Mill of Myths: The Black Queen. Catherine de' Medici: why she was called the "Black Queen" Daughter of Catherine de' Medici de Valois 9 letters
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 by giving birth to 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.
In the history of Europe, the time of Catherine de Medici was one of the most brutal. Everywhere in Europe the fires of the Inquisition burned, famine and plague raged, and endless wars broke out. The Church split into warring Catholics and Protestants. In Italy, foreign invasions added to the civil unrest. In Florence, the dominance of the Medici family fell.
With the support of Rome, Lorenzo de' Medici returned to power in 1513. After 1.5 years, Giovanni Medici was elected Pope, who in 1518 married 26-year-old Lorenzo to 16-year-old Madeleine de la Tour, niece of Francis I of France. Madeleine gave birth to a girl, who was named Catherine, and died of fever 15 days later. A week later, Lorenzo also passed away.
Catherine was taken in by her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi. In 1527, Italy was captured by the German Emperor Charles. Catherine, at the age of 9, was taken hostage. With great difficulty, they managed to take Catherine out of the city; she was hidden in a monastery, then sent to Rome, where Pope Clement VII took the girl under his wing.
In October 1533, Clement married 14-year-old Catherine to the 14-year-old heir to the French throne, Prince Henry, giving the bride a generous dowry. In Paris, Henry spent considerable time with Diane de Poitiers, who, from the age of 12, was raising the prince and captivated him with her extraordinary mastery of the art of love.
In order not to be bored alone, Catherine, like men, entertained herself by hunting wild boars and deer. After 9 years of marriage, Catherine became pregnant and gave birth to children every year since then. But only 4 sons and 3 daughters survived. All this time, Catherine had to endure her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
In 1547 Francis I died and Henry II took his place on the throne. Catherine was proclaimed queen, but this did not add power to her. Henry spent a lot of money on endless wars and his mistress. In 1559, the war between France and Spain ended. 14-year-old Elizabeth, Catherine's eldest daughter, was married to the Spanish King Philip II. On this occasion, a knightly tournament took place in Paris, in which Henry took part. On July 9, in a duel with the captain of the Scottish Guard, Gabriel de Montgomery, the king was wounded by a Scotsman's spear, the tip of which pierced Henry's left eye. The king died a few days later. 15-year-old Francis, the son of Catherine, was declared monarch, who died a year later, and the throne went to the young Charles IX. But France was ruled by Catherine, who was appointed regent. Religious schism threatened to tear the country apart. .jpg)
At this time, Catherine appeared in the image of a strict but fair ruler before her subjects. She sent Diana de Poitiers into exile, and the fires of the Inquisition went out on her orders. But she preferred to deal with her enemies using poison. Catherine listened to the advice of astrologers and believed in omens, loved to have fun and eat delicious food. After the death of her husband, she began to wear black clothes, for which she was popularly called the “Black Queen.”
In 1565, Catherine, accompanied by King Charles and his courtiers, set off to travel around France. A new war was brewing, and in order to prevent it, Catherine decided to marry her 19-year-old daughter Margarita to the Protestant Henry of Navarre. The wedding took place in August 1572 in Paris. Conflicts between the Huguenots and Catholics immediately began. On St. Bartholomew's Day, a 3-day massacre began that claimed 2,500 lives. There was complete discord in the royal family; by 1576, only Henry and the depraved Margarita, whom her mother imprisoned in Ussel Castle, were the only survivors of Catherine’s children.
In 1588, the royal family fled the city to Blois. De Guise really threatened their throne, but was killed, and his supporters announced non-recognition of the Valois dynasty. But Catherine could no longer do anything - on January 5, 1589, Catherine de Medici died.
Catherine de' Medici, future Queen of France. She was born in Florence on April 13, 1519. Catherine's parent, Duke of Urbino, was a nobleman of relatively low birth. However, the connections of the mother, Countess of Overenskaya, contributed to her future marriage to the king. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, the parents die six days apart. King Francis I of France tried to take the girl to himself, but the Pope had his own far-reaching plans. The girl remained in the care of her grandmother, Alfonsina Orsin. In 1520, after the death of her grandmother, the girl was taken by her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi. The girl grew up in the same family, with her aunt’s daughters and sons. The relationship between the children was good, Catherine did not feel any deprivation. After the death of Leo X in 1521, political events make Catherine a hostage. She spent eight whole years in this status. In 1529, after the surrender of Florence to King Charles V, the girl gained freedom. The new Pope Clement was expecting his niece in Rome. After her arrival, the search for a suitable party began. A large number of candidates were considered. After a proposal from King Francis I, the choice was made. This marriage suited everyone.
The 14-year-old girl became the future companion of Prince Henry. Catherine did not stand out for her beauty, the usual appearance of an ordinary girl at 14 years old. Having turned to one of the most famous masters for help, she acquired high-heeled shoes and managed to impress the French court. The wedding celebrations, which began on October 28, 1533 in Marseille, lasted 34 days. After the death of Clement VII, Catherine's position deteriorated sharply. The new pope refused to pay the dowry. Florentine education lacked versatility. The girl’s non-native language also brought a lot of grief. Catherine was left alone, the courtiers showed her all sorts of hostility.
The heir to the French throne, Dauphin Francis, unexpectedly dies, and Catherine's husband becomes heir. The future queen has new worries. With this event, speculation about “Catherine the poisoner” begins.
The appearance of an illegitimate son by the king proved Catherine’s infertility. The future queen underwent all kinds of treatment, wanting to get pregnant. In 1544, a son was born into the family. The child was given the name Francis, in honor of his grandfather, the king on the throne. The first pregnancy completely solved the problem with infertility. Several more children appeared in the family. Catherine's position at court became stronger. After an unsuccessful birth in 1556, doctors recommended that the couple stop. Henry lost interest in his wife and spent all his time with his favorite.
On March 31, 1547, due to the death of his father, King Francis I, royal power passed to his son, Henry II. Henry's wife turns into a queen. The king limited his wife's ability to participate in government and her influence was minimal.
In the summer of 1559, the king had an accident at a knight's tournament. A splinter from a broken spear penetrated into the eye socket through the viewing slit in the helmet and damaged brain tissue. The doctors tried to save the king; Catherine did not leave the room where the king was. Soon the king stopped seeing and speaking. In 1559, on July 19, Henry passed away. From that time until her death, Catherine wore black clothes as a sign of mourning.
Her son, Francis II, ascended the throne of France at the age of 15. Catherine had to delve into the affairs of the state. Lack of experience often led Catherine to wrong decisions. Because of her naivety, she could not appreciate the full depth of the problems.
The reign of the new king lasted about two years. Francis II died of an infectious disease. The position of king passed to his 10-year-old brother, Charles IX. This child, even having reached adulthood, was not able to rule the state, and did not show any desire. Tuberculosis brought him to his grave. On Catherine’s conscience lies the bloodiest event of those times - St. Bartholomew’s Night. There is no doubt that according to her decision, Charles IX gave the order to kill the Huguenots. Catherine de Medici died in 1589, on January 5th. The diagnosis is lung disease. She was buried in Blois; Paris was captured by the enemy.
The idea for such a post matured a long time ago - when I saw in one LiveJournal post a fairly well-known costume historian in his circles, among others, this portrait:
Under the portrait with the attribution “Catherine de Medici and her brother Francesco,” a rather lively discussion broke out about how much the features of the future ruler of France were already visible in this girl, how similar she was to herself in adulthood, etc. Moreover, what struck me most was that the author of the post himself also participated in these discussions. While I was thinking about whether I wanted to intervene, someone came and said that, guys, wake up and open your eyes - this is not the same Catherine de Medici, and she didn’t and couldn’t have had any brothers. All this together, once again, brought me to a sad thought about the intuitive distrust of specialists who study anything “from antiquity to the present day.” For, even if you close your eyes to the brother who came from nowhere, then the level of painting of this portrait, and the costume on the girl, everything simply screams that this is the beginning of the 17th century, and not the beginning of the 16th, especially for a specialist in the history of costume. Everyone is human, and everyone can make mistakes, but this is one of those gross mistakes that a specialist, who also gives public lectures in Moscow, cannot afford.
Of course, this is not the first and not the last mistake of this kind, even if we take only this costume historian, so I would like to repeat for the umpteenth time - there is no need to study anything “from antiquity to the present day,” and most importantly, in isolation from “big history” and numerous auxiliary disciplines - the approach must still be comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and genealogy, my dears, is our everything. It is not for nothing that in all countries, in all schools, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was a compulsory discipline, even in a very truncated form, like the history of the ruling dynasty.
But let's return to our Catherine de Medici. So who is depicted in this wonderful portrait?
I think that I will not reveal a great secret if I say that Queen Mother Catherine of the Medici family was not happy with her children. The eldest son, Francis II, named after his famous grandfather, King Francis I, was entirely under the influence of the Guise brothers, whom Catherine did not like, considered upstarts, but with whom she was forced to reckon. Due to the fact that Francis was married to the Guises' niece, Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland, whom he adored since childhood, their power was stronger than that of their mother, despite the fact that Catherine was formally the regent. But, I repeat several times, all of Catherine’s children both loved and, at the same time, feared her, and always expressed deep respect and reverence for her. Francis, as is known, died shortly before his 17th birthday, leaving no heirs.
Mary Stuart, Queen of France and Scotland, wife of Francis II Catherine's second child was a girl who was named Elizabeth. In my purely subjective opinion, it was Elizabeth, and not Margot, who was the most beautiful princess of the house of Valois. Just like Margarita, Elizabeth inherited black hair and brown eyes from her mother, and was distinguished by tact, sophistication, grace and impeccable artistic taste.
At the age of 14 she was married to King Philip II of Spain and remained in history under the Spanish name Isabella de Valois. Catherine sincerely admired her daughter, and due to the fact that their relationship was close and warm, Catherine had very high political hopes for Isabella, believing that she, with her beauty, gentleness and high intelligence, would be able to influence the tough policies that Spain led towards the French Huguenots, forcing Catherine to act rashly and belligerently. But Isabella, having seen enough in her childhood of, to put it mildly, an extremely peculiar marriage of her parents - the power of the favorite and the tears of her mother, was immensely grateful to Philip for the respect and understanding that he showed her from the very first days of her marriage. An absolutely political union turned into a union of love, and, to Catherine’s great chagrin, Isabella gently but unconditionally made it clear to her that she would always and in everything share her husband’s views. The meeting of Isabella and Catherine 8 years later was a shock for the Queen Mother, and she bitterly complained to those close to her that “her daughter had become completely Spanish.” Six months after this meeting, Isabella died while trying to give Philip an heir to the throne.
After the death of Francis II, his younger brother Charles IX, who was 10 years old at that time, ascended the throne of France. Catherine, who was already anticipating unlimited power, as far as was possible under those conditions, was disappointed both in her hopes and in her second son. Of course, the weak, and in many matters weak-willed king, despite all the respect, did not trust his mother, did not dare to openly resist her decisions, but loved to do everything his own way behind her back. Despite the real power in her hands, Catherine's political position was very difficult. France was torn apart from within by religious wars; in its foreign policy, Philip II of Spain reproached it for being too lenient towards heretics (Huguenots), of whom there were almost more Catholics in France at that time, and this, on the other hand, threatened the throne.
The behavior of the suspicious Charles, who either brought Catholics or Huguenots led by Coligny closer to him, did not make Catherine’s task of stabilizing the situation in the country easier. In an effort to gain outside support, Catherine, as a true monarch of the Renaissance, preferred the policy of dynastic marriages. Having married her eldest daughter, Elizabeth of Valois, to the King of Spain, she chose the daughter of Emperor Maximilian II, Elizabeth of Austria, for Charles. The choice was successful - one of the most beautiful princesses of the time, soft and gentle Elizabeth adored her husband, but Charles almost openly preferred the company of Marie Touchet, with whom he had a son. Thus, this marriage union did not live up to the Queen Mother’s hopes. Karl died of lung disease a week before his 24th birthday.
The next king to ascend the throne of France was Catherine's favorite son. It is very difficult to write about Henry III - he was such a controversial personality - not a single historian can give him at least an unambiguous portrait, and the task of this post does not include assessing his personality. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to the emotions of Queen Mother Catherine.
She was always admired by Henry's mind, comparable to hers, which was a good century ahead of his time, she highly appreciated his elegant manners, although some then believed that such manners were excusable only for sophisticated ladies, but there was a flip side to all this: managing Henry , how she managed his older brothers, Catherine could not. And she voluntarily submitted to this. She set herself a goal: to serve the interests of her son and, in particular, to achieve peace in the south of the country. She travels a lot, negotiates, trying to do everything so that nothing threatens her Henry’s throne. And her biggest disappointment was the discovery of the fact that Henry, despite all his outward respect, took all of Catherine’s efforts for granted, practically did not take her opinion and experience into account, and most often acted as it was convenient for him, and not as was necessary which will ultimately lead to his death. The first in a series of similar actions was his marriage, by his own choice, to the Guizov’s niece, Louise de Vaudemont. He took revenge on his mother for not allowing him to marry his greatest love, Maria of Cleves. And the last was the order to kill the Duke of Guise, which turned into the murder of the king. Fortunately, Catherine did not live to see this moment.
Mary of Cleves, passionate love of Henry III.
The behavior of the younger children never brought anything but irritation and grief to Catherine. François, Duke of Alençon, spent his entire life scheming against his brothers. In an effort to channel his energy and cunning in the right direction, Catherine, following her logic of dynastic marriages, wooed him to England as a consort for Queen Elizabeth. Nothing came of this venture, despite the fact that, to the great surprise of modern historians, Elizabeth highly appreciated the sophisticated Prince Valois, even despite the nickname “little frog” that she gave him. In any case, when Francois died, mourning was declared at the English court, and the ambassadors noted with surprise the tears in Elizabeth's eyes.
Catherine’s attitude towards Margot, the youngest of her daughters, is generally well known to everyone from the unforgettable series “Queen Margot”, however, the reality was much worse - Catherine and Henry had to lock Margot in isolation in the castle, “until she somehow “I didn’t disgrace you,” said the Queen Mother, and ultimately, Catherine stopped calling her daughter by name and crossed her out of her will.
Looking at this whole, to put it mildly, bleak picture, some of the Queen Mother’s actions become much clearer. And yet, in this dark kingdom there was a ray of living light - Catherine had an outlet among her children in the form of her middle daughter - Clotilde or Claude, as she was commonly called.
Claude de Valois was not a beauty - she had a hump and she limped, but with her softness and tact she resembled her older sister Elizabeth, and, out of political necessity, Catherine sacrificed her - at the age of 11, Claude of France was married to Duke Charles of Lorraine III. To the great surprise of the French court, the marriage turned out to be successful and based on mutual respect and trust. Claude gave birth to 9 children and died of complications at age 27. Catherine's grief was simply enormous. And she focused all her unspent feelings of love on her eldest granddaughter - daughter Claude Christina of Lorraine.
Christina was quite beautiful and had a purely French charm. A girl lived and was raised at her grandmother’s court in Paris. The last thing Catherine managed to do in her life was to find a good match for her beloved granddaughter. Just at this time in Florence, under very mysterious and dramatic circumstances, the Grand Duke of Tuscany and a very distant relative of Catherine, Francesco de' Medici and his second wife Bianca Capello, died of poison. Francesco's younger brother Ferdinand de' Medici ascends to the throne of Florence. The marriage was beneficial to both parties, and in April 1589 Christina de Lorraine arrived in Florence. Ferdinand was one of the best Grand Dukes of the Medici family. He was loved, the duchy prospered, Christina was happily married, and she named her second girl, born in 1593, in honor of her beloved grandmother, to whom she was very grateful - Catherine de Medici. It is this girl - another Catherine from the Medici family - who is depicted in the famous portrait with which we began our story.)
Catherine de Medici the Younger in a wedding dress.))
Catherine de' Medici left behind a bright mark. Some experts in the field of the Middle Ages are not at all shy when they call this trail bloody. But what if she had to live in such times. Her short reign as regent and that of her sons was marked by constant protracted wars - civil and religious. Whether this woman, offended by fate, had a choice is a big question.
Childhood and youth
According to biographers, the Medici family was very happy about the birth of a girl. But the parental joy was short-lived. Half a month after giving birth, the girl’s mother died, and six days later her father died. And although it is officially accepted that the child’s mother died of puerperal fever, most likely the cause of death of both spouses was syphilis.
One way or another, the newborn child immediately became an orphan. Caring relatives took sufficient part in the fate of the child. The king of France, Francis I, was ready to take the baby into her upbringing. But another, no less influential relative, Pope Leo X, determined the girl’s life differently. He decided that this would be an excellent match for his nephew, who would become the ruler of Florence. True, Leo X was unable to complete this project because he died two years later. Meanwhile, the baby was raised by her aunt.
When the young duchess was barely 10 years old, trouble came to Florence. The city came under siege by Charles V of Habsburg. Calls began to come in to deal with the future potential ruler of Florence. They suggested either hanging the teenage girl from the central gate leading into the city or simply dishonoring her.
It is not surprising that when the conflict was resolved, the current Pope Clement VII, also a relative of Catherine, met her in Rome in tears. Now Pope Clement VII decided to arrange the life of the grown-up girl. Soon such a chance arose - the King of France, Francis I, saw in the girl a bride for his second son. So Catherine turned into a newlywed. The girl was the same age as Henry de Valois. They were fourteen years old when they became husband and wife.
French court
The duchess's political value was very high for France. Family ties with the Pope and a good dowry made the girl a valuable acquisition for France.
Although not a beauty, she was able to make a good first impression on the entire French court. Her fiancé, Henry de Valois, was not the crown prince, but his wedding became a grandiose event for all of France. The festivities did not stop for 34 days, changing feasts to balls.
Trouble began when Clement VII died in September 1534. Not all of Catherine's dowry was paid, and the new Pope refused to pay it. The value of the “Italian” and “merchant’s wife,” as the girl was called at court, fell sharply. The courtiers did not hide their arrogant and disdainful attitude. Many pretended not to understand her, although Medici spoke good French. Prince Henry did not hide his indifference to his wife. The young man had a constant favorite - Diane de Poitiers, with whom he spent time. Catherine was completely alone in this foreign and unfriendly country.
Relationship with husband
Catherine tried to get along with her husband. She followed the actions of Diane de Poitiers, trying to understand what was so attractive about her husband in this woman, but she did not find anything special. Apparently, Henry really was in love with the beautiful Diana, although her mistress was 19 years older than the prince. There were whole legends, similar to fables, about the beauty of de Poitiers. But one way or another, she kept Heinrich near her for many years.
Diane de Poitiers was not only beautiful, she was also smart. Realizing that she was not destined to become Henry’s wife, the favorite was able to create the most favorable environment for her beloved. She skillfully manipulated her lover, sometimes pushing him into the marital bed. True, all attempts to acquire a legal heir were in vain for a long time; Catherine did not become pregnant for 10 years.
The Medici owe their miraculous liberation from infertility to Nostradamus. After the birth of her first child, difficulties with conception no longer bothered Catherine. She gave birth to ten children one after another, creating a strong foundation for herself at the French court. Thirty-seven-year-old Catherine’s last birth was very difficult. Two girls born died, one immediately, the second six weeks later. Doctors saved the woman, but advised her not to give birth again.
Since then, Henry did not visit his wife’s chambers at all, preferring the company of his favorite. But it is known for sure that the prince loved his children, often played with them and spoiled them with gifts.
Black queen
Some historians are confident that Henry II owes his throne to his wife, who poisoned Henry’s older brother. And although modern scientists have found evidence that the eighteen-year-old boy, the first heir to the throne, died of tuberculosis, no one abandoned the version of poisoning.
In 1547, Catherine became queen. This didn't improve the situation. She was only the mother of the heirs and did not take any part in governing the country.
Everything changed after the death of her husband, who was accidentally killed at a military tournament. Having received a mortal wound, the king lived for 10 days. All this time, Catherine was near her husband, not allowing her favorite Diana to see him, although the monarch demanded her presence. And those around her no longer dared to contradict the queen, realizing that now it was she who became the first person in the state.
Although Catherine’s husband had a constant favorite all his life and assigned his wife a supporting role, she loved him very much. After Henry's death, Medici vowed that she would now wear mourning dresses for the rest of her life. She kept her promise and dressed the same way for all 30 years of her life as a widow. This became the reason for the nickname that stuck - the Black Queen. But not only this fact made her “black”.
Regency
Now that there was no need to wear a mask of submission in front of her beloved husband, the Medici showed France her true face. Catherine's eldest son was a fifteen-year-old teenager, and she became regent. The Queen plunged into state problems and began to make decisions, including political ones. She didn’t do it very well, largely due to the fact that she didn’t understand much. The country was in chaos, with local nobles taking power in some parts of France. In addition, she underestimated the religious differences between Catholics and Protestants, who were called Huguenots in France.
Meanwhile, the young king led an idle life and, although he was legally of age, he could not and did not want to rule. He died before his seventeenth birthday from a sudden illness.
Catherine was now regent for her second son, Charles IX, who was barely ten years old. But the growing boy was also never interested in the affairs of France, so the rule of the country was concentrated in the hands of the Queen Mother. This young man, like his older brother, was not in good health. He died at the age of 23 from pleurisy. But many historians claim that the young king died of poisoning. Moreover, his two younger brothers Heinrich and Francois, as well as Marie de Medici herself, are suspected of the crime.
Now it is the turn of the third son of Catherine de Medici to rule France. He was her favorite son, and the Queen Mother helped him greatly. Henry III Valois was educated and well-read, he easily held conversations on educational topics, knew literature and history, and danced and fenced beautifully. The main thing is that of all the Medici, he had the best health.
Henry did not shy away from ruling the country, and the Queen Mother's role was selective. She often acted as a state performer. The elderly woman traveled throughout the country with the goal of strengthening royal power and restoring peace. She helped her son until the last days of her life.
St. Bartholomew's Night
This is the same event that confirmed the title of Catherine de Medici as the black queen.
During the reign of the Medici dynasty in France, a very difficult situation developed between Catholics and Protestants. Religious wars broke out throughout the country. The threat of losing control over the entire state was constantly in the air over the monarchs.
From the beginning of her reign, Catherine underestimated the scale of the tragedy, naively believing that the main thing was to reach a constructive agreement with the leaders. But the strength of religious differences led to a complete split not only in the ranks of the nobility; the common people were also outraged.
Catherine decided to marry her Catholic daughter, Margaret of Valois, to the Protestant Henry of Navarre, and thus at least somehow try on the people. Consent to the marriage on the part of the groom was obtained only on the condition that he would remain in his Huguenot faith. Of course, true Catholics did not approve of such actions. The Pope did not give his consent to this marriage. The Queen literally persuaded Archbishop Charles de Bourbon to marry the couple.
The wedding took place in Notre Dame Cathedral. On this occasion, a large number of Protestants gathered in Paris.
There was a second part of the plan, according to which the queen decided to deal with the Huguenot leaders. It was decided to eliminate someone, capture someone. But things didn't go as planned. The angry crowd of the mob mercilessly began to kill everyone in a row, recognizing the Huguenots by their black clothes. In this confusion, both the Huguenots who came to Paris and the local residents suffered. There was real robbery for several days. The dead were stripped of their clothes and valuables were taken away. The maddened killers destroyed everything in their path.
Historians do not give an exact number of those killed, and the figure varies from 3 thousand to 30 thousand throughout France. This horror began on the night of August 23-24, 1572, just before St. Bartholomew's Day. This is how the event got its name - St. Bartholomew's Night.
The massacre continued for a whole week in all provinces. The riots and killings did not stop. The Catholics destroyed the Huguenots mercilessly, and converted Catherine’s newly-made son-in-law to their faith.
The Last Days of Catherine de Medici
Catherine de Medici lived for almost 70 years, in recent years she so diligently helped her son in governing the country.
She devoted her whole life to ensuring that the Valois dynasty strengthened and expanded. The Queen gave birth to a large number of children, of whom five sons and three daughters grew to adulthood. She created dynastic marriages for her children, with one goal - to strengthen the family tree. True, the Medici's contemporaries believed that the entire Valois dynasty was unsuitable for royal rule.
Less than a year after the death of Queen Catherine de Medici, who cared so much about the family tree, the Valois dynasty was interrupted forever.
The queen died in January 1589, most likely from pleurisy in the city of Blois. She was buried there. Later, the remains were reburied in the main Parisian monastery, the Abbey of Saint-Denis. And more than two hundred years later, during the Great French Revolution, in 1793, along with the remains of other monarchs, her relics fell into a common grave.
