Friday Art & History Feature - Catherine de Medici

Catherine Di Medici Anonymous (c. 1555)

There's a new show in CW, which mixes their "teen" style shows with history. The show is called Reign and is about Mary of Scots, the tragic queen who has captured the imagination of many a historical writer. I admit that, when I started watching the show, I was skeptical and a bit outraged. As a historical fiction fan, I know that to make history come alive, writers sometimes have to mix facts with fiction and fill in the historical holes using their imagination. However, as a history buff, it was hard for me to accept that there would be so many glaring historical inaccuracies in a TV show. From the gowns that were more suited to a Gossip Girl ball (I mean, sleeveless and see-through half the time!) to the fact that Francis was a sickly teenager at the time that Mary married him and the fact that he didn't have a half-brother by his father's mistress named Bash (or any, for that matter). I was prepared to hate the show. But I had to see it.

Poster for the CW show Reign

To my surprise, I got hooked and am still watching Reign. In my defense, though, I completely dissociated myself from the "history" aspect of the show - otherwise I wouldn't be able to watch it. I do, however, find it entertaining, pretty and with enough good acting to keep me watching.

Catherine di Medici is portrayed by Megan Fellows on Reign

Having said all that, there is one more issue that I take with the show. It takes place in one of my favorite time-periods, and in one of the most intriguing courts - the court of one of the most notorious and powerful women in history, Queen of France Catherine de Medici. Catherine and her daughter Margot have long held my imagination and I am very particular with these historical characters.

I wrote about Queen Margot, Catherine's fascinating daughter, in this post at an earlier time.

Today, I thought I'd talk about her mother and share with you some real historical facts on this fascinating woman.

Catherine was born in Florence, Italy in 1519 to Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino and Madaleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. Unfortunately, both of her parents passed within a year of her birth, leaving her an orphan, and the only heir. Because there were no close relatives around to take care of her, Cardinal Guilio de Medici, a distant relative, took control of the Florentine government and took Catherine into his care.

When she was eight, Florentine people rebelled against the government and attacked the Medici palace. Everyone fled the palace, but in order to save their lives, they were ordered to leave Catherine behind as a hostage. She spent the next years in various convents in Florence, where she received education that excelled and allowed her to become one of the best educated women of her time.

In 1529, Florence was conquered by Holy Roman Emperor Charles, and there calls for Catherine to be handed over to be exposed naked and chained to the city walls, or to be handed over to the troops for their sexual entertainment. When the city surrender in 1530, Pope Clement had Catherine come to Rome to live with him. Clement loved the little girl and wanted to make sure to arrange a good political marriage for her.

At 14, her looks were described as follows: "small and slender, with fair hair, thin and not pretty in face, but with the eyes peculiar to all the Medici" (Young 393).

Wedding Of Catherine de Medici With Henri, Duke of Orleans by Vasari

It was decided that her husband will be Henry of Orleans, the King of France's second son. She was soon sent to France for her marriage celebration, which was grand. It is also rumored that she had a Florentine artisan create shoes with high heels for her, the first of its kind, so she would seem grander since she was short.

King Francis I, Catherine's new father-in-law, loved Catherine's wit an charm and she often accompanied him on trips around France. However, most others saw her as someone not "royal enough" for the France's dauphin and called her "the Italian woman" in derision. She had an extraordinarily hard time making friends in the French court. This especially became problematic when the king's oldest son, Francis, died and Henry of Orleans became the heir to the throne. There were many who did not want to see an Italian on the throne as the Queen.

Catherine de Medicis bedroom at Chateau Chenonceau

Henry did not show much interest in Catherine, even though she loved and adored him. He took many mistresses, but one was always by his side - from the time he was 19 and she was 38, and for the rest of his life - Diane de Poitiers. Catherine did not produce any children for the first ten years of the marriage, and many hoped that she would be aside because she can't produce an heir. She was knows to use many tricks and superstitions to try to get pregnant, and in 1544 she finally gave birth to her first son, Francis. After that, she had no more problems with fertility, and born Henry 10 children altogether, 6 of whom survived to adulthood. Among them were three future kings of France, and, of course, Margaruite (Margot) who will become the Queen of Navarre.

Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II, by an Unknown artist

King Francis I died in 1547 and Henry became King of France. Catherine was crowned as the Queen of France in June of 1949. Henry did not allow Catherine any political power in court and Diane was more of an influence in those years than her.

In April of 1559, Henry suffered a jousting incident, in which the lance of his opponent pierced his eye. He died in July of that year. After his death, Catherine's personal emblem became a broken lance, with the inscription "lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor" ("from this come my tears and my pain"). She wore black for the rest of her life. Diane was expelled from the court. The time of Catherine keeping her feelings and thoughts to herself was over.


Catherine's oldest son, Francis II, came to throne but was weak of mind and body. He died in 1560. Charles IX, who was only aged 10 at the time, became the next King. Since Charles was so young, Catherine became the Queen Regent of France, as she would again with her third son, Henry III.

Henry III of France, Catherine's youngest son by Jean de Court (Louvre)

Her reign was not easy. There were mounting tension between Huguenots (protestants) and Catholics in France, and the French still bore much hatred toward her. Catherine worked tirelessly (and sometimes deviously) to preserve the monarchy and to protect the Valois royal dynasty. Even though she arranged the marriage between Margot and King Henry of Navarre to show unity between the Huguenots and Catholics, she is also partly blamed for the St. Batholomew's Day massacre, which followed two days after Margot's marriage took place, and in which thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered. However, in the years that followed, her actions were towards appeasing the Huguenots. In fact, at one point she made a 18-month trip to the south of France in order to meet with the Huguenot leaders, an effort that earned her respect from the French.

Catherine was a great patron of the arts. She also believed in humanistic ideals and understood that princes have to wield the power of education and letters, not just force. Her name is also forever linked to the name of Nostradamus. She was a great admirer of the astrologer and summoned him to court in 1555, where he eventually became the Counselor and Physician-in-Ordinary to her young son, King Charles IX. She was also known and feared for her skills with poisons. It is often said that René le Florentin, Catherine's perfumer, was a master of poisons and often prepared them for her.

Catherine de Medici, the widow by Jean de Court

Catherine has seen her sons become kings and die. When her youngest son died, her dreams of preserving the Valois line died with him. Henry IV, who succeeded to the throne, brought with him the Bourbon royal line.

She died at the age of 69 in January of 1589.

Henry IV, King of Navarre at one time married to Catherine's daughter, Margot, and who inherited the French throne after the death of Henry III, Catherine's son, said this of her:

I ask you, what could a woman do, left by the death of her husband with five little children on her arms, and two families of France who were thinking of grasping the crown—our own [the Bourbons] and the Guises? Was she not compelled to play strange parts to deceive first one and then the other, in order to guard, as she did, her sons, who successively reigned through the wise conduct of that shrewd woman? I am surprised that she never did worse.

(Brantôme, p. 88.)

The tomb and effigies of Catherine de Medici and Henry II Paris Saint Denis Basilica

Me in front of the tomb in Saint Denis Basilica in Paris in 2012

Friday Art & History Feature - Marguerite de Valois

Marguerite de Valois

You may not be familiar with Marguerite de Valois, but the name Queen Margot might ring a bell. It is a famous book by Alexandre Dumas Sr., as well as a beautiful French movie of the same name. But who was the real Queen Margot?

Margo as a young girl, by François Clouet  (image source: http://www.photo.rmn.fr/LowRes2/TR1/M0KEZ/05-517531.jpg)

Marguerite de Valois was born on in May of 1553, the daughter of French King Henry II and his wife, the infamous Queen Catherine de' Medici. She was the sister to three future kings, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III.

Marguerite was knows throughout France, and the world, for her beauty, intelligence and sense of fashion.

At age 19, by François Clouet (image source: http://www.internetstones.com/history-of-pearls-part-seven.html)

Marguerite was used as a pawn in the political manipulations of her mother and brother. At 19, she married King Henry of Navarre. The marriage was an arranged one, a political alliance meant to unite the Catholics and the Huguenots (protestants) of the realm after years of bitter war. The Queen of Navarre and the mother of Henry, Jeanne, was against the marriage but died under mysterious and suspicious circumstances before it took place. There were rumors of her being poisoned by the Catherine de' Medici, as her uses of poison was well known, a knowledge she brought with her to France from her native Italy. However, nobody was able to ever prove it.

Margaret and her husband, Henry of Navarre, later King Henry IV (http://derniersvalois.canalblog.com/archives/marguerite_de_valois/p0-0.html)

But there was a more sinister reason for the marriage of Henry and Margaret. Six days after the wedding, in the even that became knows as the Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the mob, instigated by Catholic factions and, it is believed, by the Queen Mother herself, killed thousands of Huguenots. While it is not known exactly how many were killed, the modern day historians estimate that it was anywhere between 5,000 and 30,000. Prior to the mob violence, targeted assassinations of major Huguenot noblemen leaders were carried out, starting with Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, who became like a father to the king, Charles IX, and was one of the architects of the marriage of Marguerite and Henry of Navarre. Is it likely that Charles gave the orders for the assassinations and the killings reluctantly, pushed to it by his mother.

While it was no love match, Marguerite and Henry seemed to respect each other, and it was Margot who is said to have kept Henry, and a few other prominent Huguenots, save by hiding them in her rooms and not letting the assassins enter. After the terrible event, Henry was basically imprisoned at Louvre for the next three years, finally escaping but leaving Margo behind. She was finally allowed to join him in Pau, where they lived for the next few years. Both Margot and Henry openly had other lovers and fought a lot between each other, but still respected and admired each other. One of the theories is that Henry could never forgive Margot for the knowledge of what would happen on St. Bartholomew's night, although there is no proof that she in fact had such knowledge prior to the event.

Louvre in 16th Century (http://www.frenchfriends.info/gallery/Paris/louvre/Louvre-16_17C.jpg.html)

Around 1582, Margot fell ill and afterwords went back to Paris, to the court of Henry III, her brother. He, however, was not happy about her reputation and she was ordered to leave the court and to return to Navarre. She was also not welcome there. Marguerite was behind a coup d'etat and seized control over an area knows as Agen, but the people of the city eventually revolted and she fled. Starting in 1586 and for the next 18 years, she was imprisoned by her brother Henry III in Usson, a castle in Auvergne.


While imprisoned, Queen Marguerite wrote memoirs that would be published after her death and would scandalize France.

Marguerite became the Queen of France when Henry of Navarre came to the throne as Henry IV in 1589. He had to convert to Catholicism since the people of Paris, mostly Catholic, would not accept him as their king otherwise. The phrase "Paris is worth a Mass" is attributed to him.

Henry had a number of mistresses, the most famous of them being Gabrielle d'Estrees who gave him four children. Henry wanted to make her his queen and had the marriage to Marguerite de Valois annulled by the Pope in 1599 (she was allowed to retain the title of Queen), but Gabrielle died before he could marry her, while giving birth to the last of their children. There are theories that she may have been poisoned. Henry eventually married Marie di Medici and was assassinated by a religious zealot in 1610. He is considered one of the greatest kings of France.

Margo was reconciled to her ex-husband and his second wife and returned to Paris for awhile, where she became a benefactress of the arts and of the poor. She was actively involved in planning events at the court and was a friend to the children of Henry IV and his wife Marie.

Hostel de la Reine Marguerite (public domain image)

Marguerite spent her last years following Henry's assassination in her Hostel de la Reine Margueritte, on the left bank of Seine. She died there on March 27th, 1615 and was buried in the Basilica of St. Denis, where most of Valois royalty was buried. Her casket is no longer there, though, and to this day it's not clear whether it was moved during the work that was done at the chapel or whether it was destroyed during the French Revolution.

Later years (Credit: Art Archive, The / SuperStock)

Marguerite de Valois is a fascinating character that has inspired numerous books and present-day movies. One of the first works of literature that she inspired was that of no other but Shakespeare, in his comedy Love's Labour's Lost, and continued with the works of Alexandre Dumas and others.

Her memoirs, which were written as collection of short stories, are considered to be one of the best literary works of the 16th Century.

Teaser Tuesday - Angelique series

Today, instead of a real teaser, I'm going to mention the book I'm reading, as I'm reading it in Russian and can't post an actual teaser. This book is one of my favorites in the historical fiction and romance genre. It was written by a french married writer team of Anne and Serge Golon, better known in America as Sergeanne Golon. They wrote the Angelique series from the 1950s through 1970s.

Angelique is a series of novel, in which the heroine, Angelique, a girl from impoverished nobility, goes through various adventures that take her from the arms of true love and riches to the rags of Parisian poor bandits, to the splendor of Versailles and before the eyes of Sun King himself, who wants her for his mistress, and much much more.

The first time I read the books was when I was 13 (even though it's an adult themed series), and they made a big impression on me. I was surprised to pick up the books again now and find that I still loved them.

Various version of Angelique books from different countries: http://www.jannaludlow.co.uk/Angelique/Angelique_Gallery.html

Unfortunately, most of these books currently are used books but they are available out there.

I would recommend these novels to any fan of a good historical fiction and/or historical romance.

There is also a series of films that were made in 1960s, a joint production of France, Italy and Germany.

1960s series of film based on S. & A. Golon's books