Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"A tournament was held in Paris to celebrate the end of France's war with Spain and the marriage of French King Henry II's daughter Elisabeth to Philip II of Spain. . . . Henry II had succeeded his father, Francis I, in 1547, at the age of twenty-eight. He had married Catherine de Medicis in 1533, when they were both fourteen, and although they had eight children, including three future kings of France (Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III), it was Henry's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded influence at court. . . . On June 2, 1559, he published the Edict of Ecouen, declaring war on Protestants. He did not live to see it enacted, but it opened the way to the Wars of Religion that would divide France for forty years." [1001 Days]