Editing Charles IX of France (section)

==Biography==

===Birth and childhood===
[[File:François Clouet 005.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Charles IX shortly after acceding to the throne, by [[François Clouet]]]]
Charles Maximilien of France,{{sfn|Anselme|1726|p=134}} third son of King [[Henry II of France]] and [[Catherine de' Medici]],{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=921}} was born on 27 June 1550 at the [[Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye]].{{sfn|Paranque|2019|p=115}} He was the fifth of ten children born to the royal couple.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gordetsky |first1=Jennifer |last2=Rabinowitz |first2=Ronald |last3=O'Brien |first3=Jeanne |title=The "infertility" of Catherine de Medici and its influence on 16th century France |url=https://www.canjurol.com/pdfs/DrGordetsky.pdf |journal=The Canadian Journal of Urology |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=4586–4587 |year=2009 |pmid=19364432}}</ref> Styled since birth as [[Counts and Dukes of Angoulême|Duke of Angoulême]], he was created [[Duke of Orléans#Third creation (1519)|Duke of Orléans]] after the death of his elder brother [[Louis of Valois (1549–1550)|Louis]], his parents' second son, who had died in infancy on 24 October 1550. The royal children were raised under the supervision of the governor and governess of the royal children, [[Claude d'Urfé]] and [[Françoise d'Humières]], under the orders of [[Diane de Poitiers]].{{sfn|Édouard|2009|p=24}}

On 14 May 1564, Charles was presented the [[Order of the Garter]] by [[Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon|Henry Carey]].{{sfn|Manley|MacLean|2014|p=18}}

===Accession===
Charles' father died in 1559,{{sfn|Baumgartner|1988|p=252}} and was succeeded by Charles' elder brother, [[Francis II of France|King Francis II]].{{sfn|Knecht|1998|p=57}} Francis II died in 1560.{{sfn|Bryson|1999|p=109}} The ten-year-old Charles was immediately proclaimed king on 5 December 1560, and the Privy Council appointed his mother, [[Catherine de' Medici]], as governor of France (''gouvernante de France''), with sweeping powers, at first acting as regent for her young son.{{sfn|Knecht|1998|p=73}} On 15 May 1561, Charles was consecrated in the cathedral at [[Reims]].{{sfn|Knecht|1998|p=76}} [[Antoine of Navarre|Antoine of Bourbon]], himself in line to the French throne and husband to Queen [[Jeanne III of Navarre]], was appointed Lieutenant-General of France.{{sfn|Meere|2021|p=136}}

===First war of religion===

====Relations with the Huguenots====
In 1560, a group of Huguenot nobles at [[Amboise conspiracy|Amboise]] had planned to try to abduct King Francis II and arrest the Catholic leaders [[Francis of Guise|Francis, Duke of Guise]], and his brother [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine]]. The plot was discovered ahead of time, and the Guises were prepared, executing hundreds of Huguenots. This was followed by cases of Protestant [[iconoclasm]] and Catholic reprisals.{{sfn|Salmon|1975|p=124–137}}{{sfn|Sutherland|1962|p=111–138}}

The regent Catherine tried to foster reconciliation at the [[Colloquy at Poissy]] and, after that failed, made several concessions to the Huguenots in the [[Edict of Saint-Germain]] in January 1562.{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=78–79}} Nonetheless, the [[Massacre of Vassy]], perpetrated on 1 March 1562, when the [[Francis, Duke of Guise|Duke of Guise]] and his troops attacked and killed or wounded over 100 Huguenot worshipers and citizens, brought France spiralling towards civil war. 

The massacre lit the fuse that sparked the [[French Wars of Religion]]. [[Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé|Louis of Bourbon, Prince of Condé]], brother of the Lieutenant-General and the suspected architect of the [[Amboise conspiracy]], had already prepared for war and, taking Wassy as the pretext, assumed the role of a protector of Protestantism and began to seize and garrison strategic towns along the [[Loire Valley]]. In response, the monarchy revoked the concessions given to the Huguenots. After the military leaders of both sides were either killed or captured in battles at [[Siege of Rouen (1562)|Rouen]], [[Battle of Dreux|Dreux]], and [[Siege of Orleans (1563)|Orléans]], the regent mediated a truce and issued the [[Edict of Amboise]] (1563).{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=86}}

====Armed peace====
[[File:François Clouet 004.jpg|thumb|Charles IX as an adult, by [[François Clouet]]]]
The war was followed by four years of an uneasy "armed peace", during which time Catherine united the factions in the successful effort to recapture [[Le Havre]] from the English.{{sfn|Knecht|1998|p=93}} After this victory, Charles declared his legal majority in August 1563, formally ending the regency.{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=118}} However, Catherine continued to play a principal role in politics, and often dominated her son. In March 1564, the King and his mother set out from [[Fontainebleau]] on a [[Charles IX's grand tour of France|grand tour of France]]. Their tour spanned two years and brought them through Bar, [[Lyon]], [[Salon-de-Provence]] (where they visited [[Nostradamus]]), [[Carcassonne]], [[Toulouse]] (where the King and his younger brother Henry were [[confirmation|confirmed]]), [[Bayonne]], [[La Rochelle]], and [[Moulins, Allier|Moulins]]. During this trip, Charles IX issued the [[Edict of Roussillon]], which standardised 1 January as the first day of the year throughout France.

===Second and third war of religion===
War again broke out in 1567 after Charles added 6,000 Swiss mercenaries to his personal guards.{{sfn|Holt|1995|p=63–64}} Huguenots, fearing a Catholic attack was imminent, tried to abduct the king at [[Surprise of Meaux|Meaux]],{{sfn|Holt|1995|p=63–64}} seized various cities, and massacred Catholics at [[Nîmes]] in an action known as the [[Michelade]]. The [[Battle of Saint-Denis (1567)|Battle of Saint-Denis]] resulted in a Huguenot defeat and the death of [[Anne de Montmorency]], the royal commander-in-chief, and the short war ended in 1568 with the [[Peace of Longjumeau]].{{sfn|Holt|1995|p=64–65}} The privileges granted to Protestants were widely opposed, however, leading to their cancellation and the resumption of war. The [[Dutch Republic]], England and Navarre intervened on the Protestant side, while Spain, Tuscany and [[Pope Pius V]] supported the Catholics. Finally, the royal debt and the King's desire to seek a peaceful solution led to yet another truce, the [[Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] in August 1570, which again granted concessions to the Huguenots.{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=151}}

===Marriage and children===
On 26 November 1570, Charles married [[Elisabeth of Austria (1554-1592)|Elisabeth of Austria]],{{sfn|Knecht|1998|p=138}} with whom he fathered one daughter, [[Marie Elisabeth of Valois|Marie Elisabeth]].{{sfn|Cuerva|2021|p=168}} In 1573, Charles fathered an illegitimate son, [[Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême|Charles, Duke of Angoulême]], with his mistress, [[Marie Touchet]].{{sfn|Knecht|2016|p=295}}

===Coligny's ascendancy and the massacre===
[[File:Royal Monogram of King Charles IX of France.svg|thumb|100px|Royal monogram]]
After the conclusion of the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1570, the king increasingly came under the influence of Admiral [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Gaspard de Coligny]], who had succeeded the slain Prince of Condé as leader of Huguenots after the [[Battle of Jarnac]] in 1569. Catherine, however, became increasingly fearful of Coligny's unchecked power, especially since he was pursuing an alliance with England and the Dutch. Coligny was also hated by Henry, Duke of Guise, who accused the Admiral of having ordered the assassination of his father [[Francis of Guise]] during the siege of Orléans in 1563.

During the peace settlement, a marriage was arranged between Charles' sister [[Margaret of Valois]] and Henry of Navarre, the future King Henry IV, who was at that time heir to the throne of Navarre and one of the leading Huguenots. Many Huguenot nobles, including Admiral de Coligny, thronged into Paris for the wedding, which was set for 18 August 1572. On 22 August, a failed attempt on Coligny's life put the city in a state of apprehension, as both visiting Huguenots and Parisian Catholics feared an attack by the other side.

In this situation, in the early morning of 24 August 1572, the Duke of Guise moved to avenge his father and murdered Coligny in his lodgings. As Coligny's body was thrown into the street, Parisians mutilated the body. The mob action then erupted into the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]], a systematic slaughter of Huguenots that was to last five days. Henry of Navarre managed to avoid death by pledging to convert to Catholicism. Over the next few weeks, the disorder spread to more cities across France. In all, up to 10,000 Huguenots were killed in Paris and the provinces.<ref>Jouanna et al., 196–204.</ref>

Though the massacres weakened Huguenot power, they also reignited war, which only ceased after the [[Edict of Boulogne]] in 1573 granted Huguenots amnesty and limited religious freedom. However, the year 1574 saw a failed Huguenot coup at Saint-Germain and successful Huguenot uprisings in Normandy, Poitou and the Rhône valley, setting the stage for another round of war.{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=181}}

===Decline and death===
[[File:Charles IX of France3.jpg|thumb|right|Chalk portrait of Charles IX by [[François Clouet]], {{circa}} 1570]]
In the aftermath of the massacre, the king's fragile mental and physical constitution weakened drastically. His moods swung from boasting about the extremity of the massacre to exclamations that the screams of the murdered Huguenots kept ringing in his ears. Frantically, he blamed alternately himself – "What blood shed! What murders!", he cried to his nurse. "What evil counsel I have followed! O my God, forgive me... I am lost! I am lost!" – or his mother – "Who but you is the cause of all of this? God's blood, you are the cause of it all!" Catherine responded by declaring she had a lunatic for a son.<ref>Durant, p. 355.</ref>

Charles' physical condition, tending towards [[tuberculosis]], deteriorated to the point where, by spring of 1574, his hoarse coughing turned bloody and his hemorrhages grew more violent.

Charles IX died at the [[Château de Vincennes]] on 30 May 1574, aged 23.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=921}} Given that his younger brother [[Henry III of France|Henry, Duke of Anjou]], had recently been elected King of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and was away from France, their mother Catherine resumed the regency until Henry's return from Poland.{{sfn|Knecht|2000|p=190}}

In 1625, long after his death, a book Charles wrote on hunting, ''La Chasse Royale'', was published. It is a valuable source for those interested in the history of hounds and hunting.<ref>Charles IX, ''[https://archive.org/stream/lachasseroyaleco00charuoft/lachasseroyaleco00charuoft_djvu.txt La Chasse Royale]'' (1625).</ref>[[File:Charles IX 1561.jpg|thumb|Coin of Charles IX, 1573]]