Henry II of France

Henry II
1559 portrait
King of France (more...)
Reign	31 March 1547 – 10 July 1559
Coronation	25 July 1547
Predecessor	Francis I
Successor	Francis II
Duke of Brittany
Reign	10 August 1536 – 31 March 1547
Predecessor	Francis III
Successor	Position abolished (Brittany absorbed into the crown lands of France)
Born	Henry, Duke of Orléans 31 March 1519 Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Died	10 July 1559 (aged 40) Hôtel des Tournelles
Burial	13 August 1559 Saint Denis Basilica
Spouse	Catherine de' Medici ​ ​ (m. 1533)​
Issue more...	Francis II, King of France Elisabeth, Queen of Spain Claude, Duchess of Lorraine Louis, Duke of Orléans Charles IX, King of France Henry III, King of France Margaret, Queen of France Francis, Duke of Anjou Illegitimate : Diane, Duchess of Angoulême Henri, Duke of Angoulême Henri, Count of Saint-Rémi [fr]
House	Valois-Angoulême
Father	Francis I of France
Mother	Claude, Duchess of Brittany
Religion	Catholicism
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Henry II (French: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536.

As a child, Henry and his elder brother spent over four years in captivity in Spain as hostages in exchange for their father. Henry pursued his father's policies in matters of art, war, and religion. He persevered in the Italian Wars against the Habsburgs and tried to suppress the Reformation, even as the Huguenot numbers were increasing drastically in France during his reign.

Under the April 1559 Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis which ended the Italian Wars, France renounced its claims in Italy, but gained certain other territories, including the Pale of Calais and the Three Bishoprics. These acquisitions strengthened French borders while the abdication of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in January 1556 and division of his empire between Spain and Austria provided them with greater flexibility in foreign policy. Nostradamus also served King Henry as physician and astrologer.

In June 1559, Henry was injured in a jousting tournament held to celebrate the treaty, and died ten days later after his surgeon, Ambroise Paré, was unable to cure the wound inflicted by Gabriel de Montgomery, the captain of his Scottish Guard. Though he died early, the succession appeared secure, for he left four young sons – as well as a widow (Catherine de' Medici) to lead a capable regency during their minority. Three of those sons lived long enough to become king; but their ineffectual reigns, and the unpopularity of Catherine's regency, helped to spark the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants, and an eventual end to the House of Valois as France's ruling dynasty.