She later kidnapped her half-brothers, Princes Charles and Henry, and attempted to drown them to punish her mother for abandoning her, but Mary hit Clarissa in the head with a rock, believing her to be dead. The birth nearly cost Catherine her life. Just six days after the wedding the St. Bartholomews Day massacre a group of assassinations followed by a wave of violence after the Huguenots who were there for the wedding took place. She was born less than 20 years ago to the couple while the Queen's husband was away. She even encouraged the king to spend more time with Catherine and sire more children. Victoire died just under two months later on 17 August. [97] By 1585, Henry III had no choice but to go to war against the League. Meanwhile, Cond raised an army and in autumn 1560 began attacking towns in the south. [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 was born with her father's birthmark on He called her not only the mother of the king but the mother of the state. [121], The musical shows in particular allowed Catherine to express her creative gifts. The most famous of Catherines daughters was born on 14 May 1553. 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. Catherine, in bed with a lung infection, had been kept in the dark. Born on 13th April 1519, Catherine is still remembered as the 'Black Queen' of France, foe of all Protestants, and the Italian daughter of a merchant who dragged France into a series of bloody, religious civil wars. After her brother's premature death in 1519, she educated his daughter Catherine, the future Queen of France . [96] The death of the heir to the throne in 1584 prompted the Duke of Guise to assume the leadership of the Catholic League. In this cause, he recruited the great Catholic princes, nobles and prelates, signed the treaty of Joinville with Spain, and prepared to make war on the "heretics". She was just 11 years old when she married Charles, Duke of Lorraine in January 1559 in a splendid ceremony at the Notre-Dame. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. His life was saved by the illness and death of the king, as a result of an infection or an abscess in his ear. Catherine now rallied both Huguenot and Catholic forces to retake Le Havre from the English. He depended on Catherine and her team of secretaries until the last few weeks of her life. Catherine de King Henry took part in the jousting, sporting Diane's black-and-white colours. To save Catherines life, baby Joan dead or dying had her legs broken to remove her from her mothers womb. Others point to the Guise family or a Spanish-papal plot to end Coligny's influence on the king. Blunt calls Caron's style "perhaps the purest known type of Mannerism in its elegant form, appropriate to an exquisite but neurotic society." Not much later, she actually married Philip himself when he was widowed upon the death of Queen Mary I of England. Her marriage to Henry would remain childless. 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. [21] King Francis lamented, "The girl has come to me stark naked."[22]. [91] Catherine cut Margaret out of her will and never saw her again. Over the years, Catherine gave birth to ten children of which five were daughters. [109] On 23 December 1588, he asked the Duke of Guise to call on him at the Chteau de Blois. As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. The Guise brothers set about persecuting the Protestants with zeal. Unlike his brothers, he came to the throne as a grown man. Religious reconciliation was the conveners purpose of the Colloquy of Poissy (SeptemberNovember 1561). He was tried in November, found guilty of offences against the crown, and sentenced to death. Catherine was also eager for a match between one of her two youngest sons and Elizabeth I of England. Catherine de' Medici was born Caterina Maria Romula de' Medici[7] on 13 April 1519 in Florence, Republic of Florence, the only child of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, the countess of Boulogne. The treaty became known as the Peace of Monsieur because it was thought that Francis had forced it on the crown. Many portraits in her collection were by Jean Clouet (14801541) and his son Franois Clouet (c.1510 1572). [19] Clement visited the newlyweds in bed the next morning and added his blessings to the night's proceedings. On 17 August 1563, Charles IX was declared of age at the Parlement of Rouen, but he was never able to rule on his own and showed little interest in government. However, he denied ever providing such advice. WebCatherine eventually gave birth to ten children, beginning in 1543. Her merciful Edict of Amboise (March 1560) was followed in May by that of Romorantin, which distinguished heresy from sedition, thereby detaching faith from allegiance. [67] "We have come to the determination to die, all of us", Jeanne wrote to Catherine, "rather than abandon our God, and our religion. Catherine de Medici Her relationship with her mother never did improve it was as if Catherine resented Margaret for being the healthiest child. The Florentine people called her duchessina ("the little duchess"), in deference to her unrecognised claim to the Duchy of Urbino. [130] As the centrepiece of an ambitious new chapel, she commissioned a magnificent tomb for Henry at the basilica of Saint Denis. How old was Catherine de Medici when she got married? Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and stay up to date on History of Royal Women's articles! [148] Nevertheless, Catherine was never formally accused or prosecuted despite the fact that her reign experienced the greatest number of prosecutions for witchcraft in Italy. At the same moment, eight members of the Guise family were rounded up, including the Duke of Guise's brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, who Henry's men hacked to death the next day in the palace dungeons. Simply click 'close' in the top right corner to continue reading! For the next two years Catherines policy was one of peace and general reconciliation. Born in Florence, she was the granddaughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, niece of Pope Leo X and sister to Lorenzo II de' Medici. WebMaybe it goes without saying (because The CW did make a whole TV show about it called Reign), but Catherines daughter-in-law was the equally infamous Mary, Queen of Scots. The death of her husband's older brother in 1536 made Henry and Catherine next in line for the throne. She quickly terminated the second (September 1567March 1568) with the Peace of Longjumeau, a renewal of Amboise. [29] Henry gave the Chteau of Chenonceau, which Catherine had wanted for herself, to Diane de Poitiers, who took her place at the centre of power, dispensing patronage and accepting favours. He cared for her and also arranged her union to Henry, Duke of Orlans, the second son of King Francis I of France, in early 1533. 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. Queen Leeza It has been suggested that Catherine educated her son, Henry III, in the dark arts,[145] and that "the two devoted themselves to sorceries that were scandals of the age". Medici Later, she resorted in frustration and anger to hardline policies against them. [26] Catherine quickly conceived again and on 2 April 1545 she bore a daughter, Elisabeth. WebElisabeth is Catherine's "plain Jane" daughter. * * *. WebHenry II was the philandering king of France who carried out an affair with Kenna, lady-in-waiting to the queen of Scotland, despite already being married to Catherine de' Medici.He was an ambitious man, especially when it came to taking England, which he spent years trying to do.Following his son's marriage to Mary Stuart, Henry descended into madness In the Series Season One Season Two Season Three Season Four Clarice Orsini (c. 1453 29 July 1487) was the daughter of Jacopo (Giacomo) Orsini (see Orsini family), lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano, and his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. [69], Catherine looked to further Valois interests by grand dynastic marriages. [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. WebHistorically, by Louis, she had two daughters, who were influential members of the royal household- there's no mention of a son like in the show, Sebastian . In Banished, it is revealed that Diane was responsible for the deaths of Emone and Henrietta . Victoire was born safely but Joan did not want to come and Catherine began to weaken quickly. This plan also had the added advantage of removing the Huguenots from France, but it failed to interest the Ottomans.[61]. L'Estoile wrote: "those close to her believed that her life had been shortened by displeasure over her son's deed. In fact, by her death, that land was filled with regrets, and M. de Lorraine mourned her so much that, though he was young when widowed of her, he would not marry again, saying he could never find her like, though could he do so he would remarry, not being disinclined. Sutherland, Yet on 22 December 1588, Guise spent the night with his current mistress. Thenceforth the problem of religion was one of power, public order, and administration. Catherine ended the first civil war in March 1563 by the Edict of Amboise, an attenuated version of the Edict of January. She inflicts her emotional pain on her mother and her siblings upon her arrival. He cites Cloulas (. 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. [56] The Catholics took Rouen, but their triumph was short-lived. [44], In June 1560, Michel de l'Hpital was appointed Chancellor of France. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. I have had him killed. This probably cooled the relationship between Margaret and her mother considerably. Possibly Catherines most concrete achievement was the Edict of January 1562, which followed the failure of reconciliation. My name is Moniek and I am from the Netherlands. "[106] As usual, Catherine advised the king, who had fled the city in the nick of time, to compromise and live to fight another day. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. The 10 years from 1560 to 1570 were, politically, the most important of Catherines life. Corrections? [92] Her role in his government became that of chief executive and roving diplomat. Catherine de Medici, wife to one French king and mother to three more, died at Blois in 1589. [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. At the age of five and a half, Mary was brought to the French court, where she was promised to the Dauphin, Francis. 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]. 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. The next pope, Alessandro Farnese, was elected on 13 October and took the title Paul III. In 1570, Charles IX married Elisabeth of Austria, daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. During this time, she presided over a distinctive late French Renaissance culture in all branches of the arts. A distinctive new art form, the ballet de cour, emerged from these creative advances. [138], The earliest known reference to Catherine as the popularizer of Italian culinary innovation is the entry for "cuisine" in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopdie published in 1754, which describes haute cuisine as decadent and effeminate and explains that fussy sauces and fancy fricassees arrived in France via "that crowd of corrupt Italians who served at the court of Catherine de' Medici. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date on History of Royal Women's articles! 15 Feb 1471, d. 28 Dec 1503. She died on 27 March 1615.2. Henry VIII was king of England and still (mostly) happily married to Catherine of Aragon. [80], The slaughter in Paris lasted for almost a week. Margaret, however, became almost as much of a thorn in Catherine's side as Francis, and in 1582, she returned to the French court without her husband. Her eldest daughter was Elisabeth, and she was born on 2 April 1545. The treaty was sealed by the betrothal of Catherine's thirteen-year-old daughter Elisabeth to Philip II of Spain. Catherine delayed her daughters departure as much as she could, but they finally set out of for Spain on 18 November 1559. The Parisians, however, claimed the right to defend the city themselves. In the Treaty of Nemours, signed on 7 July 1585, he was forced to give in to all the League's demands, even that he pay its troops. The last two daughters were twins; one of the twins, Joan, died during the delivery and the other, Victoire, died a few weeks later. "[112] She visited her old friend Cardinal de Bourbon on 1 January 1589 to tell him she was sure he would soon be freed. Labouvie suggested that women's power was believed to be the ability to create and sustain life, whilst witches were believed to have the opposite power; that of attacking health, life and fertility. Kill them all! The infertility of Catherine de Medici Despite her optimism, the resulting Colloquy of Poissy ended in failure on 13 October 1561, dissolving itself without her permission. When Clarice's husband, Lorenzo, was in Milan as the godfather of the Sforza Prince Gian Galeazzo II Maria, he wrote the following letter to her: I have arrived here safely and am quite well. At the meeting of the Estates, Henry thanked Catherine for all she had done. Inquisition was where he made his one and only cameo. Catherine wrote to Henry of Charles IX's death: "I am grief-stricken to have witnessed such a scene and the love which he showed me at the end My only consolation is to see you here soon, as your kingdom requires, and in good health, for if I were to lose you, I would have myself buried alive with you. To avoid questions about the baby's distinguishing birthmark, she gave the baby to Nostradamus' father. Key Accomplishments: A powerful force during the reigns of three successive kings, Catherine played a major role in 16th-century politics. She herself supervised their education. Francis II became king at the age of fifteen. Victoire (24 June 1556 17 August 1556). Philip II excused himself from the occasion. royal 28. Catherine was one of his godparents and was overjoyed to see her daughter again. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-de-Medici, World History Encyclopedia - Catherine de' Medici, History Learning Site - Biography of Catherine de Medici, Lorenzo di Piero de Medici, duca di Urbino. Jeanne d'Albret wrote to her son, Henry: "I am not free to talk with either the King or Madame, only the Queen Mother, who goads me [, Holt, 83. 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. It is also necessary to understand this political struggle of the Catholic crown with its own ultramontane extremists and to perceive its fluctuations in changing circumstances, in order to realize the fundamental consistency of Catherines career. His dying words were "oh, my mother" The day before he died, he named Catherine regent, since his brother and heir, Henry the Duke of Anjou, was in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, where he had been elected king the year before. WebFrance Catherine de Medici was born in Florence (Firenze), Italy on April 13th and is known to be one of the most important women during the Renaissance period. They were usually dedicated to the ideal of peace in the realm and based on mythological themes. From that moment, she abandoned compromise for a policy of repression. Writing that she wanted to see Jeanne's children, she promised not to harm them. At the age of fifty-nine, she embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the south of France to meet Huguenot leaders face to face. Catherine de' Medici & her daughters The investigators traced the house and horse to the Guises and claimed to have found evidence that the would-be killer was. Young Elisabeth constantly suffered from childhood ailments and had not inherited her mothers robust health. For the next ten days, Henry's state fluctuated. The complexity of Catherines position during these years cannot be briefly explained. Clement summoned Catherine from her beloved convent to join him in Rome where he greeted her with open arms and tears in his eyes. Catherine travelled to Chtellerault where she bid farewell to her 13-year-old daughter. [70] After Catherine's daughter Elisabeth died in childbirth in 1568, she had touted her youngest daughter Margaret as a bride for Philip II of Spain. Knecht 1998, p. 28, gives likely incorrect dates of 25 September 1533 for the death of Pope Clement VII and 12 October for the election of Pope Paul III. A poem by Ronsard, engraved on its base, tells the reader not to wonder that so small a vase can hold so large a heart, since Henry's real heart resides in Catherine's breast.[132]. [141] This may be particularly true for Catherine as an Italian woman ruling in France; several historians argue that she was disliked by her French subjects, who labelled her "the Italian woman". [77] Whatever the truth, the bloodbath that followed was soon beyond the control of Catherine or any other leader. [62] Taken unawares, the court fled to Paris in disarray. Of the chateaus she designed herselfincluding the TuileriesChenonceaux was her unfinished masterpiece. [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. He often hid from state affairs, immersing himself in acts of piety, such as pilgrimages and flagellation. She therefore told him: "Since you rely on your forces, we will show you ours". He defeated the dukes of Guise and Nemours, but the young Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, knocked him half out of the saddle. "[95], Many leading Roman Catholics were appalled by Catherine's attempts to appease the Huguenots. Margaret would later write that she trembled whenever she was summoned by her mother. [120], Beyond portraiture, little is known about the painting at Catherine de' Medici's court. The imperial ambassador reported that in the presence of guests, Henry would sit on Diane's lap and play the guitar, chat about politics, or fondle her breasts. In early 1572, Joan Henrys mother and Queen regnant of Navarre arrived in France feeling ill and tired but determined to see the marriage negotiations through. On one occasion, in March 1578, she lectured him for six hours about his dangerously subversive behaviour. Catherine de' Medici's patronage of the arts, "Eglise Saint-Ferrol les Augustins | Marseille 13", "The long barren years of Catherine de Medicis: A gynaecologist's view of history", "The "infertility" of Catherine de Medici and its influence on 16th century France", "History's Black Widow: The Legend of Catherine de Medici", Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate, Louise Marie Adlade de Bourbon-Penthivre, Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Genealogical tables of the House of Medici, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catherine_de%27_Medici&oldid=1152284564, French people of the French Wars of Religion, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Italian-language text, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de' Medici. [58] On 19 March 1563, the Edict of Amboise, also known as the Edict of Pacification, ended the war. Knecht 1998, p. 28, gives the English translation ""The girl has been given to me stark naked." Catherine de' Medici Biography I have done to him what he was going to do to me. She was buried, but she went on to escape from her gravesite. "[90] The death of her youngest son was a calamity for Catherine's dynastic dreams. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. 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]. Thus began her lifelong struggleexplicit in her correspondencewith these extremists who, supported by Spain and the papacy, sought to dominate the crown and extinguish its independence in the commingled interests of European Catholicism and personal aggrandizement. [141] An infertile woman, and in particular an infertile queen, was therefore regarded as 'unnatural' and a small step from supernatural. Catherine de' Medici Henry was carried to the Chteau de Tournelles, where five splinters of wood were extracted from his head, one of which had pierced his eye and brain. What was Catherine de Medici best known for? However, three months after his coronation at Wawel Cathedral, Henry abandoned that throne and returned to France in order to become King of France. 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. Clarissa 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. The regency was traditionally the preserve of the princes of the blood. Upon the death of her brother Henry in 1589, her husband became the King of France and she the Queen. Hoogvliet, 111. WebClarice di Piero de' Medici (14891528) [1] was the daughter of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and Alfonsina Orsini . "[94] She was under no illusions, however. Heritier, 48, has the twins' deaths the other way round. Elizabeth I was treated with similar suspicionshe too entertained questionable characters (such as her advisor, John Dee), and produced no official heir. [107] The king's actions effectively ended her days of power. "Princely Culture and Catherine de Mdicis". [28] Although she sometimes acted as regent during his absences from France, her powers were strictly nominal. [146] As a result, some (more extreme) authors[147] believe Catherine to be the creator of the Black Mass, a Satanic inversion of the traditional Catholic Mass, although there is little to prove this aside from Jean Bodin's account in his book De la dmonomanie des sorciers. During the period 156468, Catherine was unable, for complex reasons, to withstand the cardinal Lorraine, statesman of the Guises, who largely provoked the second and third civil wars. Clarice de' Medici Margaret, however, was secretly involved with Henry of Guise, the son of the late Duke of Guise. [50] Catherine failed because she saw the religious divide only in political terms. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. They depict events held at Fontainebleau in 1564; at Bayonne in 1565 for the summit meeting with the Spanish court; and at the Tuileries in 1573 for the visit of the Polish ambassadors who presented the Polish crown to Catherine's son Henry of Anjou. Victoire and Jeanne were twin daughters born in 1556; Jeanne was stillborn due to surgeons breaking her legs to save her mother's life;[a] Victoire survived, dying less than two months later. How Catherine de Medici Made Princess Margaret of Valois, also known as Margot,is the daughter of Catherine de Medici and Henry II. [121] In the last two decades of her life, only two painters stand out as recognisable personalities: Jean Cousin the Younger (c.1522 c.1594), few of whose works survive, and Antoine Caron (c.1521 1599), who became Catherine's official painter after working at Fontainebleau under Primaticcio. Clarissa and Catherine Your email address will not be published. As dauphine, Catherine was expected to provide a future heir to the throne. Catherine de Medici The Duke of Guise launched an attack into the woods around the chteau. Catherine de Medici Catherine insisted on visiting the field herself and when warned of the dangers laughed, "My courage is as great as yours". Clarissa Died: January 5, 1589, in Blois, France. She was left with a desire for revenge against her mother, saving Mary, Queen of Scots from Colin MacPhail when Catherine sent Colin to rape her in 1557; she then helped Colin in attempting to escape from prison by marking another prisoner for death in his stead. [5] Catherine has been called "the most important woman in Europe in the 16th century.[6]. There is so much treachery about that I die of fear. Claude and Charles would go on to have nine children, of which seven would survive to adulthood. It was only after Leo's death in 1521, that his successor, Adrian VI, restored the duchy to its rightful owner, Francesco Maria I della Rovere. Henry insisted on riding against Montgomery again, and this time, Montgomery's lance shattered in the king's face. Died in infancy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. She gave birth to ten children, of whom four sons and three daughters survived to marriageable age. [78], The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, which began two days later, has stained Catherine's reputation ever since. 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".

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