Assassination of Henri I, Duke of Guise

The duke had achieved, since 1584, considerable power over the kingdom of France, through his alliance with the Ligue movement, which he had co-opted for the cause of resisting the king's chosen successor of Navarre, a Protestant.

These indignities in combination with the increasingly cavalier attitude of much of the Guise family, who spoke of deposing him and interring him in a monastery, persuaded Henri to have the duke killed.

Guise received numerous warnings of the king's intentions for the meeting, but was unable to imagine that the pious and compliant Henri would dare touch him.

In Paris the furious Catholic population destroyed any public monument, image or symbol that represented the king, while pamphleteers denounced him as a Herod, Nero and anti-Christ, with some going so far as to say that he should be killed.

The Pope for his part was furious at the murder of the Cardinal, and despite the king sending several representatives to convince him, threatened excommunication in thirty days unless Henri came to Rome to explain himself.

[5] Henri was also receiving reports that there was internal division in the Guise clan, between the popular duke and his relatives, Mayenne, Elbeuf and Aumale who were jealous of the regard in which their cousin/brother was held.

For his part, he saw a reconciliation with the king as in his best interests, he was ill inclined to fully put himself at Spain's mercy as a client of Felip II, and was in such a position of ascendency as little needing further confrontation.

[8] This was not the opinion of all members of his family, his sister Catherine argued that they should depose Henri and place him in a monastery, his brother Cardinal Guise tried to force his hand by seizing the town of Troyes.

[13][14] The estates countered the royal proposal for ecclesiastical land alienation, with the idea to farm venal office through the Luccan financier Scipio Sardini.

[15] The ligueur deputies pressed the king to acknowledge that the Edict of Union, and Navarre's exclusion from succession were fundamental laws of the kingdom, as opposed to legislation he could simply abolish.

[16] While the estates were ongoing the Duke of Savoy invaded the French held Marquisate of Saluzzo in late October under the pretext of 'protecting the territory from heresy'.

[23] According to Guise's secretary Péricard Henri arrived at the decision shortly after the secret visit of the ligueur governor of Orléans, Entragues, who assured the king of his loyalty.

[32] Guise warmed himself in front of the fire, the weather outside having been terrible and requested Péricard fetch him some breakfast, his preferred dish could not be found, so he sated himself on Provençal prunes provided by Saint-Prix, the king's valet.

He observed a squad of the Quarante Cinq across the room and greeted them, they replied in their regular fashion with a salute and moved to surround him, to accompany him to the king.

Guise struggled with his attackers, begging for mercy, calling for assistance and slowly progressing across the room despite D'Effranant's hold on his legs before collapsing at the foot of the king's bed.

[37] In the Parisian imagination, she had signed off on the decision to execute the duke of Guise, as such the Seize announced if her sepulchre was brought to Saint-Denis, they would throw it into the river.

The third estate alone however remained rebellious, arguing against the imprisonment of La Chapelle-Marteau and their other colleagues, and continuing to demand the purging from the royal government of corrupt officials.

The Seize which effectively ruled Paris substituted new members to replace those who were now in captivity (La Chapelle-Marteau, Compagns and Cotteblanche) and vowed to expend all resources and blood to avenge the fallen princes.

[41] For the legal minded ligueurs it was the murder of the Cardinal which was the more tactically advantageous crime, as they were able to argue this incurred an automatic excommunication before even the Pope had declared one.

Morosini informed the king that he had violated the Papal bull In Cena Domini which protected ecclesiastics, and that he needed to seek absolution immediately.

In a heated exchange Joyeuse defended the killings before being interrupted by Pope Sixtus V who cried that this was not the way to deal with men of such quality, that Guise should have been arrested and his brother sent to Rome.

[51] The Florentine ambassador, saw the death of the king's brother Alençon as the original cause both of the strife of the years 1584-1588, and of the assassination of Guise, bemoaning that it was the 'ruin of France'.

[53] Where previously ligueur pamphleteers had attacked the king by proxy, denouncing his wicked advisors, such as Épernon, who were leading the kingdom astray, the murder of the duke turned their full attentions to the 'tyrant'.

[55][56] More pamphlets still compared him to historic tyrants through history, such as Nero and Caligula, and implied that his religious devotion was in fact a cover for black masses and various sorceries.

Indeed, judges such as De Thou and Pasquier were sympathetic to the assassinations and arrests, and had formulated apologia for their actions, though they stopped short of a formal endorsement.

[61] In early January, a furious Parisian mob, destroyed the elaborate tombs Henri had created for those of his favourites that had died in the Duel of the Mignons in 1578 and defaced images of the king they could find in the streets.

[67] On 7 February huge crowds assembled for the baptism of Guise's posthumous son, who was acclaimed as having had his hands clasped in prayer when his swaddling cloth were removed.

[68] Henri tried to put out his version of events, arguing in letters to Rouen that he had continually showed clemency to the evil designs brought against him by the Guise but they had reached a point of boldness in their conspiracies that he had no choice but to punish them.

[70] The government of Champagne was made vacant by the death of Guise, and the king appointed Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers to the role.

On 1 August 1589, a radical Catholic friar Jacques Clément, inspired by all the discourses calling for the king's death, arranged a meeting with him under the false pretence of bringing a message from allies in the capital, and stabbed him in the abdomen.