Charles IX of France

Henry II of France and Catherine of Medici, his parents.

Charles IX of France, whose given name was Charles Maximilian of France (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, June 27, 1550 - Vincennes, June 30, May 1574), was King of France from 1560 to 1574.

He was the fourth king of the Valois-Angouleme branch of the so-called de Valois branch of the Capetian dynasty.

Charles IX was the third son and the fifth of the ten children of Henry II (1519-1559), King of France (1547-1559), and Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589). Under his reign, France was torn apart by religious wars, despite all the efforts made by Catherine de' Medici to prevent it. He succeeded his older brother Francis II, who died after a year and a half of reign.

Reign

During the ten years he had to wait to ascend the throne, the regency was entrusted to his mother Catherine de' Medici, who ruled until the king came of age. She named Antonio de Borbón Lieutenant General of the Kingdom. From December 13, 1560 to January 31, 1561, the Estates General gathered in Orléans proceeded to elections. Charles IX was consecrated King of France on May 15, 1561 in Reims Cathedral.

Religious problems

Carlos IX

Chancellor Michel de l'Hospital advised the regent to release the prisoners who had participated in the Amboise conspiracy. At the Poissy Conference, in which an attempt was made to reconcile both parties, organized on September 9, 1561, the Queen Mother hoped to find a path of understanding between the Catholics (represented by the Cardinal of Lorraine) and the Protestant party (represented by Théodore de Bèze), but no agreement was reached. The Huguenots did not accept any rapprochement with the Catholics. The Protestants, led by Luis de Condé, continue their fight. On November 16, 1561, the massacre at Cahors of 30 Huguenots confirmed this failure. On January 1, 1562, the edict of Saint-Germain-en-Laye prohibiting, in Orleans, the persecutions dictated by Henry II against the Reformation, allowed the Huguenots to practice their worship in the countryside and in the suburbs.

Nevertheless, after the massacre of Vassy on March 1, 1562, the Huguenots took up arms under the command of the Prince of Condé. After brief successes, they were defeated at Dreux by the Duke of Guise on December 19, 1562. Louis de Condé was taken prisoner, while the head of the Catholic army, Montmorency, was captured by the Protestants. On February 4, 1563, the Duke of Guise began the siege of Orléans, and he died on February 24 from three shots in the back. On March 19, with the Treaty of Amboise, a first fragile peace was reached. On August 19, 1563, Carlos IX was declared of legal age, but the queen mother continued to exercise power in his name.

The Huguenots were defeated at Saint-Denis by the Constable de Montmorency (1567), at Jarnac; and at Moncontour by the Duke of Anjou. In 1570 the Peace of Saint-Germain was signed. Catherine de' Medici accepted the reinstatement of Protestants in the public administration, as well as freedom of worship in private.

In 1570, Charles IX married Isabella of Austria (1554-1592), daughter of Maximilian II (1527-1576), Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria of Austria (1528-1603), Infanta of Spain. From this union a daughter was born who died very young: María Isabel de Francia (1572-1578).

Charles IX had a bastard son with his mistress Maria Touchet (1549-1638), Dame de Belleville, named Charles de Valois-Angouleme (1573-1650), Count of Auvergne (1589-1619) and later Duke of Angoulême (1619).

The marriage of King Margaret's sister, Queen Margot, to a young Protestant prince, the King of Navarre (later Henry IV of France), seemed to be the beginning of a lasting reconciliation, but a few days after the marriage was celebrated, an attack took place against one of the leaders of the Huguenot party, Gaspar de Coligny. Believing that it was an uprising, and after listening to the advice of his mother, Catherine de Médicis, Carlos IX decided to eliminate all the Protestant leaders with the exception of the Princes of royal blood: Enrique de Navarra and the Prince of Condé. This decision will lead to a terrible event, the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew (August 24, 1572), which also leads to the massacre of the Huguenots in all the cities of France. This fact has an unfavorable impact on the King's reputation. For a long time Carlos IX was considered a fanatical king who encouraged murder; romances and popular tradition spread the rumor that the king himself had fired from the windows of the Louvre against the Protestants. Carlos IX granted freedom of worship to the Huguenots in the cities of La Rochelle, Cognac and Montauban, although not in Paris. This fact gave rise to the fourth religious war. Peace will be signed again in Boulogne, in July 1573.

The king's physical and mental health was always delicate and worsened after these dramatic events. A conspiracy was fomented against him and against his mother in order to place his brother François d'Alençon on the throne, a conspiracy that was discovered by Catherine de' Medici. These events ended up weakening the king much more, who sought refuge in the castle of Vincennes. His condition worsens: the fever does not subside, he has trouble breathing, the bleeding does not stop and Carlos IX dies on May 30, 1574. To silence the rumors about a possible poisoning, Ambroise Paré performed an autopsy the next day and certified that the king had died of pleurisy that led to tubercular pneumonia.

During his reign, a proposal by Michel de L'Hospital was approved, the ordinance of Moulins (1566) regulating successions and declaring the king's inalienable domain. This prince, who had received lessons from Jacques Amyot, was educated and liked to write. There are some humorous verses and a "Treatise of the Royal House", first published in 1625 and republished by Henri Chevreul in 1858.

Ancestry