[Born at St. Germain-en-Laye, in France, 1518. Died in Paris, 1559.
Aged 41.]
The son of Francis I. He pursued the policy of his sire, carried war
into Italy, and strenuously opposed the House of Austria under Charles
V. and Philip II. He also took arms against England, and was bitter in
his persecution of Protestants. In his reign France recovered from
England the towns of Boulogne and Calais, the latter of which England
had held for the space of 210 years. Henry II. was an average king of
the time. He was the slave of his mistress, the celebrated Diana of
Poitiers, upon whom, and upon his favourites, he lavished his wealth; he
cultivated libertinism at Court, he robbed the people, he overstepped
his legitimate rights, and he left his country largely in debt.
Historians thank Providence that it was no worse. This monarch died of
an accidental wound, in a tournament, from the hand of Montgomery, the
chief of his Scotch guards.
[From a marble in the Louvre, by Jean Goujon. A very interesting
relic, formerly part of a beautiful chimney-piece brought from the
Château de Villeroy, and now in the Louvre, the work of Germain Pilon.
No 302A is from the marble by Germain Pilon, the celebrated sculptor
of the French Renaissance. The marble is very much decayed, but the
general character of the head is preserved, as well as the costume.
The head is crowned with laurel. The mantle is ornamented with the
fleur-de-lys, and the Order is that of St. Michel. The magnificent
tomb of this king in St. Denis is by Pilon.]
302A. HENRY II. _King of France._