Henri IV, known as Henri of Navarre 1553-1610
First Bourbon King of France

He was born in Pau, south-west France, the third son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret, heiress of Henri d'Albret (Henri II) of Navarre. Brought up by his mother as a Calvinist, he headed the Protestant forces in the Third Huguenot War (1569-72), but was defeated at the Battle of Jarnac (1569). In 1572 he succeeded his mother to the throne of Navarre as Henri III. After the peace of St Germain in 1572 he married Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX and Henri III of France, and was spared in the St Bartholomew Day Massacre (1572) on condition that he professed himself a Catholic. For three years he was virtually a prisoner at the French court, but in 1576 he escaped to Alen�on, revoked his conversion, and by the 1580s had established himself as the leader of the French Protestants. The death in 1584 of the king's brother (Fran�ois, Duke of Alen�on) made him heir-presumptive to the French throne. In 1588 Henri, Duke of Guise was murdered by Henri III, and when Henri III was himself assassinated in 1589, Henri of Navarre claimed the throne and marched on Paris, which was in the hands of the Catholic League. He was victorious in the war that followed, and in 1593 formally renounced Protestantism and declared himself a Catholic; he was crowned at Chartres in the following year. With the Edict of Nantes of 1598 guaranteeing the rights of the Huguenot minority, he brought an end to more than 40 years of religious wars in France, and the Treaty of Vervins ended nine years of war with Philip II of Spain. A great conciliator, he restored to France strong monarchy and stable government. He built up an efficient centralized bureaucracy, restoring the country's shattered economy, while his leading minister, the Duc de Sully, was responsible for drastically reducing the national debt. Although Henry showed favour to the Huguenots, he also patronized the Jesuits, and gave a positive lead to the revival in learning and the arts. In 1599 he divorced Margaret, and in 1600 married his second wife, Marie de M�dicis; their children included the future Louis XIII and Henrietta Maria, queen consort of Charles I of Great Britain. In May 1610, with war threatening with Spain and the Empire, Marie was crowned formally to give more authority to her regency during Henri's absence on campaign. Three days before the king was due to leave Paris he was assassinated by a Catholic religious fanatic called Fran�ois Ravaillac (1578-1610).

Bibliography: Desmond Seaward, The First Bourbon: Henry IV, King of France and Navarre (1971)