Francis II of France (19 January 1544-5 December 1560) was King of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560, succeeding Henry II of France and preceding Charles IX of France.
Biography[]
Francis at the Siege of Calais
Francis was the eldest legitimate son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, the younger half-brother of Sebastian de Poitiers, and the older brother of princes Charles and Henry. In 1558, he married Mary, Queen of Scots, to whom he had been betrothed from a young age, in a political move engineered by his father so that Mary and Francis could claim the throne of England upon the death of Mary of England, which occurred that same year. However, France was unable to help the Catholics of Scotland against the Reformation in the country, leading to the breakdown of the Franco-Scottish alliance. Francis' marriage was also complicated by his and his wife's periodic rivalries and indiscretions; their betrothal had briefly been cancelled in favor of Mary marrying Sebastian, who was nearly legitimized before the Pope reject King Henry's request. In 1559, King Henry was killed in a jousting accident, leading to the young Francis assuming the throne at the age of fifteen. Francis was controlled by his wife's uncles from the House of Guise, who were staunch supporters of Catholicism during the leadup to the French Wars of Religion. Francis died of meningitis in 1560 at the young age of 16.
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