French Monarch. Born Edouard-Alexandre, a younger son of Catherine de Medici and Henri II King of France at Fountainbleau. He was created duc de Angloulême and duc de Orléans in 1560 and in 1566, duc de Anjou and was given command of the king's army during the reign of his brother, Charles IX. Reportedly his mother's favorite, she was said to have used her influence to put him forward as a candidate for the vacant Polish throne. He was elected the Polish king in May 1573. A year later, however, his brother died, and Henri abandoned Poland for France. He was crowned at Reims in February, 1575. The French Wars of Religion continued under his reign; he angered both sides of the conflict with ineffectual dealings with each. After the death of his younger brother, the Protestant Henry of Navarre, became his heir presumptive, inflaming fears of Roman Catholics. The interests of the Roman Catholic faction, under the designation the Holy League, tried to have him deposed and he responded with the assassination of the League leader, duc de Guise and his brother, the cardinal of Lorraine. The action aroused such outrage, that the king was forced to flee and take refuge with Henry of Navarre. The two men then maneuvered to lay siege to Paris, the stronghold of the traitorous League. Their plan to assault the city ended when a fanatical cleric, Jacques Clément, stabbed the king during an audience in Château de Saint-Cloud. The friar was immediately struck down by Henri's guard. The king was put under physicians' care, who initially thought the wound not serious. During the night, however, it became clear the king was mortally wounded. The childless monarch officially named Henry of Navarre his heir. His death ended the dynasty of the House of Valois which had ruled France since 1328. He was interred at the Basilica of Saint Denis, but during the French Revolution, he was disinterred, his body desecrated, and thrown into a common grave.