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74-769: The Dutch Republic Lion (also known as States Lion ) was the badge of the Union of Utrecht , the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , and a precursor of the current coat of arms of the Kingdom the Netherlands . When the county of Flanders was inherited by the Dukes of Burgundy in 1405, the Flemish lion (black on gold) was placed on an escutcheon in their dynastic arms (see Armorial of

148-410: A putain publique ("public whore") and made ridiculous remarks about their difference in age (he was 18 years younger at a time when such large age differences between spouses were not at all uncommon). In November 1567, upon the death of Anne de Montmorency , Henry assumed the role of Lieutenant-General of France, placing him in nominal control of France's military. Henry served as a leader of

222-606: A crown on the lion in their arms. The number of arrows changed over time. At first there were 17, despite the fact that the Union of Utrecht counted 11 districts after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. It was hoped by William the Silent that all the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands would eventually be united. However, this was not to be, and so it was eventually changed to 11, and with

296-526: A bribe, but this would increase to 100,000 each. On 16 May 1573, Polish nobles chose Henry as the first elected monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Lithuanian nobles boycotted this election, however, and it was left to the Lithuanian ducal council to confirm his election. The commonwealth elected Henry, rather than Habsburg candidates, partly in order to be more agreeable to

370-513: A clash of cultures between the Polish and the French. The young king and his followers were astonished by several Polish practices and disappointed by the rural poverty and harsh climate of the country. The Poles, on the other hand, wondered if all Frenchmen were as concerned with their appearance as their new king appeared to be. In many aspects, Polish culture had a positive influence on France. At Wawel,

444-565: A descendant of Louis IX (Saint Louis). The possibility of a Protestant on the throne led to the War of the Three Henrys . Under pressure from the duke of Guise, Henry III issued an edict suppressing Protestantism and annulling Henry of Navarre's right to the throne. Henry III, stung by the open disobedience of Guise, attempted a coup in May 1588 and sent royal Swiss troops into several neighbourhoods. This had

518-586: A possible reconciliation with the king. The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces , which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Twelve Years' Truce in 1609. The treaty was signed on 23 January by Holland , Zeeland , Utrecht (but not all of Utrecht), and the province (but not the city) of Groningen . The treaty was a reaction of

592-638: A protector of Catholicism, and tried to arrange his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots ; however neither project took off. While still Duke of Anjou, he helped plot the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. 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 III's reign as King of France, like those of his elder brothers Francis and Charles, would see France in constant turmoil over religion. Henry continued to take an active role in

666-417: A secret message to deliver. The king signaled for his attendants to step back for privacy, and Clément whispered in his ear while plunging a knife into his abdomen. Clément was then killed on the spot by the guards. At first, the king's wound did not appear fatal, but he enjoined all the officers around him, in case he did not survive, to be loyal to Henry of Navarre as their new king. The following morning, on

740-486: Is so logically strategic with the man who goes to pieces when one of them dies." 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. In 1570, discussions commenced arranging for Henry to court Queen Elizabeth I of England . Elizabeth, almost 37,

814-637: The Burgundian Netherlands , first appears as a crest on the tomb of Philip the Handsome . Later Charles V added the sword. The arrows were used, on coins etc., since the early 16th century to represent the Seventeen Provinces in the low countries under control of Charles V. In 1578, during the Eighty Years' War , the States General ordered a new great seal representing the lion, the sword and

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888-576: The Château of Blois , he invited Guise to the council chamber where the duke's brother Louis II, Cardinal of Guise , already waited. The duke was told that the king wished to see him in the private room adjoining the royal bedroom. There, royal guardsmen murdered the duke, then the cardinal. To make certain that no contender for the French throne was free to act against him, the king had the duke's son imprisoned. The duke of Guise had been very popular in France, and

962-824: The French Fury . After that the States-General re-established the previous arms. The Batavian Republic founded in 1795 used in its first year the arms of the Dutch Republic , i.e. the Dutch lion or lion with crown, sheaf of arrows and swords. But on May 4, 1796, the Dutch Lion badge was replaced by a free drawing of the Netherlands Maiden around an altar with an anchor, and the States Lion with her. The substitution in 1801 of

1036-594: The Henrician Articles into law, recognizing the szlachta 's right to freely elect their monarch. Aged 22, Henry abandoned Poland–Lithuania upon inheriting the French throne when his brother, Charles IX , died without issue. 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

1110-735: The House of Habsburg in 1482. Their descendants, the Kings of Spain bear the title of the county of Flanders (Holland was renounced in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia ) and the duchy of Brabant to this day, and the arms were continually used until the abolition of the King Alfonso XIII in 1931 (see Coat of arms of the King of Spain and List of titles and honours of the Spanish Crown ). The lion, as representing

1184-713: The Napoleonic eagle with the lion of the United Netherlands. Around the shield was the French Order of the Grand Aigle . Behind the shield are crossed sceptres , typical for Napoleonic heraldry, and above the shield, Napoleon's star. A few months later, on 20 May 1807, King Louis (now called "Lodewijk") altered these arms, adding a helmet, leaving out his brother’s star and replacing the Grand Aigle with his own Dutch Order of

1258-564: The Order of the Holy Spirit to commemorate his becoming first King of Poland and later King of France on the Feast of Pentecost and gave it precedence over the earlier Order of St. Michael , which had lost much of its original prestige by being awarded too frequently and too readily. The Order would retain its prestige as the premier chivalric order of France until the end of the French monarchy. Henry

1332-671: The Ottoman Empire (a traditional ally of France through the Franco-Ottoman alliance ) and strengthen a Polish-Ottoman alliance that was in effect. In addition to this, Henry was not a powerful ruler in his own right, as he was only a Prince, nor did France border the Commonwealth, so he wouldn't have the capacity to strip the Polish Nobility of their historic rights . A Polish delegation went to La Rochelle to meet with Henry, who

1406-682: 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 a strong and centralised yet religiously tolerant monarchy would save France from collapse. After

1480-459: The Protestant provinces to the 1579 Union of Arras (Dutch: Unie van Atrecht ), in which two southern provinces and a city declared their support for Roman Catholic Spain. During the following months of 1579, other states signed the treaty as well, such as Ghent , cities from Friesland , as well as three of the quarters of Guelders ( Nijmegen Quarter , Veluwe Quarter , Zutphen County ). In

1554-502: The Reduction of Groningen to 7. The number of arrows on the arms fixed at 7 in 1606, but the seal still remained with 17 arrows until 1795. At the time of the Dutch declaration of independence the territory under nominal States-General control was steadily shrinking. Parma made steady progress. Orange had already been convinced that the only way to avert total defeat was to regain support of

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1628-413: The 17 arrows combined. Although only seven provinces remained free from Spain, this seal stayed in use until 1795. After the completion of its forming in 1584 the Republic of the Seven United Provinces used as its arms: Or a crowned lion Gules armed and langued Azure, holding in his dexter paw a sword and in the sinister paw seven arrows tight together Azure. The colours of this version where derived from

1702-603: The Batavian Republic by the Batavian Commonwealth , whose main feature was a stronger Grand Pensionary acting the part locally of the First Counsul Bonaparte also had its impact on heraldry. On April 12, 1802, it was decided that the new badge of the Commonwealth would be a golden lion on a red field again. The number of arrows that bears the lion in the leg was not established. This remained in use until

1776-530: The Catholic Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon , as Henry III's heir. Henry had the Duke of Guise murdered in 1588 and was in turn assassinated by Jacques Clément , a Catholic fanatic, in 1589. He was succeeded by the King of Navarre who, as Henry IV , assumed the throne of France as the first king of the House of Bourbon and eventually converted to Catholicism. Henry was born at the royal Château de Fontainebleau ,

1850-515: The French Royal House or Armorial of Dukes of Burgundy ). The same happened with the duchy of Brabant (and its dependent duchy of Limburg ) in 1430 (gold lion on black for Brabant, red lion on white for Limburg), but oddly not the county of Holland (red lion on gold ) in 1432 or the duchy of Luxembourg (red lion on blue and white bars). These passed with the rest of the Burgundian inheritance to

1924-459: The French people. 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. However, French Renaissance scholar Gary Ferguson considers such interpretations to be unconvincing: "It is difficult to reconcile the king whose use of favourites

1998-455: The French were introduced to new technologies of septic facilities, in which litter (excrement) was taken outside the castle walls. On returning to France, Henry wanted to order the construction of such facilities at the Louvre and other palaces. Other inventions introduced to the French by the Polish included a bath with regulated hot and cold water as well as dining forks. In 1578, Henry created

2072-679: The Huguenots. His action resulted in Henry I, Duke of Guise , forming the Catholic League . After much posturing and negotiations, Henry was forced to rescind most of the concessions that had been made to the Protestants in the edict. After 1582, Henry became convinced of the need for fiscal reform to break the cycle of expedients upon which he had relied. To this end he summoned an Assembly of Notables which met from November 1583 to February 1584. While he failed to convince them of his most radical tax plans,

2146-547: The Kingdom of Holland was formed in 1806 for Napoleon 's brother, installed as King Louis I of Holland . Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte was installed as King of Holland on 5 June 1806. Originally the arms of the new kingdom were to be like those of the Kingdom of Italy : an eagle bearing a shield , with the arms of the United Netherlands, the lion , now royally crowned. In December 1806, A. Renodi in Paris designed arms quartering

2220-629: The North, but aimed to include all provinces in the Netherlands. Both the Pacification and the Union of Utrecht were, in fact, treaties between two parties: the Calvinist-governed provinces of Holland and Zeeland and the other 'fifteen' provinces dominated by Catholics. Even Alexander Farnese (Parma), the archenemy of the Union of Utrecht, denied in a letter to the States of Artois dated January 27, 1579, that

2294-708: The Pacification of Ghent in their aversion to the Spanish presence. They declared at the Pacification that they would cooperate in resisting interventions by King Philip II but remain obedient to him. There was no final settlement of the religious issue. For the time being, the Calvinist religion would be leading in Holland and Zeeland, the Catholic religion in the other regions, but religious peace would be sought in all regions. In Holland and Zeeland, however, Calvinists took little notice of

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2368-563: The Pacification; the Spanish soldiers were to leave the country and the regions themselves would take care of maintaining Catholicism, much against the wishes of the Calvinists. The governor finally agreed by signing the Eternal Edict on 12 February, after which Spanish troops began to withdraw, largely to the Duchy of Luxembourg , which had always remained royalist. That same month, William of Orange

2442-533: The Polish delegation handed over the "certificate of election to the throne of Poland-Lithuania". Henry also gave up any claims to succession and he "recognized the principle of free election" under the Henrician Articles and the pacta conventa . It was not until January 1574 that Henry was to reach the borders of Poland. On 21 February, Henry's coronation was held in Kraków . In mid-June 1574, upon learning of

2516-621: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Henry chafed at the restrictions on monarchic power under the Polish-Lithuanian political system of " Golden Liberty ". The Polish-Lithuanian parliament had been urged by Anna Jagiellon , the sister of the recently deceased king Sigismund II Augustus, to elect him based on the understanding that Henry would wed Anna afterward. At a ceremony before the Parlement of Paris on 13 September,

2590-583: The Spanish trade empire. In return the Spanish granted the United Provinces de facto independence by describing them as "Free lands, provinces and states against whom they make no claim" for the duration of the truce. The Union of Utrecht allowed complete personal freedom of religion and was thus one of the first unlimited edicts of religious toleration . An additional declaration allowed provinces and cities that wished to remain Roman Catholic to join

2664-568: The States-General. The latter arrived in Antwerp in January 1581, where he took an oath to in effect govern as a "constitutional monarch", and was acclaimed by the States-General as Protector of the Netherlands. Unfortunately, Orange's attempt to paper over the disunity within the States-General by bringing in Anjou did not succeed. Holland and Zeeland acknowledged him perfunctorily, but mainly ignored him, and of

2738-471: The Union and the old Dutch devise Eendracht maakt macht ("Unity makes strength") around the shield. Exemplary for the innovation in Napoleon's heraldry are the two hands coming out of clouds from behind the shield holding swords, designating King Louis as Connétable de France . When William VI of Orange returned to the Netherlands in 1813 and was proclaimed Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands, he quartered

2812-399: The Union of Utrecht were considered more like "honorary members" rather than fully integrated members of the "Northern" Union. Flemish researcher Leo Delfos further investigated and openly challenged this view from 1929 onwards. He concluded that the Union of Utrecht actually sought to uphold the General Union / Pacification of Ghent of 1576 and did not intend to geographically limit itself to

2886-430: The Wars of Religion, and in 1572/1573 led the siege of La Rochelle , a massive military assault on the Huguenot-held city. At the end of May 1573, Henry learned that the Polish szlachta had elected him King of Poland (a country with a large Protestant minority at the time) and political considerations forced him to negotiate an end to the siege. Negotiators reached an agreement on 24 June 1573, and Catholic troops ended

2960-412: The agreements. And returning Calvinist exiles who had once fled from Alva sometimes caused serious religious disturbances in the then church- and king-faithful regions outside Holland and Zeeland after 1576. The agreements of the Pacification of Ghent were confirmed at the first Union of Brussels on 6 January 1577, by which the regions wanted to force the new governor Don Juan of Austria to recognise

3034-411: The attack on Antwerp on 18 January 1583. In an attempt to fool the citizens of Antwerp, Anjou asked to be permitted to make a " Joyous Entry " into the city in order to honour them with a parade. As soon as his troopers entered, the gates of Antwerp were slammed shut behind them and the citizen militia attacked them. Anjou barely escaped with his life and nearly his entire army perished, an affair known as

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3108-440: The behest of Jacques, Duke of Nemours , to run away from court to be a figurehead for the ultra-Catholics. However, the plot was uncovered before any action could be taken. Henry was known as a flaneur , who relished leisurely strolls through Paris and partook in the sociability in the busiest of neighbourhoods. He revelled in fairs, music, bilboquet and court masques . His extravagance in court entertainments cut him off from

3182-560: The citizenry turned against Henry for the murders. 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 . By 1589 Henry's popularity hit a new low. Preachers were calling for his assassination and labelling him a tyrant. The people of Paris disdained him for his court extravagances, allowing corruption to grow rife, high taxes and having relied extensively on Italian financiers. But what most Parisians hated most about him

3256-421: The common people. 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 . Reports that Henry engaged in same-sex relations with his court favourites, known as the mignons , date back to his own time. He was known to have enjoyed intense relationships with them. The scholar Louis Crompton maintains that all of

3330-514: The contemporary rumours were true. However, some modern historians dispute this: Jean-Francois Solnon, Nicolas Le Roux, and Jacqueline Boucher 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

3404-457: The day that he was to have launched his assault to retake Paris, Henry III died. Chaos swept the attacking army, most of it quickly melting away; the proposed attack on Paris was postponed. Inside the city, joy at the news of Henry III's death was near delirium; some hailed the assassination as an act of God . Henry III was interred at the Saint Denis Basilica . Childless, he was the longest-living of Henry II's sons to have become king and also

3478-427: The death of Henry's younger brother Francis, Duke of Anjou , and when it became apparent that Henry would not produce an heir, the Wars of Religion developed into a succession crisis, the War of the Three Henrys . Henry III's closest heir was his distant cousin, King Henry III of Navarre , a Protestant. The Catholic League, led by Henry I, Duke of Guise , sought to exclude Protestants from the succession and championed

3552-411: The death of his brother Charles IX, Henry left Poland and headed back to France. Henry's absence provoked a constitutional crisis that the Parliament attempted to resolve by notifying Henry that his throne would be lost if he did not return from France by 12 May 1575. His failure to return caused Parliament to declare his throne vacant. The short reign of Henry at Wawel Castle in Poland was marked by

3626-407: The early 20th century, most Dutch and Belgian historians, such as P. L. Muller (1867) and Henri Pirenne (1911), believed that the Union of Utrecht was initially intended as a "Calvinist alliance" of the "seven" "Northern provinces" that separated themselves from the General Union (the Pacification of Ghent and the Unions of Brussels), and "seceded from the South". The few Southern cities that joined

3700-446: The former Arms of the Dutch Republic (1st and 4th quarter) with the "Châlon-Orange" arms (2nd and 3rd quarter), which had come to symbolize Orange. As an in escutcheon he placed his ancestral arms of Nassau. (See House of Orange-Nassau ) When he became King in 1815, he combined the Dutch Republic Lion with the billets of the Nassau arms and added a royal crown to form the Coat of arms of the Netherlands . In 1907, Queen Wilhelmina replaced

3774-596: The fourth son of King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. He was a grandson of Francis I of France and Claude of France . His older brothers were Francis II of France , Charles IX of France , and Louis of Valois . He was made Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans in 1560, then Duke of Anjou in 1566. He was his mother's favourite; she called him chers yeux ("precious eyes") and lavished fondness and affection upon him for most of his life. His elder brother, Charles, grew to detest him, partially because he resented his better health. The royal children were raised under

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3848-403: The moderates, alienated by Calvinist radicalism; reassure the still-loyal Catholics in the South; and retain the trust of the German Lutheran princes and the king of France. To attain these objectives he now persuaded the States-General to offer sovereignty over the Netherlands to the younger brother of Henry III of France , François, Duke of Anjou , who in 1578 had already intervened on behalf of

3922-456: The most important of the seven provinces, the county of Holland (its arms are still in use since being adopted by the counts of Holland c. 1198). The sovereignty of the federal union was emphasized by the title of the States General "their Noble Mightinesses, the Lords States-General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands" or, in Dutch, "Den Heeren Hoog-Mogenden, Den Heeren Staten-Generaal der Verenigde Provinciën der Nederlanden"). and by

3996-416: The nephew of Jacques Cartier , privileges over fishing, fur trading, and mining in New France . 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. The friar gave the king a bundle of papers and stated that he had

4070-497: The newly established Union of Utrecht had a Calvinist foundation. It was only through Parma's military conquests in the 1580s and the political developments in the rebellious region that it gradually became, in practice, a 'Northern Calvinist alliance', but it certainly did not start that way. Henry III of France Henry III ( French : Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard ; Polish : Henryk Walezy ; Lithuanian : Henrikas Valua ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589)

4144-405: The notables forwarded a series of proposals to him which would be embodied in his legislation during 1584. As a result of these policies the royal budget was almost balanced in 1585, before it was subject to political shock. In 1584, the king's youngest brother and heir presumptive , Francis, Duke of Anjou , died. Under Salic Law , the next heir to the throne was Protestant Henry of Navarre ,

4218-484: The other members of the Union of Utrecht Overijssel, Gelderland and Utrecht never even recognised him. At the time of his sovereignty, Anjou replaced the Generality Lion by arms that he himself designed incorporating all the arms of the, at that time, nine Dutch rebellious provinces with France. Anjou himself was dissatisfied with his limited power, and decided to take the Flemish cities of Antwerp , Bruges , Dunkirk , and Ostend by force. He decided personally to lead

4292-469: The relationship between the provinces and their lord, and in 1581 the United Provinces declared their independence of the king in the Act of Abjuration . The Twelve Years' Truce of 1609 marked a pause in what became known as the Eighty Years' War , effectively acknowledging Dutch independence. As Pieter Geyl puts it, the truce marked "an astonishing victory for the Dutch," who surrendered no lands and did not agree to halt their attacks on Spanish colonies and

4366-432: The royal army, taking part in the victories over the Huguenots at the Battle of Jarnac (March 1569) and at the Battle of Moncontour (October 1569). 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. Lorraine offered him 200,000 Francs of Church revenue to become

4440-561: The royal crown on the lion and the shield bearers of the arms with a coronet and had the phallus of the lion removed. Union of Utrecht The signing of the treaty for the Union of Utrecht, during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), was preceded by a whole series of unions, edicts and covenants. At the Union of Dordrecht , on 4 July 1575, William of Orange was appointed stadholder of Holland and Holland and Zeeland decided to cooperate. These areas – except for Amsterdam and Middelburg, among others – were largely free of Spanish troops in

4514-461: The siege on 6 July 1573. 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. Charles IX allowed Henry’s envoys to give up to 50,000 écus to important people in Poland-Lithuania as

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4588-425: The summer of 1579, Amersfoort from the province of Utrecht also joined, together with Ypres , Antwerp , Breda and Brussels . In February 1580, Lier , Bruges and the surrounding area also signed the treaty. The city of Groningen shifted in favor under influence of the stadtholder for Friesland, George van Rennenberg , and also signed the treaty. The fourth quarter of Guelders, Upper Guelders , never signed

4662-556: The supervision of Diane de Poitiers , his father's mistress. Although he was skilled and fond of fencing, he preferred to indulge his tastes for the arts and reading. These predilections were attributed to his Italian mother. Henry's favourite interests were hunting and riding. At one point in his youth Henry showed a tendency towards Protestantism as a means of rebelling. At the age of nine, he called himself "a little Huguenot", attended Mass only to please his mother, sang Protestant psalms to his sister Margaret (exhorting her all

4736-406: The treaty. In April 1580, Overijssel and Drenthe signed on. The parts of the Low Countries that joined: Antwerp was the capital of the union until its fall to the Spanish . Flanders was almost entirely conquered by the Spanish troops, as was half of Brabant. The United Provinces still recognized Spanish rule after the Union of Utrecht. However, the union contributed to the deterioration in

4810-446: The unintended effect of rallying the people against him and in favor of the more popular Guise during the Day of the Barricades . Henry III fled the city; he later sought support from the Parlement of Paris and propped up an anti-League establishment throughout France. Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada that summer, the king's fear of Spanish support for the Catholic League apparently waned. Accordingly, on 23 December 1588, at

4884-449: The union. Many people view the Union of Utrecht as the beginning of the Netherlands as a single state. This is not entirely accurate. It can be said that the Union of Utrecht laid the foundation for the Dutch Republic, also known as the Seven United Provinces, which would be formed a few years later. However, these seven states within a state only became a unified state during the time of the Batavian Republic two centuries later. Until

4958-438: The while to change her religion and cast her Book of Hours into the fire), and even bit the nose off a statue of Saint Paul . His mother firmly cautioned him against such behaviour, and he would never again show any Protestant tendencies. Instead, he became staunchly Catholic. In the factional dispute that engulfed France in the wake of Henry II's death in 1559, Henry was solicited by Henry, son of Francis, Duke of Guise , at

5032-404: The years 1572–1576, and there leaders with the Calvinist faith gained the upper hand. The Spanish sack of Antwerp on 4 November 1576, in which Spanish troops looted and reduced the city to ashes and killed thousands of citizens, caused a stir in the Netherlands. The States of Holland , the States of Zeeland and the other regions, which were predominantly Catholic , reconciled on 8 November with

5106-408: Was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France , he was not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the vacant throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , where he was elected monarch in 1573. During his brief rule, he signed

5180-512: Was already urging Gelre to ‘make a good, firm alliance and alliance in private with those of Hollant and Zeelant, etlycke other provinces with some of the principal lords and noblemen.’ Rather than break the Pacification, the prince wanted to raise a second line of defence in a ‘further union’. The concept of the Union of Utrecht was already contained in this proposal to Gelre. However, the predominantly Catholic Gelre saw little point in it; it did not want to depend on intransigent, Calvinist Holland for

5254-413: Was crowned king of France on 13 February 1575 at Reims Cathedral . Although he was expected to produce an heir after he married the 21-year-old Louise of Lorraine on 14 February 1575, no issue resulted from their union. In 1574, Henry renewed letters that gave Portuguese New Christians the right of settling in France. In 1576, Henry signed the Edict of Beaulieu , which granted many concessions to

5328-470: Was expected by many parties in her country to marry and produce an heir. However, nothing came of these discussions. In initiating them, Elizabeth is viewed by historians as having intended only to arouse the concern of Spain, rather than contemplate marriage seriously. Henry's mother felt the chance of marriage despite differing religious views (Henry was Catholic, Elizabeth Protestant) simply required personal sacrifice. Henry tactlessly referred to Elizabeth as

5402-637: Was his alleged sexuality. Under Henry, France named Guillaume Bérard as the first Consul of France in Morocco . The request came from the Moroccan prince Abd al-Malik , who had been saved by Bérard, a doctor by profession, during an epidemic in Constantinople and wished to retain Bérard in his service. Henry III encouraged the exploration and development of New World territories. In 1588, he granted Jacques Noël,

5476-502: Was leading the Siege of La Rochelle. Henry left the siege following their visit. In Paris, on 10 September, the Polish delegation asked Henry to take an oath, at Notre Dame Cathedral , to "respect traditional Polish liberties and the law on religious freedom that had been passed during the interregnum ". As a condition of his election, he was compelled to sign the pacta conventa and the Henrician Articles , pledging religious tolerance in

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