1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from house

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,760
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

3
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,120
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm de Blaine and Chuck Rewarding,

4
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 1: and we're about to deliver on a threat of sorts

5
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: that I think you made Sarah on an earlier episode,

6
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,360
Speaker 1: depending on you look at it, depending on how we'll

7
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 1: look at it, as a promise, and it was to

8
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,760
Speaker 1: do a Bourbon series. And of course we're not referring

9
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,920
Speaker 1: to the beverage there when we say Bourbon, we're referring

10
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:38,519
Speaker 1: to exciting series. Indeed, yes, maybe not as lengthy, but

11
00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,920
Speaker 1: we're referring in fact to France's House of Bourbon, a

12
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 1: family that ruled the country from fifty nine until sevento

13
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,519
Speaker 1: and the French Revolution began, and they became one of

14
00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: the most powerful ruling families in Europe, and their influence

15
00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: eventually extended into places like Spain and Italy. The first

16
00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 1: Bourbon king, however, was Henry the Fourth, and it's kind

17
00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,280
Speaker 1: of a good time to talk about him, and the

18
00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,440
Speaker 1: reason behind that is right up our alley. In December,

19
00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:10,600
Speaker 1: researchers formally identified Henry the Fourth's head and you might

20
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,000
Speaker 1: kind of wonder how this all came about. But the

21
00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 1: head has apparently been held in private collection since it

22
00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,360
Speaker 1: disappeared in sevente which is of course when during the

23
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:26,800
Speaker 1: French Revolution, revolutionaries dug up bodies and guillotine to them,

24
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 1: you know, just to add to the gore um that

25
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,960
Speaker 1: happened two hundred years after the king was even assassinated,

26
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: So a delayed beheading indeed, exactly, And as Sarah just mentioned,

27
00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: it's been kind of bobbing around in several private collections,

28
00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:43,399
Speaker 1: which we were talking about earlier. Like to think of

29
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 1: it bobbing. I don't like to think about bobbing. And

30
00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:51,640
Speaker 1: also wondering who owns these private collections of heads of monarchs.

31
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,960
Speaker 1: We would like to know anyone has any insight the

32
00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,640
Speaker 1: mystery of this podcast one of the many mysteries. So

33
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,440
Speaker 1: they have this head. They've been testing it for about

34
00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,360
Speaker 1: nine months or so, and from examining it and using

35
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,600
Speaker 1: some various scientific strategies like radiocarbon dating which helped them

36
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,960
Speaker 1: to figure out the likely date of death, and digital

37
00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,200
Speaker 1: facial reconstruction to figure out what the mummified had actually

38
00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,280
Speaker 1: looked like when it was alive. All the signs have

39
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 1: kind of pointed towards Henry the Fourth. Yeah, so that

40
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,120
Speaker 1: brings us to the question, how did this ruler, who

41
00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,080
Speaker 1: is considered one of France's best love monarchs, He was

42
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,560
Speaker 1: even called Henry the Great? How did he come to

43
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,080
Speaker 1: lose his head in the first place? Yeah? Why was

44
00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 1: he assassinated? Exactly? Well, as usual, we're going to begin

45
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:40,760
Speaker 1: at the beginning and tell you a little bit about

46
00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,080
Speaker 1: where Henry the Fourth came from. Henry the Fourth was

47
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,400
Speaker 1: born Henry de Bourbon, Navarre in fifteen fifty three, and

48
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,480
Speaker 1: he's often just called Henry of Bourbon or Henry of Navarre,

49
00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,079
Speaker 1: and his parents were Antoine de Bourbon, who was the

50
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,240
Speaker 1: Duke of Vendome and Jean deal Brett, who is the

51
00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,320
Speaker 1: Queen of Navarre from fifty five. And nave Are is

52
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,960
Speaker 1: kind of in an interesting position here. It's an independent

53
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,959
Speaker 1: kingdom located around the Pyrenees, which is the border between

54
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,600
Speaker 1: France and Spain, and Henry was heir to that throne.

55
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,560
Speaker 1: Heir to Navarre through his mother, but he also had

56
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 1: a claim, sort of a distant claim, but acclaimed nevertheless

57
00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,280
Speaker 1: to a much more powerful throne right on his father's side.

58
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,079
Speaker 1: He was at that time in the only direct line

59
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,839
Speaker 1: of descent from Francis Compecian kings. And in case you're

60
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,200
Speaker 1: not kind of up to speed on your French monarchy knowledge,

61
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 1: here's the deal with the whole Compecian kings and lineage thing.

62
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,320
Speaker 1: The House of Cape was the source of Francis so

63
00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,280
Speaker 1: called third race of kings, and the House of Bourbon

64
00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,040
Speaker 1: was a branch of that. Basically, when the direct Cape

65
00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,200
Speaker 1: line died out, though the House of Valois, another branch

66
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,080
Speaker 1: of the family, prevented the Bourbons from actually taking over

67
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,400
Speaker 1: the throne because the Valois were the only ones who

68
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,520
Speaker 1: could provide a male heir at that time. Even though

69
00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,640
Speaker 1: the connections of said mel air were pretty distant, the

70
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,680
Speaker 1: Bourbons were more closely related to this direct line exactly,

71
00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,560
Speaker 1: they only had girl airs to offer. But there's a

72
00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 1: rule that the vow law continued to invoke and they

73
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,560
Speaker 1: kind of continue to do that throughout um and it's

74
00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,960
Speaker 1: called the Salic law of secession, which basically means that

75
00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,559
Speaker 1: that the throne has to pass down through male heirs only.

76
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,359
Speaker 1: And they kept this up because it legitimized their entire rule,

77
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,000
Speaker 1: and they had a rule for it went on for

78
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,960
Speaker 1: quite some time exactly. It eventually comes back to bite them,

79
00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,320
Speaker 1: but it works in their favorite this time. So as

80
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,440
Speaker 1: a result of this Salic law of succession, it seemed

81
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: pretty unlikely that Henry would ever become King of France

82
00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 1: because Catherine de Medici and the reigning king had three

83
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,000
Speaker 1: sons before he was even born, and they continued to

84
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,920
Speaker 1: have sons. But there's actually a bigger issue than all

85
00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,039
Speaker 1: of these young boys being ahead in line to the throne.

86
00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:04,960
Speaker 1: Hen is a Protestant. Yes. Um around his childhood was

87
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,360
Speaker 1: pretty much the beginning of a long period of civil

88
00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,480
Speaker 1: war between the Roman Catholics, which included the royal family

89
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 1: and the Protestants or Huguenot forces, and Henry's dad started

90
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,159
Speaker 1: off fighting on the Protestant side, but then he switched

91
00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,640
Speaker 1: and was killed by the Protestants in battle. His mom, though,

92
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,400
Speaker 1: stayed die hard Protestant, and this made a huge impression

93
00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:27,800
Speaker 1: on him in his formative years, and it's also the

94
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,320
Speaker 1: reason why people kind of questioned the sincerity of some

95
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,560
Speaker 1: of his later decisions. So his mother also had a

96
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,840
Speaker 1: pretty big influence on his education and his training too.

97
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,240
Speaker 1: She made sure that he got a strong military education,

98
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,120
Speaker 1: and then she further that by having him groomed under

99
00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,800
Speaker 1: leaders of the Protestant forces like a sparred to calling me.

100
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 1: And it all paid off because Henry ultimately did distinguish

101
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:56,480
Speaker 1: himself in battle. He proved to be a very capable soldier. Yes,

102
00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 1: so he participated in that civil war between the Protestants

103
00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,120
Speaker 1: and the Catholic and then a period of peace occurred,

104
00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 1: ever so briefly in fifteen seventy and a lot of

105
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,839
Speaker 1: people hoped that the civil war was over, and to

106
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,200
Speaker 1: strengthen that ideal, Catherine de Medici arranged a marriage between

107
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,680
Speaker 1: Henry and her daughter Margot of val Wa. Yeah, and

108
00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,000
Speaker 1: that's something that Katie and I talked about in one

109
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: of the Catherine de Medici episodes. It was called the

110
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:24,640
Speaker 1: Scarlet Nuptials because unfortunately, this marriage that was to unite

111
00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,280
Speaker 1: the two competing houses, the two competing religions sort of

112
00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,680
Speaker 1: finally bring peace to France, ends in this terrible masker

113
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,039
Speaker 1: in which all these Protestants are murdered. It's um. It

114
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,360
Speaker 1: puts a damper on the festivities, definitely. It was called

115
00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:46,279
Speaker 1: the St. Bartholomus Day massacre. And after that, King Charles

116
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,760
Speaker 1: the Night forced Henry to convert to Catholicism and basically

117
00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:51,880
Speaker 1: detained him at court for a few years, since he

118
00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,680
Speaker 1: knew that Henry of Navarre wasn't serious about this conversion well,

119
00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,080
Speaker 1: and that he might be a champion of the Protestant

120
00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,360
Speaker 1: cause if he's out and about right. As soon as

121
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,760
Speaker 1: Henry escapes, though, in fifteen seventy six, he recants and

122
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,520
Speaker 1: he joins up with the combined forces of Protestants and

123
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,160
Speaker 1: Catholic rebels against Henry the Third, who had come into

124
00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 1: power at that time. They didn't fare so well, though,

125
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: they actually had to surrender in fifteen seventy seven, but

126
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,280
Speaker 1: a few years later something else happens. Henry the Third's brother,

127
00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:25,280
Speaker 1: Francois actually dies in fifteen eighty four, which makes Henry

128
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,800
Speaker 1: of Navarre next in line for the throw. Yeah, so

129
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:32,040
Speaker 1: that's the last valoas Air is dead, and with Henry

130
00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,920
Speaker 1: the Third not having any sons of his own, it

131
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,640
Speaker 1: seems like Henry of Navarre could become king, and that

132
00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: does not make some people happy at all, not at all.

133
00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,520
Speaker 1: The possibility of a Protestant king, usually a French monarch

134
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,880
Speaker 1: bears the title of the most Christian king. It's an

135
00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,640
Speaker 1: impossibility essentially for many people right. They were outraged. The

136
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,600
Speaker 1: Pope actually excommunicated Henry and declared that he had no

137
00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,760
Speaker 1: right to inherit the crown, and a group called the

138
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,240
Speaker 1: Holy League sometimes referred to as the Catholic League, which

139
00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 1: was headed up by Henry, Duke of Gee, was set

140
00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,720
Speaker 1: up specifically to keep him from ascending to the throne.

141
00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,679
Speaker 1: But this is where things start to get a little rocky, because,

142
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 1: in an effort to carry out their goals, the League

143
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,840
Speaker 1: starts to rely on Spain, which is of course the

144
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,440
Speaker 1: historic enemy of France and that poses a major threat

145
00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,640
Speaker 1: to French independence. But in the beginning, Henry the Third,

146
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,680
Speaker 1: who is uh the Sunless King, is too weak to

147
00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,480
Speaker 1: oppose the League. He's not in a position um to

148
00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,440
Speaker 1: to do anything about it, right. So this leads what's

149
00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 1: known as the War of the Three Henry's which I

150
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 1: think is the best name for war ever, and occurs

151
00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,920
Speaker 1: mainly in southwestern France. So they're out of Paris now,

152
00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: the League basically starts to get more and more control

153
00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 1: over Paris um. Henry of Navarre, though, really gets to

154
00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,960
Speaker 1: shine here. He shows his ability to lead and he

155
00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,480
Speaker 1: manages to defeat eventually the King's army at to Coutra

156
00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:04,079
Speaker 1: around the same time, though, the League accepts the daughter

157
00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:07,520
Speaker 1: of Philip the Second of Spain and Elizabeth of Valois

158
00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:09,720
Speaker 1: is the next heir to the French throne. So this

159
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 1: is kind of a big deal. Yeah, it's definitely a

160
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:17,760
Speaker 1: big deal. It's essentially putting France's future in Spain's hands,

161
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,160
Speaker 1: and Henry the Third is not okay with that. Um.

162
00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:27,400
Speaker 1: It just seems against what he believes in and he

163
00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:32,000
Speaker 1: would rather support his family ultimately than support this plot

164
00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,800
Speaker 1: and support France. Yeah, exactly, And so he has the

165
00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:40,240
Speaker 1: Duke of Geese assassinated in December, and at that point

166
00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,760
Speaker 1: Henry the Third the King joins forces with his old

167
00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,960
Speaker 1: enemy Henry of Navarre to take back Paris from the League.

168
00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:52,440
Speaker 1: They try to, but unfortunately, Henry the Third, the last

169
00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,600
Speaker 1: of the Valvas line, is assassinated in August first nine,

170
00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,680
Speaker 1: and this is before they actually have a chance to

171
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,800
Speaker 1: to take back Paris full from the League. He has

172
00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,040
Speaker 1: no son, as we mentioned, so before he dies he

173
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:09,760
Speaker 1: names Henry of Navarres his successor. Definitively. Yeah, but that

174
00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,120
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's clear sailing for Henry of Navarre, because

175
00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: a lot of people still opposed him, so he literally

176
00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:18,840
Speaker 1: had to fight his way to the throne, and it

177
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,640
Speaker 1: took years and years to do so. Uh. He was

178
00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: winning victories in the provinces and the outlying territories and

179
00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,479
Speaker 1: some of the other cities, but he couldn't get Paris

180
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:32,600
Speaker 1: out of the League's hands with their Spanish alliances. Um.

181
00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,440
Speaker 1: And that was what he was struggling to do, right,

182
00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,160
Speaker 1: And the League threatened to set aside Salek Law again,

183
00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,360
Speaker 1: this law that had governed the monarchy for so long,

184
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:47,400
Speaker 1: and have a Spanish infanta declared queen. So Henry decided

185
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,160
Speaker 1: to convert to Catholicism again for the second time on

186
00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:55,679
Speaker 1: July three. He just wanted the fighting to be over. Basically,

187
00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,880
Speaker 1: he didn't want the Spanish threat to French independence to

188
00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,199
Speaker 1: come in and he also was ready to be have

189
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,640
Speaker 1: this over with. Yeah, and around that time, eventually the

190
00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:09,240
Speaker 1: Catholics started to accept him, and on March twenty fifteen

191
00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,120
Speaker 1: ninety four, he was finally allowed into Paris again. Um.

192
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,319
Speaker 1: And of course, one of the things Henry is most

193
00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:20,160
Speaker 1: famous for is the alleged comment Paris is well worth

194
00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,000
Speaker 1: a math, which obviously most people take that as an

195
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,080
Speaker 1: indication he may have been less than sincere about his

196
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 1: conversion right, but sincerity aside, there are a lot of

197
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,160
Speaker 1: reasons why Henry was considered an effective ruler and why

198
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,480
Speaker 1: he's remembered as one of the most popular kings of France.

199
00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,000
Speaker 1: He ended nearly forty years of religious strife in April

200
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,560
Speaker 1: of fifteen ninety eight when he signed the Edict of Nance,

201
00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,000
Speaker 1: and this confirmed Roman Catholicism as the state church. But

202
00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,800
Speaker 1: it also granted a lot of rights to Protestants as well. Yeah,

203
00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,400
Speaker 1: and I mean he wasn't just I guess part of

204
00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:56,480
Speaker 1: the beauty of his reign is that when you got

205
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,080
Speaker 1: a certain measure of religious peace, you could focus on

206
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,440
Speaker 1: other things as well. All and he worked to eliminate

207
00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,240
Speaker 1: the national debt and create a reserve and develop agriculture,

208
00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 1: introduced the silk industry to France up and encouraged the

209
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 1: manufacture of products in France like tapestries and items that

210
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,840
Speaker 1: were usually imported from other countries. He also beautified Paris.

211
00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 1: For example, he built the Great Gallery of the Louver,

212
00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,040
Speaker 1: which at that time was still a royal residence, so

213
00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,400
Speaker 1: he lived there. And he also seemed to be generally

214
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,480
Speaker 1: a likable guy. He was smart, funny, brave, pleasure loving.

215
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,320
Speaker 1: Maybe related to that, he was also very big with

216
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,280
Speaker 1: the ladies. His physical lur earned him the nickname the

217
00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,559
Speaker 1: green Gallant, which you probably it's one of the main

218
00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,080
Speaker 1: things you hear him referred to as today. May have

219
00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,000
Speaker 1: been curious about that from our title. True, and because

220
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,640
Speaker 1: of his many lovers, he was sometimes also called lovert galant,

221
00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,160
Speaker 1: which translates to the gay old spark. Yeah. I feel

222
00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,640
Speaker 1: like a little something is lost in translation there, but

223
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,160
Speaker 1: I don't know. Um. He had several very well known affairs,

224
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,640
Speaker 1: one with Gabrielle Destre, one with Henriette de Balzac d'antrag

225
00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:11,240
Speaker 1: and one with Charlotte. And we were talking about Gabrielle

226
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,120
Speaker 1: Destrey some She's an interesting lady, may be worthy of

227
00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 1: her own podcast at some point. Um. An interesting combination

228
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 1: of bravery and beauty. I would say, indeed. Um, But

229
00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,760
Speaker 1: people considered Henry maybe not so wise when it came

230
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,360
Speaker 1: to his relationships with women. And one thing we should

231
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:34,920
Speaker 1: consider he is still married to Margot during all this time. Yeah, Margot,

232
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,840
Speaker 1: who is childless. They never had a child together. She

233
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 1: refuses to annul their marriage as long as his lover,

234
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 1: Gabrielle de Straw is still alive. Um. Eventually she does, though,

235
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,400
Speaker 1: after Gabrielle dies and she allows their marriage to be

236
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,040
Speaker 1: annuled so that Henry can marry Marie de Medici in

237
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,440
Speaker 1: sixteen hundred. But Margot is still a very interesting character

238
00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,000
Speaker 1: in herself. Yeah, she said to have had an affair

239
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,000
Speaker 1: with the Duke of Geese, an early affair. Um. She

240
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,320
Speaker 1: actually got in a lot of trouble with her brothers

241
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:11,760
Speaker 1: over that. Um. She was known for licentious behavior and

242
00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,680
Speaker 1: um still though, stuck by her husband and tried to

243
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,440
Speaker 1: stick up for him with her family promote him with

244
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,320
Speaker 1: her brother Francis. Um. You know she was looking out

245
00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,600
Speaker 1: for his interest because she knew her own work tied

246
00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,680
Speaker 1: to his. Definitely didn't always work out in her favor though.

247
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,720
Speaker 1: Her brother Henry the third actually banished her in fifteen

248
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: eighty six, so she wasn't allowed to be in Paris anymore.

249
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,280
Speaker 1: She was eventually allowed back into Paris in sixteen o

250
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 1: five and apparently lived in high style there and had

251
00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 1: many many affairs at which she may have written about

252
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:45,760
Speaker 1: in her memoirs. I haven't read her memoirs of you,

253
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,400
Speaker 1: Sarah no I have it, But I think she got

254
00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,560
Speaker 1: to live in a pretty queenly fashion. She's she's struck

255
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,360
Speaker 1: a sort of Anne of Cleave's type deal, you know

256
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 1: where if she could live as the queen's sister with

257
00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,240
Speaker 1: all the all the luxuries of being queen, with out

258
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,600
Speaker 1: all the responsibility, she got to keep retitled too, right,

259
00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 1: she did. Um, So, Henry the fourth, though he's not

260
00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,760
Speaker 1: having such a luxurious time, at least compared to his

261
00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,680
Speaker 1: former wife Margo. Yeah, well, he may have been having

262
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,880
Speaker 1: a luxurious time, but he wasn't getting it easy, that's

263
00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,960
Speaker 1: for sure. He before he was killed on May fourteen,

264
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,320
Speaker 1: sixteen ten, he lived through a couple of assassination attempts,

265
00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,920
Speaker 1: both by Catholics, and one of them was sort of

266
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,760
Speaker 1: serious though. He was visiting Gabrielle de Straw when a

267
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,320
Speaker 1: guy named John Chaste, a law student who had been

268
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,360
Speaker 1: taught by Jesuits, stabbed him in the lip with a knife.

269
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,880
Speaker 1: And a scar left by this attack was actually one

270
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,080
Speaker 1: of the things that helped researchers identify that mummified head

271
00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,600
Speaker 1: that we referred to earlier in this conversation. Um, I

272
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:51,400
Speaker 1: think that's so interesting that your scars can be preserved

273
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:57,520
Speaker 1: so well. Yeah, but um, but the man who finally

274
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,200
Speaker 1: killed Henry was Francois Ravaillac, who was a thirty two

275
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,400
Speaker 1: year old man who had come from a professional family

276
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:10,880
Speaker 1: that had fallen dramatically into a bigger status. Um and well.

277
00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 1: He's often described as a religious fanatic or a devout Catholic,

278
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,360
Speaker 1: maybe even sometimes described as a monk. A lot of

279
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:23,840
Speaker 1: people think that he just had severe mental issues and

280
00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 1: that was what drove him to assassinate the king, not

281
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,480
Speaker 1: his religious fervor. Right, He was really religious and had

282
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,480
Speaker 1: in fact, at one point joined a really strict Cistercian

283
00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,920
Speaker 1: order of monks, but he was expelled only after about

284
00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,800
Speaker 1: three to six weeks of being with them because he

285
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:44,400
Speaker 1: was supposedly having visions and generally having experiences such as

286
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:48,200
Speaker 1: smelling sulfur, which was traditionally associated with the devil that

287
00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,320
Speaker 1: they didn't approve of at all, So kind of showing

288
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:56,080
Speaker 1: signs early on of those mental issues, saying unhinged. Yeah,

289
00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,760
Speaker 1: but interestingly, he's kind of an opportunist when it comes

290
00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,639
Speaker 1: to assassinating the king. He stabs Henry in Henry's carriage

291
00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 1: while the king was on the way to take care

292
00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:11,040
Speaker 1: of some military matters. Yea, the streets were so crowded. Apparently,

293
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,720
Speaker 1: Henry the Fourth's mounted escorts on his carriage had to

294
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,760
Speaker 1: ride ahead. Some of his footmen decided to walk ahead

295
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,360
Speaker 1: of the carriage until the congestion had sort of passed,

296
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:24,680
Speaker 1: and Raviuk took this opportunity to reach into the coach

297
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,480
Speaker 1: window with a long knife and stabbed the king twice.

298
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,520
Speaker 1: And supposedly he didn't even really make a huge effort

299
00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:33,240
Speaker 1: to get away after that, but he just sort of

300
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,520
Speaker 1: stood around exactly, and they apprehended him, but they didn't

301
00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,480
Speaker 1: kill him immediately. They wanted to question him, and they

302
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,959
Speaker 1: did end up questioning him for several days because they

303
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:43,280
Speaker 1: wanted to find out if he was part of a

304
00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:47,920
Speaker 1: larger plot. Yeah, they couldn't believe that this one guy

305
00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,720
Speaker 1: from this beggar class family had hatched this whole plan himself,

306
00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,840
Speaker 1: but up until the end he maintained that it was

307
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,560
Speaker 1: just his idea. He was ultimately pulled apart by four

308
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,560
Speaker 1: horse this, but he insisted that he worked alone, and

309
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:05,640
Speaker 1: he did it because he thought that Henry was out

310
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 1: to get the pope exactly, And some people still wonder

311
00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,800
Speaker 1: if it was a conspiracy but who could have planned it.

312
00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,879
Speaker 1: One option is the Jesuits. They seem to get blamed

313
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,639
Speaker 1: for a lot of things in our podcast as it

314
00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,000
Speaker 1: turns out, um, but they had recently been allowed back

315
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,480
Speaker 1: into France after being banned for a while, so they

316
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:28,240
Speaker 1: were one sort of suspected group. But other people actually

317
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,159
Speaker 1: think it could have been the king's wife, Marie, because

318
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,879
Speaker 1: she became regent after his death and cast aside a

319
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,000
Speaker 1: lot of his policies, particularly those involving Spain, and she

320
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,440
Speaker 1: even married their son Louis the thirteenth, to a Spanish princess,

321
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,440
Speaker 1: so you never know, or just a guy who thought

322
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,840
Speaker 1: the pope was in danger. So even though some people

323
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,199
Speaker 1: may have benefited in certain ways from Henry's death, the

324
00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,639
Speaker 1: overall population was upset about it, and the mood was

325
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,159
Speaker 1: one of sadness, and he was mourned pretty intensely a

326
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:04,520
Speaker 1: long time. For eighteen days, he had a hundred low

327
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,800
Speaker 1: masses and six high masses said per day for his soul,

328
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:13,359
Speaker 1: and three sculptures were commissioned to make the king's bust

329
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,520
Speaker 1: from a death mask. Um. And this is so bizarre,

330
00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:23,360
Speaker 1: but one of the resulting sculptures, which was the considered

331
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,880
Speaker 1: the most lifelike, was actually served two meals daily by

332
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 1: the king servants as if he were still alive. Yeah,

333
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,920
Speaker 1: apparently this is an ancient custom that symbolized the continuity

334
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,199
Speaker 1: of the monarchy. So basically only when the king was

335
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,359
Speaker 1: buried was his household dissolved. That's how they saw it.

336
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,000
Speaker 1: So that was the reason for it. But yeah, yeah,

337
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,880
Speaker 1: I guess. So he wasn't buried until June, so over

338
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,280
Speaker 1: a month after he was killed, and at that time

339
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,800
Speaker 1: his son Louis the thirteenth sprinkled holy water on his

340
00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,920
Speaker 1: body and there was a procession and a huge requiem mass.

341
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,920
Speaker 1: He wasn't actually buried until June twenty if so over

342
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,200
Speaker 1: a month after he was actually killed, and his son

343
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,040
Speaker 1: Louis at that time sprinkled holy water on his body

344
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,240
Speaker 1: and there was a huge procession and a requiem mass,

345
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,480
Speaker 1: and then he was buried in the Basilica of Sant

346
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,080
Speaker 1: Deni with all the other French kings. But of course

347
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,680
Speaker 1: we know now all of these monarchs were dug up

348
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:23,440
Speaker 1: by French revolutionaries in the late seventeen hundreds, and many

349
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: were mutilated and dumped into mass graves somehow or another.

350
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 1: Henry's head avoided that fate, was removed from its body

351
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:39,840
Speaker 1: and preserved entering collections, became a collectible. It must have

352
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 1: been embombed pretty well, though, not just because he was

353
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 1: buried so long after his death, but because even today

354
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: the head if you look, you can see pictures of

355
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 1: it online. His head still has hair, parts of internal organs,

356
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,720
Speaker 1: his brain. In fact, his brain contents are still there.

357
00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: It basically looks like a brown leathery covering over looks

358
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,439
Speaker 1: like a head and exposed portions of skull. Yeah, a

359
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: weird head, but head. In fact, they couldn't get a

360
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: clean DNA sample off of this head though, and I

361
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: presume if the head as exhumed and handled by tons

362
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 1: of French revolutionaries a mob probably would have a lot

363
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,119
Speaker 1: of DNA and the random collectors of course, but they

364
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,400
Speaker 1: were able to analyze the embombing substance and then compare

365
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 1: it to historical records of how kings were embombed during

366
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 1: that time, and that was one of the things that

367
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 1: helped them confirm who it was. They also have one

368
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,439
Speaker 1: of the molds of Henry the Fourth's face that was

369
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,000
Speaker 1: made after his death, the ones that we referred to earlier,

370
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,639
Speaker 1: and it matches up with their facial reconstruction that they made,

371
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,679
Speaker 1: so two pretty strong clues in additions to ones that

372
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,920
Speaker 1: we mentioned before. And so now they've confirmed that it's him,

373
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 1: and his head will be reinterred this year at Sant

374
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 1: Deny with full state honors, and I guess to further

375
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 1: honor him, will be talking about his descendants. So, you know,

376
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,479
Speaker 1: thus begins the Bourbon series. You should definitely send us

377
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:08,320
Speaker 1: your suggestions for favorite bourbon monarch's favorite, Louis favorite, Louise's favorite.

378
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,640
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, there's a way to work with

379
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,640
Speaker 1: their um, but don't limit it to Louise. I mean,

380
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,560
Speaker 1: we have we have monarchs across Europe and they might

381
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 1: find more heads in the future. They might. They have

382
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 1: decided that since they were able to identify Henry the

383
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,879
Speaker 1: Ford said, they will get others now perhaps, so you know,

384
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,520
Speaker 1: maybe we'll have some other news news items to go

385
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,399
Speaker 1: along with our Bourbon series hopefully. So if you have

386
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: any good Bourbon ideas, feel free to email us a

387
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,359
Speaker 1: history podcast at how stuff works dot com. We're also

388
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 1: on Twitter at mist in History, and we're on Facebook,

389
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,919
Speaker 1: so all good ways to reach us. Definitely, and if

390
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 1: you'd like to learn a little bit more about the

391
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 1: formal royal residence of Henry the Fourth. We had an

392
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 1: article called how the Louver Works. You can look it

393
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 1: up by visiting our homepage and typing in louve at

394
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: www dot how stuff works dot com. For more on

395
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works

396
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,399
Speaker 1: dot com. To learn more about the podcast, click on

397
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 1: the podcast icon in the upper right corner of our homepage.

398
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,680
Speaker 1: The How Stuff Works iPhone app has a ride. Download

399
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 1: it today on iTunes, m