born Dec. 31, 1550
died Dec. 23, 1588, Blois, France
French leader of the Catholic party and the Holy League during the French Wars of Religion .
When Catherine de Médicis turned to the Guises in 1572 for help in removing the Huguenot Gaspard II de Coligny , Henri, who blamed Coligny for the murder of his father, the 2nd duke de Guise , helped plan the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day . Fearing Guise's growing popularity, Henry III made peace with the Huguenots in 1576, and Guise angrily countered by forming the Holy League . After Guise's victory in the War of the Three Henrys (1588), Henry was forced to surrender to the Holy League's demands, and Guise was appointed lieutenant general of France. Soon afterward the king's bodyguard stabbed Guise to death; the next day his brother, Louis II (155588), Cardinal de Guise, was also murdered.