Catherine was one of his godparents and was overjoyed to see her daughter again. She took to her bed with a fever. He often hid from state affairs, immersing himself in acts of piety, such as pilgrimages and flagellation. The legend that de' Medici introduced a long list of foods, techniques and utensils from Italy to France is discredited by food historians. The most famous of Catherines daughters was born on 14 May 1553. WebCatherine's mother died when she was two-weeks-old and her father soon afterwards. However, she was never in a position to control the country as a whole, which was on the brink of civil war. The year was 1519. Born: April 13, 1519, in Florence, Italy. In 1585, Margaret fled Navarre again. Huguenot writers later accused Catherine of murdering her with poisoned gloves. She even encouraged the king to spend more time with Catherine and sire more children. It is essential to understand this in order to discern the coherence of her career. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. His interest in the tasks of government, however, proved fitful. They witnessed the first three civil wars and her desperate struggle against the Catholic extremists for the independence of the crown, the maintenance of peace, and the enforcement of limited toleration. Catherine was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. In 1593, Henry proposed an annulment of their marriage because he desperately needed an heir. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Despite her optimism, the resulting Colloquy of Poissy ended in failure on 13 October 1561, dissolving itself without her permission. 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. Historians regard the occasion as an early example of Catherine's statesmanship. [67] "We have come to the determination to die, all of us", Jeanne wrote to Catherine, "rather than abandon our God, and our religion. 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. 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". Both of her parents died within weeks of her birth, leaving her an orphan. She may have owed her change of fortune to the physician Jean Fernel, who may have noticed slight abnormalities in the couple's sexual organs and advised them how to solve the problem. [48], Charles IX was nine years old at the time of his coronation, during which he cried. Yes, Catherine De Medici has an illegitimate child named Clarissa Delacroix, after her affair with Richard Delacroix. 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. Over the years, the two Queens were to maintain an energetic correspondence. 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. 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. She was buried, but she went on to escape from her gravesite. Henry VIII was king of England and still (mostly) happily married to Catherine of Aragon. During his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from state affairs and instead showered favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded much influence over him. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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]. Charles had been largely brought up at the French Court and Claude probably knew him well. Knecht, 272. Knecht 1998, p. 28, gives the English translation ""The girl has been given to me stark naked." [34] Their proxy wedding, in Paris on 22 June 1559, was celebrated with festivities, balls, masques, and five days of jousting. On 19 January 1544, she at last gave birth to a son, named after King Francis. Henry arrived in the bedroom with King Francis, who is said to have stayed until the marriage was consummated. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. She presided over his council, decided policy, and controlled state business and patronage. [4] Some time later, she gave birth to Francis . Most of the Orsini men were soldiers, a profession which allowed them to amass huge territories around Rome and Naples. [125], Catherine de' Medici's great love among the arts was architecture. The Duke of Guise launched an attack into the woods around the chteau. [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. She travelled widely across the kingdom, enforcing his authority and trying to head off war. Elizabeth I of England's execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, on 8 February 1587 outraged the Catholic world. The investigators traced the house and horse to the Guises and claimed to have found evidence that the would-be killer was. 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. Clement housed Catherine in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, where she lived in state. [93] On her return to Paris in 1579, she was greeted outside the city by the Parlement and crowds. Possibly Catherines most concrete achievement was the Edict of January 1562, which followed the failure of reconciliation. 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. I have had him killed. "[112] She visited her old friend Cardinal de Bourbon on 1 January 1589 to tell him she was sure he would soon be freed. [55] The royal army struck back quickly and laid siege to Huguenot-held Rouen. Died in infancy. Ronsard may be referring to Artemisia, who drank the ashes of her dead husband, which became part of her own body. The regency was traditionally the preserve of the princes of the blood. WebClarissa is the love child of the Catherine de' Medici, and her secret lover Richard Delacroix. In 1537, he had a brief affair with Philippa Duci, who gave birth to a daughter, whom he publicly acknowledged. Although Catherine spent ruinous sums on the arts,[133] most of her patronage left no permanent legacy. She reappeared after a few hours and declared that she would offer her other daughter Margaret in marriage to King Philip. "[123] Catherine gradually introduced changes to the traditional entertainments: for example, she increased the prominence of dance in the shows that climaxed each series of entertainments. The long-term future of the Valois dynasty, which had ruled France since the 14th century, seemed assured. In 1558, she was considered for Don Carlos, the eldest son of King Philip II of Spain. Frieda 2003, p. 47 (NY edition). [135] Barbara Ketcham Wheaton and Stephen Mennell provided the definitive arguments against these claims. Where was Catherine de Medici born and raised? Some sources claim that Victoire was the one who was stillborn. Catherine, in bed with a lung infection, had been kept in the dark. The fourteen-year-old couple left their wedding ball at midnight to perform their nuptial duties. Catherine de Medici, wife to one French king and mother to three more, died at Blois in 1589. His designs for the Valois Tapestries celebrate the ftes, picnics, and mock battles of the "magnificent" entertainments hosted by Catherine. He called her not only the mother of the king but the mother of the state. On 34 April 1559, Henry signed the Peace of Cateau-Cambrsis with the Holy Roman Empire and England, ending a long period of Italian Wars. 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. "[90] The death of her youngest son was a calamity for Catherine's dynastic dreams. [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. [62] Taken unawares, the court fled to Paris in disarray. In Banished, it is revealed that Diane was responsible for the deaths of Emone and Henrietta . [35] Henry reeled out of the clash, his face pouring blood, with splinters "of a good bigness" sticking out of his eye and head. 15 Feb 1471, d. 28 Dec 1503. Piero II de Medici+ b. 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. Many historians have blamed Catherine for the attack on Coligny. 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. [99] "Take care", she wrote to the king, "especially about your person. As a baby, she was given to Nostradamus' father who tried to remove the mark but only ended up making it worse. WebClarice di Piero de' Medici (14891528) [1] was the daughter of Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and Alfonsina Orsini . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Henry wrote a note to Villeroy, which began: "Villeroy, I remain very well contented with your service; do not fail however to go away to your house where you will stay until I send for you; do not seek the reason for this my letter, but obey me." Three of her sons became kings of France, while two of her daughters married kings and one married a duke. In an age of civil war and declining respect for the monarchy, she sought to bolster royal prestige through lavish cultural display. This rejection was one basic element in the outbreak of civil war in 1562, in whichas she had predictedCatherine fell, politically, into the clutches of the extremists, because the Catholic crown might protect its Protestant subjects in law but could not defend them in arms. Catherine's marriage was arranged by her uncle Pope Clement VII. Princess Margaret of Valois, also known as Margot,is the daughter of Catherine de Medici and Henry II. WebCatherine de' Medici married Henry, Duke of Orlans, the future Henry II of France, in Marseille on 28 October 1533. Not interested? He was also healthier, though he suffered from weak lungs and constant fatigue. [41] When the Guises heard of the plot,[42] they moved the court to the fortified Chteau of Amboise. [88] Francis died of consumption in June 1584, after a disastrous intervention in the Low Countries during which his army had been massacred. [15] The city finally surrendered on 12 August 1530. The last two daughters were twins; one of the twins, Joan, died during the delivery and the other, Victoire, died a few weeks later. 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. I have done to him what he was going to do to me. Margaret of Valois was the third daughter and seventh child of King Henry II of France and his Italian queen, Catherine de Medici. They finally married on 18 August, but Margaret persisted until the end, she offered no resistance, she gave no assent. Her head was pushed down by her brother as if she were nodding yes and so she became the Queen of Navarre. Spouse: King Henry II. To create the necessary dramas, music, and scenic effects for these events, Catherine employed the leading artists and architects of the day. She quickly terminated the second (September 1567March 1568) with the Peace of Longjumeau, a renewal of Amboise. On 20 August 1560, Catherine and the chancellor advocated this policy to an assembly of notables at Fontainebleau. Viscount Catherine's former lover and Clarissa's father was Richard DelaCroix. [24] According to the court chronicler Brantme, "many people advised the king and the Dauphin to repudiate her, since it was necessary to continue the line of France". Others point to the Guise family or a Spanish-papal plot to end Coligny's influence on the king. They formed an alliance with England and seized town after town in France. [116] She was inspired by the example of her father-in-law, King Francis I of France, who had hosted the leading artists of Europe at his court, and by her Medici ancestors. Her eldest daughter was Elisabeth, and she was born on 2 April 1545. I see him rushing towards his ruin. She was not strictly entitled to a role in Francis's government, because he was deemed old enough to rule for himself. Despite her considerable power, Leeza is the least favorite of Catherine's children, and underneath her tough facade is a legitimate desire for her mother's affections. Charles and Claude had a happy marriage, and their close proximity to the French court meant that they were able to visit Catherine often. When Henry II died in 1559 Catherine de Medici went on to rule France in the name of her sons for the next 3 decades, until her death in 1589. [26] Catherine quickly conceived again and on 2 April 1545 she bore a daughter, Elisabeth. Within a month of Catherine's birth, both her parents were dead: Madeleine died on 28 April of puerperal fever, and Lorenzo died on 4 May. Catherine was overjoyed at the match, but her joy was overshadowed by the death of her husband. After the Edict of Beaulieu, they had started forming local leagues to protect their religion. WebCatherine's full name is Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de' Medici. She was crowned in the Basilica of Saint-Denis on 10 June 1549. From this time dates the legend of the wicked Italian queen. They chose therefore to strike first and wipe out the Huguenot leaders while they were still in Paris after the wedding. When King Francis I died on 31 March 1547, Catherine became queen consort of France. Hoogvliet, Margriet. He cites Cloulas (. The start of Season One, in 1557, Diane de Poitiers was actually 58 years old. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months. Joan became even sicker, and she died, shortly before her son arrived, on 9 June. 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. But she was unable to avert its revocation (August 1568), which heralded the third civil war. [69], Catherine looked to further Valois interests by grand dynastic marriages. His life was saved by the illness and death of the king, as a result of an infection or an abscess in his ear. 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.. Later, she resorted in frustration and anger to hardline policies against them. Catherine asked Henry to act before Margaret brought shame on them again. Omissions? Biography. [92] Her role in his government became that of chief executive and roving diplomat. Henry hired Swiss troops to help him defend himself in Paris. As the siege dragged on, voices called for Catherine to be killed and exposed naked and chained to the city walls. Clarissa Delacroix (1539-1557) was the illegitimate daughter of Queen Catherine de Medici and the French noble Richard Delacroix. "[95], Many leading Roman Catholics were appalled by Catherine's attempts to appease the Huguenots. The Parisians, however, claimed the right to defend the city themselves. "The Louvre: Royal Residence and Temple of the Arts". 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. Catherine, Diane, and Prince Francis all fainted. [10], Catherine was first cared for by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini. In 1585, Margaret abandoned her husband and was even imprisoned. Simply click 'close' in the top right corner to continue reading! [59] Catherine held talks with Jeanne d'Albret, the Protestant queen regnant of Navarre (and the wife of Antoine de Bourbon) at Mcon and Nrac. In 1578, she took on the task of pacifying the south. 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. She was born in Florence, Italy, on April 13, 1519. Catherine de Medici was best known for being the queen consort of Henry II of France (154759) and regent of France. On her visit to Rome, the Venetian envoy described Catherine as "small of stature, and thin, and without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes peculiar to the Medici family". Over the years, Catherine gave birth to ten children of which five were daughters. She had known Mary since the age of five and a half, when the little Scottish queen was brought to Paris and raised alongside Catherines own children. The papal nuncio Salviati observed, "it is only with difficulty that we can imagine there will be offspring physicians and those who know him well say that he has an extremely weak constitution and will not live long." On 24 June 1556, Catherine gave birth to twin daughters Joan and Victoire. Nevertheless, the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, signed on 8 August 1570 because the royal army ran out of cash, conceded wider toleration to the Huguenots than ever before. Catherine's daughter, Marguerite, was understandably not thrilled with a scheme that involved her mother seducing her husband by proxy. Princess Henriette, Princess Henriette, Princess Margaret, and Clarissa all died young, leaving Catherine with an illegitimate daughter. Catherine, who was said to have received the news without emotion, made a tearful visit to Coligny and promised to punish his attacker. WebCatherine and Clarissa have a very complicated relationship. After Alfonsina's death in 1520, Catherine joined her cousins and was raised by her aunt, Clarice de' Medici. [64] The Surprise of Meaux marked a turning point in Catherine's policy towards the Huguenots. "If Monsieur de Guise had perished sooner", she told the Venetian ambassador, "peace would have been achieved more quickly". She herself supervised their education. [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". After her brother's premature death in 1519, she educated his daughter Catherine, the future Queen of France . She inflicts her emotional pain on her mother and her siblings upon her arrival. 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. Clarissa Delacroix(1539-1557) was the illegitimate daughter of Queen Catherine de Medici and the French noble Richard Delacroix. Religious reconciliation was the conveners purpose of the Colloquy of Poissy (SeptemberNovember 1561). [121], The musical shows in particular allowed Catherine to express her creative gifts. "[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. 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. Heritier, 48, has the twins' deaths the other way round. [91] Catherine cut Margaret out of her will and never saw her again. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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]. Claude was raised alongside her sister Elisabeth, the future Queen of Spain, and sister-in-law Queen Mary of Scotland. [76] Coligny was carried to his lodgings at the Htel de Bthisy, where the surgeon Ambroise Par removed a bullet from his elbow and amputated a damaged finger with a pair of scissors. According to the diplomat Simon Renard, the birth nearly killed Catherine,[150] and the royal couple were advised by the King's physician to have no further children. WebDuring this time, Catherine had an affair with Richard, and had a baby girl with him, who became the castle 'ghost', Clarissa. [74] The wedding took place on 18 August 1572 at Notre-Dame, Paris. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date on History of Royal Women's articles! [108] Henry did not tell Catherine of his plan for a solution to his problems. [50] Catherine failed because she saw the religious divide only in political terms. [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. Catherine ordered him to court and had him imprisoned as soon as he arrived. [65] She told the Venetian ambassador in June 1568 that all one could expect from Huguenots was deceit, and she praised the Duke of Alba's reign of terror in the Netherlands, where Calvinists and rebels were put to death in the thousands. Catherine's husband, now Henry II, had been cared for at age eleven by Diane de Poitiers, who was twenty years his senior. [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. The complexity of Catherines position during these years cannot be briefly explained. The throne of France was held by Francis I, also known as Francis 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. Suspicions of poison abounded, from Catherine to Emperor Charles V.[24] Sebastiano de Montecuccoli confessed under torture to poisoning the Dauphin.[24]. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
