CHARLES IX

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 921 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CHA-CHR

CHARLES IX . (1550-1574), king of France, was the third son of

Henry

II. and Catherine de 'Medici. At first he bore the title of duke of Orleans. He became king in 156o by the death of his brother Francis II., but as he was only ten years old the powerwas in the hands of the queen-mother, Catherine. Charles seems to have been a youth of good parts, lively and agreeable, but he had a weak, passionate and fantastic nature. His education had spoiled him. He was left to his whimseven the strangest and to his taste for violent exercises; and the excesses to which he gave himself up ruined his health. Proclaimed of age on the 17th of August 1563, he continued to be absorbed in his fantasies and his hunting, and submitted docilely to the authority of his mother. In 1570 he was married to Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of

Maximilian

MAXIMILIAN
MAXIMILIAN (1832—1867)

II. It was about this time that he dreamed of making a figure in the world. The successes of his brother, the duke of Anjou, at Jarnac and Moncontour had already caused him some jealousy. When Coligny came to court, he received him very warmly, and seemed at first to accept the idea of an intervention in the Netherlands against the Spaniards. For the upshot of this adventure see the article ST BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE OF. Charles was in these circumstances no hypocrite, but weak, hesitating and ill-balanced. Moreover, the terrible events in which he had played a part transformed his character. He became melancholy, severe and taciturn. "It is feared," said the Venetian

ambassador

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

, " that he may become cruel." Under-

mined

MINED

by fever, at the age of twenty he had the

appearance

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

of an old man, and night and day he was haunted with nightmares. He died on the 3oth of May 1574. By his mistress, Marie Touchet, he had one son, Charles, duke of Angoule"me. Charles IX. had a sincere love of letters, himself practised poetry, was the patron of Ronsard and the poets of the Pleiad, and granted privileges to the first

academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

founded by Antoine de Baif (afterwards the Academic du Palais). He left a

work

WORK

on hunting,

Train

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

; de la chasse royale, which was published in 1625, and reprinted in 1859.

End of Article: CHARLES IX

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CHA_CHR/CHARLES_IX.html">
CHARLES IX
</a>

(Previous)
CHARLES IV

(Next)
CHARLES JAMES

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email