Francis II of France

Francis II was the eldest son of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. He was born in 1544 at the Château de Fontainebleau, where he was baptized and knighted by his grandfather Francis I. He became the Dauphin of France in 1547, when his grandfather died and his father became king. He was married in 1558 to Mary Stuart, the young queen of Scotland and niece of the powerful Duke of Guise. Francis and Mary were both 14 years old at the time of their marriage. Francis became king of France in 1559, after his father died from a wound he received in a joust. He was also king of Scotland by right of his wife. His short reign was marked by the first conflicts of the French Wars of Religion, between Catholics and Protestants. Francis was a devout Catholic and relied heavily on his wife's uncles, the Guise brothers, who were the leaders of the Catholic faction. They opposed the influence of the Huguenots, led by Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and supported by Francis's distant cousin, Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre. Francis faced several challenges during his reign, such as the conspiracy of Amboise in 1560, an attempt by some Huguenots to kidnap him and overthrow the Guises; the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560, which ended the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland and recognized the authority of Mary's Protestant half-brother James Stewart as regent of Scotland; and the Estates General of 1560-1561, which tried to find a peaceful solution to the religious crisis. Francis died in 1560 at the age of 16, after suffering from an ear infection that spread to his brain. He was buried at the Basilica of St Denis, alongside his father. He had no children with Mary, who returned to Scotland after his death. He was succeeded by his younger brother Charles IX, under the regency of their mother Catherine de' Medici.