Henry II of France

Henry II (French: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536.

As a child, Henry and his elder brother spent over four years in captivity in Spain as hostages in exchange for their father. Henry pursued his father's policies in matters of art, war, and religion. He persevered in the Italian Wars against the Habsburgs and tried to suppress the Reformation, even as the Huguenot numbers were increasing drastically in France during his reign.

Under the April 1559 Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis which ended the Italian Wars, France renounced its claims in Italy, but gained certain other territories, including the Pale of Calais and the Three Bishoprics. These acquisitions strengthened French borders while the abdication of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in January 1556 and division of his empire between Spain and Austria provided France with greater flexibility in foreign policy. Nostradamus also served King Henry as physician and astrologer.

In June 1559, Henry was injured in a jousting tournament held to celebrate the treaty, and died ten days later after his surgeon, Ambroise Paré, was unable to cure the wound inflicted by Gabriel de Montgomery, the captain of his Scottish Guard. Though he died early, the succession appeared secure, for he left four young sons – as well as a widow (Catherine de' Medici) to lead a capable regency during their minority. Three of those sons lived long enough to become king; but their youth and sometimes infirmity, and the unpopularity of Catherine's regency, led to challenges to the throne by powerful nobles, and helped to spark the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants, and an eventual end to the House of Valois as France's ruling dynasty.

Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of King Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, daughter of King Louis XII and Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Francis and Claude were second cousins; both had Louis I, Duke of Orléans, as a patrilineal great-grandfather, and their marriage strengthened the family's claim to the throne.

Henry's father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and held prisoner in Spain. To obtain his release, it was agreed that Henry and his older brother Francis be sent to Spain in his place. They remained in captivity for over four years.

Henry married Catherine de' Medici, a member of the ruling family of Florence, on 28 October 1533, when they were both fourteen years old. The wedding was officiated by Pope Clement VII, himself a Medici. At this time, Henry's brother Francis was alive and there was little prospect of Henry coming to the throne. The following year, he became romantically involved with a thirty-five-year-old widow, Diane de Poitiers. Henry and Diane had always been very close: the woman had fondly embraced Henry on the day he, as a seven-year-old child, set off to captivity in Spain, and the bond had been renewed after his return to France. At the tournament to honour his father's new bride, Eleanor, in 1531, Henry and Francis dressed as chevaliers, and Henry wore Diane's colors.

Extremely confident, mature and intelligent, Diane left Catherine powerless to intervene. She did, however, insist that Henry sleep with Catherine in order to produce heirs to the throne. The couple struggled to produce an heir in the first decade of their marriage but the physician Jean Fernel, who may have noticed slight abnormalities in the couple's sexual organs, advised them how to solve the problem. However, he denied ever providing such advice.