"The Marked" Duke Henry de Guise. Origin and Youth of the Antihero of Dumas' Novels
The era of the Religious Wars in France is known to the absolute majority of the inhabitants of our country only from the novels of the Huguenot trilogy by A. Dumas ("Queen Margot", "Countess de Monsoreau", "Forty-five"). However, Dumas is a more than dubious historian, it is not for nothing that even at the time when the novels of this lively writer were in great deficit, an ironic saying was circulated among educated people:
You can't get any wisdom from Dumas.
The excitement has long since died down, Dumas's novels can be found in any bookstore or simply downloaded for free in electronic form - and they have almost ceased to be read now, since they are no good as sources of information, and their literary merits are small. In fact, only two novels are currently on everyone's lips - "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo". But in different countries, films and TV series are being made, including those based on Dumas's "Huguenot trilogy". Today we will seriously talk about one of the leaders of the Catholic Party of France of those years and one of the main antiheroes of the above-mentioned novels by Dumas - Duke Henry de Guise.
Grandfather and father of the hero of the article
The founder of the aristocratic de Guise family was Henry's grandfather, Claude of Lorraine.
Claude of Lorraine in a portrait by Jean Clouet, circa 1528-1530.
It should be noted that the Dukes of Lorraine, who owned border lands, were simultaneously vassals of both the French king and the Holy Roman Emperor. It was Claude who received the rights of French citizenship from Louis XII, and therefore the enemies of the Guises always tried to point out their "foreign origin".
Claude was the second son of the Duke of Lorraine René I and therefore could not claim the title. After the death of his father, he became only the lord of Joinville, Mayenne, Elbeuf and Harcourt. Claude fought a lot in the French army, was a participant in the unfortunate battle of Pavia (1525), after which King Francis I was captured by Spain. From Francis, who returned to his homeland, Claude received the ducal title in 1528. Thus, he became the first Duke of Guise. This title was inherited by his son François, who was born in 1519.
Portrait of François de Guise by F. Clouet
In 1548, François married Anne d'Este, the maternal granddaughter of King Louis XII, and his eldest son Henry could have laid claim to the French throne, if not for the law passed in November 1316, which stipulated that the crown would only pass through the male line. The initiators were Prince Regent Philippe and Archbishop Jean de Marigny of Sannes (it was this cleric who coined the famous phrase "lilies do not spin").
François de Guise and Gaspard de Coligny, the future leader of the French Huguenots, were brought up at the royal court and even became friends. Pierre de Bourdeille, better known as Brantôme (author of "Lives of the Famous Generals of France") reports that they:
They were known as good friends and buddies, often dressed alike, fought in tournaments side by side, shoulder to shoulder, competed in rings, participated in all entertainments, both enjoyed life, committing the same incredible follies as others.
However, the friends later quarreled, since Gaspard Coligny made a harsh statement regarding the possibility of his brother François marrying the daughter of Henry II's favorite, Diane de Poitiers:
It is better to have less power but retain honor.
The father of the article's hero took this as an insult to his family. Later, their paths diverged completely. Moreover, François de Guise would be killed by order of Gaspard Coligny, who himself would die on the night of August 24, 1572, at the hands of his "blood enemy" - Henry, the son of a former friend. And Henry himself would be killed by order of another comrade of those years - the beloved son of Catherine de Medici, a strange king who was raised as a girl and, having received the crown of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, fled from it to become the last French monarch of the Valois dynasty.
But let's not get ahead.
François de Guise became a successful French commander. In 1552, he successfully defended Metz. In 1544, fighting against the English in Boulogne, he was wounded in the face, after which he received the nickname "le Balafre" - thus, it was François who became the first "Marked" Duke of Guise. However, in his portraits there are no "marks" on his face (unlike his son Henry, who does have them). In 1554, François defeated the imperial troops at Renty, in 1557 he fought in Italy, in 1558 he won Calais from the English (which, by the way, is described in another novel by Dumas - "The Two Dianes").
François de Guise's niece was the famous Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, who was married to the weak and sickly French King Francis II.
Paired portraits of Mary Stuart and Francis II, 1550s.
It was François and his brother Charles, the Cardinal of Lorraine, who actually governed the state until the death of Francis II. In 1560, they prevented the Protestants from capturing the king in Amboise and transferring power to Louis I of Bourbon-Condé. And on March 1, 1562, an event took place in Wassy that became the prologue to the famous religious (Huguenot) wars.
Massacre at Vassy
First of all, it should be noted that the French Protestants were not at all "white and fluffy" innocent victims of bloodthirsty Catholics. They unceremoniously seized power in cities, expelled Catholics from churches and carried out repressions based on religious principles. For example, in 1531 in the city of Ulm (Normandy) the Huguenots smashed an organ, having first dragged it out onto the street from the local Catholic cathedral with the help of horses. In 1566 they plundered and desecrated all the Catholic churches in the city of Valenciennes.
The situation in the country was extremely tense, and the authorities made concessions: according to the Edict of Saint-Germain issued in January 1562, Protestants were allowed to hold their own services outside the city walls and not on Catholic holidays. The Huguenots, in turn, had to return the captured churches to the Catholics. Both sides were dissatisfied: the Catholics considered these concessions offensive, and the Protestants - insufficient. The Huguenots never returned the churches, and the Paris Parliament, in turn, did not ratify the Edict of Saint-Germain. The Catholic party was headed by the father of the hero of the article, François de Guise, Constable Anne Montmorency and Marshal Saint-André. Catherine de Medici, who represented the central government (her eldest son Charles IX was a minor), found herself between two fires.
On March 1, 1562, François de Guise, who arrived in the small Champagne town of Vassy, which was one of his feudal possessions, discovered a clear violation of the Edict of Saint-Germain: about a thousand Huguenots were holding a service in the building next to the town church. The parties reported what happened next in different ways. Catholics said that the Protestants were asked to disperse, but in response they began to insult de Guise and throw stones, one of which hit the Duke in the cheek. The Huguenots, on the contrary, claimed that de Guise's men attacked them without warning. It is only clear that the Duke had the upper hand: more than 50 Huguenots were killed and about 100 were wounded in this clash.
Massacre at Vassy in an engraving by an unknown Swiss artist
It is significant that Guise was greeted as a hero in Paris. But the Protestants, led by Prince Condé, captured Orleans, after which they entered into an alliance with England and the Protestant states of Germany, which was actually treason. Then Lyon and Rouen were occupied. Catherine de Medici, in order to enlist the support of the Catholics and de Guise, revoked the Edict of Saint-Germain. Thus began the First Huguenot War, in which the hero of the article, Henry, the son of François de Guise, took part at the age of 13. The royal army managed to recapture the strategically important Rouen, which prevented a possible unification of the Huguenot and English troops. Here, Antoine of Navarre, the father of the future King Henry IV, who was among the Catholics, was seriously wounded. He declared that if he recovered, he would again convert to Calvinism, but the wound turned out to be fatal.
Having failed to receive help from the English, Louis de Condé received it from the German Protestants. Having joined their troops, he even besieged Paris, but was forced to retreat to Orleans. On December 19, 1562, in the Battle of Dreux, he was defeated and captured, but the Protestants also captured Constable Montmorency. In addition, the Catholics lost Marshal Saint-André, who died in battle. Gaspard de Coligny, who led the Huguenots, signed the Hampton Court Treaty with Queen Elizabeth Tudor, which outraged even many Protestants: in exchange for a ten-thousand-strong English army and one hundred thousand crowns, he agreed to hand over Calais and Le Havre to England (and also promised Rouen and Dieppe). Coligny managed to hand over Le Havre to the English, but the French managed to recapture it in 1564. The siege of Orleans was led by Duke François de Guise, who was killed on February 24, 1563, by the Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Méré.
The Assassination of Duke François de Guise, engraving by Tortorel and Perrissin, 1570.
The captured murderer claimed that he had acted on Coligny's orders. As a result, the Duke's eldest son, the hero of the article, began to consider himself a "blood enemy" of his father's former friend, and this determined the fate of the "land admiral". It was Henry de Guise's men who dealt with Coligny on the night of August 24, 1572.
But for now, in March 1653, Catholics and Huguenots signed a treaty in Amboise, according to which Protestants received the right to free religion in areas where the influence of Calvinists was especially strong.
Henry I of Guise
François de Guise's heir, Henry, was born on December 31, 1550, and was brought up at the court of King Henry II. At the age of 13, he was in the Catholic army during the siege of Orleans. At the age of 16, he went to Hungary, where he fought against the Turks. Returning to his homeland, in March 1569, he distinguished himself in the battles at Jarnac - these were already events of the Third Huguenot War, in which the allies of the French Protestants were the Dutch Calvinists led by William of Orange the Silent. And the French Catholic troops were then commanded by Henry of Anjou (the future King Henry III).
Henry of Anjou in a portrait attributed to Jean Decour
The Catholics won, the Prince of Condé was killed, the Huguenots lost their "prince of the blood", which was a great blow to them.
The Battle of Jarnac in a 16th-century French engraving
Coligny and Louis of Nassau, brother of William of Orange, were finally defeated on October 3, 1569, in the Battle of Moncontour. But Coligny still managed to lead the remnants of his army to the south, where he was joined by the troops of Count Montgomery (in a duel with whom Henry II had once received a mortal wound). The allies occupied Toulouse, but they no longer had the strength for war. On the other hand, the war was extremely ruinous for the central government. Therefore, the parties preferred to come to an agreement. In August 1570, another peace treaty was signed, which was also called the Peace of the Queen (Catherine de Medici). Protestants received not only relative freedom of religion throughout France, except Paris, but also the right to hold government positions, as well as control over four important fortresses - La Rochelle, Montauban, Cognac and La Charite. And Henry of Navarre was to marry the king's sister, Marguerite de Valois (the same Queen Margot). Many prominent French Huguenots, including Gaspard de Coligny, came to Catholic Paris for this wedding.
Francois Clouet. Admiral Gaspard de Coligny
Thus, Henry of Guise had the opportunity to avenge his father's death. At the same time, as we will see later, he was not at all inclined to kill all the Huguenots in a row, and even hid some of them from the pogromists who had gotten out of control. That is, he was not a religious fanatic, at least in 1572.
St. Bartholomew's Day and Revenge for Father
Saint Bartholomew and the massacre on the night of August 24, 1572, in an illustration of the manuscript Carmen de tristibus Galliae, 1577
Paris had always been a devoutly Catholic city and was absolutely not suitable as a place for a Protestant to marry a "true" princess. And inviting numerous Huguenots to it was not the best or smartest decision. A more peaceful city could have been chosen for the wedding of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois. The capital's Catholics were already very unhappy with both the new peace treaty and the upcoming marriage of the king's sister to a Navarrese Huguenot. In addition, the behavior of the Protestants, who considered themselves the victors, was quite provocative. The Parisians were also unhappy with the unusually high honors that were given to Gaspard de Coligny, who had recently betrayed France.
On August 22, 1572, an attempt was made on the life of the Huguenot leader, and the unknown shooter was in the house that belonged to Anne d'Este, the widow of the murdered Duke François de Guise, the mother of the hero of the article. The assailant was not detained, but some claimed that he looked very much like a certain Morver, a man from Henry de Guise's entourage. But Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Medici were most likely not involved in this attempt. According to contemporaries, both the king and queen were literally horrified and tried their best to somehow defuse the situation. And whoever they were, who were preparing the massacre of the Huguenots, which began two days later, this premature attempt on Coligny was absolutely disadvantageous: the incident could only cause harm, forcing the Protestants to take increased security measures. So, most likely, the assassination attempt was carried out by a lone fanatic or people who knew nothing about the preparations for the pogroms.
The situation in Paris really did get tense after the assassination attempt on Coligny, and on the morning of August 23, a large group of armed and militant Huguenots (200 to 300 people) almost broke into the Louvre. That evening, Catherine de Medici, Henry of Anjou, Chancellor Birag, Marshal Tavannes and some other dignitaries quite seriously discussed the possibility of the Protestants seizing the Louvre. Many believe that it was then that the nerves of the king or his mother gave way, and they decided to launch a preemptive strike – to arrest or kill (in case of resistance) the most prominent and dangerous Huguenots. To ensure the safety of Henry of Navarre and Condé the Younger, they were summoned to the Louvre in advance. Representatives of the Parisian municipality were ordered to close all the city gates, take the boats to the other bank of the Seine and call in the "militia" (about 2 thousand people). The participation of the Parisian inhabitants was clearly not planned, but the situation got out of control, and ordinary citizens joined in the massacre of the Huguenots, who, in addition to religious, also had mercantile goals - to profit from the property of not only the "heretics", but also their overly wealthy neighbors. Thus, the famous swordsman Louis de Clermont, Seigneur d'Amboise, Count Bussy (a dishonest scoundrel, whom the eternal muddle-head Dumas made a positive hero of Dumas' novel "The Countess de Monsoreau") that night killed, according to various sources, from four to seven of his relatives - and not Protestants, but devout Catholics. Then he received the inheritance without hindrance. Another scientist, Jacques Charpentier, sent killers to the famous French philosopher, logician and mathematician Peter Ramus: the reason was the difference in views on the philosophy of Aristotle. Already on the afternoon of August 24, soldiers and officers of the regular detachment of Henry of Anjou took part in the looting of jewelry shops and moneylenders' houses (regardless of their religion). In Paris alone, according to the most modest estimates, the townspeople in those days enriched themselves by one and a half million gold ecus. But spontaneous pogroms then also began in Rouen, Meaux, Orleans, Troyes, Angers, Bourges, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse and some other cities - and the royal family clearly had nothing to do with them.
On the other hand, there are known cases of Protestants being saved by Catholics. The newlywed Marguerite, for example, hid the Huguenot Leran in her bedroom (and Dumas in the novel "Queen Margot" forced her to hide La Mole, who was in London at the time and was trying to negotiate the marriage of the Duke of Alençon with Queen Elizabeth). And Duke Henry de Guise himself provided shelter in his palace to 20 Protestants. However, it was his people who attacked the house of Admiral Coligny - and his reason for the attack, as we remember, was revenge for the murder of his father.
The death of Coligny is described by the Huguenot Agrippa d'Aubigné (who, however, left Paris three days before the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre). According to him, Guise's men broke into the house where Coligny and a certain Bem, a German, were:
He found the admiral in his nightdress and asked him: "Are you an admiral?"... Bem pierced him with his sword, then drew it out and cut his face in two with his broadsword. The Duke of Guise (who was outside) asked if the deed was done, and, hearing an affirmative answer, ordered the body to be thrown out of the window.
Joseph Martin Kronheim. Assassination of Admiral de Coligny
We see a similar description in the memoirs of Margaret, the wife of Henry of Navarre:
Monsieur de Guise sent a German nobleman, Bem, to the admiral's house, who, having gone up to his room, pierced him with a dagger and threw him out of the window at the feet of his master, Monsieur de Guise.
Another version is presented by the Spanish envoy Diego de Zuniga:
The above-mentioned Guise, d'Aumale, and d'Angoulême attacked the house of the admiral and entered it, putting to death eight Swiss of the Prince of Béarn, who attempted to defend him. They went up to the master's chamber, and while he was lying on his bed, the Duke of Guise fired a pistol at his head; then they seized him and threw him naked out of the window into the courtyard of his hotel, where he received many more blows with swords and daggers. When they were about to throw him out of the window, he said: "Oh, sir, have pity on my old age!" But they did not give him time to say more.
The Parisians who had gathered near the house treated Coligny's body as if it were the corpse of a criminal executed for treason: they cut off his head and hung him by the feet. They say that the head of the Huguenot leader was then embalmed and sent as a gift to Pope Gregory XIII (the same one who reformed the calendar). This pontiff warmly approved of the events of the "St. Bartholomew's Day massacre", declaring that the massacre of the Huguenots "worth fifty victories over the Turks"And for the souls of the Huguenots themselves, this beating, in his opinion, was useful: suffering during life removed some of their sins.
Medal made by order of Pope Gregory XIII in honor of the events of Bartholomew's Night
The murder of Coligny in Vasari's fresco of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII
But the Protestant forces, despite the huge number of victims, were not broken. The Fourth Huguenot War began, during which the royal troops of Henry of Anjou unsuccessfully besieged La Rochelle and Sancerre. As a result, in 1573, a new edict was issued, according to which the Huguenots retained the right to perform their rites in La Rochelle, Montauban and Nîmes.
Very soon, after the death of Charles IX from tuberculosis, the Fifth Huguenot War began, which was waged against Henry III and the hero of the article who supported him by the younger brother of the new king François (Francis) of Alençon, the Prince of Condé and Henry of Navarre, as well as the Elector of the Palatinate, Johann Casimir. It was then, on October 10, 1575, in the minor battle of Dormans, that Henry de Guise was wounded in the face and received his famous nickname - Balafre ("Scarred").
In the next article we will continue the story of Duke Henry I of Guise.
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