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 When
Charles VIII entered France during the Renaissance, he brought
with him not only his massive armies, but also his love for
perfume. Charles VIII had his own perfumer, and fragrances
composed of orange blossom, rosemary oil, and rose were popular
in his court. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the
unrestrained passion for which the French came to be known
during this era coincided with the arrival of this monarch
in France.
It was during the reign of Francis
I that the national obsession with perfumes reached its zenith
in France. A chronicler of this era relates that a Spaniard
named Francisco d’Escobat was elevated to the position
of "Servant to the King" because he was in charge
of the important task of making perfumes, perfumed waters,
and scented gloves for the king. His successor, Henry II,
cared little for the opulent life and flamboyant fragrance
his father so enjoyed, yet the use of perfume continued unabated
during his reign. The famous Diane de Poiters used remarkable
amounts of fragrances and cosmetics. Contemporaries were intrigued
by her youthful appearance for half a century, which she attributed
to a secret beauty water.
Following the reign of Henry II, Catherine
de Medici used fragrances to suit her own dark purposes. Ambitious
and vengeful, she hired Rene the Florentine from her native
city to create special jewelry for her that contained poisonous
potions. He also made scented gloves for her to wear in order
to mask the smell of the poison hidden inside her jewelry
which she used against her enemies. During the sixteenth century,
essays on perfumery became more numerous and more widely read.
The1556 essay by the well known visionary, Nostradamus, revealed
that he had made a "woman of 55 look 12". The brief
reign of Francis II which followed that of Henry II contributed
little to the history of perfume. During the reign of Henry
III, the use of perfume, make-up, and all other beauty products
became a national obsession bordering on madness. 
Although Henry de Valois could have
been a very intelligent, eloquent, and well-educated successor
of his renowned ancestor Francis I, he became the lost Monarch
of the Louvre palace, surrounded by a court of Mignons (his
favorites), who were heavily painted with make-up and creams,
and bathed in perfume. Even their small dogs and parrots were
scented and brought to court. Those surrounding the king imitated
his every excess; men became excessively effeminate in appearance,
wearing ribbons and laces, white make-up with pronounced beauty
marks, and perfumes of all sorts. At night, Henry III wore
a mask to whiten his complexion — the rage of the day.
He covered himself with rings, necklaces, and bracelets, and
even pierced his ears so that he could wear pendeloques (drop
earrings). Much of the jewelry worn during this period had
small spaces where one could place perfume. Henry III liked
amber so much that he covered himself from head to toe with
this fragrance.
He also used violet powder, took various
scented baths, and had all his personal belongings scented
as well. On a technical level, the art of perfumery advanced
significantly during the sixteenth century with the introduction
of more elaborate methods of preparation borrowed from the
burgeoning science of chemistry. Distillation techniques improved
considerably following the circulation of books explaining
the process for the creation of essential oils from lavender
and rosemary. Along with improvements in distillation techniques
came better instruments and equipment which helped further
the development of perfumery as a science.
As the usage of perfume extended from
the court to the bourgeoisie and later to the proletariat,
the wearing of perfume became commonplace and lost its character
as a privilege reserved for the elite. Until his death, Henry
III spent his life surrounded by perfumes and other pleasures
of the senses. When Jacques Clement stabbed him to death,
he not only ended the reign of the last Valois, but also stifled
an era. Weary of wars and the decadence of his reign, the
French people sought a leader who would bring peace to their
land and secure the future of their country. Henry IV, the
first of the Bourbons, took up the scepter and opened the
door to a new era for France that would lead to the magnificent
reign of Louis XIV the Sun King
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