King Henri III of France

425 years ago today at the chateau at Saint-Cloud King Henri III of France was assassinated by Jacques Clément. The King was the last of the Valois line, and the succession passed, not without dispute in the vexed Wars of Religion, to his cousin and brother-in-law King Henri IV.

 

King Henri III

Portrait by Etienne Dumonstier after 1578

Image:Wikipedia

There is a biography of King Henri III, who was born in 1551 and had been the elected King of Poland-Lithuania in 1573- 4 until he succeeded his brother King Charles IX as King of France on the latter's death in 1574, here. 

Having succeeded to both the Polish and French thrones on the feast of Pentecost he established in 1578 what became the premier chivalric Order of the French Crown, the Order of the Holy Ghost or Saint-Esprit. There is an illustrated account of the Order here.

Like his elder brothers and his mother Queen Catherine de' Medici, he reigned over a France bitterly divided by the Wars of Religion, and was forced to seek to negotiate with one or other, or both sides to maintain not only his own position but that of the monarchy.

Given the fraught world of the French Court in his lifetime and the political tensions that surrounded him it is perhaps not surprising that he was a complex man. The impression is of a fey young man, often assumed to be homosexual - although that interpretation has been challenged,as outline in the biographical link above - yet devoted to his wife, Louise of Lorraine. She was in turn devoted to him, and may have miscarried a child in the early years of their marriage. His behaviour does suggest the bisexual world of renaissance court culture. There is a biography of Queen Louise here. He was also notably pious in his practise of Catholicism as well as veing very much a man concerned with his appearance and fashion.

There is a galley of several portraits of the King here and discussion of his costume and appearance in an early portrait from his time as King of France here ( the English is occasionally idiosyncratic, but the content interesting).

The Orders worn by King Louis XVI

After writing my post last week about King Louis XVI it occurred to me that I could, and indeed should have said something about the Orders the King is wearing in the two portraits I included in my text.

In both paintings the King is wearing the premier Order of the French Crown, the Order of the Saint-Esprit (usually rendered in English as the Order of the Holy Ghost). It was founded in 1578 by KIng Henri III, and superceded the Order of St Michael, created by King Louis XI in 1469, as the most senior Order: thereafter Knights of the Saint-Esprit automatically received the Order of St Michael. There is a website about the Saint- Esprit here It has a few unfortunate mistranslations - such as rendering the 'Order of St Michael' as 'Michaelmas' produced by the automated system used - but is illustrated and informative.

There is another site which deals with all the French royal orders here.

In the portraits the King can clearly be seen wearing the sky blue moiree riband of the Order and the breast star with its motif of the Dove. The riband was the first to be prescribed in the statutes of an order, and is the origin of the term 'cordon bleu' as asign of honour. The Order specifically commemorated King Henri's accession to the thrones of Poland on Whitsunday 1573, and to that of France on Whitsunday 1574, and hence the use of the Dove as a symbol. It also served to recall the account of the Holy Dove bringing the Sainte-Ampoulle at the baptism of Clovis in 496, and the source of the Holy Oil used at the Sacre of the King at Rheims. The design of the breast star and badge of the Order was to be copied and adapted by nmany other orders in Spain, Sicily, Sweden and Great Britain with the badge of the Military Division of the Order of the Bath, with lions and unicorns replacing the fleur-de-lys.

Examples of the black mantles embroidered with flames worn by knights of the Order on ceremonial occasions can be seen in the Louvre. In Bernard Fay's biography Louis XVI there is a reproduction of a painting of the knights paying homage to the King. It was in his reign, in 1778, that the bicentenary of the Order was celebrated and a commemorative medallion in silver produced by P.A.F. Tardieu.

H

King Louis XVI aged 20 in 1775

King Louis XVI in 1786

In both portraits the king is wearing on his jacket the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece. I assume this is from the Austrian branch of the Order, through his marriage into the Habsburg dynasty. In the second
portrait he is wearing with it the French Military Order of St Louis, founded in 1693. The red riband of that order was copied for the Napoloeonic and later Legion d'Honneur.

The chivalric orders of the monarchy were abolished by the revolution, but restored by King Louis XVIII. Amongst the recipients in those years were Britons such as King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. After 1830 the historic Orders were not retained under the Orleanist monarchy, although ocasionally worn and bestowed by the heirs of King Charles X.

In recent decades the Order has been revived, worn and bestowed by the Dukes of Anjou in respect of their claim through descent from King Philip V of Spain. In the photograph below, which shows him and his wife the present Duke of Anjou of that line, Louis Alphonse, who would claim to be King Louis XX can be seen wearing the riband and star of the Order, as well as a collar of the Order of Malta.

Tke Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duche

In

Prince Louis Alphonse and Princess Maria Margarita, Duke and Duchess of Anjou