Throughout the centuries, there have been many different acts of regicide which resulted
in the death of a monarch.
One of the most shocking was when following the English Civil war, the English parliament
condemned their own King Charles I to death and he was beheaded by axe on a cold January
morning in Whitehall outside the banqueting house.
As the axe fell there was a gasp of air from the crowd, and many believed they had wrongly
executed a man who was in fact sent by God to rule over them.
But one killing of a King that occurred in 1589 in France was when the French ruler Henry
III was assassinated.
He was a King who was plagued by wars especially with regards to religion, and he was a King
who was not expected to take the throne being the fourth son of his father Henry II.
However as mentioned a Catholic radical murdered him, but the assassin’s execution was incredibly
brutal.
Join us today as we look at the brutal execution of the man that killed the French king.
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Jacques Clement was born in 1567, and he would go down in history as the man who assassinated
King Henry III.
He was born at Sorbonnes in Burgundy, and whilst here he became a Dominican lay brother.
Across France at this time there was a huge civil war regarding religion known as the
French Wars of Religion.
It was a huge conflict between French Catholics and the Protestants known as the Huguenots,
and it lasted from 1562 to 1598.
It’s believed that between 2 to 4 million people died from the battles, violence, disease
or famine directly related to the conflict, and it had a huge effect on the power on the
French monarchy.
There had been tensions between the two religions for decades.
But during this Clement became obsessed with religion and he became fanatically devoted
to the Catholics, and he was a partisan of the Catholic League.
He viewed Protestantism as grossly evil and heretical, and at the time to be accused of
heresy was very serious.
Mary I decades before in England would burn Protestants at the stake for their heresy
and because of this she earned the nickname Bloody Mary.
In secret and with fellow Catholics, Jacques Clement began to plot to exterminate and murder
the Hugenots.
However he then crafted a bigger plan and plot to try and assassinate King Henry III
in retaliation for the killing of the Duke of Guise and also his brother.
He spoke to other members of the Catholic League, and this plan was backed by some specific
leaders in the League in eluding Catherine de Guise.
Jacques Clement was told that if he succeeded in the plot to kill Henry III then he would
be rewarded heavily, meaning if he made it out alive he would be given lots of wealth
and riches.
But if he did not, he was told he would have died for his cause and would be rewarded in
heaven.
Clement was given some letters to give to the King, and he would visit the King on the
premise of giving him this correspondence.
He left Paris on the 31st July 1589, and he reached Saint Cloud, which was the headquarters
of King Henry III, who at the time was besieging Paris.
He got there the following day, and he informed the royal guards that he had important letters
and confidential messages to deliver to the King.
Because of this the guards allowed him access to the King which was shocking.
He was led by the King and he was led to the target.
As he had a confidential message for the King, the guards and attendants of the King backed
off a little bit, and as Jacques Clement went to lean in to whisper in the King’s ear,
he had hidden behind his cloak a dagger.
To many people in that room it would have not been suspect, as a monk was wishing to
speak to the King, a man who many believed would be very peaceful.
But as he whispered to the King, he pulled out his dagger and stabbed the King, mortally
wounding him.
Henry was suffering and was writhing around on the floor, and he died the following day,
however Jacques Clement would not make it out of the royal palace alive.
Jacques Clement was set upon by the attendants and guards and he was attacked by guards holding
various weapons including halberds and swords.
As mentioned the King died the next day, but Clement was killed immediately.
However his ordeal would not be over inside the royal chambers.
To add further shame to the man who assassinated the king, a posthumous execution in which
his dead body and corpse would be subjected to a horrific ordeal.
He was first to begin with subjected to being quartered, and the French had a specific way
of doing this.
The limbs of Jacques Clement were tied to horses, and then they were driven off in different
directions, and Jacques Clements limbs were torn from his body.
But his ordeal wasn’t over, as the final remains of him were then burned at the stake
in front of a crowd to show what happened to people who committed brutal acts of regicide.
Interestingly the French King’s wound to begin with did not appear to be fatal, and
he actually was surrounded by many of his officers, in case he did not survive.
The morning of his death though was supposed to be when a new assault was launched, and
this did not take place.
Chaos also swept through his army, and the attack on Paris was postponed and many inside
of the city believed Henry’s death had been the work of God who intervened for them.
To many people, the assassination of Henry III was a horrific and brutal act and the
King’s supporters sought to avenge the killing of him.
However the Catholics and members of the Catholic League had different opinions, and to them
Jacques Clement was a martyr and he was even praised by the Pope for his brutal killing
of the King.
Some people even discussed whether he should have been made a saint, but today he is known
for being a the man that slaughtered the French King, and paid the ultimate price for his
bloody act of treason.
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