HENRY II, King of FRANCE. – Second son of Francis I and of Claudia, daughter of Louis XII, b. 31 March 1519. By the Treaty of Madrid he was in 1527 detained as a hostage in Madrid until his ransom in 1529. He ascended the throne on 31 March 1547. Since 1533 he had been married to Catherine de’ Medici, who, however, throughout his reign had little influence compared to the king’s favourite, Diane de Poitiers. Henry governed between the two influences of the Constable Anne de Montmorency and of Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Guise. Remembering his imprisonment, he harboured a deep resentment against Charles V and longed for war: already in 1548 the conflict was foreshadowed by the king’s journey to Burgundy and Piedmont and by the brief clash with England that secured for France, through ransom, the recovery of Boulogne (1550).
In 1551 the German Protestant princes, allied against the emperor, sought the aid of the King of France, authorising him to occupy Metz, Toul, Verdun, Cambrai, of which he was made imperial vicar (in exchange the king undertook to subsidise the war). In 1552 Henry II, with a large army, invaded the Empire and seized Metz, Verdun, Toul, in the name of protection. Charles V’s reaction in 1553 failed to retake Metz despite a bitter siege. After Charles V’s abdication, the Truce of Vaucelles (5 Feb 1556) was broken by the expedition of the Duke of Guise to Naples. The war entered a tragic phase for France with the great defeat at Saint-Quentin (10 Aug 1557). Peace with Spain was restored by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (3 Apr 1559). In a joust held for the festivities Henry II was gravely wounded in the eye and died on 10 July 1559.
Disillusioned with papal policy, he showed himself favourable to the Gallican Church and opposed to the Council; at one point he even threatened schism. – See pl. XXVIII.