Henry III (1551-1589) was the last Valois king of France. He succeeded his brother Charles IX in 1574. Henry had received the Polish crown earlier the same year, but he left Poland when he heard of Charles’s death. Henry was a weak king. During the early part of his reign, his mother, Catherine de Médicis, held great influence over him. Influence then passed to Henry’s favorites among the young nobles.
Throughout his reign, Henry was caught in the struggle between Roman Catholics and the French Protestants called Huguenots. This struggle included warfare between the two groups. Henry and his mother hoped to end the fighting by signing the Edict of Beaulieu in 1576. The edict gave Huguenots greater freedom of worship. But it made Henry unpopular among many Catholics and led to the War of the Three Henrys (1585-1589). In this war, the real contest was between the Catholic leader, Henry, Duke of Guise, and the Huguenot leader, Henry, King of Navarre. Henry III, who feared the Duke of Guise, had him assassinated in 1588. The next year, Henry himself was assassinated. He was stabbed by a religious fanatic on Aug. 1, 1589, and died on August 2. Henry III was born on Sept. 19, 1551, in Fontainebleau, France.
