Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu (31 December 1550 – 23 December 1588), sometimes called ('Scarface'), was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este. His maternal grandparents were Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Renée of France. Through his maternal grandfather, he was a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia and Pope Alexander VI.
A key figure in the French Wars of Religion, he was one of the namesakes of the War of the Three Henrys. A powerful opponent of the queen mother, Catherine de' Medici, Henry was assassinated by the bodyguards of her son, King Henry III.
Early life
Henry was born on 31 December 1550, the eldest son of Francis Duke of Guise, one of the leading magnates of France, and Anna d'Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara. In his youth he was friends with Henry III, the future king, and at the behest of Jacques, Duke of Nemours tried to persuade the young prince to run away with him in 1561 to join the arch-Catholic faction, much to the fury of his father and uncle. When he was 12 years old, his father Francis was assassinated and Henry thus inherited the Duke's titles of the Governor of Champagne and Grand Maitre de France in 1563.
The Guise family and Henry craved vengeance against Gaspard II de Coligny, whom they considered responsible for the assassination. As such, he and his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine would attempt to make a show of force in entering Paris in 1564, but their entry ended with both besieged in their residence and forced to concede. When in 1566 the crown forced Charles at Moulins to make the kiss of peace with Coligny to end their feud, Henry refused to attend. He would also challenge Coligny and Anne de Montmorency to duels, but they rebuffed his attempts.
No longer welcome at court, he and his brother Charles, Duke of Mayenne decided to crusade against the Ottoman Empire in Hungary, serving under Alfonso II d'Este, with a retinue of 350 men. In September 1568 he reached his majority, just as the Guise returned to the centre of French politics with his uncle's readmission to the Privy Council.
Entry into politics
Henry took an active military role in the second and third wars of the French Wars of Religion, fighting at the Battle of Saint-Denis in 1567, the Battle of Jarnac in 1569, and successfully defending Poitiers during a siege by Admiral Coligny. He was wounded at the Battle of Moncontour.
In 1570 the third war of religion was brought to an end with the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, part of which stipulated a marriage between the Protestant Henry IV of Navarre and the King's sister Margaret of Valois as a means of ensuring stability. Around this time Henry began a romance with the King's sister, apparently with pretensions to her hand in marriage, which quickly became known around court. Upon discovering this, Margaret's brothers Charles IX and Henry, were furious, assaulting Margaret in anger. While some suggested Henry be punished with assassination, it was settled on banishing him from court for his indiscretions. On 3 October he married Catherine of Cleves, thus assuming the title of Count of Eu from her inheritance.
The August 1572 marriage between Henry IV and Margaret necessitated the presence of the majority of the Protestant leadership in Paris. Shortly after the wedding, Coligny, who had made a rare visit to the capital for the occasion, was shot in the shoulder in an attempted assassination. Henry was a chief suspect of having ordered the attempt, due to his long running feud.
As the situation in Paris deteriorated over the next several days, the royal council planned and executed a targeted elimination of the Protestant leadership in Paris, which would spiral into the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. During the massacre Henry would oversee the murder of Coligny, and attempted but failed to capture several other targets, but was displeased at the situation descending into a general massacre, shielding fleeing Protestants in his residence.
When the wars of religion subsequently resumed Henry was wounded at the Battle of Dormans, and was thereafter known, like his father, as . With a charismatic and brilliant public reputation, he rose to heroic stature among the militant Catholic population of France as an opponent of the Huguenots.
Catholic League
In 1576 he formed the Catholic League. His rapidly deteriorating relations with the new King Henry III created further conflict, known as the War of the Three Henries (1584–1588).