Francis II of France
1544 – 1560 · Generation XXIV · King of France
Francis II of France (1544–1560). King of France. Married Mary Stuart in 1558. He came to the French throne at fifteen after his father, Henry II, was fatally injured in a jousting accident, and through his wife Mary he was also King of Scotland. Though legally of age, he left the business of ruling to Mary's uncles of the House of Guise, to whom his mother Catherine de' Medici handed the reins — committed Catholics who nonetheless proved powerless to aid their co-religionists in Scotland, where the Reformation advanced and Scotland's old alliance with France dissolved. At home, the religious tensions that would soon tear France apart in the Wars of Religion were already gathering in his brief reign. He died of an ear infection in December 1560, and two of his brothers followed him on the throne in turn.
Partners
- Married Mary Queen of Scots (1542 – 1587) in 1558
Life
- 1544 — Born
- 1558 — Married Mary Stuart
- 1560 — Died