HENRY II, King of France. - Second son of Francis I and of Claude, daughter of Louis XII, b. 31 March 1519. By the Treaty of Madrid he was held in 1527 as a hostage in Madrid until his ransom, in 1529. He ascended the throne on 31 March 1547. As early as 1533 he had married Catherine de' Medici, who, however, throughout the reign had little prominence compared with the king's favorite, Diane de Poitiers. H. governed between the two influences of the constable Anne de Montmorency and of Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise. Remembering his captivity, he harbored in his heart extreme resentment toward Charles V, and longed for war: already in 1548 there was a preannouncement of the conflict with the king's journey to Burgundy and Piedmont and with the brief clash with England which procured for France, by means of ransom, the recapture of Boulogne (1550).

In 1551 the German Protestant princes allied against the Emperor asked the help of the king of France, authorizing him to occupy Metz, Toul, Verdun, Cambrai, of which he was made vicar of the Empire (in exchange the king undertook to subsidize them in the war). In 1552 H. II with a great army invaded the Empire and occupied Metz, Verdun, Toul as a protectorate. Charles V's reaction in 1553 failed to recover Metz despite a bitter siege. After the abdication of Charles V and the truce of Vaucelles (5 Feb. 1556) the war flared up again as a consequence of the duke of Guise's expedition against Naples. The military operations had a tragic phase for France: the great defeat suffered at St. 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 H. II was gravely wounded in one eye and d. on 10 July 1559.

Disillusioned with papal policy, he showed himself favorable to the Gallican Church and opposed to the Council; at a certain point he even threatened a schism. - See pl. XXVIII.

Plate XXVIII (Int. Alipari) PORTRAIT OF HENRY II OF FRANCE Painting by François Clouet (1522-72) - Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: B. de la Barre-Duparca, Histoire de Henri II, Paris 1887; F. Decrue, Anne de Montmorency, ibid. 1889, passim: H. Bouchot, Cathérine de Médicis, ibid. 1890, passim: M. Hay, Madame Diane de Poitiers, ibid. 1900, passim: H. Mariéjol, Cathérine de Médicis, 2nd ed., ibid. 1920, passim: L. Romier, Les origines politiques des guerres de religion, 2 vols., ibid. 1913-14; G. Zeller, La réunion de Metz à la France, ibid. 1927; H. Noël, Henri II et la naissance de la société moderne, ibid. 1944.

Francesco Cognasso

@incollection{ec5_enrico_ii_re_di_francia, author = {Cognasso, Francesco}, title = {Enrico II, re di francia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {369}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/enrico-ii-re-di-francia} }

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Henry II, King of France

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