HENRY III of France (1551-1589); fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de 'Medici. After a period of military success in religious wars; in 1573 he was elected King of Poland and left France to Krakow. After just a year; the death of Charles IX in 1574; he returned to France; leaving the Polish crown adventurously and without the consent of the Diet; and was succeeded to the throne. He found a France more than ever divided between the forces of the Holy Catholic League of Henry of Guise; the royal faction and Protestant at the head of Henry of Navarre. The period of new battles then took the name of "the war of the three Henrys"; and ended with the murder of Henry III at the hands of the League monk Jacques Clement; died without a male heir; the last of the Valois; the throne passed to Henry Bourbon of Navarre; who finally had allied with the forces of the king. Representation inspired by the portrait painted by Fran鏾is Clouet in 1581. Lithography colored; nineteenth century France