General Notes

Catherine de Medicis, b. Florence, Apr. 13, 1519, was the mother of the last
Valois kings of France and guardian of the royal authority in the Wars of
Religion. Her parents died soon after her birth, and she was brought up by her
Medici relatives during a period when their rule in Florence was marked by
violence and intrigue. In 1533 she went to France as the bride of the future
king Henry II, who became heir apparent in 1536 and king in 1547. Until her
husband's death in 1559 she endured the domination of his mistress, Diane de
Poitiers. Seven of Catherine's children survived infancy, and three of her
sons were successively kings of France as Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry
III.

As queen mother, Catherine played a major part in French government and on two
occasions ruled officially as regent. She relied on an inner group of
experienced bureaucrats and tried to balance the noble factions against each
other to preserve the authority of the crown in the civil wars. Despite her
penchant for astrology, she was a political realist who sought compromise
between the Roman Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants). The ST. Bartholomew's
Day Massacre (1572) of the Huguenots was caused in part by her political
miscalculation. Catherine's critics accused her of following Italian
practices, especially the doctrines of Niccolo Machiavelli.

After the accession (1574) of Henry III, her favorite son, Catherine
frequently negotiated with the Catholic League, which sought to control the
crown. Appalled by the king's murder in December 1588 of the league leaders,
she died at Blois 2 weeks later, on Jan. 5, 1589.