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.

The Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, demanded the exclusion of all Protestant heirs from the line of succession.

At the age of nine, he called himself "a little Huguenot",[4] attended Mass only to please his mother,[5] sang Protestant psalms to his sister Margaret (exhorting her all the while to change her religion and cast her Book of Hours into the fire),[6] and even bit the nose off a statue of Saint Paul.

He was also a devout Catholic who introduced pious reforms into the city and he encouraged the French church to follow the edicts of the Council of Trent.

[10] However, some modern historians dispute this: Jean-Francois Solnon,[11] Nicolas Le Roux,[12] and Jacqueline Boucher[13] have noted that Henry had many famous mistresses, that he was well known for his taste in beautiful women, and that no male sex partners have been identified.

They concluded that the idea he was homosexual was promoted by his political opponents (both Protestant and Catholic) who used his dislike of war to depict him as effeminate and undermine his reputation with the French people.

[14][better source needed] The portrait of a self-indulgent homosexual, incapable of fathering an heir to the throne, proved useful in efforts by the Catholic League to secure the succession for Cardinal Charles de Bourbon after 1585.

[9] However, French Renaissance scholar Gary Ferguson considers such interpretations to be unconvincing: "It is difficult to reconcile the king whose use of favourites is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies.

"[15] Katherine Crawford, by contrast, emphasizes the problems Henry's reputation encountered because of his failure to produce an heir and the presence of his powerful mother at court, combined with his enemies' insistence on conflating patronage with favouritism and luxury with decadence.

[22] At this time he was a rallying point for the ultra-Catholics at court, who saw him as an opposition figure to the tolerant line being taken by the King, with Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine guiding his council.

[19] Lorraine offered him 200,000 Francs of Church revenue to become a protector of Catholicism, and tried to arrange his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots; however neither project took off.

Though Henry did not participate directly, historian Thierry Wanegffelen sees him as the royal most responsible for the massacre, which involved the targeted killing of many Huguenot leaders.

Henry continued to take an active role in the Wars of Religion, and in 1572/1573 led the siege of La Rochelle, a massive military assault on the Huguenot-held city.

Following the death of the Polish ruler Sigismund II Augustus on 7 July 1572, Jean de Monluc was sent as the French envoy to Poland to negotiate the election of Henry to the Polish throne in exchange for military support against Russia, diplomatic assistance in dealing with the Ottoman Empire, and financial subsidies.

[25] Charles IX allowed Henry's envoys to give up to 50,000 écus to important people in Poland-Lithuania as a bribe, but this would increase to 100,000 each.

[30] Henry also gave up any claims to succession and he "recognized the principle of free election" under the Henrician Articles and the pacta conventa.

[33] In mid-June 1574, upon learning of the death of his brother Charles IX, Henry left Poland and headed back to France.

The young king and his followers were astonished by several Polish practices and disappointed by the rural poverty and harsh climate of the country.

Henry III, stung by the open disobedience of Guise, attempted a coup in May 1588 and sent royal Swiss troops into several neighbourhoods.

Henry III fled the city; he later sought support from the Parlement of Paris and propped up an anti-League establishment throughout France.

[43] The Parlement instituted criminal charges against the king, and he was compelled to join forces with his heir, the Protestant Henry of Navarre, by setting up the Parliament of Tours.

The people of Paris disdained him for his court extravagances, allowing corruption to grow rife, high taxes and having relied extensively on Italian financiers.

[45] On 1 August 1589, Henry III lodged with his army at Saint-Cloud, and was preparing to attack Paris, when a young fanatical Dominican friar, Jacques Clément, carrying false papers, was granted access to deliver important documents to the king.

Inside the city, joy at the news of Henry III's death was near delirium; some hailed the assassination as an act of God.