Henry II of France

Henry II of France ruled from 1547 until his accidental death in 1559. He continued the Italian Wars against the Habsburgs, recovered Calais from England and strengthened royal administration, while persecuting the growing Protestant movement.

His long relationship with Diane de Poitiers gave her exceptional influence and marginalised Queen Catherine de’ Medici. Henry died after a lance fragment entered his eye during a tournament held to celebrate a dynastic peace. Henry II of France was born in Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and died in Hôtel des Tournelles.

In C. W. Gortner’s The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, Catherine de' Medici remembers an orphaned childhood in Florence, captivity during political revolt and an arranged marriage to the future Henry II of France. In Jean Plaidy’s Madame Serpent, Sullen-eyed and broken-hearted, fourteen-year-old Catherine de'Medici arrives in Marseilles to marry Henry of Orleans, second son of the King of France. Further fictional perspectives on Henry II of France can be found in Dorothy Dunnett’s Queens’ Play and Dorothy Dunnett’s Checkmate.