Charles IX of France
Charles IX ruled France during the St Bartholomew's Day massacre and died at twenty-three. Born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1550, the third son of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici, he became king at ten in 1560 when his brother Francis II died, and his mother governed as regent. The French wars of religion began in 1562, two years into his reign, and defined all of it. Catherine's policy was to hold a balance between the Catholic Guise faction and the Huguenots under Coligny, since the crown was too weak to destroy either. Charles was highly strung, physically frail — he was tubercular — passionate about hunting to the point of exhaustion, and dominated by his mother. By 1571 he had come under the influence of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the Huguenot leader, who pressed for intervention in the Netherlands against Spain and whom Charles reportedly called father. The marriage of his sister Marguerite to the Protestant Henry of Navarre in August 1572 brought the Huguenot nobility to Paris. An attempt to assassinate Coligny failed on 22 August. Two nights later, with the court fearing reprisal, the king was persuaded to authorise the killing of the Huguenot leadership. It became a general massacre: some three thousand died in Paris and perhaps ten thousand more across France over weeks. He took public responsibility, claiming it had forestalled a conspiracy, and by most accounts was destroyed by it, reportedly haunted and sleepless. He died of tuberculosis in May 1574. His brother Henry III succeeded him, and the wars continued for another twenty-six years.
- Lived: 1550 CE – 1574 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: king, head_of_state
