The Real 'Serpent Queen' | The 'Merchant's Daughter' Who Was Queen Of France | Catherine de' Medici

Few women in history would leave such an indelible impression as the formidable Catherine de Medici. Ruthless and intelligent, Catherine would hold the power behind the French throne through the reign of her three sons, and has been blamed for many of the worst decisions during that time. But is this a fair assessment of her? Catherine, born Caterina Maria Romula de Medici on the 13th of April 1519 in Florence, was the only child of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino, the ruler of Florence, and his wife, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, who was the Countess of Boulogne in her own right. Both of her parents were said to be as happy at her birth as though Catherine had been a boy, but sadly they both wouldn't live to see their daughter grow into the woman she would become. Madeleine died just a few weeks after her daughter's birth on the 28th of April. Some said it was a fever from giving birth, others from her husband, a known philanderer, giving her syphilis. Lorenzo himself died shortly afterwards on the 4th of May, apparently worn out from a lifetime of excess and hard living. This meant Catherine was instead raised by her paternal grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini, in her early years. It was a tumultuous time to be born, and proof of the shifting political stability of Catherine's era can be seen in the strong defensive walls of her family home, the Palazzo Medici, the outer protection hiding the luxurious palace within. Pope Leo X, then head of the Catholic Church and uncle to Lorenzo, also took control over Catherine's affairs. The French king, Francis I, wanted the young girl to be raised at his court, but Leo refused, seeing far more power in keeping her within Italy. He instead made her Duchess of Urbino, planning to marry her off to the illegitimate son of the Duke of Nemours, and set them both up as the rulers of Florence under his control. However, Catherine's grandmother died in 1520, leaving her to now be raised by her aunt, Clarice de' Medici, and a year later in 1521, Leo died, leaving the young girl without papal assistance. Leo's successor, Adrian of Utrecht, handed the Duchy of Urbino back to the family that was meant to hold it. However, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, an illegitimate cousin of Leo, was voted in as Pope in 1523 as Clement VII. Once again giving a helping hand to the four-year-old girl's future. With her family's large inheritance, even just with her mother's properties alone, Catherine was a valuable marriage pawn. Clement ensured she lived in great style with a large household, but the expenditure for this didn't please everyone. Leo had embezzled huge sums of money from the Florentine coffers, and yet somehow he had kept everyone happy with him due to his charm. Clement didn't have the same ability, and this wasn't helped by Lutheranism taking a stronger hold in parts of Europe, and Francis I and Charles V were at each other's throats. In 1527, violence spilled over in Florence by a group opposed to both Clement and the regime of the man he had left in charge in While Passerini escaped, the mob were reluctant to let their hostage in the form of Catherine slip through their fingers. But it was arranged that she should be snuck out and sent to the Santa Lucia convent in the Via San Gallo, before being moved instead to the Santa Caterina of Siena. This was visited by the French ambassador, and he was so shocked by the living conditions there that the little girl was once again moved, this time to the Santa Maria Annunziata delle Morate. On the 7th of December 1527, she was heavily veiled up to be disguised, and taken to the convent in the dead of night. Catherine would spend the next three years deprived of freedom behind the convent's walls, but equally protected by them, and apparently her time there was happy. By October 1529, Clement had been forced to crown Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor, in order to have his help in freeing the city of Florence. And Charles' troops attacked. The rebel leaders, growing desperate, began to have some very bad ideas about what to do to turn the tables in their favour. They first suggested storming the convent, grabbing Catherine and dangling her naked in a basket over the city walls, in the hopes she might be hit by fire from Charles' troops. Then, there were equally dark suggestions she should be deposited in the local military brothel, in order to ensure she was no longer pure enough for any advantageous marriage. At this time, Catherine was just 11. Thankfully, neither of these things happened, as rescue was sent in the form of Silvestro Aldobrandini and his men, who snatched Catherine from the convent. Against her will, as she had shaved her head and taken a veil in order to be kept safe, and at first she refused to leave the convent. And they took her back to the St. Lucia convent. Catherine would never forget Aldobrandini's service to her, or the kindness of the and she would show both of them favour after she was finally free. Finally, on the 12th of August 1530, the rebels surrendered, and Catherine was taken from her convent to Rome, where she was greeted by Clement apparently with tears in his eyes. Talk of marriage once again came up, and as the Pope was now in a stronger position than he had been previously, Catherine had some glittering offers thrown her way. Candidates included the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, James V of Scotland, and the Prince of Orange, Philibertus Chalon. Charles V favoured Francesco II Savosa, Duke of Milan, and unfortunately for Catherine, Clement couldn't afford to entirely ignore the Holy Roman Emperor. However, he also didn't actually want to help Charles out in any way with his plan, as he worried it would put him too much in the Emperor's debt, and he didn't want to provoke anything, as technically Clement had never been officially ordained into the Church. However, there was a glimmer of hope in the form of Francis I, who decided to focus his ambitions on Italy once again, and having a Pope as an ally was a good first move. In 1531, Henri, Duke of Orleans, the French King's second son, was suggested as a potential husband for Catherine. The match was agreed upon, and Catherine stayed with Clement despite the initial agreement stating she would go to live at the French court until she was old enough to consummate the marriage. The Pope, probably quite correctly, assumed that sending Catherine to the French court would create issues with Charles V, and kept her by his side of security instead. She was promised a large dowry, as well as keeping the inheritance from her mother, and it seemed that Catherine would have a very comfortable life ahead. Henri was not expected to become King as a spare, but he was a catch for Catherine, who despite being wealthy from her family long being merchants, didn't have a drop of royal blood in her veins. Catherine travelled to France with a multitude of jewels, gem-encrusted belts and pearls, a collection that was considered unbelievable compared to what other brides had brought with them. On the 23rd of October, Catherine entered Marseilles officially, riding a horse in a gold and silver dress, flanked by a royal and papal guard, and a coach draped in black velvet. She impressed her soon-to-be father-in-law by humbly kissing the feet of Clement, who had travelled with her, and Francis lifted her to her feet before kissing her. Henri was somewhat less welcoming, instead being awkward and quiet, although at his father's behest, he joined in with dancing and jousting. A few days later, the young couple were married in the Eglise Inferieure les Augustins church in Marseilles on the 28th of October 1533. Afterwards came a great feast which turned into something of an orgy of debauchery and immoral behaviour shortly after the two 14-year-olds were escorted to their wedding bed. Francis himself was said to have remained in the bedroom until the deed was consummated, and he declared that each had shown valour in the joust. A review from your dad on your wedding night must have been slightly uncomfortable even then. Pope Clement thankfully satisfied himself with waiting to bless the couple in the morning, although he was happy to find them both still in bed together. Catherine saw little of her husband during their first year of marriage, but she spent plenty of time with his sisters, Marguerite and Madeleine, and the three women also shared a household. Catherine made a place for herself at court as the new Duchess of Orléans, and the ladies of the court were impressed with her sharp wit and quick intelligence. However, on the 25th of September 1534, the following year, the death of her uncle Clement meant her standing at court faltered. With his death went many of the promises he had made for territorial gains for France, mostly because the next Pope, Paul III, felt he had no obligation whatsoever to keep up those promises, or to pay the rest of Catherine's enormous dowry. France was in despair, but there was little to do about it. Despite the fact that this made many at court somewhat annoyed that a different bride hadn't been chosen, Catherine was smart enough to figure out who she needed to get on side to keep her place, starting with the king. She didn't have beauty on her side, but Catherine won her father-in-law over by being lively, enjoying dancing and hunting enthusiastically, bringing out his protective side towards her. But there was still one area in which Catherine failed, and this was in the fact she didn't get pregnant for the first 10 years of her marriage. This was probably not helped by her new husband not taking much interest in her sexually, and by his interest in a woman who would become his favourite, Diane de Poitiers. She had been placed in Henry's household in 1531 to help with his etiquette, but he had easily been charmed by the elegant woman who was 19 years older than him. At this point, nothing untoward happened, although Henry favoured Diane over his wife almost from the onset. In 1537, there came a further shock when it was revealed that Henry had fathered a child with a courtesan named Philippa Ducey, who he publicly acknowledged as his own. This put even more pressure on Catherine to produce a child. To make things worse, in 1538, when Henry returned from war at 19 years old, the 38-year-old Diane shifted from platonic tutor to ardent lover, and the two began an affair. Catherine knew her days as queen were numbered if she didn't hurry up and produce an heir, as there was already a secretive plan in place to have her removed and replaced with Louise of Guise. The Duchess went through a series of strange fertility treatments, from drinking mule's urine to a poultice of cow dung and stag's antlers to be placed on her lady parts. In desperation, Catherine asked for holes to be bored into her chamber floor in order to look down and see what her husband got up to with Diane. While she understandably couldn't stand to look for more than a few minutes, it was enough to convince her that when she slept with Henry, something was very different in the way they did it. A physician was called for who apparently figured out there was something unusual in the reproductive organs of both Catherine and Henry. He gave them a solution, which annoyingly, we don't know. But whatever it was, it worked perfectly. In the summer of 1543, Catherine finally became pregnant with her first child, a boy born on the 19th of January 1544, named Francis after the king. And he wouldn't be the last. Catherine would go on Funnily enough, Diane never saw Catherine as a threat and encouraged Henry to have more children with his wife. In fact, if Catherine had hoped she would win back a prominent place by her husband's side through having his children, she was sadly mistaken, as Diane was then also entrusted with the care of the royal children. However, the Dauphine's reputation amongst the French people enjoyed a boost with her newfound motherhood, but her husband never visited her bedroom again. On the 31st of March 1547, King Francis died, leaving Henry as king, as his elder brother Francis had passed away in 1536. Catherine was now Queen Consort of France, but her husband still didn't allow her any real power of her own, instead handing the tasks of patronage and favours to his mistress Diane. During his reign, however, many members of Catherine's family were raised to good positions at court, and as she became queen, she found her entourage grew, especially with those who were closer to her homeland, such as the Florentines. Henry's reign also saw the rise of the Guise family through Charles de Lorraine, who would become a powerful cardinal, and Francois de Lorraine, who had been Henry's friend since they were boys, and who now became the Duke of Guise. They had further royal connections as their sister, Mary of Guise, married James V of Scotland, and was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. At just five years old, little Mary's hand was promised in marriage to the Dauphin Francis, and she travelled to the French court, where she would be brought up alongside Catherine's children. Catherine's efforts with her own children were made more difficult by Diane's presence as well. Henry was warm and affectionate with his children, and certainly part of the public respect he gave his queen was part of this, but Catherine wasn't naturally maternal. Her children certainly respected her and wanted to please her, but she couldn't hope to win their affection while Diane was around. And, to add insult to injury, the king's mistress used the same nicknames for the children that Catherine used. But this wasn't the only area in which Catherine's growing steely confidence could be used, and she was brutal with her ladies in waiting if they failed to show discretion at court the way Diane did. Once finding one of her young ladies laid in bed with her lover as well as being pregnant, Catherine, funnily enough along with Diane, had the girl dragged before the king and sent from court. However, in later years, Catherine's resolute attitude towards this would change as she needed the seductive powers of her ladies for political ends, as pointed out by historian Leonie Frieder. But by 1559, things were in for a big change. The Italian War of 1551 to 1559 had kicked off with Henry declaring war against Charles V, with the intention of securing parts of Italy for France and dominating Europe against the Habsburgs. The campaign had mixed results for France, both losing and gaining territories, as the improvement of military technology and professional soldiers meant that all sides, as England also got involved, struggled against the others. However, on the 2nd of April, Henry and Elizabeth I of England signed the first treaty of Cato Cambresis, and the second one was signed the following day on the 3rd by Henry and Philip II of Spain. This not only concluded the wars, but the end of the Habsburg-Valois conflict as well. This treaty was also sealed with the betrothal of Catherine and Henry's daughter Elizabeth, who was then 13, to Philip II of Spain. A proxy wedding was held in Paris on the 22nd of June, 1559, and as part of the celebrations, a jousting tournament was held. This tournament would prove to be a fatal one for Henry. Apparently, the night before, Catherine had an uneasy night's sleep, with dreams of Henry lying unconscious with a bleeding face. The king had been ill for a few weeks before, suffering from vertigo and what was probably stress. Nevertheless, he took part in the jousting, dressed in Diane's colours of black and white, and he defeated the first two challengers. However, Gabriel de Comte Montgomery knocked the 40-year-old king half out of his saddle. Henry insisted on riding again, and this time Montgomery's lance smashed into Henry's face, wounding him fatally. The king was hurriedly moved to the Chateau de Tournelle and had five splinters removed from the wound, including one which had managed to go through his eye and into his brain. Catherine remained by her husband's side, finally taking precedence over Diane, who kept away for fear of the queen's anger. Henry drifted in and out of consciousness, sometimes even able to dictate letters, but finally gave in to his wounds on the 10th of July. Catherine now understood that despite how unfaithful her husband had been to her during their marriage, in order to cement the legacy of their children, she needed to preserve Henry's memory. Diane vanished from Paris, aware that her days were now numbered, and Catherine would instead take on mourning black in Henry's memory, as well as a broken lance becoming her emblem. While Diane would return the many jewels Henry had given her over the years along with an inventory, Catherine coolly ignored her opportunity for revenge. Instead, Francis sent a letter, no doubt dictated by his mother, in which he admonished Diane for her evil influence with the king, but said he would forgive her. The warning was to remain from the French court. Tradition dictated that the queen should remain with the body of the king for some time, but Catherine's ambition for her children and herself was far bigger than concerns for Henry's spiritual end. Young Francis II, as he had now become, and his wife Mary were in the grasp of the Guises, who quickly moved themselves to the Louvre with the couple in a coup d'etat, and Catherine ensured that she left with them to remain with her son. She was flooded with letters from royalty across Europe, and one of these was from the hand of Elizabeth I. Despite their differences, Catherine had a lot of respect for the English queen, and in replying to Elizabeth's letter of condolence, she referred to her as our true friend, good sister and cousin. Catherine was deeply in genuine mourning for her husband, although how much of this was reality, and how much was a calculated show of emotion designed to paint her as the good wife, is anyone's guess. This also allowed the She was well aware that the problems Henry had left behind would soon grow bigger, and this would make the Guise brothers very unpopular. She could see that her son, who was often ill, was not likely to have the fortitude to stand up to the grown men now swarming around his throne like vultures, and Catherine placed herself firmly in there instead. She was able to lend her legitimacy as dowager queen to the Guise's regime, and in turn, she was supported in her grief by Mary, who would remain with her mother-in-law and help with speaking to those who gave their condolences. But Francis came to the throne as a young boy with adults fighting for his power, and his father had left the country in a vast amount of debt thanks to his wars. While Catherine supposedly shouldn't have had a place on the council, she nevertheless held secret meetings with the Guises, and her son's official acts all began with words to the effect of it being to the pleasure of the queen, his mother, and that it was done with her goodwill. But this was also the beginning of turbulent religious wars for France. The Guise brothers began their vehement attack on Protestants, but Catherine took a much more moderate stance and spoke against their persecution. Within her social circle, there were Protestants, and many Catholics thought there should be a way to deal with reformers that did not shed blood. Where she could, Catherine stepped in to help those who were persecuted, but also asked that they didn't hold assemblies and kept their religion a secret behind closed doors. She made it very clear her position on helping the reformers came from a place of wanting to avoid deaths and war, not from agreeing over what the true religion should be. A lot has also been written over the centuries about Catherine's supposed rivalry with her daughter-in-law Mary. One source even suggesting she was considering poisoning her own son in order to be rid of her, which makes no sense when she could just poison Mary anyway. In fact, while Catherine wished to maintain her hold on her son in regard to power and political rule, she was kind and considerate to Mary while she was married to Francis, who was not an easy teenager to live with. His infirmities meant he was often in a bad mood, and he was apt to lash out at those around him. The two women shared a lot of time together at chapel and during mealtimes, and often when Francis disappeared on a hunting trip. Francis's health began to worsen around 1559, and he had dizzy spells that grew more frequent. His skin became blotchy, and his face swelled. In the autumn, he fell ill with a severe abscess in his ear, and his wife Mary also suffered from some minor ailments that concluded in a phantom pregnancy. Those at court began to doubt the strength of their ever being an heir to the throne while Francis sat on it. The Bourbon family used this to their advantage when the Protestants looked for a leader, and they first looked to Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, and eventually to his brother Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, who backed a plan to overthrow the Guises and remove them from their place of power. The Guises moved the entire court to the heavily fortified Chateau of Amboise in March 1560, when they caught wind of the plot. The rebels surrounding the chateau were surprised by the Guises' troops, and many were killed or captured, although many were also small groups of confused people who weren't actually sure why they needed to separate the king from the Guises. Catherine could see that the winds of change were blowing against the Guises, and when in June 1560 Michel de l'Hôpital was appointed Chancellor of France, she set out to work closely with him. He was a French lawyer who advocated working with the French constitutional bodies, and both he and Catherine agreed that the Protestants within France who did not directly pick up a weapon and attack should be left in peace to worship in their own homes in their own way. Both of them put this proposal forward at the 1560 Assembly of Notables held at Fontainebleau, but everything bubbled over into violence in the autumn of that year, when Protestant forces, including those led by Louis de Bourbon, attacked towns in the south and southwest of France. When Catherine discovered this, she ordered the prince to court where he was instantly arrested. Although the Guises would have been happy to see him dead, Catherine knew that this would kill off any chance at a peaceful resolution, and France already felt as though it was on the brink of civil war. She needed to keep the Count of Condé alive while also securing her family, but matters would move a little out of her hands. On the 9th of November, Francis had a fainting fit, and a week later the abscess in his ear returned once again, and this time, combined with all of his other ailments, the young man was in agony and slowly dying. Catherine must have been desperate not to believe her eldest son was dying, but she also needed to secure the throne for her next child. The reality was that Charles, her next child, was only 10, and would therefore require a regent for the beginning of his reign. However, the Estates-General were more likely to decide on a Bourbon regency, which would give Catherine far less power than she had previously enjoyed. She made a secret pact with Antoine de Bourbon that if he agreed to give up his right to the regency, she would have his brother Louis released. He did agree, and when on the 5th of December the young French king died, Catherine was instead voted in as regent for Charles. She now had huge powers at her disposal, and far more hold over the country than she had while working with the Guises. Young Charles became Charles of France, and Catherine kept him close to her side, even choosing to sleep in his chamber with him. She created symbols of her new office, both to try and pull France back into a single unit, and to establish her de facto rule as a legitimate one. What made this even more difficult was the fact that many parts of France were loyal to the nobles there before they were loyal to the crown. Catherine now presided over the king's council, and no letters were signed or sent by Charles without his mother first reading them. She was energetic in her role, and was described as always talking of business in some fashion, as well as being serious and regal when the situation required while maintaining a hearty sense of humour. However, some areas were more difficult for Catherine to understand in context, one of those being the religious differences in France. She was moderate in her approach, and she attempted to bring together the church leaders from both sides. However, the resulting Colloquy of Poissy, a conference in which they tried to reconcile the Protestants and Catholics of their country, ended in failure when they failed to reach a resolution, and it dissolved itself without permission on the 13th of October 1561. Catherine had assumed simply getting them to agree on the important matters would work, when in fact their religious devotion on both sides held them back. In January 1562, attempting to bridge the divide once more, Catherine issued the Edict of Saint-Germain to help Huguenots, a series of tolerant legislation that allowed them more freedoms. But the rest of the courtiers were not necessarily on the same page as Catherine and Charles, and in March of that year the Duke of Guise, François, committed what would become known as the Massacre of Vassy. The Guise family had tried to prevent the spread of Protestantism in their estates near Vassy, and on the 1st of March, François headed towards a Huguenot meeting house in the centre of town. Those within were meeting for mass, around 500 or so people. Guise tried to get into the barn, but the worshippers within stopped him, and the Duke lashed out, killing those closest to him. His men then joined in, and a massacre went on for an hour, leaving 50 dead and many injured, including a child. This incident would kick off 30 years of a civil war in France known as the Wars of Religion. Louis de Vauban and Admiral Gaspard de Coligny raised an army of around a thousand men, taking towns across France. Catherine took charge and actually met with Coligny in Tours on the 9th of June, although the talks came to nothing. Both sides appealed for support outside their country, and the Protestant forces appealed to Queen Elizabeth of England. With Mary of Scots now on the Scottish throne, Elizabeth didn't want the Guises to gain any further power near her own country, and she offered aid in the form of being a mediator for both sides, but eventually she would tip towards giving further help. Rouen was fought over, and Catherine insisted on visiting the battlefield herself despite the dangers. The war wouldn't end until the 19th of March 1563 with the Edict of Amboise, just about a month after François died from a shot in his back. Catherine then rallied both Catholic and Protestant forces to recover Les in Normandy from the English. On the 17th of August that year, young Charles was declared officially old enough to rule without a regent, but he showed little interest in the job, and Catherine remained in the same position of power she had before. From January 1564 to May 1565, Catherine, Charles and the entire court went on a royal progress around France to inspire loyalty and ensure the Edict of Amboise was being adhered to. The French Queen held talks with Jeanne d'Albret, the Queen of Navarre, although Jeanne wasn't happy with these talks. She wrote to her son that Catherine mocked her during these discussions, and afterwards would apparently tell others the opposite of what Jeanne had said. Catherine also met with her daughter Elizabeth, who was still While there were lavish festivities planned, and it was treated as a grand occasion, it was fraught with family tension. The Spanish King excused himself from the occasion, sending instead the Duke of Alba to admonish Catherine over the Edict of Amboise, declaring that she should instead be coming down harder on the Protestants in her country. However, Catherine's efforts with the Protestants would end abruptly with the surprise of Meaux, a failed coup featuring a group of aristocratic Huguenots who tried to seize the King while he was staying nearby. The court fled to Paris, and yet again war broke out across France on the religious divide. This wouldn't end until the 23rd of March 1568, with the Peace of Longemout signed by both Charles and Catherine, although this was only an official end, and the bloodshed continued in reality. Threatening the life of her son was something that triggered Catherine, and from this point onwards she followed through on a policy of total repression, praising the efforts of Spain in murdering Protestants by the thousands. Jeanne III of Navarre retreated with her eldest son to the fortification of La Rochelle, along with other Protestants, and Catherine called her decision to rebel shameless for the threat it made to the Valois dynasty. The wars dragged on again until the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on the 8th of August 1570, although this edict was purely based on the fact the royal treasury was becoming depleted, and as a result the Huguenots received more concessions than they ever had before. But Catherine was now increasingly aware of how much more she needed to stabilize her dynasty, and the easiest way to achieve this was through marriages. Charles married Elizabeth of Austria on the 26th of November 1570 in Merzières. Catherine had been eyeing up Elizabeth's older sister Anna, but she was promised to Philip II after Catherine's daughter Elizabeth had died in childbirth. But Catherine also saw the value in bringing together the Catholic and Protestant sides of the French royal family by seeking a match between Jeanne of Navarre's son, Henri III, and her youngest daughter, Margaret of Valois. Eventually, Jeanne agreed after pressure was put on her on the provision that Henri could remain a Huguenot. When Jeanne came to Paris to buy clothes for the upcoming wedding, she died suddenly on the 9th of June 1572, and accusations flew almost immediately of Catherine murdering her with poisoned gloves. However, Jeanne's autopsy proved she had died of natural causes, but this didn't quell the rumors. However, the wedding still took place about a month later on the 18th of August 1572 at Notre-Dame, and tension ran high throughout the city. This coincided with a series of bad harvests and tax rises, which didn't help. And on top of this, Catherine had not obtained permission from the Pope for the marriage. There was also a story that when Margaret of Valois was asked if she agreed that Henri should become her husband, she stubbornly remained silent. Her brother Charles got up, pushed her head forward to nod assent, and sat back down. Three days later, one of the leaders of the Huguenot cause, Admiral Colligny, initially survived an assassination attempt. He had been admitted to the King's Council in September 1571, and many Catholic courtiers took issue with this. A gun was fired from a house going through his hand and arm, and he was taken to his lodgings at the Hôtel de Béthyssy, where a surgeon removed a bullet and a finger. Apparently, Catherine was told the news and reacted with no emotion, which was unsurprising considering she was known to be enemies with Colligny. What was surprising was Catherine making a tearful visit to see him, swearing blind she would find his attacker. Cynics of the time suggested she was behind the attack in the first place, although Catherine wasn't the only suspect. She made use of this, leaning on the whispers it could have been the Guises once more, and both she and Charles made much of targeting Villeneuve, a teacher for their family, possibly in order to throw suspicion if they really were the guilty party. However, Catherine's reaction could also easily have been that of a poker face, wishing to reveal nothing, as Charles's reaction was suitably upset when he was told during a tennis match, throwing down his racket and screaming, am I never to be left in peace? Catherine was eating dinner shortly after this, and a group of Protestants burst in demanding justice. Colligny's brother responded by camping a 4,000-strong army outside the walls of Paris, doing nothing to diffuse the position. Catherine first spoke with her advisors on the situation before meeting with the King on the 23rd of August. No details of the meeting survive, but the King is said to have cried, then kill them all, kill them all, and Catherine is said to have been part of this decision. They would later say they feared a Protestant uprising, and there may well have been some truth to this, but what came next was far from a reasonable response. They decided to attack first, targeting known Huguenot leaders, including Colligny, who was murdered in his bed. On the 24th of August, 1572, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre took place in Paris. This was a targeted massacre against French Protestant Huguenots, assassinating them at will. Protestants fell in their thousands around the city, and while estimates of the numbers killed go as high as 30,000, at least 5,000 men, women, and children lost their lives purely for their religion in just three days. The most horrifying part of the massacre is that the murderers made a game out of much of it, stopping to drink at taverns and joke with their fellow killers, convinced they were carrying out God's plan through the request of their king. It lasted almost a week, although the violence carried on throughout France well into the autumn. Catherine's thoughts were mostly of how to keep Charles on his throne, although later pro-Huguenot writers would present her as a scheming Italian who had rid herself of all their enemies in one go. An incident which did not help this view was when Henry of Navarre, in order to understandably avoid being killed, converted to Catholicism. During the service, the normally stoic Catherine lost her composure and laughed. Perhaps it was nervous laughter, or perhaps it was to point out the principles of Henri being swept aside so easily in order to save himself. Charles's health slowly deteriorated from this point onwards, not just physically but also mentally. His moods would swing wildly from one moment boasting about how the massacre had gone to other times declaring he could hear the screams of those killed ringing in his ears. His relationship with his mother began to break down and he would blame her for the ills within his kingdom, also declaring he should never have listened to her counsel. By the spring of 1574, he also showed signs of tuberculosis and suffered haemorrhaging and bloody coughing. Charles's suffering ended on the 30th of May, 1574, aged just 23. Catherine sat by his side and held his hand in deep grief as she wept, but again she had ensured the stability of the French throne first. The day before, she had been confirmed as regent while Charles's younger brother Henri was away as he had been voted as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Just three months later, Henri returned to France to take up his crown. Unlike his brothers, he came to the throne as a grown man, although he also showed little aptitude for political affairs. He was known for preferring to immerse himself in acts of piety such as pilgrimages than in running the country, and Henri leaned heavily on his mother and his advisors. She did get him to cut down his counsel to just eight plus the princes of the blood and to read all dispatches himself instead of leaving it to his secretaries. Catherine herself was still a charming figure who could draw in anyone with her regal presence, despite her age of 55 and her figure that showed how much she loved rich foods. She was still excited by innovation as she had been in her youth, and Catherine is credited with popularizing an early form of underpants in France, as well as the folding fan and handkerchiefs. Although Catherine would have hoped to use Henri's new position to create another useful political alliance, he thwarted her plans by choosing a bride of his own. Just two days after his coronation on the 13th of February, 1575, he married Louise de Lorraine Vaudemont, daughter of the Duke of Mocair. However, there were already rumors that Henri was unable to father children, and as their marriage went on, it would indeed produce no heirs to the throne. Another problem was that the country was deeply crippled by debt, and Catherine wanted Henri to settle the issue, but he was content to leave the decisions to his mother and enjoy himself with his entourage instead. However, his job was made more difficult by his younger brother Francis, Duke of Alençon, who exploited the existing divide between the Protestants and Catholics. Catherine tried to keep her youngest son in line, but a lot of the choices he made appear to have been little thought out. As his elder brother's marriage continued without children as heir to the throne, Francis played more and more on the anarchy within the kingdom. In 1576, Alençon sided with the Protestant princes, compounded by the fact Henri of Navarre had escaped Paris for his own lands, and would shortly after repudiate the Catholic faith. Seeing that once again war was on the horizon, Catherine begged her son Henri to settle the matter peacefully, and his sister Margaret, who had been left behind when her husband fled to Navarre, feared for her life from her brother's wrath, and posted guards outside her bedroom doors. Family feuds were spilling into politics. On the 6th of May, 1576, in order to prevent more bloodshed, yet another treaty was signed by Henri, this time the Edict of Beaulieu. Apparently, Henri wept as he signed it alongside his mother, cursing her for forcing him into this position, and his brother for what he had done as well. The terms of the edict allowed huge concessions towards the Huguenots and required huge finances. But worse than this, it was nicknamed the Peace of Monsieur after Francis, as everyone thought he had forced it on the crown. Catherine and Henri's relationship suffered as a result, and she no longer had the control over the king she once had. Unable to control her son Henri as she had her other boys, Catherine had to settle for being his chief diplomat, using her skills where they were most needed. In 1578, at the age of 59, considered advanced in years for the time, Catherine set off to pacify the south of France and bring it back into the fold. She met personally with the Protestant leaders in each town and city, and her efforts won her renewed respect from the French people. But it wasn't long before Francis made things even worse. The people in the Low Counties, under the yoke of the Spanish Habsburgs, asked him to be their hereditary leader of the United Provinces. Francis decided to take control of several Flemish cities, starting with Antwerp, and led his army there on the 18th of January 1583. The city militia descended on his men, however, and he barely escaped with his life. Catherine wrote to him, berating him for his actions, and the fragile engagement he had held with Elizabeth I was broken off by the English queen. But Catherine could not remain angry with her youngest son for long. In July 1583, he was suffering from ill health, and Catherine went to help him and speak with him about tempering his ambitions. By December, she herself fell ill and returned to Paris, but she didn't realise how bad Francis was, as by then, he had begun coughing up blood. On the 12th of February, he returned to Paris and saw his mother, even though she was ill in bed with a fever, and said he wished to reconcile with his brother. Catherine reportedly wept with joy at the sight, but just a few months later, Francis was sick with consumption. The Queen Mother raced to be at his side, but she listened to his doctors who assured her he was improving. Shortly after she left, she received the news that her youngest son had died on the 10th of June 1584. In a letter, her grief was evident as she wrote, I am so wretched to live long enough to see so many people die before me. Things weren't going much better for Catherine with her other children, especially Margaret of Valois. Sick of Henry of Navarre closing himself off from her and his many affairs, Margaret returned to the French court without him in 1582. Catherine arranged for her to return to her husband, but in 1585, Margaret once again fled Navarre. This was bad from a dynastic angle. With Francis now dead and still no children from Henri's marriage, it appeared the next king would be Henry of Navarre. The only way to keep the throne within the family was for Margaret to have a child with her husband who would one day inherit the throne. However, Margaret went to her property at Agennes and wrote to her mother for money. Catherine did initially send a little money, but before long she heard that Margaret had taken a and she begged Henry of Navarre to do something about it. In a true double standard of the time, Henry could have as many lovers as he wanted, but Margaret, wanting the affection she had been denied by her mother and husband, resulted in her being branded a harlot, bringing shame on the family. Her husband responded by locking her up in the Château d'Husson in October 1586, executing her lover, and Catherine wrote her daughter out of her will. She never saw her again. The death of the heir to the throne in 1584 and Catherine's insistence on trying to appease the Huguenots meant that many aristocratic Catholics formed leagues in their lands. The new Duke of Guise, Henry, son of Francois, took on the leadership of the Catholic League. By 1585, the French king had no choice but to go to war with both the Protestants in his kingdom and the Catholic League, and as his resources ran out, Henry was forced to give in to the Catholic League's demands. He withdrew to fast and pray, otherwise known as leaving his mother to clean up the mess. There is a story that when she met with the Duke of Guise in Epinay that year to negotiate, he was taken aback by her kindness as she asked him to take his boots off and eat something before talking with her. Certainly, she still knew how to charm when needed. By 1588, Henry decided to protect himself with Swiss troops, but the Parisians took a front to this and claimed the right to protect themselves, setting up barricades and refusing to take orders from anyone but the Duke of Guise. Catherine was upset by this turn of events, but seeing that fleeing was the better part of survival in this case, advised her son to leave the city and find a compromise again. But on the 8th of September at Blois, when a meeting of the Estates General should have gone ahead, Henry dismissed them all. Catherine was ill in bed with a lung infection and had no way of knowing this, but her power effectively ended in this moment. On the 23rd of December 1588, he asked the Duke of Guise to visit him and as soon as the Duke entered the King's chambers, he was stabbed by the King's guards and died at the foot of his bed. The next day, eight more members of the Guise family were rounded up and hacked to death. It wouldn't be long before Catherine herself was no longer around to give any advice to her son. When Henry told her what he had done, she was apparently distraught, but she was already ill. By early January, she was in bed with pleurisy and on the 5th of January 1589, Catherine finally died at the age of 69. Because Paris was held by enemies of the Crown at the time of her death, Catherine's body was first hurriedly placed in Blois Cathedral. Eight months later, Henri III of France was stabbed to death and the Valois dynasty came to an end. Years later, Diane de France, an illegitimate daughter of Henry II, had Catherine's remains transferred to Saint-Denis, but in 1793, a revolutionary mob tossed the Queen's bones into a mass grave. Catherine was one of the most political, intelligent, and complicated Queens of her time. She was a loyal wife who stuck by her husband even when he had a mistress who took over the court, and when he died, she was left in an impossible political meltdown with several children too young to rule alone. Her upbringing, single-mindedness, and fears of not maintaining her children's dynasty meant that Catherine could be flexible when needed to secure their throne, but also cold-hearted if any of her children stepped out of where she deemed they should be. She has been blamed for many of the decisions made during the reign of her three sons, and while there is an argument to be made that Catherine made a lot of emotional decisions, she was also placed into a difficult religious and political divide throughout France. Across Europe at that time, great change was happening with religion, as Protestantism crashed through the old systems of Catholicism, and all leaders were left with the question of how to handle this new faith. Catherine initially tried to find compromise where she could. We would argue she didn't really try to find an equal compromise, but she did work within the limits of her time. But ultimately, her true feelings lay with the safety of her family. When that was threatened, her reaction changed entirely. The political landscape was spread not only across religious lines, but also those of the royal family. What started out as a conflict based in societal change became a way to exploit the anarchy within the family itself. Although this didn't usually work out, as with the example of Francis the Duke of Alençon, Catherine was not a maternal warm person, nor was she the cold-hearted poisoner of myth. Catherine was instead a woman who had the intelligence and drive to take power, saw how to do it while remaining true to the patriarchal systems of her time, and she genuinely had a desire to see France flourish again. She was a powerful woman who used her charm and wit to make friends, but her sharpness also made her many enemies. Ultimately, Catherine was a woman who was concerned for her children's future, like many parents, but within the bloodthirsty framework of 16th century politics and royal dynasties. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss any new documentaries.