at baptism)
Reformed (1554-1572; raised Calvinist)
Roman Catholic (1572-1576; forced conversion to Roman Catholicism)
Reformed (1576-1593; returned to Calvinism)
Roman Catholic (1593-1610; converted to Roman Catholicism for coronation)

Marriages and legitimate children

Main articles: Descendants of Henry IV of France and Henry IV of France's wives and mistresses

On 18 August 1572, Henry married his second cousin Margaret of Valois; their childless marriage was annulled in 1599. His subsequent marriage to Marie de' Medici on 17 December 1600 produced six children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Louis XIII, King of France	27 September 1601	14 May 1643	Married Anne of Austria in 1615
Elisabeth, Queen of Spain	22 November 1602	6 October 1644	Married Philip IV, King of Spain, in 1615
Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy	10 February 1606	27 December 1663	Married Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, in 1619
Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans	16 April 1607	17 November 1611
Gaston, Duke of Orléans	25 April 1608	2 February 1660	Married (1) Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, in 1626 Married (2) Marguerite of Lorraine in 1632
Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, Queen of Scots, and Queen of Ireland	25 November 1609	10 September 1669	Married Charles I, King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland, in 1625

Armorial

The arms of Henry IV changed throughout his lifetime:

• 
  From 1562,
  as Prince of Béarn and Duke of Vendôme
• 
  From 1572,
  as King of Navarre
• 
  From 1589,
  as King of France and Navarre<also used by his successors>
• 
  Grand Royal Coat of Arms of Henry and the House of Bourbon as Kings of France and Navarre (1589-1789)

References

• Baird, Henry M. (1886). The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre (2 volumes). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Vol. 2 (copies [15] 1 & [16] 2) at Google Books.
• Baumgartner, Frederic J. (1995). France in the Sixteenth Century. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-62088-7.
• de La Croix, Rene; de Castries, Duc (1979). The Lives of the Kings & Queens of France. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-50734-7.
• Dupuy, Trevor N.; Johnson, Curt; Bongard, David L. (1995). The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-0437-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
• Holt, Mack P. (2005). The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press. ISBN 0-521-83872-X.
• Knecht, R. J. (1998). Catherine de' Medici. London; New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-08241-2.
• Knecht, R. J. (2002). The French Religious Wars, 1562–1598. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-395-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Knecht, R. J. (2001). The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France, 1483–1610. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-22729-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Merlin, Paolo (2010). A 400 anni dai Trattati di Bruzolo. Gli equilibri europei prima e dopo i Trattati. Susa: Segusium (association).
• Moote, A. Lloyd (1991). Louis XIII, the Just. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07546-3.
• Urzainqui, Tomas; Esarte, Pello; García Manzanal, Alberto; Sagredo, Iñaki; Sagredo, Iñaki; Sagredo, Iñaki; Del Castillo, Eneko; Monjo, Emilio; Ruiz de Pablos, Francisco; Guerra Viscarret, Pello; Lartiga, Halip; Lavin, Josu; Ercilla, Manuel (2013). La Conquista de Navarra y la Reforma Europea. Pamplona-Iruña: Pamiela. ISBN 978-84-7681-803-9.

Further reading

Non-fiction

• Baumgartner, Frederic J. (1995). France in the Sixteenth Century. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-62088-7.
• Briggs, Robin (1977). Early Modern France, 1560–1715. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-289040-9.
• Bryson, David M. (1999). Queen Jeanne and the Promised Land: Dynasty, Homeland, Religion and Violence in Sixteenth-century France. Leiden and Boston MA: Brill Academic. ISBN 90-04-11378-9.
• Buisseret, David (1990). Henry IV, King of France. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-04-445635-2.
• Cameron, Keith, ed. (1989). From Valois to Bourbon: Dynasty, State & Society in Early Modern France. Exeter: University of Exeter. ISBN 0-85989-310-3.
• Finley-Croswhite, S. Annette (1999). Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1589–1610. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62017-1.
• Frieda, Leonie (2005). Catherine de Medici. London: Phoenix. ISBN 0-7538-2039-0.
• Greengrass, Mark (1984). France in the Age of Henri IV: The Struggle for Stability. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49251-3.
• Holt, Mack P. (2005). The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83872-X.
• Lee, Maurice J. (1970). James I & Henri IV: An Essay in English Foreign Policy, 1603–1610. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-00084-6.
• LLoyd, Howell A. (1983). The State, France, and the Sixteenth Century. London: George Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-940066-5.
• Lockyer, Roger (1974). Habsburg and Bourbon Europe, 1470–1720. Harlow, UK: Longman. ISBN 0-582-35029-8.
• Love, Ronald S. (2001). Blood and Religion: The Conscience of Henri IV, 1553–1593. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2124-0.
• Major, J. Russell (1997). From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy: French Kings, Nobles & Estates. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5631-0.
• Mousnier, Roland (1973). The Assassination of Henry IV: The Tyrannicide Problem and the Consolidation of the French Absolute Monarchy in the Early Seventeenth Century. Translated by Joan Spencer. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-684-13357-1.
• Pettegree, Andrew (2002). Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-20704-X.
• Pitts, Vincent J. (2009). Henri IV of France: His Reign and Age. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9027-7.
• Salmon, J. H. M. (1975). Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN 0-510-26351-8.
• Sutherland, N. M. (1973). The Massacre of St. Bartholomew and the European Conflict, 1559–1572. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-13629-2.
• Sutherland, N. M. (1980). The Huguenot Struggle for Recognition. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02328-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Sutherland, N. M. (1984). Princes, Politics and Religion, 1547–1589. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 0-907628-44-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Sutherland, N. M. (2002). Henry IV of France and the Politics of Religion, 1572–1596. 2 volumes. Bristol: Elm Bank. ISBN 1-84150-846-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Wolfe, Michael (1993). The Conversion of Henri IV: Politics, Power, and Religious Belief in Early Modern France. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-17031-8

Fiction

• George Chapman (1559?–1634), The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron (1608), éd. John Margeson (Manchester: Manchester University press, 1988)
• Alexandre Dumas, La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) (1845)
• Heinrich Mann, Die Jugend des Königs Henry Quatre (1935); Die Vollendung des Königs Henry Quatre (1938) Template:De-icon
• M. de Rozoy, Henri IV, Drame lyrique (1774) Template:Fr-icon

External links

• Henri IV – An unfinished reign Official website published by the French Ministry of Culture