Henry III (king of France)

The early and teens of Heinrich Valois

The young prince was educated by famous people of his time - Francois de Carnavalet and Bishop Jacques Amyot , famous for his translations of Aristotle . In his youth, he read a lot, readily led discussions about literature, took rhetoric lessons, thrilledly danced and fenced, knew how to charm with his charm and elegance. Fluent in Italian (which he often spoke with his mother), he read the works of Machiavelli . Like all nobles, he early began to engage in various physical exercises and later, during military campaigns, showed good dexterity in military affairs.

Heinrich's personality and behavior sharply set him apart in the French court. And later, upon arrival in Poland, they caused a cultural shock among the local population. In 1573, the Ambassador of Venice in Paris, Morisoni wrote about the prince’s luxurious clothes, about his almost " ladies delicacy ", about his earrings in each ear. “ He was not satisfied with one earring in each of them - he needed double ones decorated with precious stones and pearls ... ” Increasingly, opinions about the homosexuality of the Prince of Anjou, who received the nickname “Prince of Sodom,” began to be heard and passed on.

Catherine herself, who loved Henry more than the rest of her children, dreamed of leaving him the royal crown. However, for this mother had to work hard. Somewhere at the age of 9, Henry became interested in the Huguenots and gradually draw closer to their world, calling himself a "little Protestant." Moreover, he began to attach Margaret to Protestantism (which later had decisive consequences for the history of France). He sang Huguenot songs, did not observe Catholic rites and even tried to break the statue of St. Paul. However, being brought up at the Catholic court, he could hardly seriously believe that everything would remain so. Taking her son in hedgehogs, Catherine for three years managed to knock out of him Huguenot's views and turn into a zealous Catholic.

The relationship between King Charles and Henry was somewhat strained. Karl did not like his brother and was very afraid of him as a contender for the throne.

Heinrich Valois military and political career

Through the efforts of Catherine and the Chancellor of France Michel de l'Opital , her like-minded person, the Edict of Tolerance of January 17, 1562 was published, designed to lay the foundations of freedom of conscience and national reconciliation. However, the efforts of the Queen and the Chancellor failed thanks to the Giza, the leaders of the ultra-Catholic party. Francois de Guise staged a massacre in the town of Wassi .

Matrimonial subtleties of the French court

Henry and Bartholomew's Night

Henry - King of Poland

Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth, Sigismund II Augustus died - the last king and grand duke of the Jagiellonian dynasty . In addition to the one-year-old daughter of Barbara Voronetskaya, who survived out of wedlock, he had no other children. The question of succession arose sharply. Once again, Catherine and Karl were given the opportunity to make their beloved son king and send their “beloved brother” away. In 1572, the embassy of Jean de Balagni set out for the court of Augustus with the proposal to extradite the unmarried sister of the king Anna Jagiellon ( Infanta ) for Prince Henry. However, Balanyi was not allowed to the court, and he had to return to France with nothing. Interrex (that is, the king of the transitional period) was elected Bishop Yakub of Ukhansky . Soon, immediately after the death of Sigismund Augustus, a new French emissary, an experienced diplomat, Jean de Montliuc , bishop of Valence , father of the legendary de Balagni and a supporter of the Huguenots arrived in Poland.

Monluck left Paris on August 17, 1572 . The events of Bartholomew’s night shocked the whole Polish society to the core. Like, however, some other nations. Sharply condemned the massacre of the Huguenots, Tsar Ivan Vasilievich (in the same year, canceling the oprichnina). Unless, the Spanish king Philip II laughed for the first time in his life, learning about the Paris massacre. The secretary of the bishop de Montluk, Jean Chouassin, reported to Paris: " They do not even want to mention the names of the king, queen and prince of Anjou ." Nevertheless, the embassy of Montluk undertook a propaganda campaign in order to whitewash Henry completely. The bishop published an exculpatory letter in French in Krakow - which many Poles, to the surprise of the French, were fluent in. It was stated that the prince not only did not participate in the organization of the Night , but also opposed it in every way. When she came, he tried to stop the bloodshed and even harbored the Huguenots.

No efforts of Monluck Poles convinced. Already after the election, the crown treasurer Jerome Buzhensky advised the bishop not to even try to convince society again that the prince “ did not take part in the massacre and is not a cruel tyrant, ” because this will lead to the fact that “ rather, he will have to fear his subjects, rather than subjects - his . " The election of the new king of Poland took place on April 5 - May 10, 1573 , in Prague , on the right bank of the Vistula , opposite Warsaw , under the village of Kamen, which today is part of the capital. In addition to Henry, the main candidates for the throne were:

• Archduke Ernest of Habsburg , son of Emperor Maximilian II
• Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (was not against marrying Anna Jagiellonka, but put forward a number of obviously unacceptable conditions, so his chances were very small)
• King of Sweden Johan III Vase , husband of Katerina Jagiellonian , sister of Sigismund Augustus
• Semigrad Prince Stefan Batory

The election, in essence, was a struggle between Habsburg supporters and their opponents. More than 50 thousand people arrived at the Diet to vote. First, a presentation of candidates was held, which was made by the ambassadors. Then, on April 5, a vote passed, in which the French prince won a landslide victory. A few days later, representatives of the prince swore an oath on his behalf on the so-called Heinrich articles , approved here, at the Sejm, on May 20. They included a list of rights of both the elected king and his subjects. And, in fact, like the constitution, they determined the relationship between the royal power and the people. Articles guaranteed the preservation of gentry privileges. They also recorded the most important point on succession to the throne. The king can only be elected and has no heirs.

In contrast to the Articles , which remained unchanged under any monarch, the Pacta conventa adopted at the Sejm already referred directly to the new king. It dealt mainly with succession issues. Henry undertook to pay off all the debts of Sigismund Augustus, to ensure that Polish youth receive education in Paris, to expose several thousand infantry soldiers against Ivan the Terrible, to pay 450 thousand zlotys annually from the personal treasury to the Polish treasury, to send the French fleet to the Baltic Sea, and to ensure the construction of the Polish fleet.

A special embassy went to France with the aim of notifying the Prince of Anjou about his election as king of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania and taking an oath of agreement with him from the above documents. And then, as soon as possible, arrange for the arrival of the new king in Poland. Contrary to expectations, this mission was very long. Mainly due to some provisions of the Articles and Covenants .

In the end, both brothers, Karl and Henry, agreed with all points and on September 22, 1573 put their signatures on all the papers brought. After that, Henry was officially presented with a document confirming the fact of his election to the Polish throne. September 10 in the Notre-Dame de Paris, Henry was proclaimed king.

December 2, 1573 from Blamont ( Lorraine ) Henry set off on his journey. Traveling to the borders of Poland took two whole months. The royal train consisted of 1200 horses, carts with luggage and carriages with court ladies and girls of easy virtue. The path ran through Heidelberg, Torgau, Frankfurt, which Henry traveled without undue haste, and after numerous meetings, receptions and conversations on January 24, 1574 entered Poland. In the Puddle of the King, Prince Jerzy Brest of Piast awaited the king, who further accompanied Henry to the Polish border. The border was safely crossed to Miedzyrzeczeci, where the king was greeted by the bishop of Kuyavia with the governors. Then the entire cavalcade moved through Poznan and Czestochowa to Krakow, where on February 18 an official and solemn meeting of the new monarch took place. It was attended by senators, bishops, nobles, ministers and thousands of ordinary people. On February 21, 1574, in the Wawel Cathedral, the Archbishop, Interrex and Primate of Poland, Yakub Ukhansky, crowned Heinrich Valois on the Polish throne. During the ceremony, there was a serious incident involving the "Polish Calvin" - crown marshal Jan Firlej .

Jan Firlei, the Krakow governor, was one of the leaders of the Protestant movement in Poland. He came to the Stone elections with 200 soldiers and 27 guns to support his candidate, the Swedish king Johan. This caused serious opposition from the authorities, after which the marshal's army retreated to Grokhov. After the election, Firley supported Heinrich, on condition that he accept the Articles and Covenants. On the road to Krakow on February 16, 1574, Henry visited Firlej in Balice ...

Jan interrupted the coronation, approached the king with three documents guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of the Protestants, and demanded that Henry sign them. At the same time, he turned to the latter with the words: Jurabis, rex, promisisti (“Swear, king, you promised!”). Henry had no choice but to sign.

Henry and his court in Poland

The arrival of the French court in Poland was the number one event for the whole society. And, above all, for Polish nobles. Paris, in fact, even then was a trendsetter. So one can imagine what exactly the Polish ladies experienced when they saw their French “knickers”. In a hurry, the sewing of new dresses and suits began (along with redrawing the old ones). Fortunately, there were several tailors in Henry's retinue.

The king himself (he was 23 years old then) also made an indelible impression on the Poles with his mind, manners and speech. But the appearance of the king absolutely did not harmonize with the traditions of the country. His rings and earrings did not contribute to respect for him from the nobility. The king was not at all interested in the internal affairs of the country. And since he did not speak Polish, his participation in various ceremonies and public life annoyingly annoyed him. He had fun at night, and slept during the day. Playing cards, he often lost huge sums, which he reimbursed from the Polish treasury. In fact, Henry acted like a capricious child, not understanding and not fulfilling royal duties ...

The king’s short stay in Wawel was truly a cultural shock for the Poles and contributed to the convergence of the two peoples. Both sides first looked at each other so closely. Heinrich and his court were unpleasantly struck by both the tendency of ordinary people to drink, and the neglect of Polish villages, and the harsh climate. The gentry, with undisguised contempt, examined the French nobles hung with jewelry and perfumed, including the king himself), their refined clothes, and secular manners. All this they considered "womanish." However, many nobles took the French fashion into service.

However, I must admit, and the French were struck by something in Poland. For the first time in his life, Henry saw the Polish sewer system in Wawel Castle, the most advanced of those times. Of the specially constructed engineering structures, all the sewage of the castle went beyond the walls of the fortress. The king was indescribable delight. And upon arrival in France, he ordered the immediate construction of such structures in the Louvre and other palaces.

On December 31, 1578, Henry approved the Order of the Holy Spirit - the highest award of the French kingdom, in memory of his election to the Polish throne, since it - May 11, 1573 - fell on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. With a break for the French Revolution, the order lasted until 1830. Until after the July Revolution, Louis Philippe finally abolished it.

Henry and Anna

The election of the French prince to the Polish throne also provided for his marriage to Anna Jagiellonka. However, the young king was not in a hurry to marry a woman fit in his mother. That is why, by the way, it was only in November 1573 that he finally moved to his kingdom. All this time was occupied by his stormy romance with Maria Klevskaya. And then his already long journey was deliberately delayed several times. In Lorraine, he struck up a passionate relationship with Louise Vaudemont (Louis of Lorraine), who a year later became his wife with a little.

Anna Jagiellon has never been married. This was largely due to the fault of her brother, Sigismund Augustus, with whom she had a serious conflict immediately after his marriage to Barbara Radziwill . So, for example, in May 1565, he rejected the request for marriage with Anna of the Danish Prince Magnus , because he requested several castles in the Riga Archbishopric as a dowry. By the way, Magnus was also younger than Anna. True, only for 17 years (still not 28, like Henry). The king’s unmarried sister was generally loved in Poland. Её прозвали Инфантой — так, как именовались дочери испанского короля, не являющиеся наследницами престола. Смерть брата открыла перед Анной возможность наконец выйти замуж — женитьба на ней являлась обязательной для всех кандидатов на престол. Самой Инфанте больше всех нравился эрцгерцог Эрнест Габсбург (который, кстати, был моложе Генриха на два года). Эрнест проиграл выборы. 21 мая 1574 года Ян Замойский официально обязал Анну Ягеллонку выйти замуж за избранного короля Генриха Валуа.

Первая встреча с Анной прошла так, как и было запланировано. Генрих произнёс пару дежурно-вежливых фраз и вышел из комнаты. Через три дня состоялась его коронация, но о женитьбе никто не напоминал. Начались ежедневные балы и турниры, но мысль о предстоящем браке с Анной омрачала мысли короля. Он всё оттягивал и оттягивал неприятный момент. Симулировал болезни, а затем запирался в комнатах и никого к себе не велел допускать. Поговаривали, правда, что короля всё же навещали проститутки, которых впускали в замок по его приказу. Чуть ли не каждый день он писал письма во Францию. Причём некоторые — адресованные Марии Клевской — и собственной кровью.

Время шло. Анна всё ждала. А Генрих всё не спешил. Наконец на 15 июня 1574 года наметили пышный бал, на котором должны были официально объявить о предстоящей женитьбе короля Генриха Валуа и Анны Ягеллонки. Однако утром 14 июня на встрече с императором Максимилианом король узнал о смерти своего брата, Карла IX, и вспыхнувшая вновь мечта о французском троне охватила все его мысли. 15 июня 1574 года в Краков пришло письмо. Оно было подписано королевой-матерью:

Королю, господину моему сыну. Королю Польши. Ваш брат скончался, отдав Богу душу ранним утром; его последними словами были: «А моя мать!» Это не могло не причинить мне огромного горя, и для меня единственным утешением будет увидеть вас вскоре здесь, поскольку ваше королевство в этом нуждается, и в полном здравии, потому что если я вас потеряю, то меня живой похоронят вместе с вами… Ваша добрая и любящая вас, как никто на свете, мать. Екатерина.

— ^[1] .

Впрочем, сначала требовалось успокоить поляков. Кое-кто из министров выразил опасение, что ему придётся уехать, но он их успокоил: «Я прежде всего король Польши, — заявил он, — и я вас не покину». Несколько дней Генрих использовал отговорки, чтобы усыпить подозрения поляков. Четыре дня спустя, 18 июня , Генрих устроил грандиозный обед, напоив всех так, что самые знатные сеньоры свалились под стол, будучи мертвецки пьяными.

Побег из Польши

On the night of June 19, 1574 , without notifying the Senate, in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, Henry Valois left Wawel and hastily headed towards the border. The king was accompanied by his prisoner Jan do Halde, the nobleman Gilles de Suvre, the doctor Marek Miron and the captain of the royal guard Nicolas de Larshan. The departure of the king, however, did not go unnoticed. Immediately after him, a chase was set up, which was led by the chestnut Yan Tenchinsky . When the king's motorcade approached the border, he was noticed by the Auschwitz headman. The old man threw off his clothes, rushed into the river and swam to the king with a cry: "My dear sir, why are you running away?" Immediately Henry overtook the chase.

Thus ended the Polish reign of Heinrich Valois.

Poland after the King’s flight

The next day, the Lesser Poland ministers and senators in Krakow officially announced the king’s departure. At the end of August, a diet assembled by the primacy took place. Almost all senators opposed the announcement of a new “non-fever” and the appointment of new elections. But the majority of delegates considered the secret departure of the king to free his subjects from any of his obligations and called for the election of a new monarch. After much debate, the Sejm wrote a letter to the king, where the final date of his return was May 1575. If the king does not return before June 1575, he will lose his rights to the Polish throne. And so it happened.

The second election of the king took place in December 1575. On December 12, Yakub Ukhansky declared the new Polish king of Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg. In the Covenants, the king pledged to marry his son Ernest to Anna Jagiellon. Once again, the sun shone for Infanta. However, opponents of the Habsburgs (and above all, tycoon Jan Zamoysky) stated that there would no longer be foreigners on the Polish throne. And what needs to be restored Piast . On December 13, Anna Jagiellonka was declared Queen of Poland at the Old Town Market. And the next day, she became known as the Queen of the Piast Dynasty. As her husband, the nobility elected Prince Stephen Batory . On May 1, 1576, Anna and Stephen were married and crowned in the Wawel Cathedral. The country almost until his death in 1586 was led by Stefan Batory.

On the French throne

Henry returned to France in the midst of religious wars. On February 11, 1575 he was crowned in the Reims Cathedral . And two days later he married Louise Vaudemont-Lorraine. Having no funds to continue the war, Henry made concessions to the Huguenots. The latter received freedom of religion and participation in local parliaments. Thus, some cities, inhabited entirely by Huguenots, became completely independent of the royal authority. The king's actions provoked a sharp protest from the Catholic League , led by Heinrich Guise and his brother Louis, Cardinal Lorraine . The brothers firmly decided to get rid of Henry III and continue the war with the Huguenots. So far they have managed only the second. In 1577, a new, sixth, civil religious war broke out, lasting three years. At the head of the Protestants stood Henry of Navarre , who survived during Bartholomew’s night, renouncing his faith and hurriedly accepting Catholicism. The war ended with a peace treaty signed in Fleau. In contrast to the Huguenot party of Giza, they organize the Catholic League, whose main goal is the destruction of the Calvinists. Trying to oppose the Gizam, Henry declares himself the nominal head of the League. Giza organize several attempts on the king, trying to force him to recant or kill.

In 1584, the king’s younger brother, Francois, Duke of Anjou unexpectedly passed away. Heinrich and Louise themselves had no children. The question of succession again arose - this time not in Poland, but in France. Again they started talking about the homosexuality of the king, unable to conceive a child. This issue is discussed in more detail below in the section “King's Sexual Identity”.

Since the king had no children, the closest blood relative in the male line should have succeeded him. Ironically, this relative (in the 11th generation, counting from St. Louis) was still the same Henry of Navarre - Bourbon, married, among other things, to the sister of King Margarita . Immediately after the wedding and the subsequent bloody upheavals, Henry hastily returned to Navarre, leaving Margarita in Paris. When her brother returned from Poland and became king, Margot became practically a prisoner in the palace. In the end, the king allowed her to return to her husband. The next three and a half years passed like a nightmare. The couple quarreled, cursed, had fun on the side, as they wanted. Finally, in 1582, after illness, Margarita returned to her brother. However, the king forced her to leave the palace and return to Navarra. But there she could not stay. In 1586, Henry III sent his sister into exile in Usson ( province of Auvergne ), where she spent 18 years. In 1599 , after long seven-year negotiations, she received a divorce from Henry - already King Henry IV. In agreement with her ex-husband and his new wife, Maria Medici , Margarita returned to Paris. She was involved in charity work, philanthropy, and raising all the children of Henry IV (including Louis, the future Louis XIII ).

Meanwhile, the dangerous prospect of taking the throne as a Protestant leader was completely out of Giza's plans. The League received financial and military assistance from Philip II, as well as moral assistance from Pope Sixtus V , who cursed Henry Bourbon. In 1585 another war broke out, called the war of the three Heinrichs (king, Bourbon and Giza). Henry of Navarre gained confident victories. He was supported by the English Queen Elizabeth and German Protestants. King Henry III tried with all his might to end the war, but to implement this was very difficult ...

On May 12, 1588 (n.a.), Paris rebelled against the king, who was forced to hastily leave the capital and relocate his residence to Blois . Heinrich Guise solemnly entered Paris. The Lorraine Duke already felt like a king. Yes, in fact, he was a stone's throw from the throne. He was enthusiastically greeted by the inhabitants of the capital. Increasingly, the appeal to the duke sounded "Sire." The few months spent in Paris were the happiest in the life of Heinrich Guise. In this situation, Henry III could save only the most decisive measures. The king called the General States, to which his adversary also arrived. December 23, 1588 (n.a.) in the castle of Blois, Henry de Guise went to a meeting of the States. Suddenly, the king’s guards appeared on his way, who first killed Giza with several dagger blows, and then destroyed the entire guard of the duke.

The next day, by order of the king, the brother of Heinrich Giz, Louis, Cardinal of Lorraine, was also captured and then killed. Now the king burned all the bridges - he no longer had a return trip. Most Catholics turned away from Henry. And the latter made an alliance with his recent enemy - Heinrich Bourbon. Upon learning of this, Pope Sixtus V also cursed the king. Meanwhile, both Heinrich besieged Paris by joint forces.

The death of Henry III

The murder of the Giza brothers stirred the minds of many Catholics. Among them was a 22-year-old Dominican monk, Jacques Clement . Jacques was an ardent Catholic and an enemy of the Huguenots. After the curse of the Pope (which particularly affected him), Clement made a firm decision to kill King Henry III. His plan was approved by some leaders of the League. The monk was supplied with partially genuine, partially fake letters from the royalist prisoners addressed to the king. And then, on July 31, he left Paris and went to Saint-Cloud , the estate of the Duke of Retz , where the king settled during the siege of the capital. After asking for an audience, he was received by the king the next day. Jacques handed him the papers, saying that they contained important information intended solely for reading by the king personally. At these words, the guard retreated from Heinrich a few steps ...

The king went deep into reading. Suddenly, Clement grabbed a stylet from his bosom, rushed to the king and drove the stylet into his underbelly. Everything happened so suddenly that the guards did not even have time to understand what was the matter. Henry staggered and suddenly began to settle down with a cry: “He killed me, vile monk! Kill him!". The king managed to pull out the stylet and even strike him in the head, bogged down by the deed of Jacques, in the area of ​​the eyebrow. The monk tried to jump out of the hall, but could not. Here, on the spot, he was stabbed to death by the royal bodyguards Saint Malin and Pencorn and thrown out the window (later his body was quartered and burned).

The king was immediately laid on the bed. The doctors called in put his loose entrails back in and sewn up. Soon there was a slight improvement, and Henry perked up. But after a few hours, he felt the approach of death. In the presence of witnesses, he declared Heinrich Bourbon his successor. At night, Henry III asked for the last confession. The king forgave all his enemies, including Jacques Clement. At three in the morning, King of France Henry III of Valois died. His body was embalmed and buried at Compiegne, in the abbey of Saint Cornell. The urn with the king’s heart was buried in the main altar of the Cathedral of Saint-Claude. After the war, Henry III remained in Compiegne. The new king Henry IV did not begin to transfer the body of his predecessor to the tomb of the French kings - the basilica of Saint-Denis, since it was prophesied to him that he himself would lie there a week after Henry III. Only in 1610 the remains of Henry III still moved to Saint-Denis. And a few weeks later, Henry IV died at the hands of another killer - Francois Ravagliacc .

During his reign, Henry the Third surrounded himself with young courtiers, known as minions , whose talents were sometimes quite dubious, and showered them with money and titles, which had already generated rumors about his homosexuality during the life of the king. Among modern historians, there are two points of view on this subject.

Authors such as Jean-Francois Solnon ^[2] , Nicola Le Roux ^[3] and Jacqueline Boucher ^[4] , believe that these rumors were spread by opponents of the king, both Protestants and ultra-Catholics, to whom Henry's panickyness and hedonism seemed vicious with religious point of view, and homosexuality served as a convenient occasion for propaganda against the royal power in the ranks of religious fanatics. The argument in favor of the far-fetched rumors is the king’s documented love affair with women and the absence of similar documents in relation to men; however, such things in those days in any case, it was not customary to publicize.

On the other hand, Gary Ferguson, a professor at the University of Delaware ( USA ), finds these interpretations unconvincing. In his opinion, the elevation of the minions and the attitude of Heinrich towards them is difficult to interpret logically other than in a homosexual context ^[5] .

Finally, Catherine Crawford writes about the king’s psychological problems due to the inability to have an heir, the overwhelming influence of his mother in his youth and the perseverance of the king’s opponents, which led to some fragile decadent luxury at the court of the monarch in his mature years ^[6] .

Polish historians believe that perhaps one of the reasons for the king’s flight from Poland was the extremely disapproving attitude of conservative Polish society towards the bisexuality of the king, who entered into a relationship with a woman after having sex with two men ^[7] .

Henry appears in the first novel of the Alexander Dumas trilogy “ Queen Margot ” as the Duke of Anjou. In the following novels, Countess de Monsoro and Forty Five , he is one of the main characters (like King Henry III). He is also captured in the film adaptations of the first two novels. In the French versions, the image of Henry III is embodied by Daniel Ceccaldi ( "Queen Margot" ) and Denis Manuel (mini-series "Countess de Monsoro" ). In another adaptation of Queen Margot (France, Italy, Germany, 1994), the role of Henry was played by Pascal Gregory . In the Russian television series Queen Margo and Countess de Monsoro , the role of Henry III was played by Yevgeny Dvorzhetsky (in the first series, the role was voiced by Vladimir Vikhrov). In 1990, in the film "Gallant Ladies", the role of Henry III was played by Robin Renucci . In Polish films dedicated to the king’s stay in the Commonwealth and his flight, the role of Henry was played by Olgerd Lukashevich , Krzysztof Schigel, Grzegorz Wons and other actors. In the 2010 film “ ” (a joint production of several European countries) dedicated to Henry the Fourth, his predecessor, Henry the Third, is portrayed as a homosexual man who is far from political erudition. This role in the film is performed by German actor David Shtrizov. In the series "Kingdom" Henry played Nick Slater.

• Erlange F. Henry III . M., 1995.

• KINGS OF FRANCE (VALOIS ) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy . Date of treatment June 9, 2009. Archived on August 26, 2011.