Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Western Siev episode three hundred and eleven,
Speaker 1: Henri the Third. Once Catherine had composed herself after the
Speaker 1: depth of Charles the ninth, she dispatched a messenger on Rie,
Speaker 1: presently in Poland, telling him to turn around. He was
Speaker 1: now the king of France. She expressly warned her son
Speaker 1: not to delay coming back at all. She recognized that
Speaker 1: any delay would create an opening for anyone, likely her
Speaker 1: youngest son, to attempt to coop. Interestingly enough, she also
Speaker 1: sent instructions to the Poles themselves, whom she had paid
Speaker 1: sum in which she didn't want to get up. She
Speaker 1: suggested that the polls accept either her younger son or
Speaker 1: you know, maybe elect someone knew who could be supervised
Speaker 1: by a French commissioner. Now, both of these were awkward requests,
Speaker 1: to say the least, given that the Poles had not
Speaker 1: elected her youngest son to anything, and there was absolutely
Speaker 1: no precedent in any monarchy anywhere in Europe of a
Speaker 1: commissioner from another country being in charge of your king. Now,
Speaker 1: from the Polish perspective, they were fine that Henri was
Speaker 1: going home.
Speaker 2: Didn't no an issue with that.
Speaker 1: He hadn't fit in particularly well, but they did like
Speaker 1: the prestige and power that a connection to a continental
Speaker 1: superpower like France brought, and they were loath to give
Speaker 1: that up, so some negotiations were clearly necessary. Henri and
Speaker 1: Navarre and the Duke of Alacon, the youngest son of
Speaker 1: Catherine de Medici, were quick to ratify Catherine's position as
Speaker 1: regent in Henri's absence. She next moved to purchase a
Speaker 1: peace with the Huguenots in law Rochelle, at a price
Speaker 1: tag of seventy thousand livre. When Henri got back to France,
Speaker 1: then he could decide how to deal with these rebels,
Speaker 1: but for the moment, Catherine determined that France needed peace.
Speaker 1: The news of his ascension reached Henri in Poland on
Speaker 1: June fifteenth. When the news of Charles's death became public,
Speaker 1: it caused a lot of consternation in Krakou. Henry Coleman,
Speaker 1: self possessed, announced that a Polish diet had to be
Speaker 1: called for September and that he would hand the government
Speaker 1: of France over to the Queen Mother. While the Polish
Speaker 1: Assembly deliberated on how best to proceed, Poland's interest had
Speaker 1: to come first. On re reassured everyone France was, after all,
Speaker 1: in his mother's safe and experienced hands. He appeared remarkably serene,
Speaker 1: and though the less trusting nobles determined to keep a
Speaker 1: close eye on him, it was generally believed that he
Speaker 1: was going to behave honorably throughout all of this. However,
Speaker 1: beneath this false veneer of calm and patience, Marie and
Speaker 1: his advisors were actually making frantic plans for their escape.
Speaker 1: They determined that the time for this was the night
Speaker 1: of June eighteenth, only three days after the news of
Speaker 1: Charles's death had arrived. After nearly batching his escape attempt,
Speaker 1: and that's really what it was several times in the
Speaker 1: days leading up to it, Henri and his entourage managed
Speaker 1: to get out of Krakau in the dead of night
Speaker 1: on the eighteenth of June. It wasn't long before the
Speaker 1: absence of the king and much of the Polish crown
Speaker 1: jewels was discovered. However, almost immediately a troop of Tartar
Speaker 1: cavalry flew in an attempt to recapture the fleeing monarch,
Speaker 1: and at least according to our sources, the Tartis nearly
Speaker 1: got them. In fact, Henri barely escaped over the Vistula
Speaker 1: River in time, reaching the safety of Silesia moments before
Speaker 1: the cavalry got him. From there, Henri traveled in disguise
Speaker 1: until he reached Vienna. There he received a warm welcome
Speaker 1: from Emperor Maximilian the Second. While in Vienna, Henri wrote
Speaker 1: to Catherine, assuring her that he had safely made his escape.
Speaker 1: The Emperor advised Henri to adopt a policy of religious
Speaker 1: toleration once back in France, as that had worked seemingly
Speaker 1: well for the Empire. He also hoped that Henri might
Speaker 1: wed his widowed daughter, though Henri had different plans on
Speaker 1: that front, which he kept to himself. On July eleventh,
Speaker 1: fifteen seventy four, Henri reached the city of Venice, where
Speaker 1: he received a warm welcome.
Speaker 2: He spent eight.
Speaker 1: Care free days in Venice, reportedly the happiest of his life.
Speaker 1: From Venice, Henri traveled north until he reached Savoy. Now
Speaker 1: at this point, he's getting almost daily correspondence from Catherine,
Speaker 1: begging her son to hurry home. As the political situation
Speaker 1: within the kingdom continued to deteriorate rapidly. Henri ignored her,
Speaker 1: staying twelve days in Savoy. Catherine then decided to take
Speaker 1: matters into her own hands, traveling to Lee to meet
Speaker 1: with her son and almost literally drag him back to Paris.
Speaker 1: She took Alacon and Navarre with her, just to be
Speaker 1: sure they didn't perpetuate any mischief while she was gone.
Speaker 1: Once Henri reached her, the two embraced and wept. He
Speaker 1: then declared France the greatest kingdom on earth and was
Speaker 1: overjoyed to be back. Then the entourage hurried on to Paris.
Speaker 1: Now Catherine was fifty five years old when her favorite
Speaker 1: son ascended the throne. Over the years, she had willingly
Speaker 1: adopted many of the numerous new innovations of modern Europe,
Speaker 1: including tobacco. However, Catherine remains staunchly traditional when it came
Speaker 1: to the monarchy. Her son was not a first among equals.
Speaker 1: He was an absolute monarch, plain and simple. Catherine would
Speaker 1: do everything she could to keep him in that position.
Speaker 1: Her passion and capacity for work remained even in her
Speaker 1: older years, and with the ascension of her youngest but
Speaker 1: by far most confident son. I suppose the biggest question
Speaker 1: she faced was would she still be able to dominate
Speaker 1: this new king? Unlike Charles the Ninth at his ascension,
Speaker 1: are was a grown man.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There were also two competing aspects of her son's personality
Speaker 1: that deeply concerned the Queen mother. On the one hand,
Speaker 1: he was a lover of excess and frankly borderline obsessed
Speaker 1: with his mistress. On the other hand, he was an
Speaker 1: extremely devout Catholic, for whom no sacrifice to an angry
Speaker 1: God was too great. While the court of the deceased
Speaker 1: Henry the Second was remarkably discreet by Renaissance standards, the
Speaker 1: new Henry and the Third to spend his days surrounded
Speaker 1: by the splendor of his own creation. Now in September
Speaker 1: in fact of fifteen seventy four. The Spanish ambassador would
Speaker 1: later write back to Madrid that the French king spent
Speaker 1: all evening dancing and banqueting. Luckily, for Catherine and Franz,
Speaker 1: Henrie the Third was at least willingly initially to feed
Speaker 1: her advice. Many of her loyal and experienced ministers were
Speaker 1: kept on into the new reign. The king agreed with
Speaker 1: his mother that many secretaries of state had grown far
Speaker 1: too use to corresponding as they saw fit without first
Speaker 1: consulting the king Hence he decreed that he'd be shown
Speaker 1: all letters before any response was written, and personally signed
Speaker 1: the final drafts. He was, for his later faults, a
Speaker 1: hard working king. Henri also excluded by in law large
Speaker 1: the two great families of the realm, the Geeses and
Speaker 1: the Montmorencies, from major roles in his administration. For better
Speaker 1: or worse. He was determined to be his own man. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: while Audrey agreed with much of the political advice, he
Speaker 1: espoused a different view of how a monarch should handle
Speaker 1: himself and brought back with him many of the habits
Speaker 1: that he had picked up in Poland that were designed
Speaker 1: to keep him away from his kingdom's people. Now this
Speaker 1: didn't please the French people at all. He no longer
Speaker 1: took his meals surrounded by the public, but behind a
Speaker 1: low wall intended to keep the crowd from coming too close.
Speaker 1: When he ate, his gentlemen attended upon him rather than
Speaker 1: his servants. The king did permit certain individuals to approach him,
Speaker 1: but they had to ask permission first and follow a
Speaker 1: strict set of rules before engaging his majesty in conversation
Speaker 1: or lunch, as we would say, was taken around eleven
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, and a more elaborate supper in
Speaker 1: the evening, later followed by a ball or some sort
Speaker 1: of other entertainment. Meal times were no longer the milling
Speaker 1: of courtiers around the person of the king. While he ate,
Speaker 1: unlike his predecessors, Auri didn't want to live as publicly,
Speaker 1: believing that overfamiliarity was just the way that people got insolent.
Speaker 1: With the king, it offended his royal dignity to be
Speaker 1: surrounded by his most senior courtiers while he stood undressed,
Speaker 1: and he ordered that from now on now one could
Speaker 1: enter his chamber until he was clothed. Such reforms, as
Speaker 1: simple as they seem to us today, actually provoked a
Speaker 1: rather angry response, but unrestuck to them at least as
Speaker 1: long as he could, although when some nobles protested by
Speaker 1: leaving court, he was forced to relax or give up
Speaker 1: many of them, at least for the time being. In
Speaker 1: fifteen eighty five, the king would print a booklet of
Speaker 1: precise instructions on court etiquette. This actually served as the
Speaker 1: foundation for fantastically stylized manners, customs, and rituals that would
Speaker 1: later dictate court life at the palace. Of Versailles under
Speaker 1: the famed Louis the fourteenth. But of course, as usual,
Speaker 1: the biggest issue that Henri or any French king was
Speaker 1: facing during this time period wasn't court etiquette. It was
Speaker 1: the succession. For all his libertine values. He didn't have
Speaker 1: any children, hence rumors increased exponentially as to his ability
Speaker 1: to produce said children now that he was king. And likewise,
Speaker 1: of course, religious turmoil continued. The province of Languedoc was
Speaker 1: the major Protestant stronghold at this point, and Royalist efforts
Speaker 1: to bring the rebels there to heal were proving fruitless.
Speaker 1: It helped that Huguenot leaders had effectively tied the idea
Speaker 1: of religious reform the idea of political and economic reform
Speaker 1: as well, just made it easier to sell to the people.
Speaker 1: Many Huguenots were demanding that the king called the Estates
Speaker 1: General to deal with the taxation issue, amongst others. France's
Speaker 1: finances remained a mess. They really had been since Henry
Speaker 1: the second. Catherine's husband Charles, had raised taxes on just
Speaker 1: about everything during his reign, and now it seems like
Speaker 1: the population just wasn't willing to tolerate such a high
Speaker 1: level of taxation any longer. Again, I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of ways that mid sixteenth century France looks a
Speaker 1: lot like France on the eve of the Revolution in
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century. Now, making matters worse, Angrie's beloved mistress
Speaker 1: died not long after his ascension, effectively paralyzing the king
Speaker 1: with grief. But before we see how Henri deals with
Speaker 1: all this, we need to shift gears big time and
Speaker 1: bring a few major developments in England back up to speed.
Speaker 1: In fifteen seventy five, England saw a dramatic improvement in
Speaker 1: the financial condition of the kingdom. Trade was restored with
Speaker 1: the Low Countries, Spain was on friendlier terms once more.
Speaker 1: In April, Henri the Third offered to extend the Treaty
Speaker 1: of mutual Protection known as the Treaty of Lula. Elizabeth
Speaker 1: immediately accepted. Waalsingham's spies had finally infiltrated at Mary Stuart's household,
Speaker 1: and the world seemed at peace for once. On May seventeen,
Speaker 1: fifteen seventy five, Matthew Parker, Elizabeth's first and most tolerant
Speaker 1: Archbishop of Canterbury, died. This was, of course an incredibly
Speaker 1: important position in the Church of England, and considering his replacement,
Speaker 1: Cecil made one of the biggest mistakes of his career
Speaker 1: by nominating Edmund Grindle. Grindall turned out to be an
Speaker 1: incredibly strict Puritan whose prophesizings were, in the opinion of
Speaker 1: the Queen both seditious and subversive. His faults were not
Speaker 1: immediately apparent upon his appointment, but would become a matter
Speaker 1: of grave concern over the next two years.
Speaker 2: Elizabeth's relationship with.
Speaker 1: Grendell rapidly deteriorated in fifteen seventy six when she ordered
Speaker 1: him to suppress Puritanical practices of worship, which she considered
Speaker 1: to be outside or beyond the pale of the Anglican Church,
Speaker 1: and he refused, which should come as no surprise, as
Speaker 1: he was, you know, a Puritan. The Puritans, by the way,
Speaker 1: aren't a major force in England, not yet, not during
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's reign, but certainly their rise is a factor that
Speaker 1: we're going to have to bear in mind as the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century slowly comes to an end. We're talking about
Speaker 1: them quite a lot in the seventeenth century.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Essentially, the deadlock between the Queen and the archbishop was
Speaker 1: broken in fifteen seventy seven when Elizabeth simply placed Grindall
Speaker 1: under house arrest as the head Church of England. She
Speaker 1: could do that, and ordered all bishops to suppress Puritan
Speaker 1: worship herself, which, again, as head of the Church of England, she.
Speaker 2: Could do that.
Speaker 1: Grindle in the end only kept his position and probably
Speaker 1: his head, because Dudley intervened on his behalf. Back in
Speaker 1: the spring of fifteen seventy six, Elizabeth finally let the
Speaker 1: fiction kind of that she might marry the Duke of
Speaker 1: Alancan die.
Speaker 2: He's now going to be known as the Duke of Anjou.
Speaker 1: By the way, this gets a little bit confusing, but
Speaker 1: just know that Catherine de Metichi's youngest son takes over
Speaker 1: the title of Duke of Anjou after Anried becomes the king.
Speaker 1: Now during the early months of fifteen seventy seven, Walsingham's spies,
Speaker 1: now an effective force, gradually exposed a Catholic conspiracy that
Speaker 1: was mastermind by Don John of Austria, who assisted by
Speaker 1: the ever present Duke of Geese, was plotting to invade
Speaker 1: England with ten thousand troops, deposed Elizabeth and then return
Speaker 1: the Kingdom to the Catholic fold.
Speaker 2: The plan was that.
Speaker 1: Don John would then marry Mary Stuart and rule jointly
Speaker 1: with her. Walsingham, of course, urged the Queen to take
Speaker 1: punitive measures against Mary, but once again she refused.
Speaker 2: Used.
Speaker 1: She did, however, Knight Walsingham for his years of service
Speaker 1: to the state. Now, fortunately for England, Don John was
Speaker 1: far too preoccupied with affairs in the Netherlands to put
Speaker 1: his plans into effect. Now there's an aspect to elizabeth
Speaker 1: in history that I have not mentioned at all, but
Speaker 1: is certainly worth knowing about, and that is, of course discovery.
Speaker 1: The Elizabethan age was one age of discovery when it
Speaker 1: seemed like European knowledge of the world grew exponentially day
Speaker 1: by day. Spain, as we know, had by now explored
Speaker 1: and colonized large swaths of the Americas. Portugal had done
Speaker 1: the same in Africa and now in Brazil. Now new
Speaker 1: markets also meant new opportunities for pirates, and this is
Speaker 1: truly when we're starting to get into the Golden age
Speaker 1: of piracy. The most famous of these, or maybe infamous,
Speaker 1: and there were several, of course, was Sir Francis Drake.
Speaker 1: Drake on May the twenty fourth, fifteen seventy two, had
Speaker 1: sailed from Plymouth to the New World, his purpose being
Speaker 1: too exact retribution from the Spaniards who had attacked and
Speaker 1: harried his ships during earlier voyages. Fifteen months later, he
Speaker 1: returned from the Americas with a massive horde of treasure
Speaker 1: looted from Spanish ships. This was not the first time
Speaker 1: English privateers had seized Spanish treasure, but it was the
Speaker 1: greatest haul by far. News of Drake's booty and his
Speaker 1: colorful adventures soon reached the Queen, who was jubilant at
Speaker 1: the thought of how maddened King Philip would be by
Speaker 1: such blatant piracy and fascinated by Drake's exploits. Overnight, the
Speaker 1: man became famous throughout England, notorious in Spain, where he
Speaker 1: was called eld Daki the Dragon. Naturally, Spanish envoys complained
Speaker 1: to Elizabeth, but while she was vaguely conciliatory or pretended
Speaker 1: to be concerned, did absolutely nothing to stop these acts
Speaker 1: of piracy, and indeed she benefited from them, since much
Speaker 1: of the looted treasure went directly into the English coffers.
Speaker 1: At the end of fifteen seventy seven, Francis Drake set
Speaker 1: off in his ship the Pelican on what was to
Speaker 1: be an epic world voyage. His priority, however, was not exploration,
Speaker 1: but once again to bother the Spaniards who had retaliated
Speaker 1: for his seizure of their treasure by attacking English ships.
Speaker 1: There was a great deal of public interest in the venture,
Speaker 1: and Walsingham arranged for Drake to be presented to the
Speaker 1: Queen before he left. According to our records, she greeted
Speaker 1: him as follows, quote Drake, so it is that I
Speaker 1: would be revenged on the King of Spain for the
Speaker 1: diver's injuries I have received end quote.
Speaker 2: Drake answered that the most effective.
Speaker 1: Way to do this would be to prey on Philip's
Speaker 1: ships and settlements in the Indies, with which Elizabeth wholeheartedly agreed.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't all all parties and pirates in the
Speaker 1: late fifteen seventies. In March fifteen seventy eight, the most
Speaker 1: recent Scottish regent lost power and James Fourth became the
Speaker 1: King of Scotland in his own name. Just before then,
Speaker 1: in January fifteen seventy eight, news came that the Protestant
Speaker 1: Dutch armies had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands
Speaker 1: of Don John of Austria, which gave Elizabeth cause to
Speaker 1: point out to Dudley that she had been right all
Speaker 1: along about not wanting to involve England in a war,
Speaker 1: and it.
Speaker 2: Might lose instead.
Speaker 1: She now hoped to use her diplomatic influence with Philip
Speaker 1: the Second to bring about a settlement that was not
Speaker 1: only acceptable to both sides, but also to English interests.
Speaker 1: Thanks to the provocation given to King Philip by English
Speaker 1: privateers and the help supplied to the Dutch by Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: the peace with Spain was on a precarious footing, to
Speaker 1: say the least, and fears were expressed that Philip might
Speaker 1: yet invoke the Pope's interdict and make the rumored enterprise
Speaker 1: of England, that is, the invasion of England, become a reality,
Speaker 1: making matters worse. It was just when the Duke of
Speaker 1: Anjou now again this is Catherine de Medici's youngest son,
Speaker 1: raised a soon to be fruitless plan to invade the
Speaker 1: Netherlands with French troops, which was the very very last
Speaker 1: thing that Elizabeth wanted. It was under these circumstances that
Speaker 1: Elizabeth began to consider marriage again to Anjou, the youngest
Speaker 1: son of Catherine de Medici. In fact, his messenger brought
Speaker 1: a formal marriage treated to the Queen in March fifteen
Speaker 1: seventy nine. But there was still the issue of religion,
Speaker 1: and this divided Elizabeth's counsel as they debated the treaty. Sure,
Speaker 1: Anjou seemed happy to convert for Elizabeth's sake right now,
Speaker 1: but I mean, at this point he was the heir
Speaker 1: to the throne of France and therefore required to remain
Speaker 1: a Catholic. Plus Elizabeth was forty five and too old
Speaker 1: under the standards of the age to even consider having children.
Speaker 1: But in the end it didn't matter. The Privy Council
Speaker 1: rejected so many French terms that Anjou could not possibly
Speaker 1: have accepted the treaty, the fact that Elizabeth certainly knew.
Speaker 1: True to her policy, however, she continued to string the
Speaker 1: French and Anjou along, insisting she might still consider the
Speaker 1: match despite her council, if only Anjou came to England.
Speaker 1: So desperate, in fact, was Anjou that he sailed for
Speaker 1: Greenwich that August. According to all our reports, the two
Speaker 1: got along quite well despite the age difference, and for
Speaker 1: perhaps maybe the only time in her reign, it looked
Speaker 1: as though Elizabeth might not be forever the Virgin Queen.
Speaker 2: Yet this was of Courus's.
Speaker 1: State and not a personal matter it'd always been, and
Speaker 1: the reality was that the people of England were dead
Speaker 1: set against a match with France, at least at this point.
Speaker 1: In September, a Norfolk gentleman and Puritan, John Stubbs wrote
Speaker 1: a pamphlet with what's got to be the longest time
Speaker 1: in the history of the universe, and it's those whole thing,
Speaker 1: the discovery of a gaping gulf whereby England is like
Speaker 1: to be swallowed by another French marriage if the Lord
Speaker 1: forbid it not bands letting her majesty see the sin
Speaker 1: and punishment thereof. That's the title of the pamphlet. It
Speaker 1: didn't sell very well. The pamphlet was printed, though and
Speaker 1: published in London. It was widely distributed throughout England and
Speaker 1: did influence public opinion to a large extent. Elizabeth was
Speaker 1: furious beyond belief when she read the pamphlet.
Speaker 2: Later that same month.
Speaker 1: She issued a former statement condemning it well, at the
Speaker 1: same time reminding her people that she would never change
Speaker 1: her religion for marriage. Parliament was due to debate the
Speaker 1: marriage treaty on October the twentieth, but Elizabeth postponed the
Speaker 1: matter one month so that she could discuss it further
Speaker 1: with her counsel. What followed were a series of the
Speaker 1: most heated debates of her reign. Dudley and his faction
Speaker 1: opposed the marriage Cecil and his cadre were in favor.
Speaker 1: Matters went back and forth for weeks with no resolution.
Speaker 1: Yet in her heart, Elizabeth knew she could not accept
Speaker 1: the marriage treaty and keep the love of her subjects.
Speaker 1: She would never give up the ladder, so she had
Speaker 1: to reject the former. Still, in order to keep the
Speaker 1: French on her side, Elizabeth was determined to string along
Speaker 1: the negotiations as long as possible, a sport that she
Speaker 1: was now quite accomplished in. In late November, she agreed
Speaker 1: to sign the marriage contract with the proviso that the
Speaker 1: formal treaty would need to be ratified by Parliament, and
Speaker 1: she knew there was no chance of that. This would
Speaker 1: allow her the ability to say no without actually doing so.
Speaker 1: In the words of the Archbishop of York quote the
Speaker 1: French matter was dashed end quote. They just didn't know
Speaker 1: it yet. Now next week, in our episode, we stick
Speaker 1: with England because things are finally going to come to
Speaker 1: a head with May Stewart and she finally loses hers