The destiny of King Henry IV
The extraordinary destiny of King Henry IV was ideally suited to the creation of a legend, but his myth as portrayed in literature and in the arts, did not develop until the 18th century: Voltaire wrote an epic poem on Henry IV, the Henriade, in 1728. As a genuine role model to the Bourbon dynasty, the monarch was so popular at the time that an iconography developed around him which was close to that of an Epinal print: a loving family father, "the Green Gallant", a sovereign concerned with the well-being of his people (the "chicken in the pot" episode). The Château of Pau and its collections continue to cultivate the legend of the "good king Henry".
