A short biography of Henri de Bourbon

Additionally, it would be interesting to have a look at the situation that surrounded the actual lords, who may have contributed for William Shakespeare to establish three character lords in his play Love's Labour's Lost. As the following web site sums up, these French nobles -  the Baron (the Due) de Biron (or Berowne), the Due de Longueville and The Due de Mayenne (or General D’Aumont) - were ‘involved in a historical struggle between Henry of Navarre… and the Catholic League’ (

http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/lllost1.html). To summarise the complex situation, it would be beneficial and efficient to have a look at a short biography of the key person: Henri de Bourbon.

Henri ‘was the son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d’Albret. On her death he succeeded to the kingdom of Navarre (1572). He took leadership of the Huguenot (Protestant) party in 1569. His marriage in 1572 with Marguerite de Valois was the occasion for the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day. Henri saved his life by abjuring Protestantism, but in 1576 he escaped from his virtual imprisonment at court and returned to Protestantism. When in 1584 Henri III named him heir presumptive, the Catholic League, headed by Henri 3rd Duc de Guise refused to recognize him and persuaded Henri III to send an army to force his conversion. In the resulting “War of the Three Henries,” Henry de Navarre defeated Henri III at Coutras (1587) but came to the king’s support in the troubles of 1588, and after Henri III’s death (1589) defeated the League forces at Arques (1589) and Ivrey (1590); he was unable to enter Paris until 1594, after he had abjured Protestantism… His war with Spain, the ally of the League, ended in 1598 with the Treaty of Vervins. In 1598 he also established religious toleration through the Edict of Nantes… In 1600 he married Marie de’ Medici, having had his earlier marriage annulled… –Columbia-Viking desk encyclopedia, 1953’ (http://www.lepg.org/people.htm).

Henri de Bourbon

For reading the text in full:  http://wrex2009.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/three-character-lords-in-loves-labours-lost/