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Henry III of France

1551–1589

Born
29 Sep 1551, Palace of Fontainebleau
Country of birth
🇫🇷Kingdom of France, today France
Died
2 Aug 1589, Château de Saint-Cloud
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facts
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Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth29 Sep 1551, Palace of FontainebleauProbable1 source
  • TitleKing of Poland, 1573–1574Confirmed2 competing claims1 source
  • TitleKing of France, 1574–1589Confirmed2 competing claims1 source
  • Death2 Aug 1589, Château de Saint-CloudProbable1 source
  • ParentCatherine de' MediciConfirmed1 source
  • ParentHenry II of FranceConfirmed1 source
  • TitleDuke of AnjouConfirmed2 competing claims1 source

A life in time

  1. 29 Sep 1551

    Born · Palace of Fontainebleau

    Birth, Palace of Fontainebleau

  2. 1573–1574

    Event · King of Poland

    Event

  3. 1574–1589

    Event · King of France

    Event

  4. 2 Aug 1589

    Died · Château de Saint-Cloud

    Death, Château de Saint-Cloud

Family

Parents

  • fatherHenry II of France1519–1559Confirmed
  • motherCatherine de' Medici1519–1589Confirmed

Spouses

  • Louise of Lorraine1553–1601Confirmed

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.

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What was it like?

The world around Palace of Fontainebleau, 1551: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Henry was King of France from 1574 to 1589.

Known for

Henry III of France was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589 and, as Henry of Valois, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. Before he came to these thrones, he was known as the Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans from 1560, then as Duke of Anjou from 1566.

Titles held

  • King of Poland1573–1574
  • King of France1574–1589
  • Duke of Anjou
Fashion
Around 1549–1549

Class-based clothing restrictions

Sumptuary laws in 1549 restricted the middle class from wearing velvet except on petticoats or sleeves, while artisans and peasants were forbidden from wearing velvet or silk entirely.

Servant girl's market clothing

A servant girl in Paris in 1586 wore a bonnet covered with a long cloth hood and a bodice that was laced at the front and trimmed with black velvet.

Music

Instruments classified by volume

In the 16th century, instruments were classified by volume: loud instruments like oboes, trumpets, and sackbuts were for outdoor festivals, while quiet instruments like lutes, viols, and spinets were for intimate indoor use.

Rise of amateur home music

While professional musicians were hired for major events, amateur music-making at home became popular among the nobility and bourgeoisie, supported by the growth of music publishing and the use of tablatures.

Getting around
Around 1550–1550

Coaches were extremely rare in 1550

In 1550, there were only three enclosed and suspended coaches in all of Paris, one of which belonged to the Queen of Francis I.

Common ways of traveling during the Renaissance

Until the mid-16th century, common travel methods included walking, riding a mule, or, for the wealthy, riding a horse.

Daily life

Segregated elementary schooling

While private tutors served noble families, elementary schools for others were church-run and segregated by gender; a 1554 decree specifically prohibited boys and girls from studying together.

Tall and narrow city housing

Ordinary Paris houses were tall, narrow structures of four or five stories, built with stone foundations, exposed wooden frames, and white plaster facades to prevent fires.

Food
Around 1550–1550

Regulated prices for bread and wine

In 1550, the price of food in Valence was officially regulated, with white bread costing 7 mailles per pound and black bread costing 5 mailles per pound. Wine was also a daily drink, with local black or red wine priced at 6 deniers per pot.

Bread and soup were dietary staples

Ordinary families based their daily diet on bread, often eaten as soup by soaking pieces in water or bouillon, alongside cereal porridges or cakes. This was frequently accompanied by a companage, which was a variety of accessible foods like vegetables, legumes, cheese, or eggs.

Prices and wages
Around 1550–1550

Agricultural worker daily wage

By 1550, an agricultural worker earned 1 livre per day.

Around 1550–1550

Meat prices in 1550

In 1550, a pound of beef cost 8 deniers tournois, while a pound of pork cost 10 deniers tournois.

Work

Calligraphers as Early Forensic Experts

Master calligraphers, recognized by the King in 1570, acted as forensics experts by comparing handwritten documents to detect forgeries.

Daily Life of Printing Apprentices

Printing press workers often worked more than 12 hours a day and were provided with a daily meal at the master's table as part of their wages.

News and letters

Letter travel time between cities

A messenger traveling from Toulouse to Paris typically took two weeks to complete the journey, then stayed in Paris for eight days to distribute and collect letters.

Messengers carried private letters for money

During this period, royal messengers were technically forbidden from carrying private mail, but they frequently did so to supplement their meager wages.

During their lifetime

  1. 1562

    French Wars of Religion begin

    The French Wars of Religion broke out in 1562, leading to immense loss of life through violence, famine, and disease that lasted until 1598.

  2. 1562

    Recurring subsistence crises

    During the wars, periodic subsistence crises occurred in 1562–1563, 1565–1566, 1573–1574, 1586–1587, and 1590–1592, causing high prices and food shortages.

  3. 1572

    St. Bartholomew's Day massacre

    The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, a violent event in Paris in 1572, resulted in significant deaths and intensified the religious conflicts.