The fate of Catherine de Medici's children. Catherine de Medici: why she was called the “Black Queen” Children of Catherine de Medici

Catherine Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici (b. April 13, 1519 - d. January 5, 1589) Queen of France from 1547 to 1559.
For four centuries now, her name has excited the imagination of historians, who attribute various vices to her and at the same time mourn her tragic fate. For three decades, she single-handedly kept the ship of the French state afloat, sinking in the ocean of turmoil, and died without ever knowing that the ship had run aground: the dynasty was over, her children died childless, endless conflicts shook the state...
She always believed in fate, and at the same time, she believed that it was possible to change its course. Her whole life was a continuous series of accidents, where the gifts of fortune alternated with the poisoned apples of failure. And yet she remained in history as one of the most famous rulers, as an unusually strong queen - and as a surprisingly unhappy woman. Catherine de' Medici was born in Florence: her parents were the Duke of Urbino Lorenzo II and the young Madeleine de la Tour, Countess of Auvergne.
Catherine's childhood
The newborn intertwined the wealth, connections and luck of the Medici banking family with the blue blood and influence of the de la Tour d'Auvergne family, the sovereign rulers of Auvergne. It seemed that fate was incredibly favorable to young Catherine - but her mother died when the child was only two weeks old, and her father, who was seriously ill even before her birth, died a few days later. Catherine, who inherited the Duchy of Urbino, immediately became an important figure in political games: the king of France, the Pope and many other influential men fought for influence over her, the last branch of a noble family: the duchy was too rich, Florence was too rebellious, too famous Medici family.
The girl was first taken care of by her grandmother Alfonsina Orsini, and when she died - by her aunt Clarissa Strozzi, who raised her niece along with her children and two other Medici - Alessandro, the illegitimate son of Lorenzo, and Ippolite, the son of Giuliano Medici.
It was assumed that Hippolytus would marry Catherine and rule the Duchy of Urbino, but Florence rebelled and expelled all the Medici from the city - except for 8-year-old Catherine, who at first, most likely, was simply forgotten. She turned out to be a hostage: she was locked in the monastery of St. Lucia, and then she spent 2 years in various monasteries as an honorary captive - however, the nun sisters spoiled Catherine as best they could, “a pretty girl with very graceful manners, who aroused universal love,” as it is written in the monastery chronicle.
When Catherine was 10, Florence was besieged by the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Plague and famine began in the city, for which they rushed to blame the Medici, the historical “scapegoats” for Florence. They even wanted to hang young Catherine on the walls of the city - so that the besiegers, her relatives, would have the pleasure of killing her themselves or handing her over to be torn to pieces by the soldiers. Only the quick surrender of the city saved Catherine - her uncle Giulio Medici, also known as Pope Clement VII, took her under his wing.
The girl began to live in Rome, in the luxurious Medici Palace, famous for its rich decoration made of multi-colored marble, a wonderful library and a magnificent collection of paintings and statues. This time was the happiest in the girl’s life: in the end she was safe, surrounded by love and luxury.
While she was studying ancient tomes in the Medici library or admiring the amazing architecture of Rome, her uncle was concerned about how to better arrange her niece’s future: although the Medici could not boast of the noble blue blood of true aristocrats, they were very rich and influential so that the young Catherine became one of the most desirable brides in Europe. And although the Duchy of Urbino went to Alessandro, Catherine’s dowry was huge: it consisted of 130,000 ducats and extensive possessions, including Pisa, Livorno and Parma.
And Catherine herself, although not considered a beauty, was still quite attractive: thick dark red hair, a chiseled face with large expressive eyes in which an extraordinary mind shone, a beautiful slender body - however, for those times she was considered too thin and short . Her hand was sought, for example, by the Prince of Orange and the Scottish King James V. But of all the contenders, Clement VII gave preference to Henry de Valois, Duke of Orleans - the second son of the King of France Francis I. Catherine was only 14 when she was betrothed to the French prince.
Marriage of Catherine de Medici
The wedding took place in Marseille on October 28, 1533: after a magnificent celebration, which was attended by all the highest clergy of Europe and half of the noblest aristocrats, the 14-year-old newlyweds went to their chambers in order to perform the ritual of their first wedding night. They say that the next morning Catherine was already head over heels in love with her husband: she would carry this love, although clouded by many grievances, throughout her life.
After 34 days of constant celebrations, the newlyweds eventually set off for Paris. In Catherine's retinue, a professional cook arrived in France for the first time, impressing the pampered court with his exquisite and unusual dishes, a perfumer (and at the same time, as they said, a compiler of poisons), as well as an astrologer, a tailor and many servants. Catherine was able to amaze the Parisians: her beautiful legs were shod in amazingly made high-heeled shoes, and luxurious jewelry could outshine the shine of the sun. Francis I, fascinated by his intelligent and well-read daughter-in-law, took her under his protection from the very first days.
But a year later, Pope Clement died, and his successor Paul III refused to pay Catherine’s dowry, and also broke all relations with France. Catherine instantly lost all her value: King Francis complained in a letter that “the girl came to me completely naked.” The court, which had recently favored the young princess, turned away from her: they began to call her “Italian” and “merchant’s wife” and ridicule her for her social inexperience and poor French.
In those days, the French court was a place where refinement of taste, nobility of manners, poetic games and sophisticated conversations were valued, and Catherine could not boast of either an excellent education or secular education and felt like a stranger at court. In addition, her adored husband seriously fell in love with another: as if in mockery of the young duchess, the beautiful widow Diana de Poitiers, almost 20 years older than him, became Henry’s chosen one. Diana immediately gained such a strong influence over Henry that he practically forgot about his legal wife.
Meanwhile, in 1536, the heir to the throne, Dauphin Francis, suddenly died: heated after playing ball, he drank ice water and died of a cold a few days later. Even then, there were rumors that the Dauphin had been poisoned, and Catherine was named as the culprit, for whom his death, of course, was very beneficial - but these assumptions were rejected even by King Francis himself, who still favored his daughter-in-law.
Birth of children
And now she faced the main problem: she had to give France an heir. For more than 10 years, Catherine tried to get pregnant: she used all possible means - from cow dung on her stomach to the help of astrologers. To this day, it is unclear what exactly helped her - most often they write that Heinrich had some kind of physical disability and was forced to either have an operation or make love to his wife in a strictly defined position. The famous Michel Nostradamus, a doctor and soothsayer, is also often mentioned: as if it was his art that finally helped Catherine become pregnant.

Be that as it may, on January 20, 1544, Catherine gave birth to a son, baptized in honor of his grandfather Francis - they say that he even shed tears when he found out about this. Over time, she gave birth to nine more children, of whom 7 survived: 4 sons and 3 daughters. After the last birth - two girls were born, one of whom died in the womb, and the second did not live even a week - Catherine was advised not to have any more children. It would seem that Catherine reliably provided the dynasty with heirs; but time has shown that this was not the case at all.
Savor. Intrigue
Abandoned by her husband, Catherine was consoled by the fact that she had gathered the brightest talents at her court: she patronized artists and poets, collected books and art objects, not only honing her education, but also increasing the prestige of the French court in the face of Europe, as well as taking care of her reputation. Soon everyone knew that Catherine was one of the most intelligent, understanding and sophisticated women in the world. Everyone except her own husband, who still loved only Diana.
It is believed that the French owe the haute cuisine that developed at court under the influence of her Italian chefs to Catherine. She invented the side saddle - before her, women rode horses, sitting on a kind of bench, which was quite uncomfortable. Catherine introduced trousers into fashion, which made it possible not only to ride a horse, but also to cover up from colds and dirt. In addition, France owes her ballet, narrow corsets and acquaintance with the book of the Italian Machiavelli, whose faithful student Catherine was throughout her life.
Intrigues, which at first were only a means to escape boredom, eventually became a way of life for Catherine. They say that she organized an entire spy network, which included beautiful ladies-in-waiting, whom Catherine placed on the right men, nosy spies and skilled poison manufacturers. Cold, calculating, hypocritical and power-hungry Catherine hid for the time being - but she believed that someday her time would come.
Queen without a kingdom
During the celebration of the Dauphin Henry's 28th birthday, his father King Francis died suddenly, and Henry inherited the crown. The queen, however, was Diana de Poitiers rather than Catherine de' Medici: the favorite of the new king received not only all the lands and jewelry of her predecessor, Francis's mistress, the Duchess d'Etampes, but also the right to receive some taxes, as well as the castle of Chenonceau and the title of Duchess de Valentinois . Diana seized all power in the kingdom: Henry did not make a single decision without her knowledge and approval.
Catherine could only come to terms with it. Having stepped on the throat of her own pride, she not only did not interfere in the affairs of her husband’s heart, she even became friends with Diana, who sometimes deigned to “lend” the queen her legal husband. Only once did Catherine dare to express to Diana her true attitude towards her. She was reading a book, and the favorite asked what exactly Her Majesty was reading. “I read the history of France and find undeniable evidence that in this country harlots have always ruled the affairs of kings,” the queen replied.
This behavior, unexpectedly for everyone, earned her considerable respect from her husband: ceasing to see his wife as an unwanted burden, he was finally able to recognize in Catherine a considerable intelligence and talent for government. And he even entrusted her with the country during his absence - while her husband was fighting with the German emperor, Catherine de Medici ruled France with strength and tact that was unexpected for everyone.
Death of a King
Henry's constant wars bore fruit: in April 1558, peace was concluded at Cateau-Cambresis between France and England and France and Spain: the long Italian wars finally ended. As a guarantee of future peace, the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert received Margaret, Henry's sister, as his wife, and the Spanish King Philip II was supposed to marry his eldest daughter Elizabeth. In honor of the conclusion of peace, at the suggestion of Diana de Poitiers, a knightly tournament was organized, at which, by an absurd accident, King Henry received a serious wound: during a duel with Gabriel Montgomery, a fragment of the enemy’s spear entered the king’s eye and pierced his brain. 10 days later, he died in Catherine’s arms, without saying goodbye to his beloved Diana.
Henry was still alive when Catherine ordered Diana to leave the court, after giving away all the jewelry that Henry had given her. Diana retired to her castle Ane, where she died quietly 7 years later. They say she retained her beauty until her last days...
Widowed Catherine was heartbroken. As a sign of grief, she chose as her emblem the image of a broken spear with the inscription Lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor (“This is the reason for my tears and my pain”). Until the end of her days, she did not take off her black mourning clothes: it is believed that Catherine was the first to make black the color of mourning - before, mourning clothes were white. Until her death, Catherine mourned her husband, who was her only man and only love.
History of government
The 15-year-old Francis became the King of France: a sickly and lethargic young man had little interest in state affairs; Catherine dealt with them. But she had to share power with the Dukes of Guise: Francis was married to Mary Stuart, the daughter of their sister Mary of Guise, and the Guises who owned Lorraine were one of the most influential families in the state. They were opposed by the Bourbons who ruled Navarre: the rivalry was aggravated by the fact that the Guises remained faithful to Catholicism, while the Bourbons were Protestants: the teachings of Martin Luther spread like fire throughout Europe, threatening splits and wars.
Supporters of both parties spread many ominous rumors about Catherine: perhaps, with their light hand, she is still haunted by accusations of all the unexpected deaths, of which there were many among her loved ones. However, it may be that these rumors were true - Catherine, who had tasted power, never wanted to share it with anyone else.
1560 - Francis died suddenly: the official cause of his death was a brain abscess that occurred due to an abscess in the ear, but Catherine did not fail to blame his young wife, the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, for the death of her son: as if she was so eager for bed pleasures , which completely deprived the king of his strength. Mary had to immediately leave France, and 10-year-old Charles IX ascended the throne.
Karl, very similar to his father both in appearance and in character, adored his mother: he listened to her in everything; already at the coronation he publicly declared to Catherine that “she will always be by his side and will retain the right to rule, as it has been until now.” And Catherine ruled almost unchallenged. As a wife for her son, she found the soft and obedient Elizabeth of Austria - her daughter-in-law was good in everything, except for one thing: she never had a son.
Catholics and Huguenots
But Catherine de Medici was not very upset about this: she gave birth to enough children to ensure continuity. She was much more worried about the growing religious strife between Catholics and Huguenots: for the time being, she skillfully maneuvered between the two camps, not giving preference to anyone and maintaining a balance of power. Although she grew up under the papal throne, questions of faith did not really worry her: she sincerely considered religious disputes to be only an echo of political differences, which could be reconciled if one acts with intelligence and tact.
Finally, Catherine took a decisive step: she promised her daughter Margaret as a wife to Henry, King of Navarre and leader of the Huguenots. She hoped by this to weaken the Guise party, who had too much power, but over time her plans changed.
The Huguenots raised one uprising after another, and the Catholics immediately responded to each with massacres and pogroms. At the same time, King Charles fell more and more under the influence of Admiral Coligny, the de facto head of the Huguenot party. Tom even managed to persuade Charles to unite with England and declare war on Spain - which Catherine could not allow. She convinced her son that Coligny had conspired against him: the only salvation was to kill Coligny and his Huguenot supporters. They say that King Charles, crushed by her arguments, exclaimed: “In the name of God, kill them all!”
St. Bartholomew's Night
On the night of August 24, 1572, a massacre began, which went down in history as St. Bartholomew's Night: Admiral Coligny and many other Huguenots who came to the wedding of Henry and Margaret were brutally killed. Next they began to kill ordinary townspeople guilty or suspected of the Huguenot heresy. Henry of Navarre survived - Margarita hid him in her chambers, and when the killers came for him, he vowed to convert to Catholicism. The massacre in Paris lasted for a week, and its echoes were heard throughout France for a month. According to various estimates, from 3 to 10 thousand people died, and not all of them were Huguenots.

According to historians, at first Catherine de Medici and her supporters did not plan a massacre; they intended to eliminate only Coligny and two dozen of his closest supporters, but the bloodthirsty crowd got out of control. From that time on, the name of Catherine de Medici was forever stained with blood - and despite all her state talents, in people's memory she remained the one who carried out the St. Bartholomew's Massacre.
Meanwhile, the Catholic rulers of Europe welcomed Catherine's initiative: she received congratulations from the pope, the king of Spain and many others, who rejoiced at the blow that was dealt to the hated heretics. Only her own son Karl, shocked by the spectacle of the bloody massacre, accused his mother of murder. His health, already weak, began to deteriorate every day. Finally, Charles, exhausted by fever, died at Vincennes Castle on May 30, 1574, a month short of his 24th birthday. The cause of his death was pleurisy, which developed due to advanced tuberculosis. His last words were: “Oh, my mother...”
There is a version that Karl was accidentally killed by his mother: she prepared a poisoned book for Henry of Navarre, but Karl was the first to open the poisonous pages.
Henry III, the third son of Catherine de Medici, her beloved boy, “My everything,” as she called him in her letters, became the King of France. For the sake of the French throne, Henry abandoned the Polish crown, which he put on in May 1573. However, the Poles did not favor the new king much: he was a spoiled, selfish child, hung with jewelry and - according to rumors - preferred men in bed. Once upon a time, Catherine planned to marry him to Elizabeth of England, but she broke off the engagement. During his Polish reign he fell in love with Louise of Lorraine, whom he married in February 1575, two days after his coronation.
Unlike his brothers, Henry ascended the throne when he was already quite an adult. He was able to govern the state himself and did not intend to cede power to his mother. She, who adored Henry beyond measure, was ready to reconcile herself: she took on the role of his envoy and tirelessly traveled around the country, trying to reconcile Catholics and Huguenots.
The greatest grief was caused to her by her youngest son François, Duke of Alençon: he constantly intrigued against his brother, started conspiracies and fought unsuccessful wars. The military campaign in the Netherlands, which Francois led, failed - and six months later Francois died. The next day, Catherine wrote: “I am so unhappy, living long enough, seeing so many people die before me, although I understand that God’s will must be obeyed, that He owns everything and what He lends to us only so long.” as long as He loves the children He gives us.”
Death of Catherine
The death of her youngest son crippled Catherine: of all her children, only two survived - Margarita, who had long quarreled with her husband and led a dissolute lifestyle, and Henry - and both had no children. The future of the dynasty suddenly found itself in jeopardy - and Catherine de Medici, always so active, could no longer do anything.
She realized that she had outlived her time. The all-powerful Queen Mother once simply lay down in bed and never got out of it again, calmly awaiting her inevitable death. One of the memoirists wrote: “Those who were close to her believed that her life was shortened by frustration because of the actions of her son.” Catherine de' Medici died in Blois on January 5, 1589. According to her servant, before her death she whispered: “I was crushed by the rubble of the house...”
One of the astrologers once prophesied to her that “Saint Germain will be the first to know about her death.” From that time on, she always avoided places bearing that name, but blind chance justified the prediction: Catherine de Medici died in the arms of a royal preacher named Saint Germain. Henry III was indifferent to the death of his mother, who adored him, and did not even take care of her burial.
She was buried there, in Blois - only a few years later her ashes were reburied in the Abbey of Saint-Denis, the family tomb of the French kings.
Just 8 months later, Henry III was killed by a religious fanatic, and Henry of Navarre, so hated by Catherine, ascended the throne. Everything she dedicated her life to has sunk into oblivion...
V. Wolf

I remind you that my notes are just a wandering through the pages of Wikipedia - not claiming anything other than the sole purpose - to collect accessible portraits of the Medici, those in whom their blood flowed as closely as possible, and those who were in lifetime communication with them through was in different circumstances.

The history of this family, in the person of its individual representatives, is so rich in events and interesting that even a superficial acquaintance already ignites the blood and awakens the imagination... You don’t need to read any novels - get acquainted with real life stories... A lot of passion and a lot of actions, not dictated only by political and economic benefits, but also by the strong feelings of people who are accustomed to achieving what they want at any cost...

In general, Italian history is rich in characters, the maximum human individuality was revealed in them - both in good deeds and in evil. And one cannot divide her heroes into black and white colors, because their abilities in any matter reached the maximum possible peak, and one and the same person was capable of the most tender and devoted love, and of dirty betrayal...

1. Henry II(March 31, 1519, Saint-Germain Palace - July 10, 1559, Paris) - King of France from March 31, 1547, second son of Francis 1 from his marriage to Claude of France, daughter of Louis 12, from the Angoulême line of the Valois dynasty. Husband of Catherine de Medici. 25th King of France.

2. Gabriel I de Montgomery, senor de Ducy d'Exmes and de Lorges, count (1530, Ducie - 1574) - Norman aristocrat, involuntary killer of King Henry II. The duel between Montgomery and the king was the last in the history of European knightly tournaments. The absurd death of Henry was the formal reason for their ban. Catherine hated him and in the end managed to send him to the chopping block.

3. Diane de Poitiers(1499 - 1566) - beloved and official favorite of King Henry II.

4. Diana of France(July 25, 1538 - January 11, 1619) - illegitimate (legitimized) daughter of the French king Henry II. She bore three ducal titles - duchess of Chatellerault, Etampes and Angoulême. She was the illegitimate daughter of the Dauphin Henry (the future King Henry II) and Philippa Duci from Piedmont. Diana was raised by King Henry’s favorite, Diana de Poitiers, and this gave reason to believe that the girl was the king’s daughter from her. This is what Brant thought, for example. Diana received a proper upbringing: she knew several languages ​​(Spanish, Italian and Latin), played several musical instruments and danced well.

5. Michel de Nostredame, also known as Nostradamus (December 14, 1503 – July 2, 1566) was a French astrologer, physician, pharmacist and alchemist, famous for his prophecies.

6. Andreas Vesalius(December 31, 1514, Brussels, Seventeen Provinces - October 15, 1564, Zakynthos, Venetian Republic) - doctor and anatomist, personal physician to Charles V, then Philip II. A younger contemporary of Paracelsus, the founder of scientific anatomy. Tried to save the wounded man at the tournament of Henry II.

7. Francis II(January 19, 1544, Fontainebleau Palace, France - December 5, 1560, Orleans, France) - King of France from July 10, 1559, King Consort of Scotland from April 24, 1558. From the Valois dynasty. Son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici.

8. Maria I(née Mary Stewart, 8 December 1542 - 8 February 1587) - Queen of Scotland from infancy, effectively reigning from 1561 until her deposition in 1567, as well as Queen of France in 1559-1560 (as the wife of King Francis II) and pretender to the English throne. The eldest son of Henry II, named after his grandfather, Francis I. On April 24, 1558, he married the young Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart (he was the first of her three husbands). The agreement on this marriage was concluded on January 27, 1548 (when the bride and groom were 4 and 6 years old, respectively), and for the next 10 years, Maria was raised at the French court. Francis I loved his wife to the point of adoration.

9. Pierre de Ronsard(between September 1 and September 11, 1524, La Possoniere castle, Vendomois - December 27, 1585, Saint-Côme Abbey, near Tours) - famous French poet of the 16th century. He headed the Pleiades association, which preached the enrichment of national poetry by the study of Greek and Roman literature.
He served as a page to Francis I, then at the Scottish court.

10. Pierre de Bourdeil, lord of Brantôme(c. 1540 - July 15, 1614) - chronicler of court life during the times of Catherine de Medici, one of the most widely read French authors of the Renaissance. Brantome's memoirs are written vividly and are full of anecdotes. His frankness regarding the private lives of court celebrities later in the Victorian era was considered scandalous. The author's reluctance to evaluate even the most dissolute, by the standards of later times, behavior of his heroes allowed him to be accused not only of frivolity, but also of cynicism.

11. Elizabeth of Valois(April 2, 1545, Fontainebleau - October 3, 1568, Aranjuez) - French princess and queen of Spain, third wife of King Philip II of Spain.
Elizabeth of Valois was the eldest daughter of King Henry II of France from the Valois dynasty and his wife Catherine de Medici. Although she was engaged to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos, fate decreed otherwise, and at the end of the many years of war between France and Spain, which ended in 1559 with the signing of the peace treaty of Cateau Cambresis, she married the Spanish King Philip II, which was one of the terms of this agreement. Elizabeth of Valois in a short time transformed from a French princess into a Spanish queen, whose intelligence, gentleness and beauty were highly valued throughout Europe. Elizabeth carried out the duties associated with her royal office in an exemplary manner.
Elizabeth inherited black hair, dark eyes and high intelligence from her Italian mother. But unlike her mother, Elizabeth had a softer character and more tact in her behavior; she was also distinguished by great piety. Catherine was surprised to discover in her daughter those qualities that she lacked, and over time they established a close, trusting relationship, which, after Elizabeth married Philip II, continued in the form of lively correspondence
Elizabeth died in 1568 due to another unsuccessful birth.

12. Philip II May 21, 1527 - September 13, 1598) - King of Spain from the Habsburg dynasty. The son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (aka Charles (Carlos) I, King of Castile and Aragon), Philip was King of Naples and Sicily from 1554, and from 1556, after his father’s abdication of the throne, became King of Spain and the Netherlands and the owner of all overseas possessions of Spain. In 1580 he also annexed Portugal and became its king. Husband of Elizabeth Valois.
When his mother died, Philip was not even twelve. In the serene environment of his childhood, he developed a deep love for nature. Subsequently, throughout his life, trips to nature, fishing and hunting became a desirable and best release for him after heavy workloads. From childhood, Philip was distinguished by deep religiosity. He also loved music and attached great importance to introducing his children to it. Philippe's letters, now in his fifties, from Lisbon, where he had to spend two years without his young children, show him as a loving father: worried about the health of the children, interested in his son's first tooth, and worried about his getting a picture book for coloring. Perhaps this was due to the warmth that he received in abundance in his childhood years.

13. Isabella Clara Eugenia, Isabel Clara Eugenia (August 12, 1566, Segovia - December 1, 1633, Brussels) - Spanish infanta, ruler of the Spanish Netherlands. The parents of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia were King Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth of Valois.

14. Catalina Michaela of Austria(and October 10, 1567, Madrid - November 6, 1597, Turin) - Spanish infanta and Duchess of Savoy, wife of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. Catalina Micaela was the youngest daughter of King Philip II of Spain and his third wife Elizabeth of Valois. She was named after her maternal grandmother Catherine de Medici and St. Michaela. Catalina Michaela married Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy on March 18, 1585 in Zaragoza and left the Spanish court. Despite the separation, she maintained a lively correspondence with her father and other family members until his death. Catalina gave birth to 10 children and was pregnant for most of her family life. She died at the age of 29 on October 6, 1597 in Turin from complications caused by premature birth a year after the birth of her last child, Thomas Franz of Savoy. Thomas Franz was the grandfather of Eugene Franz of Savoy, better known as Prince Eugene of Savoy. Although Catalina suffered the same fate as her mother, she nevertheless fulfilled her dynastic duty and gave birth to an heir to the throne for the House of Savoy.

15. Claude Valois, or Claude of France(November 12, 1547, Fontainebleau - February 21, 1575, Nancy) - the second daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici. This modest, lame, hunchbacked princess was the beloved daughter of Catherine de Medici. Having married at the age of 11, at the age of 27 Claude died in childbirth. She had nine children.

16. Charles III(February 18, 1543, Nancy - May 14, 1608, ibid.) - Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death. As a descendant of Gerhard I, he should have been Charles II, but Lorraine historians, wanting to attribute kinship to the Carolingians to the Dukes of Lorraine, included in the numbering Charles I of the Carolingian dynasty. Eldest son of Duke of Lorraine François I and Christina of Denmark. Spouse Claude Valois.

17. Christina of Lorraine(16 August 1565 - 19 December 1637) - Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Favorite granddaughter of Catherine de' Medici. Her parents were Duke Charles III and his wife Claude Valois, daughter of Catherine de' Medici. She received her name in honor of her paternal grandmother, Christina of Denmark. After her mother's death in 1575, Christina lived at the court of her grandmother Catherine de' Medici in Paris. In 1587, Francesco I (Grand Duke of Tuscany) died without a male heir, and his brother Ferdinand immediately proclaimed himself the new Duke. In search of a marriage option that would help him maintain political independence, Ferdinand settled on a distant relative, Christina. Catherine de' Medici facilitated this marriage. Ferdinand and Christina had nine children.

18. Louis III of Orleans(February 3, 1549, Fontainebleau, France - October 24, 1550, Mantes-la-Jolie, France) - Duke of Orleans, second son and fourth child in the family of Henry II, King of France and Catherine de' Medici. Brother of three kings of France - Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. Like his older brother, he was given to be raised by Diane de Poitiers. According to some reports, they wanted to make him the heir of the Duke of Urbino, but the plans were not implemented. After baptism, he died in the city of Mantes-la-Jolie on October 24, 1550.
In the background of the painting are the last children of Catherine de Medici - twins Victoria(lived for 1 month and Zhanna(born dead). The birth was very difficult and doctors forbade Catherine to have children. This was in 1556.

19. Charles IX, Charles Maximilien(June 27, 1550 - May 30, 1574) - the penultimate king of France from the Valois dynasty, from December 5, 1560. Third son of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici. His mother was his regent until August 17, 1563. Charles's reign was marked by numerous Wars of Religion and St. Bartholomew's Night - the notorious mass extermination of the Huguenots. At the age of 20 (November 26, 1570), he married Elizabeth of Austria. The king was fond of literature. Poems from his pen are known, as well as “Treatise on the Royal Hunt,” first published in 1625.

20. Elizabeth of Austria(July 5, 1554, Vienna - January 22, 1592, Vienna) - Queen of France, wife of King Charles IX of France. Elizabeth was the fifth child and second daughter of Emperor Maximilian II and his cousin, the Spanish Infanta Maria, daughter of Charles V and sister of King Philip II of Spain . On November 26, 1570, she married King Charles IX of France, who died in 1574. They had one daughter who lived only 5 years. She was considered one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, with red-golden hair, a lovely face and a charming smile. But she was not just beautiful: the chronicler and poet Brantôme described Elizabeth this way: she was “one of the best, meekest, smartest and most virtuous queens who ever reigned from time immemorial.” Contemporaries agree on her intelligence, shyness, virtue, sympathetic heart and, above all, sincere piety. Widowed at the age of twenty, Elizabeth returned to Austria. In 1576, she retired to the monastery of the Clarissas, which she herself founded.

21. Maria Touchet(1549, Orleans - March 28, 1638, Paris) - official favorite of King Charles IX, mother of Catherine Henriette d'Entragues (favourite of the French king Henry IV after the death of Gabrielle d'Estrées in 1599, and mother of his two illegitimate children), and Charles de Valois (April 28, 1573 - September 24, 1650) - Count of Auvergne (1589-1650), Duke of Angoulême (1619-1650), Count de Ponthieu (1619-1650), Peer of France - illegitimate son of Charles IX. Daughter of Lieutenant Jean Touchet, who served as an assistant to the governor at the Orleans Court and his wife Maria Mathy. In the fall of 1566, at a ball (according to other sources, at a hunt) in Orleans, she met the future king of France, Charles IX, and fell in love with him at first sight. Maria was distinguished by her beauty, education, and meekness; According to the memoirs of a contemporary, she had “a round face, a beautiful cut, lively eyes, a well-proportioned nose, a small mouth, a delightfully defined lower part of the face.” Karl was fascinated by the young Flemish woman and took her to Paris. Here, Maria first worked as a chambermaid for the king’s younger sister, Princess Margaret, then worked at the Louvre, and after St. Bartholomew’s Night, as a result of which she was almost killed, she lived in Fayet Castle. Despite her status as the official favorite, Marie Touchet cheated on Karl.

22. Henry III of Valois(September 19, 1551, Fontainebleau - August 2, 1589, Saint-Cloud) - fourth son of Henry II, King of France and Catherine de' Medici, Duke of Angouleme (1551-1574), Duke of Orleans (1560-1574), Duke of Anjou (1566-1574) , Duke of Bourbon (1566-1574), Duke of Auvergne (1569-1574), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from February 21, 1573 to June 18, 1574 (formally until May 12, 1575), from May 30, 1574 the last king of France from the Valois dynasty.
Alexander-Eduard-Henry was a cheerful, friendly and smart child. The education of the young prince was carried out by famous people of his time - Francois Carnavalet and Bishop Jacques Amiot, known for his translations of Aristotle. In his youth, he read a lot, willingly held conversations about literature, took rhetoric lessons, danced and fenced well, and 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 began early to engage in various physical exercises and later, during military campaigns, showed good skill in military affairs. Henry’s personality and behavior sharply distinguished him in the French court. And later, upon arrival in Poland, they caused culture shock among the local population. In 1573, the Venetian ambassador to Paris, Morisoni, wrote about the prince’s luxurious clothes, his almost “ladylike delicacy,” and his earrings in each ear. Catherine herself, who loved Henry more than her other children, dreamed of leaving him the royal crown. She called him “my everything” and “my little eagle”, signed her letters to him “your dearly loving mother” and saw in him character traits that reminded her of her ancestors, the Medici. Heinrich was her favorite as a child, and later became her confidant.

23. Maria of Cleves, Countess de Beaufort (1553 - October 30, 1574, Paris) - the first wife of the second Prince of Condé. Someone else's bride, with whom Henry III fell in love and with whom he dreamed of marrying. The 21-year-old is “a child from the provinces with a pure heart, fresh cheeks, a slender figure, a healthy body and a heartfelt smile.” Catherine was horrified by her son's desire; Maria did not belong to the highest nobility at all. Through her efforts, her son’s plans were upset - Maria married someone else. Having ascended the throne, Henry III hoped to dissolve Mary's marriage and marry her. However, Maria soon died from postpartum complications. Since the king’s affection for Mary was no secret to anyone, no one wanted to take the liberty of informing him of the princess’s death. A note with a message was placed in a bundle of the king's daily correspondence. After reading it, Heinrich fainted, and it took a quarter of an hour to revive him. After a week of hysterics, the king fell into melancholy, dressed in mourning, retired to the chapel several times a day and often made pilgrimages.

24. Louise of Lorraine-Vaudemont(April 30, 1553 - January 29, 1601) - representative of the House of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of Valois and French queen from 1575 to 1589. Catherine de Medici was very surprised when Henry announced that he intended to marry Louise de Vaudemont. Henry III, unwilling to lose independence and fearing to become the husband of an overly domineering woman, he wanted to marry a gentle and meek girl who would be his devoted assistant. He was too tired of the power of his own mother and did not want to find her in a wife. A confidant, Philippe Cheverny, writes in his “Memoirs”: From the words of the king, I understood that he wanted to choose a woman of his nationality, beautiful and pleasant. He needs her to love her and have children. He is not going to go to others, as his predecessors did. His heart was almost already inclined to Louise de Vaudemont. Having revealed his feelings, the king honored me and asked me to speak with the queen and achieve her positive response.
Louise did not even imagine the possibility of such a marriage. The King of France left a deep imprint on her heart when she saw him as the Duke of Anjou. But she understood that she could not count on such a brilliant match. And when her stepmother entered her bedroom in the morning, she was very surprised, but, as Antoine Malet reports: ... her surprise increased even more when her stepmother curtsied three times in front of her before turning and greeting her as the Queen of France; the girl thought it was a joke and apologized for being in bed so late, but then the father entered the room and, sitting down by his daughter’s bed, said that the king of France wanted to take her as his wife... After the tragedy that happened on 1 August 1589, when Henry III was assassinated, Queen Louise would never go out of mourning again, becoming the "White Queen". According to royal etiquette, only white clothes are to be worn during mourning...

25. Hercule Francois (Francis) de Valois(March 18, 1555 - June 10, 1584), Duke of Alençon, then Duke of Anjou, was a French prince, the youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, the only one of four brothers who never became king.
A charming child, he unfortunately suffered from smallpox at the age of 8, which left scars on his face. His pockmarked face and slightly crooked spine did not really correspond to the name given at birth - Hercule, that is, “Hercules”. At his confirmation, he changed his name to François in honor of his brother Francis II, King of France.
Before the accession to the throne of his brother, the Duke of Anjou (Henry III), he bore the title of Duke of Alençon, and then was called the Duke of Anjou. He stood at the head of political groups hostile to the French kings. Thus, he participated in a conspiracy against Charles IX, but was forgiven because he betrayed his comrades Count J.B. de La Mole and Count Annibal de Coconas, who were executed in 1574. He helped the Protestants, then participated in the war against them, opposed Philip II at the head of the rebellious Flemings, was proclaimed Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders, but was soon expelled by the Flemings themselves. He died on June 10, 1584 from tuberculosis.

26. Marguerite de Valois(May 14, 1553, Saint-Germain Palace, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France - March 27, 1615, Paris, France), also known as "Queen Margot" was a French princess, daughter of King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. In 1572-1599, she was the wife of Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, who, under the name of Henry IV, took the French throne. From an early age, the girl was distinguished by her charm, independent disposition and sharp mind, and in the spirit of the Renaissance she received a good education: she knew Latin, ancient Greek, Italian , Spanish, studied philosophy and literature, and she herself had a good command of the pen. Nobody except her brother, King Charles, called her Margot.

27. Henry (Henri) I of Lorraine, nicknamed Marked or Chopped (December 31, 1550 - December 23, 1588, Castle of Blois), 3rd Duke of Guise (1563 - 1588), Prince de Joinville, Peer of France (1563 - 1588), Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit (1579) . French military leader and statesman during the Wars of Religion in France. Head of the Catholic League. The eldest son of François of Lorraine, Duke of Guise. Guise was one of the instigators of St. Bartholomew's Night and, in order to avenge the death of his father, took upon himself the murder of Admiral Coligny. In the skirmish of Dormans in 1575 he received a wound, as a result of which he was given the nickname Chopped. He had a stormy affair with Margarita, but for political reasons their marriage was impossible. Apparently, Guise and Margarita retained feelings for each other until the end of their lives, which is confirmed by the queen’s secret correspondence.

28. Henry (Henri) IV the Great(Henry of Navarre, Henry of Bourbon, December 13, 1553, Pau, Bearn - killed May 14, 1610, Paris) - leader of the Huguenots at the end of the Wars of Religion in France, king of Navarre from 1572 (as Henry III), king of France from 1589 (formally - from 1594), founder of the French royal Bourbon dynasty. First marriage - Margarita de Valois (no children), second marriage - Maria Medici (5 children).

29. Maria de Medici(April 26, 1575, Florence - July 3, 1642, Cologne) - Queen of France, second wife of Henry IV of Bourbon, mother of Louis XIII.

So - the circle is closed.
From the first French queen from the Medici family, whose children were the last kings of France from the Valois dynasty, we come to the second French queen from the same Medici family, whose children belonged to the next, brilliant dynasty of kings of France - the Bourbon dynasty.

At the age of 14, Catherine was married to Henry de Valois, the second son of Francis I, King of France, for whom this union was beneficial primarily due to the support that the Pope could provide to his military campaigns in Italy.
The bride's dowry amounted to 130,000 ducats, and extensive possessions that included Pisa, Livorno and Parma.

Contemporaries described Elizabeth as a slender, red-haired girl, of small stature and with a rather ugly face, but very expressive eyes - a Medici family trait.

Young Catherine so wanted to impress the exquisite French court that she resorted to the help of one of the most famous Florentine craftsmen, who made high-heeled shoes especially for her petite customer. It must be admitted that Catherine achieved what she wanted; her presentation to the French court created a real success.

The wedding took place on October 28, 1533 in Marseille.
Europe has not seen such a gathering of representatives of the highest clergy, perhaps, since the times of medieval councils: Pope Clement VII himself was present at the ceremony, accompanied by his numerous cardinals. The celebration was followed by 34 days of continuous feasts and balls.

However, the holidays soon died down, and Catherine was left alone with her new role.

The French court has always been famous for its sophistication, nobility of manners and brilliantly educated and sophisticated ladies. Under the influence of a revived interest in antiquity, the courtiers of Francis I spoke to each other in Latin and Greek, read Ronsard's poems and admired the sculptural sculptures of Italian masters. In merchant Florence, as opposed to France, the fathers of families were not concerned with giving their wives and daughters such a comprehensive education, as a result of which in the first years of her life at the French court, Catherine felt like an ignoramus who did not know how to elegantly construct phrases and made many mistakes in letters. She felt isolated from society and suffered severely from loneliness and from the hostility shown to her by the French, who contemptuously called the daughter-in-law of Francis I “Italian” and “merchant’s wife.” The only friend that young Catherine found in France was her father-in-law.

In 1536, the heir to the French throne died unexpectedly.
According to the official version, death was caused by a cold, which the Dauphin caught after swimming in icy water after playing ball. According to another, the crown prince was poisoned by Catherine, who desired the accession of her husband to the throne. Fortunately, these rumors did not in any way affect the warm relationship between Francis I and his daughter-in-law, but be that as it may, since then the Florentine woman has firmly established herself as a poisoner.

Under pressure from her husband, who wanted to consolidate her position with the birth of an heir, Catherine, who had not yet produced any offspring for him, was treated for a long time and in vain by various magicians and healers with one single goal - to become pregnant.
In 1537, Henry's illegitimate child was born from a certain young lady named Philippa Duchi. This event finally confirmed that it was Catherine who was infertile. At court they started talking about the possibility of divorce.

As you know, misfortune does not come alone, and Catherine was faced with another test: a woman appeared in the life of Henry de Valois, whom many considered the true ruler of France over the next few years. We are talking about Diane de Poitiers, Henry's favorite, who was a full 20 years older than her crowned lover. Probably due to the difference in age, the relationship between Henry and Diana was based more on reason than on sensual passion. Henry highly valued Diana's wisdom and foresight, and listened carefully to her advice before making important political decisions. Both shared a passion for hunting. Many paintings have come down to us in which lovers are depicted in the image of the Roman goddess-hunter Diana and the young god Apollo.

The deceived wife, forgotten by everyone, had no choice but to come to terms with her humiliation. Overcoming herself, Catherine, like a true Medici, nevertheless managed to step on the throat of her pride and win over her husband’s mistress, who was quite happy with such friendship, because the appearance of another, more prolific and less friendly wife could put her position at court in jeopardy.
For a long time, all three formed a rather strange love triangle: Diana occasionally pushed Henry to her wife’s bed, and Catherine, accepting him, was tormented by jealousy and her own powerlessness to change anything.

Comparison with the lovely Diana was clearly not in Catherine’s favor. She was never a beauty, but with age she gained considerable weight, and, as her contemporaries put it, she looked more and more like her uncle. The latter, of course, could not possibly be a compliment. A particularly repulsive feature was her excessively high forehead. Evil tongues claimed that a second face could easily fit between her eyebrows and the roots of her hair. In all likelihood, this was a consequence of hair loss, which Catherine carefully concealed by using wigs.

The fact that Catherine stoically experienced her husband’s betrayal does not mean that she did not try to do something to get rid of her rival.
Echoes of a palace scandal have reached us, in which, in addition to Catherine, a certain Duke of Nemours was involved. From the letters of the participants in this story, it is known that, apparently, Catherine asked the Duke, seizing the moment, in the midst of fun, under the guise of a cute prank, to throw a glass of water in Diana’s face. The “joker” was not supposed to know that the glass should have had burnt lime instead of water.
The plot was discovered, and Nemur was exiled, but later pardoned and returned to court.

The news that Catherine was pregnant came as a complete surprise to everyone. The miraculous healing of the barren Dauphine was attributed to Nostradamus, a physician and astrologer who was part of Catherine's close circle of confidants.
Her firstborn, named Francis after his grandfather, was born in 1543.

Francis I died in 1549. Henry II ascended the throne, and Catherine was proclaimed Queen of France.
She reinforced her position with the birth of several more heirs.

10 years later, in 1559, Henry died as a result of an injury received in a tournament.
In all of France, perhaps, there was no person who mourned the death of the king so inconsolably as the beautiful Diana.
Catherine finally had the opportunity to give vent to her pent-up anger and get even with her rival. She demanded that de Poitiers return the jewels belonging to the crown to her, and also leave her home - the Chanonceau castle.

With the accession to the throne of the sickly and weak 15-year-old Francis II, Catherine became regent and de facto ruler of the state.

The courtiers, who did not like Catherine the heir, did not accept her as their empress. Her enemies called her the “black queen,” referring to the constant mourning clothes that Catherine donned after the death of her husband and did not take off until the end of her days. For many centuries, she gained the reputation of a poisoner and an insidious, vengeful intriguer who mercilessly dealt with her enemies.

One of the bloodiest events in the history of France is associated with the name of Catherine - St. Bartholomew's Night.

According to the generally accepted version, Catherine set a trap for the Huguenot leaders by inviting them to Paris for her daughter's wedding to Henry of Navarre.
On the night of August 23-24, 1572, with the ringing of bells, thousands of citizens filled the streets of Paris. A horrific bloody massacre ensued.
According to rough estimates, about 3,000 Huguenots were killed in Paris that night. One of the victims was their leader, Admiral Coligny.
The wave of violence that originated in the capital also swept the outskirts. In a bloody orgy that lasted a week, another 8,000 thousand Huguenots were killed throughout France.

It is possible that the brutal massacre of the opponents was actually carried out on the orders of Catherine, but there is, however, the possibility that she was not aware of the impending attack, and in the chaos that followed, she had no choice but to accept take responsibility for what happened, so as not to admit the loss of control over the situation in the state.

Was Catherine really exactly what her spiteful critics described her as? Or has only a distorted image of this personality reached us?

Few people, perhaps, know that Catherine was a great lover of art and a philanthropist. It was she who came up with the idea of ​​building a new wing of the Louvre and the Tuileries Castle. Catherine's library consisted of hundreds of interesting books and rare ancient manuscripts. It was thanks to her that the French court discovered the delights of Italian cuisine, including artichokes, broccoli and several varieties of spaghetti.
With her light hand, the French fell in love with ballet (baletto), and ladies began to wear corsets and underwear - Catherine was a passionate lover of horse riding and became the first woman to wear pantaloons, despite protests from the clergy.

It is also impossible not to admire Catherine the Mother. Regardless of the methods she used in the fight against her opponents, she was, first of all, a friend, support and support to her three sons who ascended the French throne: Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III.

The “black queen” died at the age of 70 at the Château de Blois and was buried next to her husband, Henry II, in the Abbey of Saint Denis. Catherine was lucky enough to die in ignorance, she never learned that the last of her ten offspring, Henry III, was killed shortly after her death, and everything that she had fought for for many years had sunk into oblivion. The de Valois dynasty ceased to exist.

Catherine de Medici can be called the most “hated” woman in history. “The Black Queen”, poisoner, child killer, instigator of St. Bartholomew's Night - contemporaries did not spare epithets for her, although some of them were unfair.

Child of Death

The sinister image of Catherine de Medici was not the invention of Dumas. She was born under a terrible star. It’s no joke, immediately after birth in 1519 the child was dubbed “the child of death.” This nickname, like a trail, will accompany her throughout her future life. Her mother, 19-year-old Duchess Madeleine de la Tour, died six days after giving birth, and her father, Lorenzo de' Medici II, died two weeks later.

Catherine de' Medici is credited with poisoning her husband's elder brother, Francis, the Queen of Navarre, Jeanne Dalbret, and even her son, Charles IX. Her most terrible prank was St. Bartholomew's Night.

However, she did not become the “Black Queen” because of her reputation. Catherine wore black mourning for the first time. Before this, in France, white was considered a symbol of grief. In some ways, and in fashion, she was the first at court. Catherine mourned for her deceased husband Henry II for 30 years, she made broken spears as her emblem, and her motto was “This is the reason for my tears and my pain,” but more on that a little later.

According to the marriage lottery, Catherine was chosen as the wife of the second son of the French king, Henry of Valois. But the marriage became virtually fictitious. The king already had the love of his life - his children's teacher Diane de Poitiers. He was in love with her since he was 11 years old. She already had an illegitimate son from the king, and Catherine, on the contrary, could not get pregnant. The situation was complicated by the fact that the Medici loved her husband. Subsequently, in one of her letters to her daughter, she wrote: “I loved him and will be faithful to him all my life.”

The French court rejected her, as did Henry. They kept saying behind my back: “Merchant’s wife! Where does she care about the noble Valois! Poorly educated, ugly, barren. When, after the death of the first contender for the throne, Francis, she became the wife of the Dauphin, the situation did not improve.

There were rumors that Francis I, Henry's father, had practically agreed to annul his son's marriage to Catherine.

Meanwhile, the cult of Diana flourished at court. Henry II adored his favorite until his death, when she was already 60. He even performed at tournaments under her flowers. The queen next to her is just a shadow. In order to somehow gain her husband’s favor after the birth of such long-awaited children, she gave them to Diana to raise. At court, Catherine completely dissolved in the politics that the king and his Diana were engaged in. Perhaps, if this had happened in Russia, she would have ended her days in a monastery.

Trendsetter

But during the life of Henry II, Catherine remained with her own path, in which she had no equal: she was the main trendsetter in all of Europe. The entire aristocracy of France listened to her taste.

It was to her that the fair sex of Europe owed subsequent fainting spells - she set a limit for the waist - 33 cm, which was achieved with the help of a corset.

She also brought with her from Italy heels that concealed the shortcomings of her short stature.

Ice cream came with it to France. It first appeared at her wedding, which lasted 34 days. Italian chefs served a new dish every day, a new variety of these “ice pieces.” And after that, their French colleagues mastered this dish. Thus, the first thing that Catherine de Medici brought to France became the only thing that took hold there. The dowry was quickly squandered, all her political contributions led only to the fall of Valois, but the ice cream remained.

Nostradamus is a favorite

The position of shadow with the king's favorite did not suit Catherine. She did not give free rein to her emotions and patiently endured all the insults of the court, but universal contempt only fueled her vanity. She wanted her husband's love and power. To do this, Catherine needed to solve the most important problem - to give birth to an heir for the king. And she resorted to an unconventional path.

Even as a child, when she studied at a monastery in Siena, Catherine became interested in astrology and magic.

One of the main confidants of the French queen was the predictor Nostradamus.

Contemporaries said that it was he who cured her of infertility. It must be said that the traditional folk methods that she used were very extravagant - she had to drink a tincture of mule urine, wear cow pus and fragments of deer antlers on her stomach. Some of it worked.

From 1544 to 1556 she continuously gave birth to children. In 12 years she gave birth to ten children. Just a fantastic result.

Francis, Elizabeth, Claude, Louis, Charles Maximilian, Edward Alexander, who would later be Henry III, Margaret, Hercule, the last adored son, and in 1556 the twins Victoria and Jeanne, but the latter died right in the womb.

The name of Nostradamus is also associated with the most important prediction in Catherine’s life. Historian Natalya Basovskaya says that once the queen came to him with the question “How long will her sons rule?” He sat her down by the mirror and began to spin a wheel. According to Francis the Young, the wheel turned once, he really ruled for less than a year; according to Charles the Ninth, the wheel turned 14 times, he ruled for 14 years; according to Henry the Third, 15, and he ruled for 15.

In the family

On July 10, 1559, Henry II died due to wounds received at the tournament. The enemy's spear slid across his helmet and pierced his eye, leaving a splinter in his brain. Catherine de Medici put on her famous black mourning, made herself a symbolic emblem of a broken spear and prepared to fight her way through her children to power. She succeeded - she achieved the status of “governess of France” under her sons. Her second heir, Charles IX, solemnly declared right at the coronation that he would rule together with his mother. By the way, his last words were also: “Oh, mom.”

The courtiers were not mistaken when they called Catherine “uneducated.” Her contemporary Jean Bodin subtly noted: “the most terrible danger is the intellectual unsuitability of the sovereign.”

Catherine de Medici could be anyone - a cunning intriguer, an insidious poisoner, but she was far from understanding all the intricacies of domestic and international relations.

For example, her famous confederation in Poissy, when she organized a meeting of Catholics and Calvinists in order to reconcile the two faiths. She sincerely believed that all the problems of the world could be resolved through emotional negotiations, so to speak, “within the family circle.” According to historians, she could not even understand the true meaning of the speech of Calvin’s close associate, who stated that eating bread and wine during communion is only a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. A terrible blow to Catholic worship. And Catherine, who had never been particularly fanatical, only watched in amazement as the conflict flared up. All that was clear to her was that for some reason her plan was not working out.

Her entire policy, despite Catherine’s terrible reputation, was painfully naive. As historians say, she was not a ruler, but a woman on the throne. Its main weapon was dynastic marriages, none of which were successful. She married Charles IX to the daughter of Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, and sent her daughter Elizabeth to Philip II, a Catholic fanatic who ruined the latter’s life, but did not bring any benefit to France and Valois. She wooed her youngest son to Elizabeth I of England, the main enemy of the same Philip. Catherine de Medici believed that dynastic marriages were the solution to all problems. She wrote to Philip: “Start arranging marriages for children, and this will make it easier to resolve the religious issue.” Catherine intended to reconcile the two conflicting faiths with one wedding of her Catholic daughter Margaret with the Huguenot Henry of Navarre. And then, immediately after the wedding, she carried out a massacre of the Huguenots invited to the celebration, declaring them in a conspiracy against the king. It is not surprising that after such steps the Valois dynasty sank into oblivion along with its only surviving son, Henry III, and France fell into the nightmare of the Civil War.

Crown of thorns?

So, how should you treat Catherine de Medici? Was she unhappy? Undoubtedly. An orphan, an abandoned wife, a humiliated “merchant’s wife” at court, a mother who outlived almost all her children. An energetic, always-busy queen mother whose political activities were, for the most part, meaningless. At her combat post, she traveled and traveled around France until ill health overtook her in Blois, where she died during her next visit.

Her “loyal subjects” did not leave her alone even after her death. When her remains were taken to Paris to be buried in Saint-Denis, the city's citizens promised to throw her body into the Seine if the coffin appeared at the city gates.

After a long time, the urn with the ashes was moved to Saint-Denis, but there was no place next to the husband, just as during his lifetime. The urn was buried to the side.

Recently, historian Gulchuk Nelya published a book called “The Crown of Thorns of Catherine de Medici.” She, of course, had a crown, but can it be compared to a crown of thorns? An unhappy life does not justify her methods - “everything for the sake of power.” It was not fate, but her terrible but naive policy that destroyed in one generation the prosperous Valois dynasty, as it was under her father-in-law Francis I.

Biography

Catherine de' Medici - Queen of France from 1547 to 1559; wife of Henry II, King of France from the Valois dynasty. As the mother of three sons who occupied the French throne during her lifetime, she had great influence on the politics of the Kingdom of France. For some time she ruled the country as a regent.

In 1533, at the age of fourteen, she married Prince Henry de Valois, second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude. Throughout his reign, Henry removed Catherine from participation in state affairs, replacing her with his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who had great influence over him. Henry's death in 1559 brought Catherine into the political arena as the mother of fifteen-year-old King Francis II. When he died in 1560, Catherine became regent for her ten-year-old son Charles IX. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine retained her influence during the reign of her third son, Henry III. He began to do without her advice only in the last months of her life.

Catherine's sons reigned during an era of almost constant civil and religious wars in France. The monarchy faced difficult challenges. At first, Catherine made concessions to the rebel Protestant Huguenots, but then began to pursue a very tough policy towards them. She was later accused of excessive persecution carried out under the reign of her sons, in particular it is generally accepted that the Night of St. Bartholomew on August 24, 1572, during which thousands of Huguenots were killed, was provoked by Catherine de' Medici.

Some historians view Catherine's policies as desperate measures to keep the Valois dynasty on the throne at all costs, and her patronage of the arts as an attempt to glorify a monarchy whose prestige was in deep decline. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power. The years of their reign were called the “era of Catherine de Medici.” According to one of her biographers, Mark Strange, Catherine was the most powerful woman in 16th-century Europe.

Childhood

Catherine was born on April 13, 1519 in Florence, the center of the Florentine Republic. Full name at birth: Catherine Maria Romula di Lorenzo de' Medici. The Medici family actually ruled Florence at the time: originally bankers, they came to great wealth and power by financing European monarchs. Catherine's father - Lorenzo II Medici, Duke of Urbino (1492-1519) - was not initially the Duke of Urbino and became one thanks to his uncle - Giovanni Medici, Pope Leo X. The title returned to Francesco Rovere after Lorenzo's death. Thus, despite the ducal title, Catherine was of relatively low birth. However, her mother - Madeleine de la Tour, Countess of Auvergne (c. 1500-1519) - belonged to one of the most famous and ancient French aristocratic families, which greatly contributed to Catherine's future marriage.

According to the chronicler, the parents were very happy about the birth of their daughter, they “were as pleased as if it were a son.” However, both soon die: Countess Madeleine - on April 28 from childbed fever, Lorenzo II - on May 4, having outlived his wife by only six days. The young couple had married the year before in Amboise as a symbol of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Francis wanted to take Catherine to be raised at the French court, but Leo X had other plans. He intended to marry her to his brother Giuliano's illegitimate son, Ippolito de' Medici, and make them rulers of Florence.

After this, the newborn was cared for by her grandmother Alfonsina Orsini until her death in 1520. Catherine was raised by her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi, along with her children, whom Catherine loved like siblings all her life. One of them, Pietro Strozzi, rose to the rank of marshal's baton in the French service.

The death of Pope Leo X in 1521 brought a break in the Medici family's power over the Holy See until Cardinal Giulio de' Medici became Pope Clement VII in 1523. In 1527, the Medici in Florence were overthrown and Catherine became a hostage. Pope Clement was forced to recognize and crown Charles V of Habsburg as Holy Roman Emperor in return for his help in recapturing Florence and freeing the young duchess.

In October 1529, the troops of Charles V besieged Florence. During the siege, there were calls and threats to kill Catherine and hang her on the city gates or send her to a brothel to dishonor her. Although the city resisted the siege, on August 12, 1530, famine and plague forced Florence to surrender.

Clement met Catherine in Rome with tears in his eyes. It was then that he began to search for a groom for her, considering many options, but when in 1531 the French king Francis I proposed the candidacy of his second son Henry, Clement immediately jumped at the chance: the young Duke of Orleans was the most profitable match for his niece Catherine .

Wedding

At the age of fourteen, Catherine became the bride of the French prince Henry de Valois, the future king of France, Henry II. Her dowry amounted to 130,000 ducats and extensive possessions that included Pisa, Livorno and Parma.

Catherine could not be called beautiful. At the time of her arrival in Rome, one Venetian ambassador described her as "red-haired, short and thin, but with expressive eyes" - a typical appearance of the Medici family. But Catherine managed to impress the sophisticated French court, spoiled by luxury, by turning to the help of one of the most famous Florentine craftsmen, who made high-heeled shoes for the young bride. Her appearance at the French court caused a sensation. The wedding, which took place in Marseilles on October 28, 1533, was a major event marked by extravagance and the distribution of gifts. Europe has not seen such a gathering of the highest clergy for a long time. Pope Clement VII himself attended the ceremony, accompanied by many cardinals. The fourteen-year-old newlyweds left the celebration at midnight to attend to their wedding duties. After the wedding, 34 days of continuous feasts and balls followed. At the wedding feast, Italian chefs introduced the French court to a new dessert made from fruit and ice - this was the first ice cream.

At the French court

On September 25, 1534, Pope Clement VII died unexpectedly. Paul III, who replaced him, dissolved the alliance with France and refused to pay Catherine's dowry. Catherine's political value suddenly disappeared, thereby worsening her position in an unfamiliar country. King Francis complained that “the girl came to me completely naked.”

Catherine, born in merchant Florence, where her parents were not concerned with giving their offspring a comprehensive education, had a very difficult time at the sophisticated French court. She felt like an ignorant person who did not know how to elegantly construct phrases and made many mistakes in her letters. We must not forget that French was not her native language, she spoke with an accent, and although she spoke quite clearly, the ladies of the court contemptuously pretended that they did not understand her well. Catherine was isolated from society and suffered from loneliness and hostility from the French, who arrogantly called her “Italian” and “merchant’s wife.”

In 1536, the eighteen-year-old Dauphin Francis unexpectedly died, and Catherine's husband became heir to the French throne. Now Catherine had to worry about the future of the throne. The death of his brother-in-law marked the beginning of speculation about the involvement of the Florentine woman in his poisoning for the quick accession of “Catherine the Poisoner” to the French throne. According to the official version, the Dauphin died of a cold, however, the courtier, the Italian Count of Montecuccoli, who gave him a cup of cold water, inflamed by gambling, was executed.

Birth of children

The birth of an illegitimate child to her husband in 1537 confirmed rumors about Catherine’s infertility. Many advised the king to annul the marriage. Under pressure from her husband, who wanted to consolidate her position with the birth of an heir, Catherine was treated for a long time and in vain by various magicians and healers with one single goal - to get pregnant. Every possible means was used to ensure successful conception, including drinking mule urine and wearing cow dung and deer antlers on the lower abdomen.

Finally, on January 20, 1544, Catherine gave birth to a son. The boy was named Francis in honor of his grandfather, the reigning king (he even shed tears of happiness when he learned about this). After her first pregnancy, Catherine seemed to no longer have problems conceiving. With the birth of several more heirs, Catherine strengthened her position at the French court. The long-term future of the Valois dynasty seemed assured.

The sudden miraculous cure for infertility is associated with the famous doctor, alchemist, astrologer and fortuneteller Michel Nostradamus, one of the few who were part of Catherine’s close circle of confidants.

Henry often played with children and was even present at their birth. In 1556, during her next birth, surgeons saved Catherine from death by breaking off the legs of one of the twins, Jeanne, who lay dead in her mother’s womb for six hours. However, the second girl, Victoria, was destined to live only six weeks. In connection with this birth, which was very difficult and almost caused the death of Catherine, doctors advised the royal couple not to think about having new children anymore; After this advice, Henry stopped visiting his wife's bedroom, spending all his free time with his favorite Diane de Poitiers.

Diane de Poitiers

Back in 1538, the thirty-nine-year-old beautiful widow Diana captivated the heart of the nineteen-year-old heir to the throne, Henry of Orleans, which over time allowed her to become an extremely influential person, as well as (in the opinion of many) the true ruler of the state. In 1547, Henry spent a third of every day with Diana. Having become king, he gave his beloved the castle of Chenonceau. This made it clear to everyone that Diana had completely taken the place of Catherine, who, in turn, was forced to endure her husband’s beloved. She, like a real Medici, even managed to overcome herself, humble her pride, and win over her husband’s influential favorite. Diana was very pleased that Henry was married to a woman who preferred not to interfere and turned a blind eye to everything.

Queen of France

On March 31, 1547, Francis I died and Henry II ascended the throne. Catherine became Queen of France. The coronation took place in the Basilica of Saint-Denis in June 1549.

During the reign of her husband, Catherine had only minimal influence on the administration of the kingdom. Even in Henry's absence, her power was very limited. In early April 1559, Henry II signed the peace treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, ending the long wars between France, Italy and England. The agreement was strengthened by the engagement of Catherine and Henry's fourteen-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, to thirty-two-year-old Philip II of Spain.

Death of Henry II

Challenging the prediction of the astrologer Luca Gorico, who advised him to refrain from tournaments, paying attention specifically to the king’s forty-year-old age, Henry decided to participate in the competition. On June 30 or July 1, 1559, he took part in a duel with the lieutenant of his Scots guard, Earl Gabriel de Montgomery. Montgomery's split spear passed through the slot of the king's helmet. Through Henry's eye, the tree entered the brain, mortally wounding the monarch. The king was taken to the castle de Tournel, where the remaining fragments of the ill-fated spear were removed from his face. The best doctors in the kingdom fought for Henry's life. Catherine was at her husband’s bedside all the time, and Diana did not appear, probably for fear of being sent away by the queen. From time to time, Henry even felt well enough to dictate letters and listen to music, but soon he became blind and lost his speech.

Black queen

Henry II died on July 10, 1559. From that day on, Catherine chose as her emblem a broken spear with the inscription “Lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor” (“From this all my tears and my pain”) and until the end of her days she wore black clothes as a sign of mourning. She was the first to wear black mourning. Before this, in medieval France, mourning was white.

Despite everything, Catherine adored her husband. “I loved him so much...” she wrote to her daughter Elizabeth after Henry’s death. Catherine mourned her husband for thirty years and went down in French history under the name “The Black Queen.”

Regency

Her eldest son, fifteen-year-old Francis II, became the King of France. Catherine took up state affairs, made political decisions, and exercised control over the Royal Council. However, she never ruled the entire country, which was in chaos and on the verge of civil war. Many parts of France were virtually dominated by local nobles. The complex tasks that Catherine faced were confusing and to some extent difficult for her to understand. She called on religious leaders on both sides to engage in dialogue to resolve their doctrinal differences. Despite her optimism, the "Conference of Poissy" ended in failure on October 13, 1561, dissolving itself without the queen's permission. Catherine's point of view on religious issues was naive because she saw the religious schism from a political perspective. “She underestimated the power of religious conviction, imagining that everything would be fine if only she could persuade both parties to agree.”

Francis II died in Orleans shortly before his 17th birthday from a brain abscess caused by an ear infection. He had no children and his 10-year-old brother Charles ascended the throne.

Charles IX

On August 17, 1563, Catherine de Medici's second son, Charles IX, was declared an adult. He was never able to govern the kingdom on his own and showed minimal interest in state affairs. Karl was also prone to hysterics, which over time turned into outbursts of rage. He suffered from shortness of breath - a sign of tuberculosis, which ultimately brought him to the grave.

Dynastic marriages

Through dynastic marriages, Catherine sought to expand and strengthen the interests of the House of Valois. In 1570, Charles was married to the daughter of Emperor Maximilian II, Elizabeth. Catherine tried to marry one of her younger sons to Elizabeth of England.

She did not forget about her youngest daughter Margarita, whom she saw as the bride of the again widowed Philip II of Spain. However, soon Catherine had plans to unite the Bourbons and Valois through the marriage of Margaret and Henry of Navarre. However, Margaret encouraged the attention of Henry of Guise, son of the late Duke François of Guise. The escaped Henry of Guise hastily married Catherine of Cleves, which restored the favor of the French court towards him. Perhaps it was this incident that caused the split between Catherine and Giza.

Between 1571 and 1573, Catherine persistently tried to win over the mother of Henry of Navarre, Queen Jeanne. When in another letter Catherine expressed a desire to see her children, promising not to harm them, Jeanne d'Albret jokingly replied: “Forgive me if, reading this, I want to laugh, because you want to free me from fears that I never Did not have. I never thought that, as they say, you eat small children.” Ultimately, Joan agreed to a marriage between her son Henry and Margaret, with the condition that Henry would continue to adhere to the Huguenot faith. Shortly after arriving in Paris to prepare for the wedding, forty-four-year-old Jeanne fell ill and died.

The Huguenots were quick to accuse Catherine of killing Jeanne with poisoned gloves. The wedding of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois took place on August 18, 1572 at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Three days later, one of the Huguenot leaders, Admiral Gaspard Coligny, on his way from the Louvre, was wounded in the arm by a shot from the window of a nearby building. A smoking arquebus was left in the window, but the shooter managed to escape. Coligny was carried to his apartment, where surgeon Ambroise Paré removed the bullet from his elbow and amputated one of his fingers. Catherine was said to have reacted to this incident without emotion. She visited Coligny and tearfully promised to find and punish her attacker. Many historians blamed her for the attack on Coligny. Others point to the Guise family or a Spanish-papal conspiracy that tried to end Coligny's influence over the king.

St. Bartholomew's Night

The name of Catherine de Medici is associated with one of the bloodiest events in the history of France - St. Bartholomew's Night. The massacre, which began two days later, tarnished Catherine's reputation. There is no doubt that she was behind the decision on August 23, when Charles IX ordered: “Then kill them all, kill them all!”

The train of thought was clear, Catherine and her Italian advisers (Albert de Gondi, Lodovico Gonzaga, Marquis de Villars) expected a Huguenot uprising after the assassination attempt on Coligny, so they decided to strike first and destroy the Huguenot leaders who came to Paris for the wedding of Margaret of Valois and Henry Navarre. Most likely it was an adventure of the Guise family, only it was important for them that religious peace did not come to France. The St. Bartholomew massacre began in the first hours of August 24, 1572.

The king's guards burst into Coligny's bedroom, killed him and threw his body out of the window. At the same time, the sound of the church bell was a conventional sign for the beginning of the murders of the Huguenot leaders, most of whom died in their own beds. The king's newly minted son-in-law, Henry of Navarre, was faced with a choice between death, life imprisonment and conversion to Catholicism. He decided to become a Catholic, after which he was asked to stay in the room for his own safety. All the Huguenots inside and outside the Louvre were killed, and those who managed to escape into the street were shot by the royal riflemen who were waiting for them. The Parisian massacre continued for almost a week, spreading across many provinces of France, where indiscriminate killings continued. According to historian Jules Michelet, "Bartholomew's Night was not a night, but a whole season." This massacre delighted Catholic Europe, Catherine outwardly enjoyed the praise because she preferred that foreign rulers think of the strong power of the Valois family. From this time on, the “black legend” of Catherine, the evil Italian queen, began.

Huguenot writers branded Catherine as a treacherous Italian who followed Machiavelli's advice to "kill all enemies with one blow." Despite accusations from contemporaries of planning a massacre, some historians do not entirely agree with this. There is no hard evidence that the killings were pre-planned. Many view the massacre as a "surgical strike" that got out of control. Whatever the reasons for the bloodshed, historian Nicholas Sutherland has called St. Bartholomew's Night in Paris and its subsequent development "one of the most controversial events in modern history."

Henry III

Two years later, with the death of twenty-three-year-old Charles IX, Catherine faced a new crisis. The dying words of Catherine’s dying son were: “Oh, my mother...”. The day before his death, he appointed his mother as regent, since his brother, the heir to the French throne, the Duke of Anjou, was in Poland, becoming its king. In her letter to Henry, Catherine wrote: “I am heartbroken... My only consolation is to see you here soon, as your kingdom requires and in good health, because if I lose you too, I will bury myself alive with you.”

Favorite son

Henry was Catherine's favorite son. Unlike his brothers, he took the throne as an adult. He was the healthiest of all, although he also had weak lungs and suffered from constant fatigue. Catherine could not control Henry the way she did with Charles. Her role during Henry's reign was that of a state executive and traveling diplomat. She traveled the length and breadth of the kingdom, strengthening the king's power and preventing war. In 1578, Catherine again took upon herself the restoration of peace in the south of the country. At the age of fifty-nine, she undertook an eighteen-month tour of the south of France, meeting with Huguenot leaders there. She suffered from catarrh and rheumatism, but her main concern was Heinrich. When he suffered an ear abscess similar to the one that killed Francis II, Catherine was beside herself with worry. After she heard the news of his successful recovery, she wrote in one letter: “I believe God has taken pity on me. Seeing my suffering from the loss of my husband and children, he did not want to completely crush me by taking that away from me... This terrible pain is disgusting, believe me, to be far from the one you love the way I love him, and knowing that that he is sick; it’s like dying over a slow fire.”

François, Duke of Alençon

During the reign of Henry III, civil wars in France often descended into anarchy, fueled by a power struggle between the high nobility on one side and the clergy on the other. A new destabilizing component in the kingdom was the youngest son of Catherine de Medici - Francois, Duke of Alençon, who at that time bore the title “Monsignor” (French “Monsieur”). François plotted to seize the throne while Henry was in Poland and later continued to disrupt the peace of the kingdom at every opportunity. The brothers hated each other. Since Henry had no children, Francois was the legal heir to the throne. One day, Catherine had to lecture him for six hours about his, Francois, behavior. But the ambitions of the Duke of Alençon (later of Anjou) brought him closer to misfortune. His ill-equipped campaign into the Netherlands and the king's promised but unfulfilled aid ended in the destruction of his army in Antwerp in January 1583. Antwerp marked the end of François's military career.

Another blow befell him when Queen Elizabeth I of England, after the Antwerp massacre, officially broke off her engagement to him. On June 10, 1584, François died of exhaustion after failures in the Netherlands. The day after her son’s death, Catherine wrote: “I am so unhappy living long enough to see so many people die before me, although I understand that God’s will must be obeyed, that He owns everything and what He lends to us is only as long as He loves the children He gives us.” The death of Catherine's youngest son was a real disaster for her dynastic plans. Henry III had no children and it seemed unlikely that he would ever have any, due to Louise de Vaudemont's inability to conceive a child. According to the Salic Law, the former Huguenot Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre, became the heir to the French crown.

Marguerite de Valois

The behavior of Catherine's youngest daughter, Marguerite de Valois, annoyed her mother just as much as Francois's behavior. One day, in 1575, Catherine yelled at Margarita because of rumors that she had a lover. Another time, King Henry III even sent people to kill Margarita’s lover, Count de La Mole (nobleman Francois of Alençon), but he managed to escape, and was then executed on charges of treason. La Mole himself revealed the plot to Catherine. In 1576, Henry accused Margaret of having an inappropriate relationship with a lady of the court. Later in her memoirs, Margarita claimed that if it were not for Catherine’s help, Henry would have killed her. In 1582, Margarita returned to the French court without her husband and soon began to behave very scandalously, changing lovers. Catherine had to resort to the help of the ambassador to pacify Henry of Bourbon and return Margaret to Navarre. She reminded her daughter that her own behavior as a wife was impeccable, despite all the provocations. But Margarita was unable to follow her mother's advice. In 1585, after Margaret was rumored to have tried to poison her husband and shot him, she fled Navarre again. This time she headed to her own Agen, from where she soon asked her mother for money, which she received in an amount sufficient for food. However, soon she and her next lover, persecuted by the inhabitants of Agen, had to move to the Karlat fortress. Catherine asked Henry to take immediate action before Margaret disgraced them again. In October 1586, Margarita was locked in the castle d'Usson. Margarita's lover was executed before her eyes. Catherine excluded her daughter from her will and never saw her again.

Death

Catherine de' Medici died in Blois on January 5, 1589, at the age of sixty-nine. An autopsy revealed a terrible general condition of the lungs with a purulent abscess on the left side. According to modern researchers, the possible cause of death of Catherine de Medici was pleurisy. “Those who were close to her believed that her life was shortened by frustration because of the actions of her son,” believed one of the chroniclers. Since Paris was held by enemies of the crown at that time, they decided to bury Catherine in Blois. She was later reburied in the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris. In 1793, during the French Revolution, a crowd threw her remains, as well as the remains of all French kings and queens, into a common grave.

Eight months after Catherine's death, everything she had strived for and dreamed of during her life was reduced to zero when the religious fanatic monk Jacques Clement stabbed to death her beloved son and last Valois, Henry III.

It is interesting to note that of all 10 children of Catherine, only Margarita lived a fairly long life - 62 years. Heinrich did not live to see 40, and the rest of the children did not even live to see 30.

Influence of Catherine de' Medici

Some modern historians forgive Catherine de Medici for not always humane solutions to problems during her reign. Professor R. D. Knecht points out that the justification for her ruthless policies can be found in her own letters. Catherine's policies can be seen as a series of desperate attempts to keep the monarchy and the Valois dynasty on the throne at any cost. It can be argued that without Catherine, her sons would never have retained power, which is why the period of their reign is often called “the years of Catherine de Medici.”

During her lifetime, Catherine inadvertently had enormous influence in fashion, outlawing the use of thick bodices in 1550. The ban applied to all visitors to the royal court. For nearly 350 years after this, women wore laced corsets made from whalebone or metal to narrow their waists as much as possible.

With her passions, manners and taste, love for art, splendor and luxury, Catherine was a true Medici. Her collection consisted of 476 paintings, mainly portraits, and is currently part of the Louvre collection. She was also one of the "influential people in culinary history." Her banquets at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1564 were renowned for their splendor. Catherine was also well versed in architecture: the Valois chapel in Saint-Denis, the addition to the Chenonceau castle near Blois, etc. She discussed the plan and decoration of her Tuileries Palace. The popularity of ballet in France is also associated with Catherine de Medici, who brought this type of performing art with her from Italy.

Heroine Dumas

Catherine de Medici is familiar to millions of readers from the novels by Alexandre Dumas “Ascanio”, “The Two Dianas”, “Queen Margot”, “The Countess de Monsoreau” and “Forty-Five”.

Film incarnations

Françoise Rose in the film “Queen Margot”, France - Italy, 1954.
Lea Padovani in the film The Princess of Cleves (film based on the novel by Madame de Lafayette, directed by J. Dellanois, France-Italy, 1961)
Catherine Cut in the film "Mary Queen of Scots", Great Britain, 1971.
Maria Merico in the mini-series “The Countess de Monsoreau”, France, 1971.
Virna Lisi in the film “Queen Margot”, France - Germany - Italy, 1994.
Ekaterina Vasilyeva in the series “Queen Margot” 1996 and “Countess de Monsoreau”, Russia, 1997.
Rosa Novel in the mini-series “The Countess de Monsoreau”, France, 2008.
Hannelore Hoger in the German film "Henry of Navarre", 2010.
Evelina Meghangi in the film “Princess de Montpensier”, France - Germany, 2010.
Megan Follows in the television series “Reign”, USA, 2013-2016.