Henri II (1519-1559),son of Francis I, was married to Catherine de'Medici in 1533, and reigned as King of France from 1547 to 1559. Henri and his Queen were fully aware that power and display were largely synonymous, and that the Valois reputation in foreign courts was in part dependent on their ability to impress visiting dignitaries with lavish, astonishing and diverse entertainments. Thus, Henri inaugurated his reign with a series of royal entries into the principal towns of his kingdom. Accounts of his entries into Lyons, Paris and Rouen has survived and serve as testimony to the erudition of their inventors as well as to their splendor (McGowan,p.9-10).
Considered weak and pliant, Henri was advised throughout his reign by his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, a distinguished member of court, and by Charles and Francois de Guise. While King, Henri issued a series of increasingly severe edicts against the Huguenots, and established more firmly the absolute power of the Valois monarchy.
In July 1559, Henri II was mortally wounded in a mock tourney held as part of the ten day festivities celebrating the double marriages of his son Francis to Mary, Queen of Scots, and his sister Marguerite to the duke of Savoy. He died eleven days later, leaving his fifteen year old son, Francis II, King of France.
Catherine de' Medici, survived Henri II by thirty years and was Queen Mother to the next three Kings of France, Francis II, Charles IX and Henri III. (Click here to return to text)