Charles IX (1550-1574)

A ball at the court of King Charles IX of France (attributed to Dutch painter Frans Pourbus, 1571). Charles IX's reign was marked by religious wars and intrigues. At his court, however, he encouraged literature and the arts, and was patron of Pléiade, a literary group dedicated to the advancement of French literature.

A painting by French artist François Clouet (c. 1520-1572) of the French king Charles IX as a young man. Born in 1550, Charles reigned from 1560 to 1574. Franćois Clouet succeeded his father Jean (c. 1485-1541) as court painter in France.

King of France from 1560. Second son of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici, he succeeded his brother Francis II at the age of ten but remained under the domination of his mother's regency for ten years while France was torn by religious wars. In 1570 he fell under the influence of the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny; alarmed by this, Catherine instigated his order for the Massacre of St Bartholomew, which led to a new religious war.