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Henry III of France
| Henry III | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Étienne Dumonstier, c. 1580-86 | |
| King of France | |
| Reign | 30 May 1574 – 2 August 1589 |
| Coronation | 13 February 1575 Reims Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Charles IX |
| Successor | Henry IV |
| King of Poland Grand Duke of Lithuania | |
| Reign | 16 May 1573 – 12 May 1575 |
| Coronation | 22 February 1574, Wawel |
| Predecessor | Sigismund II Augustus |
| Successor | Anna and Stephen |
| Interrex | Jakub Uchański |
| Born | Alexandre Édouard, Duke of Angoulême 19 September 1551 Château de Fontainebleau, France |
| Died | 2 August 1589 (aged 37) Château de Saint-Cloud, France |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Burial | Basilica of St Denis, France |
| Spouse | |
| House | Valois-Angoulême |
| Father | Henry II of France |
| Mother | Catherine de' Medici |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
Henry III (French: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; Polish: Henryk Walezy; Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.
As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he was not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the vacant throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was elected monarch in 1573. During his brief rule, he signed the Henrician Articles into law, recognizing the szlachta's right to freely elect their monarch. Aged 22, Henry abandoned Poland–Lithuania upon inheriting the French throne when his brother, Charles IX, died without issue.
France was at the time plagued by the Wars of Religion, and Henry's authority was undermined by violent political factions funded by foreign powers: the Catholic League (supported by Spain and the Pope), the Protestant Huguenots (supported by England and the Dutch) and the Malcontents (led by Henry's own brother the Duke of Anjou and Alençon, a party of Catholic and Protestant aristocrats who jointly opposed the absolutist ambitions of the king). Henry III was himself a politique, arguing that only a strong and centralised yet religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse.
After the death of Henry's younger brother Francis, Duke of Anjou, and when it became apparent that Henry would not father an heir, the Wars of Religion developed into a dynastic war known as the War of the Three Henrys. Under Salic Law, Henry III's heir apparent was his distant cousin, King Henry III of Navarre, a Protestant. The Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, demanded the exclusion of all Protestant heirs from the line of succession. They instead championed the Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, as Henry III's heir presumptive.
Henry had the Duke of Guise murdered in 1588 and was in turn assassinated by Jacques Clément, a Catholic League fanatic, in 1589. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre who, as Henry IV, assumed the throne of France as the first king of the House of Bourbon and eventually converted to Catholicism.
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