The assassination of Henry IV of France on May 14, 1610, in Paris was one of the most momentous assassinations in French history. The king, founder of the House of Bourbon on the French throne and known as Good King Henry, fell victim to an assassination attempt by the fanatical Catholic assassin François Ravaillac. The assassination took place during a politically tense period marked by religious conflicts between Catholics and Huguenots, as well as foreign policy tensions in Europe. Henry's death triggered a deep crisis in the French kingdom and had far-reaching consequences for the further development of France and Europe.
Background
Henry IV, originally a Huguenot and King of Navarre, ascended the French throne after the death of Henry III in 1589. In the midst of the bloody Huguenot Wars, which tore France apart between Catholics and Protestants, Henry IV faced the challenge of uniting a deeply divided country. In order to pacify the Catholic majority of the country and secure the crown, he converted to Catholicism in 1593 – allegedly with the words Paris is worth a Mass. This change made him a traitor to many Protestants, and he remained a former heretic to radical Catholics. With the Edict of Nantes in 1598, Henry IV attempted to establish religious tolerance by granting limited rights to the Huguenots. Although it ended the violence of the Huguenot Wars, the edict met with fierce resistance from Catholic hardliners, who saw it as a threat to the supremacy of the Catholic Church. At the same time, Henry's policy of strengthening France economically and consolidating the power of the monarchy drew the ire of various factions of the nobility. They saw their privileges threatened by Henry's reforms and were partly hostile toward him.
Francois Ravaillac
Francois Ravaillac was born in Angoulême in 1578 to humble parents. He initially worked as a minor provincial lawyer. Due to debts, he was imprisoned by some of his creditors. During this time, he became radicalized. After his release, he joined the Congregation of the Feuillants, but was expelled again due to his hallucinations and eccentric behavior. He tried to join the Society of Jesus, but was rejected again. He returned to his original profession as a lawyer, but was unable to secure a decent livelihood. Ravaillac was falsely accused of involvement in a murder but acquitted. Due to the debts he had accumulated for his defense, he was thrown back into prison. There he developed the delusional belief that he was destined to serve as the pope's most important protector.
Prelude
After the death of the last Duke of Jülich-Kleve-Berg on March 25, 1609, a dispute arose over his succession, as there were no direct heirs. Several European powers, including Spain and the Habsburgs, had a keen interest in this region, as it was strategically important and played a key role in controlling the Rhine areas. Henry IV saw this crisis as an opportunity to weaken Habsburg supremacy in Europe and to act as protector of the Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire. By early May, preparations for the campaign were already in full swing, and Henry had mobilized a large army.
Back in December 1609, Ravaillac had tried unsuccessfully to speak to Henry IV while he was traveling through Paris. Later, in Angoulême, Ravaillac heard rumors that the king was planning to support the Protestants in Germany against the pope. It was said that the papal legate had threatened excommunication, to which Henry allegedly replied that his predecessors had placed the popes on their thrones and that he could depose them if he were excommunicated. These rumors led to further mental instability and made him believe that it was sacrilegious to oppose the Pope. When he returned to Paris in April 1610, he spoke with the king's troops, who expressed their willingness to fight against the pope – something he found unbearable. Convinced that the Pope was God and God was the Pope, Ravaillac decided to assassinate the king. Shortly after his return to Paris, Ravaillac took a knife from an inn and kept it hidden in his pocket for three weeks while he waited for the right moment to fulfill his supposedly divine mission.
Despite his intentions, he could not bring himself to do so and decided once again to return to Angoulême. On his way there, he passed a crucifix near Étampes. The sight of Christ on the cross, crowned with thorns, struck him deeply, as if it were reproaching him for his lack of courage and loyalty. Overwhelmed by this impression, he immediately turned back and arrived in Paris shortly before the queen's coronation, which was scheduled for May 13.
Assassination
On May 14, at around two or three in the afternoon, the king had his carriage brought around, as he intended to visit the Quartier de l'Arsenal and meet with the Duke of Sully, his finance minister. He left the Louvre accompanied by the Duke of Montbazon, the Duke of Épernon, Marshals Lavardin, Roquelaure, and La Force, as well as the Marquis of Mirebeau and his chief equerry, Liancourt. There was a brief discussion between the king and Nicolas de L'Hôpital, the captain of the guard, about whether the king wanted to be accompanied by his guards, but the king declined. Instead, the king decided to travel with only a small group of nobles—some rode in the carriage, others rode on horseback, and a few walked.
As it was a pleasant day, the king decided to pull back the leather curtains of the carriage to enjoy the weather. He sat on the left side of the carriage, Épernon to his right, while Montbazon and Lavardin sat opposite them. Their route took them along the Croix-du-Tiroir, then onto the Rue Saint-Honoré, before turning onto the Rue de la Ferronnerie, a street bordering the large Saint-Innocent cemetery. Rue de la Ferronnerie was narrow and busy, and soon the carriage had to stop due to a traffic obstruction caused by a wine cart and a hay wagon blocking the way. Ravaillac had taken up position at the gates of the Louvre early that morning and had followed the carriage with the king to this point.
The royal carriage stopped opposite the office of a notary named Pontrain. At this point, most of the servants accompanying the carriage took a shortcut through the Saint-Innocent cemetery to meet up with the carriage at the end of the street. Of the two remaining servants, one went ahead to ease the traffic congestion, while the other paused to tie his garter. Inside the carriage, the king and the nobles listened to the Duke of Épernon, who read a letter that the king had given him. Henry, who had forgotten his glasses, relied on Épernon to read what was probably a memorandum from the Count of Soissons, a disgruntled nobleman who had recently left the royal court.
When the cocher tried to drive around two carts blocking the way, he swerved sharply to the left. This maneuver caused the vehicle to tip over, with the right wheel sinking into the gutter in the middle of the road and the left wheel lifting up. At that moment, Ravaillac suddenly jumped onto the wheel and stabbed the king in the chest with a knife. Henry screamed that he had been stabbed. The attacker stabbed again, and the king fell silent, mortally wounded. A third stab was made, but it missed and grazed the sleeve of the Duke of Montbazon. The attack was so quick that none of the nobles in the carriage could clearly identify the attacker. Ravaillac, however, remained motionless at the scene of the crime and allowed himself to be arrested without resistance. Meanwhile, Épernon noticed that blood was flowing from the king's mouth and covered him with a cloak. To calm the agitated spectators, he assured them that the king was not seriously injured. The carriage then rushed directly to the Louvre. However, when they arrived there, the king was already dead.
Execution
After the assassination of King Henry IV, the Paris Parliament deemed it necessary to put the murderer Ravaillac on public display. Ravaillac was tortured on May 25 and urged to tell the truth, even though he believed in his freedom and innocence. On May 27, the Paris Parliament found Ravaillac guilty of high treason against God and man, specifically for murder. He was forced to confess his crime publicly in front of the main portal of Notre Dame, where he was brought in a cart. Ravaillac was to confess that he had committed the murder and killed his ruler with two knife stabs, and ask for forgiveness from God, the king, and the law.
Ravaillac was sentenced to a cruel punishment for his crime, which included torture, being drawn and quartered by horses, burning his body, and scattering his ashes. His property was confiscated, his birthplace demolished, and rebuilding it was prohibited. His family was also severely punished: his parents were expelled from the country and threatened with the death penalty if they returned; his relatives were forbidden to bear the name Ravaillac. The court wanted to hold his entire family responsible for his actions. After the verdict was announced, Ravaillac was tortured again to find out the names of possible accomplices. However, he insisted that he had acted alone. Ravaillac was brought, bound hand and foot, to a chapel, where he confessed to two Scholars from the Sorbonne that no one had influenced or supported him. This statement remained unchanged even in the presence of the Parliament's clerk. At 3:00 p.m., he was led from the chapel to the prison gates, where other prisoners and onlookers mocked him. The loud cries drowned out the public reading of his death sentence.
Before Ravaillac went up to the scaffold, he was asked to confess the whole truth, but he repeated that he had nothing more to say. Then he asked the king, the queen, “and everyone else” for forgiveness. On the scaffold, he was cruelly tortured: the arm with which he had committed the murder was dipped in burning sulfur, his flesh was torn out with red-hot tongs, and molten lead, boiling oil, resin, wax, and sulfur were poured into the wounds. Ravaillac asked to recite the Salve Regina, a prayer to the Virgin Mary, but the crowd shouted that he did not deserve it because his soul was damned. The clerk urged Ravaillac several times to name his accomplices, but he insisted that he had acted alone.
The first part of his torture lasted one to two hours and was deliberately prolonged. In the second phase, his arms and legs were tied to four horses pulling in opposite directions. The angry crowd pulled on the ropes to help the horses. When one of the horses got tired, a spectator replaced it with his own, which broke Ravaillac's thigh bone with a powerful jerk. After an hour and a half of this agonizing ordeal, Ravaillac finally died. His body was then torn to pieces. The angry crowd attacked the remains with swords, knives, sticks, and whatever else was at hand, beating, hacking, and dragging them through the streets. Some burned the body parts, scattered the ashes, or trampled them underfoot.
Aftermath
Conspiracies
Following Ravaillac's execution, rumors began to circulate that Henry IV's assassination was the result of a conspiracy. There were many people who wanted to get rid of the king and were prepared to take whatever measures necessary to achieve this. In addition, there were even more people who would have welcomed his death, even if they were not prepared to actively participate in it. The former included Henriette d'Entragues and her father, the Duke of Auvergne and the Duke of Bouillon, the Duke of Épernon and his mistress Madame du Tillet, Concini, whom Marie de' Medici had brought with her from Italy before her marriage to the king, and the Jesuits. Épernon in particular was identified as the main suspect. He had known Ravaillac for some time and his antipathy towards Henry was well known. If he had been looking for an assassin for the king, he would most likely have found a suitable man in Ravaillac. Moreover, Ravaillac had made no secret of his intentions.