Marguerite DE VALOIS

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Margaret Princess Of France

Marguerite married Henry IV King Of FRANCE on 18 Aug 1572. Henry (son of Antoine Of NAVARRE and Jeanne III Of NAVARRE) was born on 13 Dec 1553; died on 14 May 1610. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Wikipedia: Henry was born in the Royal Ch‚teau at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the son of Francis I and Claude de France and the grandson of Louis XII of France and Anne de Bretagne. With his brother, he spent three years in Spain as a hostage to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as surety for his father, who had been captured at the Battle of Pavia. Henry married Catherine de Medici (13 April 1519?January 5, 1589) on 28 October 1533, when both were fourteen years old.

The following year he became involved with the thirty-five-year-old, recently widowed, Diane de Poitiers, who became his most trusted confidante and for the next twenty-five years wielded considerable influence behind the scenes, even signing royal documents. Extremely confident, mature and intelligent, she left Catherine powerless to intervene.

When his older brother Francis died in 1536 after a game of tennis, Henry became heir to the throne; he succeeded his father on March 31, 1547 and was crowned King of France on July 25, 1547 at Reims.

Henry's reign was marked by wars with Austria, and the persecution of the Protestant Huguenots. Henry II severely punished them, burning them alive or cutting out their tongues for speaking their Protestant beliefs. Even those suspected of being Huguenots could be imprisoned for life.

The Italian War of 1551?1559, sometimes known as the Habsburg-Valois War, began when Henry declared war against Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. An early offensive into Lorraine was successful, with Henry capturing the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, but the attempted French invasion of Tuscany in 1553 was defeated at the Battle of Marciano.

After Charles's abdication in 1556 split the Habsburg empire between Phillip II of Spain and Ferdinand I, the focus of the war shifted to Flanders, where Phillip, in conjunction with Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, defeated the French at St. Quentin. England's entry into the war later that year led to the French capture of Calais, and French armies plundered Spanish possessions in the Low Countries; but Henry was nonetheless forced to accept the Peace of Cateau-CambrÈsis, in which he renounced any further claims to Italy.

The Peace of Cateau-CambrÈsis was signed between Elizabeth I of England and Henry on April 2 and between Henry and Philip II of Spain on April 3, 1559, at Le Cateau-CambrÈsis, around twenty kilometers south-east of Cambrai. Under its terms, France restored Piedmont and Savoy to the Duke of Savoy, but retained Saluzzo, Calais and the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Spain retained Franche-ComtÈ. Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, married Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry, the sister of Henry II, and Philip II of Spain married Henry's daughter Elisabeth.

Henry raised the young Queen Mary I of Scotland at his court, hoping to use her as a tool of Valois imperialism. On April 24, 1558, Henry's fourteen-year-old son Francis was married to Mary in a union intended to give the future king of France not only the throne of Scotland but a claim to the throne of England. Henry had Mary sign secret documents, illegal in Scottish law, that would ensure Valois rule in Scotland even if she died without heir (Guy 2004:91). Mary's claim to the English throne quickly became current when Mary I of England died later in 1558, Henry and his Catholic advisors regarding Elizabeth Tudor as illegitimate.
Henry II was an avid hunter and participant in jousts and tournaments. On June 30, 1559, at the Place des Vosges in Paris, during a match to celebrate the Peace Treaty of Cateau-CambrÈsis with his longtime enemies, the Habsburgs of Austria and to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth of Valois to King Philip II of Spain, King Henry was mortally wounded by a sliver from the shattered lance of Gabriel Montgomery, captain of the King's Scottish Guard. It penetrated the closed visor, pierced his left eye, penetrated the brain and came out via his ear. He suffered terribly, and, despite the efforts of royal surgeon Ambroise ParÈ, died on July 10, 1559 and was buried in a cadaver tomb in Saint Denis Basilica. Prior to his death, Queen Catherine limited access to his bedside and denied his mistress (Diane de Poitiers) access to him, even though he repeatedly asked for her. Following his death, Catherine sent de Poitiers into exile, where she was to live in comfort on her own properties until her death.

Nostradamus supposedly predicted Henry's death.

Henry was succeeded by his son, Francis II, who died the following year and was succeeded by his two brothers. Their mother acted as Regent. For the forty years following Henry II's death, France was filled with turbulence as Protestants and Catholics fought the bitter Wars of Religion

Henry married Caterina DE'MEDICI on 28 Oct 1533. Caterina (daughter of Duke of Urbino Lorenzo DE'MEDICI, II and Madeleine De La Tour D'AUVERGNE) was born on 13 Apr 1519 in Florence, Italy; died on 05 Jan 1589 in Royal Chateau de Bloia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Catherine de' Medici (April 13, 1519 - January 5, 1589) was born in Florence, Italy, as Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici, the daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, countess of Boulogne. She was queen consort of France from 1547 to 1559 as the wife of King Henry II of France.

In 1533, Catherine was married at the age of fourteen to Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France and Queen Claude, to further the interests of her uncle, Pope Clement VII. When Prince FranÁois, the dauphin, died after a game of tennis in 1536, Henry replaced him as heir to the throne and Catherine became the dauphine. Henry ascended the throne as Henry II in 1547, but throughout his reign he excluded Catherine from influence and instead showered favours on his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. On Henry?s death from a jousting injury in 1559, Catherine found herself thrust into the political arena as queen mother of the frail fifteen-year-old King Francis II, after whose own death in 1560, she was appointed regent for her ten-year-old son King Charles IX and granted sweeping powers. After Charles too died, in 1574, Catherine remained a significant force in the government of the third of her sons to become king, Henry III, though he dispensed with her advice in the last months of her life with disastrous consequences.

Catherine proved a tireless and resilient defender of the crown, but her three weak sons had the misfortune to reign during an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France, the origins of which were beyond the control of the monarchy and would have daunted even a mature king. At first, Catherine sought compromise through limited concessions to the Huguenots; she failed, however, to grasp the theological issues underpinning their movement, for which no concession short of freedom of worship would ever have been enough. Later, as anarchy set in, Catherine abandoned conciliation and resorted to hard-line policies towards religious rebels. As a result, she was personally blamed for the worst atrocities of the government, in particular for the notorious Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day of 1572, in which thousands of Huguenots were butchered in Paris and throughout France. Catherine's subsequent vilification in contemporary pamphlets gave birth to "the black legend", which branded her for posterity as the epitome of the Machiavellian Renaissance prince, servicing an overweening lust for power with dark political crimes, serial poisonings, and even witchcraft. By the nineteenth century, this tradition had hardened to the point where the great historian Jules Michelet could refer to Catherine as that "maggot which came out of Italy's tomb".

Some recent historians have attempted to rehabilitate Catherine, excusing her from the worst excesses and reappraising her as a diligent ruler facing extraordinary and insoluble difficulties. R.J.Knecht, however, cautions against taking revisionism too far, since explicit documentary proof of Catherine?s lack of scruple remains, not least in her own letters. He also warns against overstating the degree of Catherine?s power: far from bestriding France, she fought a losing battle for control as the kingdom descended into anarchy around her. Her policies, therefore, may be seen not as a calculated tyranny but as an opportunistic series of rearguard actions designed to keep the Valois monarchy afloat at all costs. It is arguable that without Catherine's custodianship, the regime of her sons would never have survived as long as it did.

ccording to a contemporary chronicler, when Catherine de? Medici was born, in Florence on Wednesday 15 April 1519, her parents, were "as pleased as if it had been a boy". Their pleasure, however, was short-lived: the seventeen-year-old Madeleine de la Tour d?Auverne, countess of Bologne, died on 28 April, and her husband, Lorenzo II de? Medici, duke of Urbino, on 4 May, probably from syphilis, leaving their first-born an orphan. The young couple had been married the year before at Amboise as part of the alliance between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X, Lorenzo?s uncle, against the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I. The lavish wedding celebrations had climaxed with a mock battle of such realism that several participants were killed. After her parents' death, the orphaned Catherine, a potentially valuable marriage pawn, was taken under the wing of Pope Leo, who refused a request from King Francis that she be raised at the French court.

Unlike her parents and her own children, Catherine enjoyed robust health most of her long life,[10] but in August she fell so ill that her life hung in the balance for three weeks. After her recovery, Pope Leo had her brought to Rome, where he noted how "fine and fat" she was. He already had ambitious plans for her; he declared her the duchess of Urbino, intending to marry her to Ippolito de' Medici, bastard son of his brother Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, and set the pair up as rulers of Florence.

Catherine was first cared for by her grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini, after whose death in 1520, she passed to the household of her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi, who became her surrogate mother for the next few years, bringing her up with her own children. Catherine loved her Strozzi cousins faithfully for the rest of their lives, as if they were her brothers and sisters. The death of Pope Leo in 1521 briefly threatened the Medici ascendancy?his pro-Habsburg successor, Pope Hadrian VI, even stripped Catherine of her duchy?but the election of Cardinal Giulio de? Medici as Pope Clement VII in 1523 restored Medici fortunes. Taking over the role of Catherine's protector, Clement installed Catherine in the Palazzo Medici in Florence, insisting that the "little duchess", as the Florentine people affectionately called her, live in state, attended by a princely retinue.

Queen of France

During the reign of her husband (1547?1559), Catherine lived a quiet and passive life but observed what was going on. Catherine was extremely jealous of the relationship between her husband and de Poitiers, but had little authority to change it. Henry was loyal to de Poitiers, and trusted his mistress completely, and he was under her influence for the next 25 years. During this period, de Poitiers would be in control of any decisions made behind the scenes, with Henry's consent, including the signing of certain royal documents, and taking part in political decisions. Evidently she was quite competent in her role, and did not abuse her authority.

In 1552, when the king left the kingdom for the campaign of Metz, Catherine was nominated regent, but with very limited powers, as de Poitiers was still making most of the king's decisions with his blessing. When Henry II was badly wounded in a jousting event in 1559, however, Catherine took control. She limited access to her husband, and did not allow Diane de Poitiers to see him at all, even though he requested her presence repeatedly. When he died, Catherine had Diane exiled, and for the first time was able to wield power.

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• Name: Francois Of Navarre

Notes:

Francis I of France (French: FranÁois Ier) (September 12, 1494 ? March 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (le PËre et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547.

Francis I is considered to be France's first Renaissance monarch. His reign saw France make immense cultural advances. He was a contemporary of King Henry VIII of England and of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, his great rivals, and Suleiman the Magnificent, his ally.

rancis I, a member of the Valois Dynasty, was born at Cognac, Charente, the son of Charles d'AngoulÍme (1459 ? January 1, 1496), and of Louise of Savoy (September 11, 1476 ? September 22, 1531). His father, Charles d'AngoulÍme, was the cousin of King Louis XII. In 1498, the four-year-old Francis, already Count of AngoulÍme, was created Duke of Valois. He was the heir presumptive of Louis XII, who did not succeed in siring sons with any of his three wives. Young Francis was, by instigation of King Louis, in 1506 betrothed and on 18 May 1514 married, to Claude of France (1499-1524), the daughter of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany and heiress of Brittany. Because of the Salic Law that stated that women could not inherit the throne of France, the throne passed to Francis I at the death of Louis XII, as he was the descendant of the eldest surviving male line of the Capetian Dynasty. Claude of France became queen consort.

When young Francis ascended the throne in 1515, he was already a king with unprecedented humanist credentials. While his two predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, had spent much of their reigns concerned with Italy they did not much embrace the new intellectual movements coming out of it. Both monarchs continued in the same patterns of behavior that had dominated the French monarchy for centuries. They are considered the last of the medieval French monarchs, but they did lay the groundwork for the Renaissance to come into full swing in France.

Contact between the French and Italians in the long running series of wars under Charles and Louis had brought new ideas to France by the time the young Francis was receiving his education. Thus a number of his tutors, such as Desmoulins, his Latin instructor, and Christophe de Longeuil were schooled in the new ways of thinking and they attempted to imbue Francis with it. Francis' mother also had a great interest in Renaissance art, which she passed down to her son. One certainly cannot say that Francis received a humanist education; most of his teachers had not yet been affected by the Renaissance. One can, however, state that he clearly received an education more oriented towards humanism than any previous French king.

Francis' legacy is a mixed one. He achieved great cultural feats, but they came at the expense of France's economic well being.

The persecution of the Protestants was to lead France into decades of civil war, which did not end until 1598 with the Edict of Nantes.

Francis I died at the Ch‚teau de Rambouillet and is interred with his first wife, Claude de France, Duchess of Bretagne, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Henry II.

Francis married Claude Princess Of FRANCE on 18 May 1514. Claude (daughter of Louis XII King Of FRANCE and Anne Of BRITTANY) was born on 14 Oct 1499; died on 20 Jul 1524. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Fact: Between 1513 and 1519, Ruler of Florence

Lorenzo married Madeleine De La Tour D'AUVERGNE on 05 May 1518. Madeleine (daughter of Jean III De La Tour Count Of AUVERGNE and Jeanne DE BOURTON-VENDOME) was born about 1500; died on 28 Apr 1519. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

(1459 ? 1 January 1496) was a member of the French OrlÈans family descended from Louis I de Valois, Duke of OrlÈans, and a minor French prince. He was Count of AngoulÍme from 1467-1496. He married three times, the third to Louise of Savoy, daughter of Philip the Landless and Margaret of Bourbon, in 1490.

Charles married Louise Of SAVOY on 16 Feb 1488 in Paris. Louise (daughter of Philip II Duke Of SAVOY and Margaret Of BOURBON) was born on 11 Sep 1476 in Point d'Ain; died on 22 Sep 1531 in Greta-sur-Loing. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Louise was born at Point d'Ain, the eldest daughter of Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1443?1497) and his first wife, Margaret of Bourbon (1438?1483). Her brother, Philibert II, Duke of Savoy (1480?1504), succeeded her father as ruler of the duchy and head of the House of Savoy. He was, in turn, succeeded by their half-brother Charles III, Duke of Savoy (1486?1553).

At age twelve, Louise married Charles de Valois (1459?1496), Count of AngoulÍme, on February 16, 1488 in Paris. This was Charles' third marriage. Their first child, Marguerite, was born on April 11, 1492; their second child, FranÁois, was born on September 12, 1494.

Louise had a keen awareness for the intricacies of politics and diplomacy, and was deeply aware of the advances of arts and sciences in Renaissance Italy. She made certain that her children were educated in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance, also helped by her Italian confessor, Cristoforo Numai from ForlÏ. When she was widowed at the young age of 19, Louise deftly maneuvered her children into a position that would secure for each of them a promising future. She moved her family to the court of King Louis XII, her husband's cousin. Francis became a favorite of the king, who gave him his daughter Claude de France in marriage on 8 May 1514. With that marriage, Louis XII designated Francis as his heir. With the death of Louis XII on 1 January 1515, Francis became king of France.

On February 4, 1515, Louise was named Duchess of AngoulÍme, and on April 15, 1524, Duchess of Anjou.

Her mother having been one of the sisters of last dukes of main branch of Bourbon, after the death of Susan, Duchess of Bourbon in 1521, she on basis of proximity of blood advanced claims to Duchy of Auvergne and other possessions of the Bourbons. This lead her (supported by her son the king) in rivalry against Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Susan's widower, whom she proposed to marry in order to settle the Bourbon inheritance issue. When rejected by Charles, Louise instigated efforts to undermine him, which led to Charles' exile and coming to war against France, and in 1527 death. Louise recovered Auvergne from confiscations and became its duchess.

Louise of Savoy remained active on behalf of her son in the early years of his reign especially. During his absences, she acted as regent on his behalf. She was the principal negotiator for the Treaty of Cambrai between France and the Holy Roman Empire, concluded on August 3, 1529. That treaty, called "the Ladies Peace", put an end to the second Italian war between the head of the Valois dynasty, Francis I of France, and the head of the Habsburg dynasty, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Treaty temporarily confirmed Habsburg hegemony in Italy.

The treaty was signed by Louise of Savoy for France and her sister-in-law, Margaretha von Habsburg (Margaret of Austria), for the Holy Roman Empire.

Louise of Savoy died on September 22, 1531, in Gretz-sur-Loing. Her remains were entombed at Saint-Denis in Paris. After her death, her lands including Auvergne merged in the crown, having come into king Francis' possession.

Notes:

Louis XII, King of France was born on June 27, 1462 in the Ch‚teau de Blois, France. The son of Charles, duc d'OrlÈans and Marie of ClËves, he succeeded his father as Duke of OrlÈans in 1465.

[edit] Marriage
In 1476 Louis was required to marry the pious, but disabled Jeanne of France (1464 ? 1505), the daughter of his second cousin, Louis XI, King of France. After Louis?s predecessor Charles VIII, King of France died childless, this marriage was annulled in order to allow Louis to marry Charles? widow, Anne of Brittany (1477-1514), the heiress and daughter of Francis I of Brittany in a strategy meant to ally the French Monarchy with the duchy of Brittany. After Anne's death, Louis married Mary Tudor (1496 ? 1533), the daughter of Henry VII, King of England in Abbeville, France on October 9, 1514 in an attempt to conceive an heir to his throne, but was unsuccessful.

[edit] Children
Louis's only marriage which produced any children was his second, with Anne of Brittany. By her he had two surviving daughters:

Claude of France (1499 ? 1524), later married to Francis I, King of France.
RenÈe of France (1510 ? 1575), later married to Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.

[edit] Notable events

The Louis XII wing he constructed at the Ch‚teau de Blois.In an attempt to make good his claim to the duchy of Milan, Louis led several invasions of Italy. He successfully secured Milan in 1499 from his enemy Ludovico Sforza, and it remained a French stronghold until 1511, when Pope Julius II formed the Holy League to oppose the French ambition in Italy. The French were eventually driven from Milan by the Swiss in 1513.

Louis also pursued Charles VIII's claim to the kingdom of Naples with Ferdinand II, King of Aragon. Each power took a partition of this kingdom during the Treaty of Granada (1500), but were eventually at war over the partitioning, and by 1504 France had lost its share of Naples.

[edit] Death
Louis proved to be a popular king, introducing reforms in the judicial system and reducing taxes. These reforms and his caring nature earned him the epithet Father of the People. He was the protector and patron of the historian Paulus Aemilius Veronensis (Paolo Emilio of Verona). Louis died on January 1, 1515 and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. Because of the Salic Law, which did not allow women to inherit the throne of France, he was succeeded by his cousin, Francis, Count of AngoulÍme, husband of Louis's daughter Claude of France, who reigned as Francis I.

Louis married Anne Of BRITTANY. Anne (daughter of Frances II Duke Of BRITTANY and Margaret Of FOIX) was born on 25 Jan 1477 in Nantes, Brittany; died on 09 Jan 1514. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Also Known As: The Unfortunate

Piero married Alfonsina ORSINI. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Fact: Count of Auvergne and Lauraguais

Jean married Jeanne DE BOURTON-VENDOME on 11 Jan 1495. Jeanne (daughter of Jean VIII Count Of VENDOME and Isabelle DE BEAUVAU) was born in 1465; died in 1511. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]