Henry III: The Last Valois

Henry III (r. 1574-1589) inherited a kingdom exhausted by religious war yet still divided between irreconcilable factions. His reign demonstrated both the monarchy's resilience—surviving despite seemingly impossible challenges—and its ultimate failure to resolve religious conflict through traditional means. His assassination ended the Valois dynasty and nearly destroyed the monarchy itself.

Henry's Polish election and brief reign (1573-1574) provided European experience but also revealed his limitations. His flight from Poland upon Charles IX's death showed determination to claim his inheritance but also instability that would characterize his reign. His coronation at Reims maintained traditional forms despite Protestant control of much territory, asserting continuity amid disruption.

The king's attempts at religious compromise through the Peace of Monsieur (1576) and subsequent edicts satisfied neither Catholics nor Protestants. Generous terms to Protestants provoked Catholic League formation, while implementation failures disappointed Protestant expectations. The multiplication of fortified places de sûreté for Protestants created states within the state, fragmenting royal authority. Henry's creation of the Order of the Holy Spirit, attempting to bind nobles through chivalric loyalty, showed medieval solutions' inadequacy for modern problems.

The War of the Three Henries (1585-1589)—Henry III, Henry of Navarre, and Henry of Guise—marked the monarchy's nadir. The Catholic League, controlling Paris and much of northern France, reduced Henry III to figurehead status. His assassination of the Guise brothers (December 1588) temporarily restored authority but provoked popular revolution. The Day of the Barricades had already driven him from Paris; now he allied with Protestant Henry of Navarre against his own Catholic subjects. His assassination by Jacques Clément (August 1589) seemed divine judgment to Catholics but created succession crisis threatening the monarchy's existence.