House of Foix

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 47. Chapters: Countesses of Foix, Counts of Foix, Counts of Marsan, Henry IV of France, Henry II of Navarre, Henry IV of France's succession, Marguerite de Navarre, County of Foix, Margaret of Valois, List of Co-Princes of Andorra, Jeanne d'Albret, Germaine of Foix, Countess of Foix, Anne of Foix-Candale, Antoine of Navarre, Isabella, Countess of Foix, Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix, John I, Count of Foix, Joan of Artois, Countess of Foix, Eleanor of Navarre, Catherine of Navarre, Françoise de Foix, Charles Louis, Count of Marsan, Charles, Count of Marsan, Joanna of Aragon, Countess of Foix, Gaston, Count of Marsan, Camille, Prince of Marsan, Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, Gaston III, Count of Foix, Joan, Heiress of Navarre, John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne, Esclarmonde of Foix, Roger-Bernard II, Count of Foix, Matthew, Count of Foix, Marie of Orléans, Viscountess of Narbonne, County of Bigorre, Margaret of Foix, Gaston IV, Count of Foix, Catherine of Foix, Countess of Candale, Francis of Navarre, Roger IV, Count of Foix, Raymond-Roger, Count of Foix, Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec, Gaston II, Count of Foix, Margaret de la Pole, Ermesinda of Bigorre, Bernard-Roger, Count of Bigorre, Margaret of Foix-Candale, Roger-Bernard I, Count of Foix, Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale, Gaston of Foix, Prince of Viana, Peter of Foix, Diana of Foix. Excerpt: Henry IV (13 December 1553 - 14 May 1610), Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before ascending the throne in 1589. Before his coronation as King of France at Chartres, he changed his faith from Calvinism to Catholicism and, in 1598, he enacted the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants, thereby effectively ending the civil war. One of the most popular French kings, both during and after his reign, Henry showed great care for the welfare of his subjects and displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the time. He was assassinated by a fanatical Catholic, François Ravaillac. Henri de Bourbon was born in Pau, the capital of the French province of Béarn. His parents were Queen Jeanne III and King Antoine of Navarre. Although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother; Jeanne declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre. As a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion. On June 9, 1572, upon Jeanne's death, he became King Henry III of Navarre. Henry III on his deathbed designating Henri de Navarre as his successor in 1589. It had been arranged, before Jeanne's death, that Henry would marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. The wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre began in Paris and several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed. Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and promised to convert to Catholicism. He was made to live at the court of France, but escaped in early 1576; on 5 February of that year, he formally abjured C