Francis II of France

Infobox French Royalty|monarch
name=Francis II
title=King of France; King consort of Scots, Count of Provence


caption=
reign=10 July 1559 – 5 December 1560
24 April 1558 – 5 December 1560
reign-type=Reign
Consort
coronation=21 September 1559
titles="HM" The King of France
"HG" The King of Scots
The Dauphin of Viennois
full name=
predecessor=Henry II
successor=Charles IX
spouse=Mary I of Scotland
spouse-type=Spouse
royal house=House of Valois
royal anthem =
father=Henry II
mother=Catherine de' Medici
date of birth=birth date|1544|1|19|df=y
place of birth=Château de Fontainebleau, France
date of death=death date and age|1560|12|5|1544|1|19|df=y
place of death=Orléans, France
place of burial=Saint Denis Basilica, France|Infobox French Monarchical Styles
royal name=King Francis II
Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France
dipstyle=His Most Christian Majesty
offstyle=Your Most Christian Majesty
altstyle=Monsieur Le Roi|

Francis II ( _fr. François II) (19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560, King-consort of Scotland (1558–1560), and King of France (1559 – 1560), was born at the Royal Chateau at Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, the son of Henry II, King of France (31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) and Catherine de' Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589). He was the grandson of Francis I, King of France, and of Claude of France, and the brother of Charles IX, King of France, and of Henry III, King of France.

King consort of Scots

Following the death of her father, James V, King of Scots, Mary Stuart had been crowned Queen of Scots, in Stirling Castle, on 9 September 1543, at the age of nine months. The marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of France, was arranged by Henry II of France in 1548, when Francis was just four years old. Once the marriage agreement had been formally ratified, the now six-year-old Mary was sent to France, to be raised in the royal court until the marriage.

Despite the fact that Mary Stuart was tall for her age and fluent in speech, while Francis was abnormally short and stuttered, Henry II commented that "from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time". [Guy, John, "My Heart is my Own", London, Fourth Estate, 2004, ISBN 0–00–71930–8:47]

On 24 April 1558, the fourteen-year-old Dauphin was married to the Queen of Scots in a union that would have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary's Great-Grandfather, King Henry VII of England. However, Mary and Francis were to have no children during their short lived marriage.

King of France

A year after his marriage, Francis's father, Henry II, died, and Francis, still only fifteen years old, was crowned king at Reims. The crown was so heavy that nobles had to hold it in place for him. [Guy:102] His mother, Catherine de Medici, was appointed regent, but it is considered that Mary's uncles François de Guise and Charles de Guise may have held the real power in that period.

Francis II, who had always been a sickly child, died on 5 December 1560 in Orléans, Loiret, at the age of sixteen, when an ear infection worsened and caused an abscess in his brain. He is buried in Saint Denis Basilica.

He was succeeded by his brother, Charles IX (27 June 1550 - 30 May 1574).

Ancestors

References