Henri Ier de Guise dit le Balafré, born on December 31, 1550 and assassinated on December 23, 1588 at the Château de Blois, was the leader of the ultra-Catholic party during the Wars of Religion in France. He was first Prince of Joinville, then Duke of Guise (1563) and Peer of France, Count of Eu and Grand Master of France.
Henri de Guise is the eldest son of François de Guise, second Duke of Guise, assassinated in 1563 by a Protestant gentleman, and of Anne d'Este and Ferrare. He was placed under the tutelage of his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, who was in charge of his education. Concerned about his military training, the cardinal encouraged him to travel to Europe to gain experience. In 1565, he fought in Hungary against the Turks. When he returned to France, the Duc de Guise, now an adult, prepared to become the head of the house of Guise, representing the Catholic opposition against the Protestant party. This is how he actively participated in the second and third wars of Religion, alongside the Duke of Anjou (the future Henri III). He distinguished himself at the battles of Jarnac (March 13, 1569) and Moncontour (October 3, 1569) and acquired fame without, however, surpassing that of the Duke of Anjou.
Already very ambitious at the age of twenty, the Duke of Guise hoped to marry Princess Marguerite of France and thus strengthen the ties between his house and the reigning dynasty. This alliance not being to the taste of the queen mother Catherine, the marriage will not take place. Henri de Guise therefore united on October 4, 1570 with Catherine de Clèves, Countess of Eu and Princess of Château-Renault, daughter of François I, Duke of Nevers.
Some suspect Henri de Guise of having ordered the murder of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, leader of the Protestant party in 1572. The Duke of Guise would thus have wanted to avenge his father François, assassinated nine years earlier by the Huguenot Poltrot of Mere. Although he always denied having armed the arm of the killer, Coligny had publicly rejoiced in the death of the Catholic military leader who besieged Orléans during the first war of religion.
If the young duke played a role in this family vendetta, it is possible that he acted in concert, even in the shadow of his uncles, the duke of Aumale and the cardinal of Lorraine, true leaders of the house of Guess. During the night of Saint-Barthélemy, August 24, 1572, Henri is at the head of the groups which must execute the main Protestant leaders. He would therefore have had the good fortune to see Admiral de Coligny die from the window, the man he probably held responsible for the death of his father. According to some accounts, the Duc de Guise kicked the corpse of the Admiral.
Accompanied by his uncle the Duke of Aumale, Henri de Guise then pursued the Protestant leaders who, housed on the south bank, had managed to escape from Paris through an unguarded door. Henri is therefore not in the city at the height of the Saint-Barthélemy massacre. He does not return until the next day, empty-handed, without having been able to get his hands on the regicide Count Gabriel I of Montgomery, a formidable Huguenot leader.
Thereafter, the Duke of Guise continued to be the pillar of intransigent Catholicism. Following a facial wound received during the Battle of Dormans (October 10, 1575), he was nicknamed Balafré after his father. By common will with his wife, he ordered the construction of the Château d'Eu, in northern Normandy, around 1575. After the Peace of Beaulieu, he supported the Holy League - of which he became the leader - and opposed to Protestants. As such, he signed the Treaty of Joinville with King Philip II of Spain in 1582, under which the latter provided financial support to the league.
He was one of the promoters of the Treaty of Nemours (July 7, 1585) by which Henry III revoked the edict of pacification and relaunched the war against the Protestants.
During the eighth war of religion, at the head of the Catholic troops, he successively defeated the Protestants at Vimory (October 26, 1587) then at Auneau (November 24, 1587).
Returning to Paris on May 9, 1588 despite the formal prohibition of the king, he took a very active part in the day of the barricades (May 12, 1588). On the other hand, he is suspected of being in the pay of Philip II of Spain, the main enemy of Protestants in Europe, who is preparing a decisive offensive against Protestantism by sending the Invincible Armada against England on May 29, 1588. . All these threats weaken Henry III and force him to sign the Edict of Union (July 15, 1588) by which the Duke of Guise became lieutenant general of the armies of the kingdom.
On October 2, 1588, the Estates General began at the Château de Blois. The news of the failure of the Invincible Armada in August 1588 comforts the king. However, the league is in the majority and the duke begins a new showdown to overthrow the king. On December 17, 1588, Louis, Cardinal de Guise, representative of the clergy in the States General, toasted his brother the Duke of Guise, saying:"I drink to the health of the King of France".
On December 23, 1588, Henri de Guise was executed on the order of Henri III, in the latter's own room, by members of the "Quarante-five", the king's personal guard. We find on the duke this note bearing his writing:"To maintain the war in France, it takes 700,000 pounds every month". His body is burned in one of the rooms of the castle then his ashes are thrown into the Loire. The same day, his son Charles and his brother Louis, Cardinal de Guise, were arrested. The cardinal is executed in his prison the next day.
On this assassination, Pierre Matthieu composed a tragedy La Guisiade (1589). Although apocryphal, a famous historical word is continually attributed to Henry III. Seeing the body of his enemy stretched out at his feet, the king would have exclaimed:"He is greater dead than alive!"