Henry III of France
Stabbed on 1 August 1589 at Saint-Cloud by the Dominican friar Jacques Clement, the last Valois king died the next day.
Overview
Henry III reigned during the French Wars of Religion, caught between Protestant Huguenots and the militant Catholic League led by the Duke of Guise. After the League drove him from Paris in 1588, Henry had Guise and his brother the Cardinal of Guise killed at Blois in December 1588, enraging Catholic opinion. He then allied with the Protestant heir Henry of Navarre to besiege Paris. Jacques Clement, a young friar inspired by League preaching, gained an audience at Saint-Cloud by claiming to carry letters and stabbed the king, who died the following day. Henry of Navarre succeeded as Henry IV, founding the Bourbon dynasty, and was himself assassinated in 1610.
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