Henry is chosen to be king

A young French prince was chosen by the Polish ‘szlachta’ in the first ‘free election’ to become the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In France the young man was seen as a very clever politician and administrator, as well as being an intelligent and well educated young royal. Perhaps it was for these reasons that he was seen as a promising monarch for the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania.  He did not, however, speak Polish and at the very outset of his reign, as a condition for him to become king, Henry was asked to sign the so-called Henrician Articles, a set of rules for the young king to follow – rules that limited his powers as a monarch and deprived him of the possibility of passing on the throne to his descendants.

The king who ran away

The king was often depicted in the history of Poland as an eccentric. He shocked with his choice of clothes and looks, his love of parties and what some would probably call his ‘foreignness’. It was no wonder that after five months, when his brother died and the French throne became available to him, he simply ran away under the cover of night and never came back again, though till the end of his days he retained the Polish royal title. He did praise one thing about Poland. He liked the sewage system and the toilets in the castle of Wawel for such a such a system was then little known in France.

He did become in 1574 the King of France. And the Polish szlachta convened to choose another king for their empty throne.

Illustrations:

Attributed to Étienne Dumonstier, Henry III of France in Polish hat, circa 1580-1

Jan Matejko, Henryk III, Walezy, 1893

Coins: Henryk Walezy ½ ecu d’or 1587, Gabinet Numizmatyczny Damian Marciniak

Louis Boudan, Coat of arms of Henry III of France with the royal coat of arms of France, Polish Eagle, and Lithuanian Vytis (Waykimas), 17^th-18^th centuries