Henri II: His Court and Times (52 page)

And let us with Charles turn from war and politics to
other matters.

(1)
Decrue,
Anne, duc de Montmorency
.
But one of the biographers of the
Guises, M. Forneron, declares that the Constable's jealousy of the duke
prevented him from doing more than he was obliged.

(2)
Henri Martin,
Histoire de France.

(3)
Mémoires de Vieilleville.

(4)
Bertrand de Salignac,
Siège de Metz.

(5)
F. Decrue,
Anne, duc de Montmorency
.

(6)
Guise,
Mémoires-journaux
.

(7)
Mr. Edward Armstrong, "The Emperor
Charles V."

(8)
Guise was particularly
exasperated against the Margrave, on account of the
way he had treated Aumale. "We must make this drunkard decamp," he
exclaimed. "He has treated my brother worse than it he had been a Turk or a
Moor,
and has made him wear his shirt for thirty-six days!
"

(9)
Mémoires de Vieilleville
.

(10)
Guise's example was followed by the citizens of Metz, who raised
subscriptions for the relief of those who recovered and for the interment
of the dead.

(11)
Froude.

(12)
It should be pointed out that the French Court was as much concerned
about the more distant as about the immediate consequences of this alliance.
Charles V proposed to assure to the children of the marriage the Netherlands and the Franche-Comte; and the union of the Netherlands with
England would be a most fatal combination for France; while, in the event
of the death of the little Don Carlos, Philip's son by his first marriage, Spain,
Naples, and Milan would be joined to them.

(13)
Wotton wrote to Mary that in the
Parlement
of Paris alone the King
had created thirty new counsellors, "each of whom paid for his office 4,000
crowns of the sun."

(14)
Letter of the Constable to Noailles, July 1554, in Decrue.

(15)
Julius III had died on March 28, 1555, and his successor, Marcellus II,
elected on April 5, had reigned less than a month.

Popularity of Henri II — His amiable qualities — His affection for his children
— The Dauphin (François II) — The Duc d'Orléans (Charles IX) — The Duc d'Angoulême (Henri III) — The Duc d'Alençon — Mesdames Élisabeth (Queen of
Spain) and Claude (Duchess of Lorraine) — Madame Marguerite ("Queen
Margot") — Education of the little princesses and Mary Stuart — Household of
the Children of France — Diane de France, natural daughter of Henri II — The
romance of François de Montmorency and Mlle. de Piennes — Marriage of
François to Diane de France — Daily life of Henri II — His
lever
— His dinner
— His love of the chase — His efforts to encourage horsebreeding — The
Queen's "
cercle
" — The King at tennis — The King's evening — His
coucher
— Outward decorum of the Court of Henri II — Severity of Catherine — The
Rohan-Nemours scandal — The Court in reality more corrupt than that of
François I

I
F
Henri II never attained the immense popularity which
his father had enjoyed in the early years of his reign,
he was, nevertheless, an extremely popular King, particularly
in Paris and with the Army. Nor was this popularity
undeserved, for, as a man, Henri had many loveable
qualities, while, as a sovereign, his good intentions were
beyond question. "His manner is so affable, so human,"
writes l'Aubespine, "that from the very first moment he takes
possession of every man's heart and every man's devotion."
The testimony of the Secretary of State is confirmed by that
of a more impartial witness, the Venetian Ambassador,
Contarini: "His kindliness is natural and so well recognised
that one cannot find any prince to compare with him, even if
one goes back many years. He desires the good and he
works for it. . . . He is gracious and refuses an audience to
no one. At his meals there are constantly people present
who talk to him about their private affairs, and he listens and
replies to every one in the most courteous fashion. He has
never been seen in an ill-humour, save occasionally at the
chase, when something happens to annoy him, and even then
he does not indulge in violent language. One may say that he
is really very much beloved."
⁰¹

One of the most amiable traits in Henri's character was his
affection for his children. We have seen him hastening from
Moulins to Saint-Germain "in order to enjoy their company
alone,"
⁰²
and he was probably never so happy as when they
were about him. Then he could lay aside the cares of State
and the wearisome ceremonial which absorbed so much of his
time, and forget for a moment that he was the ruler of a
kingdom torn by religious strife within and menaced by
sleepless enemies without, and become as simple and natural
as the humblest of his subjects. In his relations with his
children, indeed, he was at his best — kind, gentle, playful, and
sympathetic. What a pretty picture is that which Marguerite
de Valois has drawn for us in her
Mémoires!

"The King my father, taking me upon his knee to make me
talk, asked me to choose which of the two I should prefer for
a sweetheart — the Prince de Joinville, who became afterwards
that great and unfortunate Duc de Guise,
⁰³
or the Marquis de Beaupréau, son of the Prince de la
Roche-sur-Yon.
⁰⁴
Both,
aged six or seven years, were playing near the King my
father, and I was watching them. I said that I should prefer
the marquis. He said to me 'Why? He is not so handsome. . . . '
I replied: 'Because he is a better boy, whereas
the other is never satisfied unless he is doing harm to somebody
every day, and always wants to be master.' A true
prophecy of what we have seen since fulfilled."
⁰⁵

And how well Henri seemed to understand the aspirations
of childhood! When, a few months before his death,
François I gave to his eldest grandson the nominal government
of Languedoc, the child, proud of being treated as a
prince, refused to wear girls' clothes any longer. "He does
not want to be dressed as a girl any longer," wrote his father,
"and I quite agree with him. It is quite reasonable that he
should have breeches, since he asks for them; for I make no
doubt that he knows very well what he ought to wear."
⁰⁶

It was certainly well for Henri II that he was so devoted to
children, as he had his quiver pretty full of them. Between
1543 and 1556 Catherine bore him ten, of whom seven lived to
grow up, and then there was the fruit of his extra-conjugal
attachments — Diane de France and Henri d'Angoulême.

The Dauphin François was a puny, sickly lad, and the
letters of the Royal Family and the Court are full of his ailments. In the summer of 1547, when he was in his fourth
year, he was attacked by small-pox, from which he made a
very slow recovery, and for the rest of his short life the poor
boy never seems to have known what it was to be really
well. In appearance, he was short and very slight, "with
features," says Capello, "which favoured the physiognomy of
his mother rather than his father's." In his studies, his success
was very small, though he had excellent teachers, for he took
little pleasure in them and was incapable of any sustained
effort. On the other hand, his ill health did not prevent him
from being devoted to the chase and very anxious to acquire
proficiency, in the use of arms. In 1551, he had butts put up at
Blois, that he might learn to shoot with the bow; he cherished
a suit of armour which François de Guise had sent him as a
present, and wrote to the duke that he was "practising as often
as he could to meet him as a gentle knight face to face"; and
he tormented his father to take him with him to the wars.
⁰⁷

F
RANÇOIS DE
V
ALOIS
, D
AUPHIN OF
F
RANCE
(
AFTERWARDS
F
RANÇOIS
II)
FROM THE DRAWING BY FRANÇOIS CLOUET IN THE MUSÉE CONDÉ,
CHANTILLY

The Dauphin had quickly conceived a warm affection for
Mary Stuart, which her youthful Majesty seems to have
reciprocated. "He loves dearly the Most Serene little Queen
of Scotland, a very pretty little girl of twelve or thirteen,"
writes Capello in 1555. "They love to go away by themselves
into a corner, so that no one may overhear their little
secrets."
⁰⁸

Henri's other three sons, Charles Maximilien, Duc d'Orléans
(afterwards Charles IX), Édouard Alexandre, Duc d'Angoulême
(afterwards Henri III), and Hercule (afterwards François,
Duc d'Alencon, and later Duc d'Anjou), were much younger
than the Dauphin, the eldest of the three being more than
seven years his junior. The intellectual part of the boys'
education was conducted with a care to which that of princes
in our day offers no comparison, and the most learned men of
the time, with the celebrated Jacques Amyot, the translator
of Plutarch, at their head, were among their teachers. They
do not, however, appear to have succeeded any better than did
Bossuet and the other
savants
who, a century later, undertook
the education of the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, and
probably in both cases they overdid it. Charles, however,
was a tolerable musician, and, like his father, had quite a pretty
turn for verses, and at the age of fourteen he addressed to
Ronsard two very creditable épîres, which have been published
in that poet's works.

The boys repaid better the pains which were bestowed on
their physical training, notwithstanding that their constitutions
were very far from robust. Charles was, indeed, almost as
delicate a lad as the Dauphin, thin, very pale, "eating and
drinking very sparingly" — which was then considered a proof
of debility — and "losing all his breath after the least exertion."
His features were regular and he had "very fine eyes like those
of his father"; but a birthmark on the upper lip, just below the
nose, which his moustache concealed later, somewhat disfigured
his face, and when he ascended the throne, at the age
of ten and a half, earned him the name of "
le roi morveux
."
He was passionately fond of horses and the chase; indeed, the
immoderate ardour with which he pursued this pastime when
he grew up undoubtedly contributed to shorten his days; but
no form of violent exercise seemed to come amiss to him, and
in the gymnasium or the fencing-school he was no mean
adversary.
⁰⁹
He was a generous, impulsive boy, and very hot-tempered, and, even in these early days, occasionally gave
evidence of those terrible fits of anger which increased in
violence and frequency as he grew older and sometimes
rendered him quite unaccountable for his actions.

The future Henri III was a very different kind of lad. His
features were more refined than those of Charles, and, like his
mother, he had beautifully-shaped hands. For hunting or
martial exercises he cared little, though he rode well and did
not lack courage, and his toys, his clothes, and his lapdogs
occupied most of his time, much as they did in after years.
He had charming manners when he wished to please, and
seldom failed to get what he wanted, for he had all the maternal
astuteness. Severe towards her other children though, as
her letters prove, she was always most solicitous for their
health and comfort Catherine had treasures of tenderness for
her fourth son, and "loved him as her right eye,"
¹⁰
recognising him for what he was — a Medici to the tips of his delicate
fingers.

The youngest of the little princes, Hercule, afterwards called
François, Duc d'Alencon and later Duc d'Anjou, was much
stronger than either of his brothers, and, up to the time that he
was eight years old, a pretty, bright, and affectionate child.
Then, however, he had an attack of small-pox which horribly
disfigured him. "His face was deeply pitted all over, his nose
swollen and deformed, and his eyes bloodshot, so that, from
being pleasing and handsome, he became one of the ugliest
men imaginable."
¹¹
His malady had moral as well as physical
consequences, and, ashamed of his repulsive appearance and
embittered by the cruel banter to which it exposed him from
his brothers and other thoughtless youths, he grew up sullen
and morose, false, and deceitful.

Henri's three daughters, Élisabeth, who became the third
wife of Philip II of Spain; Claude, who married Charles III,
Duke of Lorraine; and Marguerite — the famous "Queen Margot" — who married Henri of Navarre, were a pleasing contrast
to their brothers. Pretty, vivacious, intelligent and amiable
little girls, they formed, indeed, a gracious trio, and their
royal parents and the whole Court were justifiably proud of
them. The two elder girls were brought up with Mary Stuart,
under the vigilant eye of Madame d'Humières, wife of the
Dauphin's
gouverneur
, but Marguerite was entrusted to the care
of Charlotte de Vienne, Dame de Curton, a very zealous
Catholic, who took infinite pains to shield her charge from the
insidious influence of "that pestilent
Huguenoterie
."
¹²