She guided the fragile, neurotic Charles IX through his troubled reign, frequently overriding his panicked decisions. When her last surviving son, Henry III, became king in 1574, Catherine remained his closest advisor, traveling across France to quell rebellions and negotiate with hostile nobles.
Her attempts to hold together a disintegrating kingdom ultimately failed to secure a long Valois future—after Henry III’s assassination in 1589, the dynasty ended. Yet without Catherine’s relentless efforts, the monarchy might have collapsed decades earlier.
Catherine’s Death and the End of the Valois
Catherine died on January 5, 1589, at the age of 69, exhausted by a lifetime of political and personal stress. Just months later, Henry III was assassinated by a fanatic monk, ending the direct Valois line. The throne passed to Catherine’s son-in-law, Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV and the first Bourbon king.
Ironically, Henry IV would finally bring peace through the Edict of Nantes in 1598, granting substantial toleration to Protestants—something Catherine had tried, with limited success, to achieve through decades of fragile compromises. shutdown123