16th-century-french-monarchs

"De toutes choses ne m'est demeuré que l'honneur et la vie qui est saulve."

"Souvent femme varie, Mal habil qui's fie"

"A good Prince ought to make his passions subservient to the interest of his country, for all things are either good or bad for him as they regard his people; but Francis had been bred up with different sentiments from these, flattery the bane of all princes had poisoned his mind; he instead of regarding the affairs of his country, totally gave himself to pleasure, which was the reason all his military operations met with such frequent delays."

"Summitry was now reaching its premodern heyday, for reasons relevant to our larger story.Although by about 1500 several strong national states had emerged in Europe, they remained greatly dependent on their monarchs. This kind of personalized power is at the heart of summitry. One of the most famous encounters took place on the so-called Field of the Cloth of Gold in June 1520, toward the summit bringing together Henry VIII of England and François I of France. The young English monarch, whose titles still included “King of France,” had resumed the old struggle in 1512. But his advisor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey secured a truce and then arranged a summit to consummate an enduring peace. It took place on the edge of Calais, the last English enclave in France, in a shallow dip known as the Val d’Or. Both sides of the valley were carefully reshaped to ensure that neither party enjoyed a height advantage. A special pavilion was constructed for the meeting and festivities, surrounded by thousands of tents and a three-hundred-foot-square timber castle for the rest of those attending. Henry’s entourage alone numbered more than five thousand, while the French crown needed ten years to pay off its share of the cost."

"At the appointed hour on June 7, 1520, the Feast of Corpus Christi, the two monarchs with their retinues in full battle array appeared on the opposite sides of the valley. There was a moment of tense silence—each side feared an ambush by the other. Then the two kings spurred their horses forward to the appointed place marked by a spear in the ground and embraced. The ice was broken. They dismounted and went into the pavilion arm in arm to talk.Then began nearly two weeks of jousting, feasting and dancing that culminated in a High Mass in the open air. Choirs from England and France accompanied the mass and there was a sermon on the virtues of peace. n both choreography and cost, the Field of the Cloth of Gold resembles contemporary summits. In a further similarity, style was more important than substance: by 1521 the two countries were at war again. In many ways they were natural rivals, whereas Henry was bound—by marriage and interest—to France’s enemy Charles V, king of Spain. Both before and after the Cloth of Gold Henry met Charles for discussions of much greater diplomatic magnitude. And although Wolsey hoped the meeting of the British and French elites might build bridges, this soon proved an illusion. As the Cloth of Gold demonstrated, egos were everything in these summits, with each side alert to any hint of advantage gained summits by the other. Commines was implacably opposed to such meetings for this very reason. It was, he said, impossible “to hinder the train and equipage of the one from being finer and more magnificent than the other, which produces mockery, and nothing touches any person more sensibly than to be laughed at.”"

"The site where the Statue of Good Henri had been located, belongs unquestionably to this people of the French, whom he called his children, who still cherish him as their father: they wish to raise again this fine monument; I have no doubt, I am convinced that you can all be assured that such an honorable plan will receive the support of every heart, and of all the authorities, by consequence, that of the superior authority."

"Henri IV was a gifted commander who saw more potential in mounted troops than any other captain of his day and was able to derive most advantage from them in combat, despite his limited resources. His special genius for new ways of employing his mounted troops both in armament and deployment forced even recognized military figures, such as the duke of Parma, to be respectful or even fearful of his skill. The king's contribution to the tactical development of the mounted arm was not unique, for he borrowed widely from the ideas of Gaspard de Coligny, Francois de La Noue, and other soldiers of his day; yet he was innovative in the way he modified and further developed these ideas to make his mounted troops a formidable tactical force. Indeed, he had a special talent for recognizing in the military theories and practices of other commanders what would work or not work on the battlefield, and what had promise but needed some alteration to become effective. This ability, when combined with Henri's imaginative leadership, made his cavalry the envy of late sixteenth-century Europe."

"Si Dieu me donne encore de la vie je ferai qu’il n’y aura point de laboureur en mon Royaume qui n’ait moyen d’avoir une poule dans son pot."

"When the procession passed the street where Henry the Fourth was assassinated, every man paused as if by general consent: the cries of joy were suspended, and succeeded by a solemn silence. This tribute of regret, paid from the sudden impulse of feeling at such a moment, was perhaps the most honourable testimony to the virtues of that amiable Prince which his memory has yet received."

"Acceptance of Henri IV's sincerity demanded that the subject willingly abdicate any claim to participate in politics not framed exclusively by reference to the royal will and conscience. That act, more than anything else, crystallized the new relationship that later developed between the Bourbons and the Catholic élites in France during the seventeenth century. The enormous appeal of this new type of royal absolutism after the wars of religion largely rested on this call for a suspension of ethical inquiry by subjects into the king's motives and the arcana imperii of royal office. Such inquiry had come to be seen as detrimental to public order and social harmony, and therefore transgressed the bounds of legitimate public discussion. In the future, political power lay only with those who voluntarily resigned the responsible exercise of political authority to an absolute king sanctioned by a Catholic God. This simple formula and solution to the past troubles animated the Catholic élite's renewed commitment to the crown held by the converted Henri IV. In exchange for order, they embraced the new discipline that reserved the perquisites of power and status to those who participated in the cult of monarchy and the self-abnegating doctrine of service du roi. For Catholics all across France, the conversion of Henri IV at the abbey church of St-Denis on 25 July 1593 was plus que l'histoire événementielle. In it they saw at the time and for years afterwards a transcendent act of public and private redemption, an act that preserved the crown's sacred character and cleansed the king's person of the taint of heresy and moral degradation. Most importantly, the conversion of Henri IV reminded all loyal Frenchmen that they were truly among God's chosen people once they abandoned sedition and experienced a reconversion to la religion royale."

"That he finally subordinated his religious profession to his political needs is indisputable. But that he did so reluctantly and not until he had concluded in his own mind that there was no viable alternative to conversion if he were to retain his crown, is also clear. For he was a man of strong Calvinist conscience who demonstrated on more than one occasion that he was willing to defend his beliefs almost to the brink of political disaster. At the same time, however, he was a king who was as concerned with dynastic issues and affairs of state as any other ruler of his day, who felt keenly the heavy obligations of his royal role and who ultimately recognized that his personal religious beliefs must sometimes be sacrificed for the greater good of the dynasty and the realm. It is entirely possible, therefore, that the reflection of his closest counsellor, the duc de Sully, that the Huguenot monarch sacrificed an important part of his conscience to the benefit of his people is considerably less naive than historians have assumed."

"Paris vaut bien une messe."

"I rule with my arse in the saddle and my gun in my fist."

"When the duke of Savoy came to France, the king invited him to play tennis at the faubourg Saint Germain. After the game, the duke looked out of a window towards a street and, seeing a large crowd, told the king that he could never sufficiently wonder at the beauty and wealth of France and asked him what the royal revenues were worth. This generous prince, deft at handling such questions, replied, "It is worth what I want." The duke, finding this reply too vague, asked him to be more specific. The king replied, "Yes, what I want, for I have the confidence of my people and I can take what I like for, if God grant me life, I will ensure that there is not a peasant in the kingdom without a chicken in the stewpot" and added "yet I will not neglect to maintain enough soldiers to bring to reason those who challenge my authority.""

"Throughout the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830), Henri IV enjoyed a unique status in contemporary popular culture. Personification of royal authority, military hero, gallant lover, friend to the common man, this historical figure charmed many factions of the Restoration public. The widespread fascination with the monarch was manifest in virtually every form of creative production during this period, including the decorative arts. Henri IV was portrayed frequently and in a variety of media, ranging from ceramics and clocks to tapestries and printed textiles. Such diversity is indicative of the popularity of the first Bourbon as well as the range of his appeal."