Francis 2 King of France and Mary Stuart. House of Valois

MARY STUART Mary Stuart ruled over Scotland. She actually ascended the throne in 1561, and during the six years of her reign, she turned the lords against herself so much that they accused her of complicity in the murder of her second husband, Lord Darniel. The lords forced her to abdicate. Besides

Mary Stuart (1542–1587), Queen of Scots 1542–1567 (actually since 1561) 175 At my end is my beginning. The motto on the throne canopy of Mary Stuart, personally embroidered by her (in French) in English captivity, after 1568? Palmer, p. 151. “My end is my beginning” – cap.

Mary Stuart (1542–1587), Queen of Scots 1542–1567 (in fact, since 1561)49 At my end is my beginning. The motto on the throne canopy of Mary Stuart, embroidered with her own hands (in French) in English captivity, after 1568? Palmer, p. 151. “My end is my beginning” – cap. poems

FRANCIS I (Fran?ois I, 1494–1557), French king from 1515.67 Of all that I had, only honor and life were saved. Letter from captivity to my mother, Louise of Savoy, in Feb. 1525 (publ. 1837) Francis was taken prisoner by Emperor Charles V after his defeat at Pavia on 24 Feb. 1525 Long time

Maria Stuart Historical drama (1830, publ. 1832) Hall in Holy Rood Palace. The queen's page runs in. He says that there are riots in the city. Some unknown person at the head of the crowd - mummers, in masks, dancers with bells, people in black hoods - threatened,

Francis II.
Reproduction from the website http://monarchy.nm.ru/

Francis II
King of France
Francois II
Years of life: January 19, 1544 - December 5, 1560
Reigned: July 10, 1559 - December 5, 1560
Father: Henry II
Mother: Catherine de Medici
Wife: Mary Stuart

Francis became king at less than 16 years of age after the unexpected death of his father in a jousting tournament. He was a sickly young man with an unstable psyche. Despite the fact that, according to French law, he was considered an adult, it was obvious that he could not rule on his own. A year earlier, he married Mary Stuart, whom he loved to madness, and therefore the actual power in the state was in the hands of Mary's uncles, Francis de Guise and his brother Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. The king himself did not delve into matters at all, spending all his time in fun, hunting and entertainment with his young wife.

The Guises, zealous Catholics, convinced Francis to sign an edict that tightened the persecution of the Huguenots, which had begun under Henry II. Participants in secret meetings of Protestants now faced the death penalty, and the houses where the meetings were held were to be demolished. In response, the Protestant opposition, led by Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, his brother Louis de Conde and Admiral Coligny, nephew of the constable of Montmorency, made up the so-called Amboise conspiracy, according to which it was planned to capture the king in the castle of Blois, persuade him to abandon religious persecution and remove him from Gizov himself. The plot, however, was uncovered. Antoine of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were arrested and escaped execution only thanks to the intervention of Catherine de Medici.

Shortly thereafter, Francis fell ill. A fistula formed in his ear, gangrene began, inflammation spread to the brain, and a few days later the king died without leaving an heir. Thus the crown passed to his brother Charles.

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Francis II (Franois II) (1544–1560), king France , the eldest son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, was born in Fontainebleau on January 19, 1544. In April 1558, Francis married Mary Stuart, niece of the Duke of Guise, the future Scottish queen. In July 1559, after the death of his father in an accident, Francis ascended the throne. His short reign was characterized by the dominance of the Guise family in the domestic and foreign policy of the state, as well as the appearance in France of a group of Protestants who strongly opposed the official religious policy. In an attempt to capture the king in order to deprive the Guises of influence on him, the Huguenots carried out the so-called defeat that ended in their defeat. Amboise conspiracy (1560). Francis died in Orleans on December 5, 1560.

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Francis II (1544-1560) - king France from the Valois family, who ruled in 1559-1560. Son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici.

Wife: since May 24, 1558 Mary Stuart, daughter of King James V of Scotland (b. 1542 + 1587).

Francis was a sickly and mentally unstable teenager of less than sixteen years of age when an accident in a tournament with Henry II in July 1559 installed him on the throne of France. Under French law, he was considered an adult. But there was no doubt that to rule without outside help he can't and won't. Indeed, Francis did not engage in public affairs, entrusting them to the Guise brothers: Duke Francis and his brother Charles, the refined and sharp-tongued Cardinal of Lorraine. If in the former reign of Guise they had to constantly yield primacy to the constable of Montmorency, now, thanks to their niece, Queen Mary Stuart, they gained undivided power. The king did not delve into anything, and all his time was spent in amusements, traveling to country palaces, hunting trips, and most importantly, in pleasures, a whole swarm of which he found in the arms of his wife, whom he loved to adoration.

The Giza were zealous Catholics. Therefore, their influence was especially strong in the field of religious policy. They prompted Francis to continue the inexorable line of his father Henry, who in his edict of 1559 ordered that all those guilty of heresy be punished by death. 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 gatherings. The persecution of the Huguenots caused retaliatory actions on their part. At the head of the Protestant party were then two princes from the House of Bourbon: Antoine, King of Navarre, and his brother Louis de Condé. The nephew of Constable Montmorency, Admiral Coligny, also played an important role. With their direct participation in Nantes, the so-called Amboise conspiracy was formed, organized by the provincial nobleman La Renaudie. The conspirators intended to capture the king with all his court in the castle of Blois, force him to abandon 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 nevertheless tried to carry out his plan, he suffered a complete failure: his people were killed, and he himself fell in battle. Many Protestants suspected of treason were rounded up and executed almost without trial. In December 1560, Antoine of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were arrested, who arrived in Orleans for a meeting of the Estates General. Both of them were sentenced to death and only thanks to the intervention of the cautious Catherine de Medici escaped immediate reprisal. In the midst of these events, the king was suddenly reduced 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 died. Since there were no children left after him, the throne passed to his ten-year-old brother Charles.

All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

Francis II, King of France and nominally also King of Scotland through his marriage to Mary Stuart, 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 the generally accepted legal understanding, the king was of age, therefore, despite his morbid condition, the question of regency was not raised. However, there was no doubt that the choice of his closest advisers, in view of the natural weakness of his authority, acquired especially importance. Now the hour of Guise, Duke Francis, and his brother Charles, the refined and sharp-tongued Cardinal of Lorraine, has come. Under Henry II, both representatives of the younger branch of the Lorraine ducal family were repeatedly inferior 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, the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici shared their dissatisfaction with the Montmorency-inspired peace in Cateau-Cambresy, and in the last months of Henry II's life she became close to them.

Thus, with the coming to power of Francis II, significant changes took place at the court. Francis II did not engage in public 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 meant supreme command by the royal army during the war, and was also approved to govern the Languedoc.

The star of Diane de Poitiers has sunk. An old friend and mistress of Henry II left the court and, in addition, was forced to cede to Catherine de Medici her castle of Chenonceau located on the Loire in exchange for a less luxurious Chaumont. Anyone who advanced thanks to her patronage had to give way to those close to Catherine de Medici or Guise.

However, the latter had to reckon not only with old rivals, like Montmorency and his associates. Aristocrats who were related to the royal house, and when the direct line was terminated, had the right to succession to the throne (the so-called “princes of the blood”), with the existing weakness of the monarchy, posed a serious danger to leading ministers. Two representatives of the Bourbon house were in this respect 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 Conde. 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 realm of the religious policy of Giza that urged Francis II to continue the inexorable line of his predecessor.Henry II, as early as the Edict of Écuan of June 2, 1559, ordered that the crime of heresy be punished by death by burning; other measures were added that touched the vital nerve of the underground Protestant church: houses that served as meeting places were to be destroyed, allowing or organizing secret meetings was punishable by death. the authorities encouraged denunciations of Protestants by announcing excommunication in case of non-declaration of 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 frequent.

Subsequently, the radicalization of French Protestantism was inevitable, to which, due to the increasing influx of nobles, active elements joined. The elimination of "foreign" favorites, who were seen as the perpetrators of the irreconcilable policy of the crown, and a more active participation in the power of the domestic nobility were the main goal of the movement, which was soon headed by Louis de Conde. Unlike his rather indecisive brother, Conde was prone to energetic and bold actions. With his knowledge and approval, in February 1560, a secret meeting was held in Nantes under the leadership of a native of Pery-Gord, a provincial nobleman named La Renaudie, converted to Protestantism in Geneva. This assembly, which considered itself the legitimate representative of the whole nation, decided on an 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 the 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 made an attempt 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, as traitors to the state, were convicted by the criminal court. In the days that followed, Amboise became the scene of numerous executions; according to contemporaries, even the walls and gates of the castle were hung with the bodies of the executed. Although the armed uprising suffered a complete collapse, the events in Amboise did not remain without consequences. In the immediate environment of the king, voices were heard more and more loudly, laying the responsibility for the uprising on Guise, and in the interests of the state they advised to treat the Protestants with greater tolerance. Shy steps in this direction soon followed: even at the first reports of a conspiracy on March 2, 1560, an order was drafted at the royal Council promising amnesty to those Protestants who were ready to change religion. The Edict of Romorantin limited the competence of secular courts in religious matters and assigned only to ecclesiastical courts the task of adjudicating heresy as a crime.

This trend towards a more flexible policy was inspired and supported by Catherine de Medici. The Queen Mother began to move away from her former 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, as many Protestants hoped and believed, had a secret sympathy for the teachings of Calvin, seems doubtful; but it is quite certain that intransigence in religious matters did not at all correspond to its pragmatic nature. What now impelled her to intervene 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 "Hopital, a lawyer humanistically educated and 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, the nephew of Mopmorency and a moderate representative of the Protestants, advised to convene the notables of the kingdom for resolution 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 Mary of Guise, supported by her brothers, was decisively defeated by the Protestants, who acted with English help.

The meeting initiated by Coligny took place on August 10 at Fontainebleau. Many notables openly criticized the intransigent policies of the Guises; representatives of the higher clergy even recommended that a national council be convened in the event that a general council to eliminate the confessional schism fails. The Giese realized they had to make concessions. The Cardinal of Lorraine, it is true, in his objection spoke sharply against far-reaching concessions to the Protestants, but he no longer called into question temporary and limited religious tolerance. His proposal to convene as soon as possible the Estates General of the kingdom received full approval.

True, Navarre and Conde, two prominent representatives of the highest aristocracy, were not present at Fontainebleau. Both Catherine and Guise from the very beginning had no doubts about Conde's involvement in the La Renaudie rebellion. Conde during the assault on Amboise and even after it was at court, but under the impression of first hidden, and then open hints about his connection with the rebels, left him and went with his brother to southwestern France. Until the Bourbons were taken out of the game, it was hardly possible to suppress the revolts that broke out repeatedly in individual provinces, primarily in Provence and Dauphine. Catherine de Medici and Giza persuaded the king to call Navarre and Condé to court with all categoricalness, so that they would justify themselves about the reproach thrown by him of treason. The perpetrators could hardly ignore this order. Philip II of Spain, at the request of Catherine, did more than he should have done by concentrating troops on the Pyrenean border in order to intimidate the king of Navarre.

On October 31, 1560, Navarre and Condé arrived at Orléans, where the Estates-General were to meet. Francis II greeted 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 high treason. True, not all judges agreed with the verdict, which made it possible for the chancellor l "Opital to resist the desire of the Guises 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 again give it to it was important for her 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. there was nothing to be done, and the disease 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. Therefore, it was important for the Queen Mother to use remaining time to regroup forces and prevent the monarchy from drowning in the maelstrom of factional and party battles. And the last thing she wanted was for Guizame to be replaced by a Bourbon regent.

The King of Navarre was left free, but he was in constant fear not only for the life of his brother, but also for his own. Catherine used this uncertainty of the first "prince of the blood." In the presence of the Guises, she accused Navarre of treason and bluntly denied him the right to be regent for a minor heir. To reinforce the assurances of his innocence, and in exchange for vague promises of the title of "Lieutenant General of the Realm", Navarre offered to give up his rights to the regency in favor of the Queen Mother, to which Catherine readily agreed at once. At the same time, Catherine rendered an important service to Guises: thanks to the statement made by the dying king that he acted on his own decision, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine were relieved of 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, with deft tactics, managed to achieve her goal - to preserve the independence of the crown in the face of increased strife between Catholics and Protestants, supporters of the Guises, on the one hand, and the "princes of the blood" on the other.

Sometimes how to give is more important than what to give...

(Folk wisdom)

Excessive passion for women greatly affected the physical condition of Francis I, which is why, at fifty-two, he looked like a real old man.

However, he still liked to show himself to be a very gallant gentleman, unless, of course, the case turned up, and everyone at court agreed that he could still stand up for himself in bed ...

Of course, he no longer had that stormy energy that once allowed him eight or ten times in a row to prove to the lady of his heart his special disposition. Now he consoled himself by listening to or himself telling more than frivolous stories, because of which those present began to feel not in the palace, but in the barracks. There is an anecdote from that time that fully confirms this. One evening, Chancellor Gaillard was sitting on the very edge of a long bench in the great hall of the palace, and the king was in his royal place, and both of them began to recall the many dissolute adventures of one knight.

And by the way, - the king suddenly exclaimed, - venerable Monsignor Chancellor, tell me, please, is there a great distance between a merry fellow and a libertine?<Игра слов во французском языке; «гайяр» (gaillard) - весельчак, «пайяр» (paillard) - распутник.>

The chancellor stood up.

Exactly as much as from my bench to your seat, Sire,” he replied.

Francis I was extremely pleased with this bold answer, and he laughed for a long time.

The obscene way of life of the sovereign himself led to the fact that if at court there were some signs of restraint, mainly shown by the ladies, now they have disappeared. In Fontainebleau one could hear a lot of curious things. It suffices to give one example. A song called “A flea appeared on my lawn” has become very fashionable.<Все семнадцать куплетов этой песни включены в сборник Лотриана, опубликованный в 1543 году.>, which all the princesses sang without a shadow of embarrassment for days on end.

Because of this flea, or maybe because of some other, all the ladies suffered from such an itch that they only thought how to drown it out. The efforts that they made for this made us think, according to the historian of those years, "that some kind of demon had taken possession of these ladies."

And Branthom relates an even more startling fact:

“I was told about one beautiful, decent and, most importantly, smart lady of a cheerful and kind disposition, who once, having ordered the room servant to remove her pantaloons, asked if this would cause him temptation and lust; she said another, more frank word. The servant thought about how best to answer, and out of respect for her decided to say "no"; then the hostess unexpectedly waved her hand and gave him a heavy slap in the face. “Get out,” she said, “you will no longer serve me; you are a real fool, and I fire you ... "

Shameless, spoiled, greedy for pleasure, these ladies were in an eternal search for more and more new means that could give more spice to their love entertainment. Soval says that the ladies of the court used special ointments, which contributed to the growth of hair in a secret place to such a length that they could be curled and twisted like the mustache of some Saracen. That must have been a spectacle...

“In 1546, Francis I, for the first time in his life, felt an urgent need for solitude. The ever-active and excited Mme d "Etampes tired him, and from time to time the king went for a few days to Chambord, "where two hundred people could live without ever meeting each other if there was no desire for it." Chambordsky the castle was built according to the plans of the king in a dense forest, in the very place where, as some say, as a youth of seventeen, he became the lover of a no less young person from Blois.

Chambord, this tomb of youthful love, was a castle luxurious, but gloomy. It was here that he composed poems full of bitter sadness (“Girlfriends of young years, where have you disappeared to ...”). And here he imprinted, but not on the window pane of his room, as they usually say, but on the wall, either with the help of a firebrand, or with a piece of plaster that had fallen from the ceiling, three words: "Any woman is fickle." Yes, exactly three words, not a couplet.

Brant, who was fortunate enough to see this piece of graffito, is an indisputable witness to this. The former room servant of Francis I “wanted,” he says, to show me everything, and, leading me to the king’s room, pointed to the inscription next to the window. “Here,” he said, read this, monsieur; if you have never seen the handwriting of the king, my lord, then here it is.” And I read these words written in large letters:

"Any woman is fickle."

Only much later was this phrase turned into a couplet, adding: “The madman is he who believes her,” a line from the old song of the troubadour Marcabrin, and for a long time they waited until Victor Hugo, in turn, added to this the comparison of a woman with a feather flying where the wind will blow.

Died in January 1547 English king Henry VIII, which made the king of France unspeakably happy.

The envoy Jean de Saint-Maury, who was present at the moment when Francis I was given this news, reports that "the king, having heard about this, continued to laugh loudly and amuse himself with the ladies who were at the ball."

But then he remembered that the deceased was his age, and, as Martin du Bellay writes, “fell into some thoughtfulness” ...

A few days later, Francis I caught a cold, but this did not bother anyone, and only on February 11, when “three bouts of fever” happened to him, the courtiers began to talk in an undertone about some kind of incurable disease.

The Duchess of Etampes was in despair. She knew that the king's death meant complete ruin for her. She will not only have to leave the palace, but also become the object of the terrible revenge of Diane de Poitiers.

The king himself did not feel the approach of death at all. He rode around on horseback, took walks in the forest, and even if the opportunity turned up, he could make some maid happy with his attention. On March 12, at Rambouillet, he suffered a fourth attack of fever, and this time he was shaking so much that Ambassador Saint-Maury wrote about this: "He was in such a state that the doctors did not hope for his recovery."

On March 29, while Diane de Poitiers could hardly hide her joy, the king invited the Dauphin to the bed and said to him:

My son, I hope for your nobility in regard to the Duchess of Etampes. After all, she is a lady. Then he added:

Never submit to the will of others, as I submitted to her will.

In the morning, Francis I, sensing that the end was coming, ordered the favorite to leave his room. Then Mmm d" Etamp "collapsed to the floor" and made a lot of noise, shouting with somewhat comical pathos; "Earth, open up under me ..." Then she hastily retired to her place in Limur.

Two more days passed. The king was quietly fading away, while in the next room, Diana and Gysne were looking forward to the ascension to the throne of Henry II.

So our tireless red tape is leaving, - Diana answered cynically.

Indeed, in a few minutes the king of France gave his soul to God.

Why did he die? His body was opened to find out, and "found, as Saint-Maury wrote, an abscess in the stomach, damaged kidneys, a completely disintegrated intestine, an ulcerated larynx, and lungs that had already begun to collapse."

As for the common people of France, who for thirty years watched the love pranks of Francis I, for him the question of “why” did not arise at all.

God punished him with the disease of exactly what he sinned, - people said, winking at each other.

Later, no one knows where the legend arose, according to which Francis I was the victim of vile malevolence. A certain Louis Guyon, a doctor from Uzersh, wrote: “The great King Francis I harassed the wife of a Parisian lawyer, a very beautiful and amiable woman, whose name I do not want to name, because she left children. The courtiers and various pimps assured the king that he could get her using his royal power. The husband, who resisted for a long time, finally allowed his wife to obey the will of the king, and in order not to interfere with his presence, he pretended that he was leaving for eight or ten days on business, although he secretly remained in Paris and began to diligently visit brothels. There he intended to catch a bad disease, pass it on to his wife, who would then reward the king with it. Very quickly he found what he was looking for, and passed it on to his wife, and she to the king. The king gave the disease to all the women with whom he had fun, and never got rid of it. For the rest of his life, the king was sick, unhappy, gloomy and unsociable.

The lady, whose name Guyon did not want to name, was the wife of the lawyer Jean Feron, and everyone called her the Fair Feronniere. She was graceful, seductive, elegant. She had long black hair, expressive blue eyes, and the most beautiful legs in the world. In the center of her forehead, she wore an ornament attached with a silk cord, and this unusual detail only added to her attractiveness.<У этой новой моды, введенной ею, была своя предыстория, связанная с ее первой встречей с королем: когда Франциск приказал привести ее во дворец к как-то слишком уж быстро потащил в постель, дама была так возмущена, что одна из жил у нее на лбу лопнула. Впрочем, женский пол слаб… Через час она уже стала любовницей короля, а на другой день очень ловко спрятала, кровавый подтек с помощью указанного украшения на шнурке… (см. журнал Revue des Deux Mondes, 1883)>.

Did she infect the king of France?

No. Francis I picked up the Neapolitan disease a long time ago. Louise of Savoy, as an attentive mother, made an entry in her diary dated September 7, 1512; “My son had been to Amboise on his way to Guyen… and three days before that, he had a disease in the intimate part of his body…”

So there was no need for Fairy Feronière or her husband to catch this extremely unpleasant disease.<Легенда, однако, быстро утвердилась в сознании людей, и вот уже историк Мезере с полной серьезностью пишет; «Доведенный до отчаяния оскорблением, которое на языке придворных именуется обычным ухаживанием, он (Жан Ферон), поддавшись злому чувству, вознамерился отправиться в злачное место, чтобы сначала самому заразиться, потом испортить жену и тем самым отомстить тому, кто лишил его чести».>.

But did he die of this disease, as everyone usually claims?

No. All studies conducted by modern historians refute this. And Dr. Cabanes even established that Francis I "took tuberculosis to the grave."

And even if the august "red tape" died, prematurely aged and deprived of strength due to excessive passion for women, at least he was not sent to the other world by a kick of Venus ...