Three of her sons were kings of France: Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. His interest in the tasks of government, however, proved fitful. Art historian Henri Zerner has called this monument "the last and most brilliant of the royal tombs of the Renaissance. "[136][139], Catherine de' Medici has been labelled by Wiccan Gerald Gardner a "sinister Queen noted for her interest in the occult arts". On 20 August 1560, Catherine and the chancellor advocated this policy to an assembly of notables at Fontainebleau. This is the sixth, and it will focus on her relationships with her daughters. She wrote to her daughter Elisabeth: "My principal aim is to have the honour of God before my eyes in all things and to preserve my authority, not for myself, but for the conservation of this kingdom and for the good of all your brothers". She is also known for her involvement in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day (1572)part of the CatholicHuguenot wars (Wars of Religion; 156298)and for being mother to three kings of France. In August 1563 she declared the King of age in the Parlement of Rouen and, from April 1564 to January 1566, conducted him on a marathon itinerary round France. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. It was designed by Francesco Primaticcio (15041570), with sculpture by Germain Pilon (15281590). Henry's reign also saw the rise of the Guise brothers, Charles, who became a cardinal, and Henry's boyhood friend Francis, who became Duke of Guise. In 1556, Catherine nearly died giving birth to twin daughters, Jeanne and Victoire. In 1558, she was considered for Don Carlos, the eldest son of King Philip II of Spain. Catherine de Medici was best known for being the queen consort of Henry II of France (154759) and regent of France. She was also an influential patron Please select which sections you would like to print: Also known as: Caterina de Medici, Catherine de Mdicis, Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. I see him rushing towards his ruin. Author of. Although Catherine spent ruinous sums on the arts,[133] most of her patronage left no permanent legacy. To some extent she was eclipsed by Louis of Nassau and a group of Flemish exiles and youthful Protestants who surrounded the King and urged him to make war upon Spain in the Netherlands, which Catherine inevitably resisted. On 11 April 1572, the wedding contract was signed, and Henry headed for France to be reunited with his mother and his new bride. Henry arrived in the bedroom with King Francis, who is said to have stayed until the marriage was consummated. Eight months later, Jacques Clment stabbed Henry III to death. When Francis II died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son King Charles IX and was thus granted sweeping powers. From this time dates the legend of the wicked Italian queen. [129] Poets lauded her as the new Artemisia, after Artemisia II of Caria, who built the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus as a tomb for her dead husband. She was crowned in the Basilica of Saint-Denis on 10 June 1549. In spite of Henrys abiding attachment to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, Catherines marriage was not unsuccessful and, after 10 anxious years, she bore him 10 children, of whom 4 boys and 3 girls survived. Under Salic law, by which only males could ascend the throne, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre now became heir presumptive to the French crown.[35]. In desperation, Catherine tried every known trick for getting pregnant, such as placing cow dung and ground stags' antlers on her "source of life", and drinking mule's urine. Nevertheless, the wedding did take place, at Nice in 1533. Unlike his brothers, he came to the throne as a grown man. Simply click 'close' in the top right corner to continue reading! D'Aubiac was executed, though not, despite Catherine's wish, in front of Margaret. She was born in Florence, Italy, on April 13, 1519. As time passed and the likelihood of children from the marriage receded, Catherine's youngest son, Francis, Duke of Alenon, known as "Monsieur", played upon his role as heir to the throne, repeatedly exploiting the anarchy of the civil wars, which were by now as much about noble power struggles as religion. Because their birth very nearly cost Catherine her life, the king's physician advised the king that there should be no more children; therefore, Henry II stopped visiting his wife's bedroom and spent all his time with his longtime mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Elisabeth had died, in a most Christian manner dressed in the habit of Saint-Franois, preceded to heaven by the child she carried who had received the holy water of the sacred baptism. Upon hearing the news of her daughters death, Catherine withdrew without a word to her private chapel. From that day, Catherine took a broken lance as her emblem, inscribed with the words "lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor" ("from this come my tears and my pain"), and wore black mourning in memory of Henry.[36]. In what has been called a coup d'tat, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guisewhose niece, Mary, Queen of Scots, had married Francis II the year beforeseized power the day after Henry II's death and quickly moved themselves into the Louvre Palace with the young couple. Henry of Navarre, son of Jeanne dAlbret, and Margaret of Valois, Catherines daughter. Hoogvliet, 111. Caron's vivid Mannerism, with its love of ceremonial and its preoccupation with massacres, reflects the neurotic atmosphere of the French court during the Wars of Religion. However, three months after his coronation at Wawel Cathedral, Henry abandoned that throne and returned to France in order to become King of France. [122], Many of Caron's paintings, such as those of the Triumphs of the Seasons, are of allegorical subjects that echo the festivities for which Catherine's court was famous. She gave birth to ten children, of whom four sons and three daughters survived to marriageable age. Did Queen Catherine of France have a deformed daughter? After Franciss death, Catherine wrote to her daughter, Ma fille (my daughter) mamie (my friend), commend yourself to God, for you have seen me as happy as you are now, never knowing any sorrow but that I was not loved as much as I wished to be by the King your father, who honoured me more than I deserved, but I loved him so much that I was always in fear, as you know; and God has taken him from me and, not content with that, has deprived me of your brother.. [108] Henry did not tell Catherine of his plan for a solution to his problems. WebClarissa Delacroix was born in 1539, the illegitimate daughter of Queen Catherine de Medici of France and King Henry II of Frances boyhood friend Richard Delacroix. She was later captured after villagers accused her of stealing, and she was about to be hanged when King Henry's son Sebastian de Poitiers interceded and decided to bring her to court to face trial. She travelled widely across the kingdom, enforcing his authority and trying to head off war. Born: April 13, 1519, in Florence, Italy. Catherine had at least taken the precaution of marrying Margaret, her youngest daughter, to Navarre. When King Francis I died on 31 March 1547, Catherine became queen consort of France. Viscount Catherine's former lover and Clarissa's father was Richard DelaCroix. L'Estoile wrote: "those close to her believed that her life had been shortened by displeasure over her son's deed. [30] Diane never regarded Catherine as a threat. The surgery removed part of the birthmark, but left Clarissa greatly disfigured due to the use of potions. Unlike the proposals of Poissy, the edict was law, which the Protestants accepted and the Catholics rejected. Catherines daughters Elisabeth and Claude bore children who lived into adulthood, including King Charles IX of France, Prince Louis, and Prince Henri of France. The treaty was sealed by the betrothal of Catherine's thirteen-year-old daughter Elisabeth to Philip II of Spain. At an early age, she was offered as a bride for her sisters widower King Philip II of Spain, but nothing came of that. In the Series Season One Season Two Season Three Season Four Catherine de Medici was the daughter of Lorenzo di Piero de Medici, duca di Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour dAuvergne, a Bourbon princess related to many of the French nobility. [80], The slaughter in Paris lasted for almost a week. The Spanish ambassador told Philip II that the abscess was about to burst.[103]. "As the daughter of the Medici," suggests French art historian Jean-Pierre Babelon, "she was driven by a passion to build and a desire to leave great achievements behind her when she died. Catherine asked Henry to act before Margaret brought shame on them again. The chronicler L'Estoile reported that she cried all through her lunch that day. To this end, she set out with Charles and the court on a progress around France that lasted from January 1564 until May 1565. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, if at times varying, influence in the political life of France.[1]. In the words of historian Jules Michelet, "St Bartholomew was not a day, but a season". How old was Catherine de Medici when she got married? Now she sought a marriage between Margaret and Henry III of Navarre, Jeanne's son, with the aim of uniting Valois and Bourbon interests. As a Farnese he felt no obligation to keep Clement's promises, broke the alliance with Francis and refused to continue paying her huge dowry. As a baby, she was given to Nostradamus' father who tried to remove the mark but only ended up making it worse. Catherine appointed a mixed commission of moderates that devised two formulas of consummate ambiguity, by which they hoped to resolve the basic, Eucharist controversy. [81] On 29 September, when Navarre knelt before the altar as a Roman Catholic, having converted to avoid being killed, Catherine turned to the ambassadors and laughed. The last two daughters were twins; one of the twins, Joan, died during the delivery and the other, Victoire, died a few weeks later. [105] When Catherine tried to go to Mass, she found her way barred, though she was allowed through the barricades. [15] The city finally surrendered on 12 August 1530. This afforded the Calvinists licensed coexistence with specific safeguards. Margaret outlived her former husband, her mother, her father and all her siblings. WebCatherine and Clarissa have a very complicated relationship. WebBorn into the one of the great families of the Italian Renaissance, Clarice Orsini was the daughter of Jacopo Orsini of Monterotondo, a man whose family had made its fortune as mercenaries. Catherine's daughter, Marguerite, was understandably not thrilled with a scheme that involved her mother seducing her husband by proxy. The fourteen-year-old couple left their wedding ball at midnight to perform their nuptial duties. At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Calvinist Protestants, or Huguenots, as they became known. Catherine's marriage was arranged by her uncle Pope Clement VII. Many historians have blamed Catherine for the attack on Coligny. Catherine herself had been educated by Cosimo Ruggeri in astrology and astronomy, which were closely linked in her day[143] and were an academic rather than a Satanic activity,[144] although his general background and favourite status suggests there was more to it than that. Catherine saw little of her husband in their first year of marriage, but the ladies of the court, impressed with her intelligence and keenness to please, treated her well. Princess Henriette, Princess Henriette, Princess Margaret, and Clarissa all died young, leaving Catherine with an illegitimate daughter. [67] "We have come to the determination to die, all of us", Jeanne wrote to Catherine, "rather than abandon our God, and our religion. Webdecade of Catherine de Medicis marriage was attributed to Henry II, who was born with hypospadias and chordee. At first Catherine kept him very close to her, and even slept in his chamber. Claude and Charles would go on to have nine children, of which seven would survive to adulthood. The wedding, a grand affair marked by extravagant display and gift-giving,[19] took place in the glise Saint-Ferrol les Augustins in Marseille on 28 October 1533. The Florentine people called her duchessina ("the little duchess"), in deference to her unrecognised claim to the Duchy of Urbino. Essentially, however, there exists no concrete proof that either woman took part in the occult, and it is now believed that Catherine's trouble in providing an heir was in fact due to Henry II's penile deformity.[142]. [125], Catherine de' Medici's great love among the arts was architecture. In the words of historian R. J. Knecht, "she underestimated the strength of religious conviction, imagining that all would be well if only she could get the party leaders to agree". He remarried to Marie de Medici and had several children by her. She herself supervised their education. She was just 11 years old when she married Charles, Duke of Lorraine in January 1559 in a splendid ceremony at the Notre-Dame. Nevertheless, she was devastated at Elisabeths loss. Ronsard may be referring to Artemisia, who drank the ashes of her dead husband, which became part of her own body. This probably cooled the relationship between Margaret and her mother considerably. He sought the support of France's constitutional bodies and worked closely with Catherine to defend the law in the face of the growing anarchy. [47] As a result, when Francis died on 5 December 1560, the Privy Council appointed Catherine as governor of France (gouvernante de France), with sweeping powers. [17] Suitors, however, lined up for her hand, including James V of Scotland who sent the Duke of Albany to Clement to conclude a marriage in April and November 1530. The regency was traditionally the preserve of the princes of the blood. [75] A smoking arquebus was discovered in a window, but the culprit had made his escape from the rear of the building on a waiting horse.
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