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@terrortrans hii I didn’t want this to be an ask cause I don’t like how asks format themselves but here’s the henrilouise infodump ♥️

Bats my eyes at you. Before we jump into why I love them so much, I’m going to give you a quick rundown of who everyone is just for the sake of understanding cause it’s a little bit complicated. Everyone is connected.

First of all: Catherine de’ Medici.

Catherine was the queen of France from 1547 until 1559, when her husband the king (Henri II) died from an infected wound. I could talk about Catherine forever, but what you really need to know is that she was the mother of Henri III (the Henri in henrilouise) and was a very commanding and controlling sort of mother to her other children, seeing them as pawns she could use to further her political agenda and keep the Valois family in charge of France. Henri was her favorite child (her nickname for him was mes chers yeux or my dear/beloved eyes– sound familiar?), and so Henri was really able to get away with a lot more than his siblings were.

And with that, meet Henri III (fun fact, his birth name was Alexandre-Edouard!):

Henri III… gonna try to keep this quick. Henri was the fourth son of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici. Because he had three older brothers, he was not expected to inherit the French throne when he was born. In 1573, when Henri III was 22 years old, he was elected as the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Because they could just do that, I guess? So Henri ruled Poland for about a year. In 1574, when his brother Charles IX died of tuberculosis (some will say he was poisoned. No he wasn’t 😭), Henri was summoned back to France: he was next in line for the throne. That’s so barebones what I just wrote there but TRUST me I could talk about just him for an entire post. Anyway. He’s king of France! The only thing he needs now is a queen. And he has just the woman in mind…

Louise de Lorraine-Vaudemont!!!

Louise de Lorraine was the daughter of a wealthy man who was related to the French Guises, a family that was against the Valois rule. Her mother died when she was young, and her father remarried a woman who was very kind to Louise and cared for her. Sadly, when her stepmother died, Louise’s father’s next wife was cold and impersonal towards Louise, giving privileges that should have been given to Louise to her own daughters. Due in part the mistreatment at the hands of her stepmother (which her father did nothing to stop), Louise grew up to be very mild-mannered, gentle, and humble. She loved the arts and she loved animals, and she’s my favorite ever. Hashtag my louilise…

And now FINALLY… henrilouise <3

I freaking love them. They’ve taken over my heart, taken over my mind…I love them because they loved each other on all accounts. They met for the first time when Henri was on his way to Krakow to become the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Louise was at a ball held in his honor. Henri saw Louise from across the room and requested to be introduced to and dance with her. He spent the whole night with her, and was reportedly very charmed by how sweet she was. For the rest of his stay in Nancy, where Louise lived, Henri “rarely left her side.”

Like… love at first sight central… it’s very cinderella (and you know how I feel about cinderella 😊) + fun fact if you’ve ever seen Ever After… this next part actually inspired some of the movie! Hashtag my Louise!

When Henri found out he was to be the next king of France, he also knew that his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, would immediately try to set him up with a wife. He wanted to avoid this, and he knew just who to choose. A messenger was sent to Nancy, and spoke with Louise’s father most of the night explaining Henri’s decision. (This next detail is so cute I love Louise so much…) Anyway. The next morning, Louise had overslept. When her stepmother came into the room to wake her up and curtsied to her three times (Ever After throwback…), Louise thought it was a joke and that she was in trouble for staying in bed too long. Come to find out, she had just been proposed to by Henri!!

Louise (of course) accepted, and three days later, Louise left for Reims, where Henri was going to be crowned king. Apparently, she hardly seemed to acknowledge that her position had been raised, and her humility regarding her marriage was reportedly surprising and endearing to Henri.

The day after Henri’s coronation, their wedding was to take place. And I think this next story is just really cute..Henri designed Louise’s wedding gown himself (along with other outfits for the wedding). The two of them got ready for their wedding together, and Henri arranged and sewed jewels to her dress himself. Louise enjoyed the attention, and was very patient as he insisted on arranging her hair himself. He took so long getting the two of them ready for their MORNING wedding that they had to move the wedding to the evening 😭😭

I can just picture him being like “oh wait what if we do this instead? And move that there” and Louise just like “oh i’d love to thank you but it’s getting late? No pressure but this has to be the last one we try okay” and henri all like “oh yeah for sure. This is going to be the one I just know it” and then they’re in the room for 2 more hours. I love them dearly.

The two of them really loved animals, and Henri in particular was a big fan of dogs. He is said to have had a flat sort of basket tray that he would carry around with a few small dogs in it. He especially was fond of spaniels and a breed of dog that was like a precursor to a bichon frise.

I read somewhere that they “held hands all the time in public”, and while i can’t find a single other source for this information, we do have this tapestry where they are holding hands!!!

And that’s really beautiful because I had looked at this tapestry countless times before deciding to draw it, and it was only on close examination where I was like “what is that white lump by their hips?” that I realized THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS!!! IN THIS TAPESTRY!!! It’s especially special because there really aren’t that many artworks in this time period with couples holding hands… and it’s just more evidence of the love they had for each other. The way she’s holding his hand, it looks like she’s looking for reassurance he is more than happy to provide. He looks happy to hold her hand.

And like. A lot of people don’t even care about Louise de Lorraine– what reason do they have to pay attention to her? She was a quiet woman who did not get involved in any sort of scandal, and she was generally beloved by all who knew her. Additionally, women in history are too often overlooked. When her female contemporaries were such exciting figures as Catherine de’ Medici, Marguerite de Navarre, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots… Louise tends to fade into the background, especially considering who her husband was.

Henri III’s reputation is… interesting, to say the least. Today, he’s the subject of debate. Rumors dating back to his lifetime imply that he was homosexual, but as he was not a beloved king, it is hard to distinguish fact from fiction. What we do know is that Henri had a cabinet of around 20 male favorites, called mignons, to whom he granted special privileges. This became the subject of court gossip, and while it is an intriguing concept, there is no real evidence of him ever engaging with any of them romantically or sexually. Henri was also known for incorporating women’s fashion into his own outfits, with one source scorning him and his court for “adorning their hair with velvet caps, as do the women in brothels!”

There is more rumor in that vein, but for the sake of readability I’ll put the cap on it there and move towards the evidence for the opposite. We know that Henri truly loved Louise– and we also know that Henri had multiple mistresses. I’ve read a lot of very well-written essays on this topic, too many to properly summarize, ask me abt them if you want em!!

How does this connect to henrilouise? Well, before I had done more research, I must admit I was very enamored (and even amazed) by the concept of their relationship in general. If Henri was gay, and Louise loved him as much as she did (and she really, really did), there was a tragedy inherent in their story. Henri would be hiding that part of himself (even from himself), while Louise struggled with her inability to capture his attention the way she hoped. As my perception has changed and I have learned more about Henri, I have realize that their relationship was likely more strained than I had originally been making it out to be. I think Louise still pined after Henri and cherished any attention he gave her (and we know how loyal she was to him), but Henri has become more awful the more I learn of him. He’s become more of a problematic fave than ever. Still, it’s rare to find royalty, especially in this time period, who truly loved each other when they were married. Henrilouise is the exception.

I just have one more thing to tell you about before I go, and it’s the story that originally interested me in 16th century France in general. My villain origin story, some might say. Except it’s not a story about me. It’s the story that will feature in my villain origin story. Yeah.

Anyway. The year is 1589. Religious tension in France between the Catholics and Huguenots is at an all-time high, and Henri is travelling to convene with ambassadors to hopefully help ease these tensions. On the morning of August 1, 1589, a man enters Henri’s camp, claiming to have a message meant for the king only. Henri asks his guards to step away so he may hear the message privately, and the man steps closer to Henri, whispering in his ear while stabbing him in the abdomen. The man is detained, and is found to be a monk by the name of Jacques Clement, a member of a Catholic group against Henri III’s rule. Henri dictates a letter to Louise, informing her of the events that had occurred that day. While the majority of the letter was dictated and written by Henri’s secretary, Henri wrote Louise a message in his own hand at the bottom of the letter:

“M’Amye– I hope soon to be well. Pray God for me, and do not leave the place where you now are!”

Henri was suffering from the stab wound, which soon became infected. Because of its location in his abdomen, his intestines had been perforated and stuck out from the wound. He died at 4am on August 2nd, 1589.

I am not sure when Louise learned of Henri’s death, but I do know that Louise did not receive the letter until A WHOLE YEAR after Henri’s death. God. I can’t even imagine.

After reading the letter, Louise chose to take his last written words to heart. She was living in the Chateau de Chenonceau at the time, and as his final written words were “pray for me, and do not leave the place where you now are”, she did just that. Louise spent the final years of her life in mourning, falling into a deep depression. She had the chapel connected to the castle eternally set for a funeral service, ordered that the castle be redecorated all in black and silver, commissioning tapestries embroidered with skulls and bones. Louise dressed all in white, one of two mourning colors for queens, for the rest of her life, earning her the nickname of “The White Queen”. She spent most of her time in her bedroom, which was painted all in black with gray and silver decorations painted onto the walls, depicting such solemn symbols as gravedigger’s shovels, executioners’ rope, looping branches of thorns, and cornucopias eternally spilling silver tears. I had the opportunity to visit the Chateau de Chenonceau last summer, and was able to visit Louise’s bedroom. It was incredibly sobering. The literal darkness of the room only added to the solemnity of the place, and once I left, I could not help but wonder if Henri would have felt the same if it had been Louise instead of him.

That’s why I started looking into Henri and Louise in the first place. I wanted to know if their love was true. I wanted to know if they really, genuinely cared for each other. I think it’s safe to say that they truly did. I love them so much.

also #art dump (there’s more but I can’t find my pictures in my photo roll 😔)

THANK YOU SM I LOVE YOU FOR READING THIS I HOPE YOU LOVE THEM…

#maia.txt #lastvaloisposting #henri iii #louise de lorraine #louise of lorraine #16th century #henrilouise #mutuals 💛#believe it or not I have so so much more to say. but I thought this was sufficient…#< girl who wants to write SOOO much more 😋

Графиня де Монсоро

Генрих и вечно голодный Шико. Арт, нарисованный на др Генриха, поэтому здесь торт)

#графиня де монсоро #la dame de monsoreau #генрих третий #шико #henri iii #chicot #art #artwork #artists on tumblr #digital art #books #alexandre dumas

My mom said "come on Chicot, put your head on his shoulder.... don't you see how upset he is :( "

#I disagree. annoy him more because he doesn't deserve you #this show is killing me #la dame de monsoreau #henri iii #chicot #Графиня де Монсоро #reg art #dumas #artists on tumblr #alexandre dumas

At the age of 21, he was nominated as a candidate for the throne of the new Republic of the Two Nations and was elected. His reign was short-lived, for upon hearing of his brother’s death (who had left no male heir), he abdicated his kingdom to succeed him on the throne of France.

#royaume de france #maison de Valois #royaume de Pologne #Henryk Walezy #król Polskie #roi de Pologne #Henryk V #Henrikas Valua #grand duc de Lituanie #Henri III #roi de france #vive le roi #Duc d'Anjou #kingdom of france #kingdom of poland #House of Valois