Catherine de Medici~Before The Serpent Queen

Catherine de Medici~Before The Serpent Queen

With no shadow of a doubt, Catherine de Medici was one of the most influential ladies of her time – and not necessarily for the greatest reasons.

Born in Florence, Italy, Catherine de Medici went from a prisoner of war as a young child, to the “deadly queen” of France between 1547 and 1559.

Catherine De Medici was born in April 1519 in Florence to the Duke of Urbino, Lorenzo de’ Medici and to the countess of Boulogne, Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne.

Catherine was the first and only child of the young couple, who was ecstatic to welcome their daughter into their royal world.

Sadly however, only a month after being born, both of Catherine’s parents became ill and died, leaving her an orphan.

Madeleine died on 28th April of puerperal fever, and Lorenzo died on 4 May.

For most of her childhood, the Medici heiress would live with different relatives, in several convents – with people who mostly did their best to protect the young girl from different enemies of the family.

Though Catherine moved from relative to relative, things seemed to be going well for some time.

In 1527, the Medici power was threatened once more.
Pope Clement was overthrown by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, and the peaceful childhood that Catherine seemed to be having, came crashing down in a matter of days.

Catherine was taken as a hostage by Passerini forces, and for years, she was sent off to live by herself in a series of convents.

Just like that, she had to say goodbye to the comfortable and sheltered life she had, and was now a prisoner living in captivity.

In 1529, Florence was completely surrounded by King Charles’ forces, which had dire consequences to the captive little duchess.

A few soldiers thought that as a form of retaliation, they should perhaps do something about Catherine.

Some soldiers apparently felt that her prisoner status was too comfortable and that chaining her, exposing her, or even killing her would be a much more effective response to the situation.

Every day that passed, soldiers kept on giving more and more horrible suggestions of what to do with the little duchess, while she grew increasingly terrified of the disturbing situation she was in.

In 1530, anti-Medici armies broke through the nunnery where the young duchess was being held hostage.
They debated whether the 11 year old heiress, should be killed there and then, or instead, should be set to a brothel that would mess up the Pope’s plans of marrying her to a potential royal suitor.

Fortunately however, a brim of hope came through when that same year, Florence ended up surrendering.

Catherine was taken to Rome and reunited with her uncle Pope Clement, who was thrilled to see her again.

While she was now safe, her adventurous life was about to take a turn, because her uncle was already looking for a husband for his niece.

Historical accounts of the little duchess often remark that Catherine wasn’t particularly the biggest royal beauty anyone had ever seen.

When she was younger, she was described as “small of stature, and thin, and without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes peculiar to the Medici family.”

Other observers mentioned that she was quite flat and undeveloped in her structure, completely ignoring the fact that this was a little girl they were talking about.

Needless to say, these descriptions were for the most part shared by men, who were rushing to get this little girl married.

Pope Clement did his thing, and looked across several neighboring countries for a potential suitor for his young niece.

When Francis I, the King of France, offered a marriage between his second son with the young Catherine, the Pope was ecstatic.

While the king’s son wasn’t quite in the running to be king, at that point, the orphaned Catherine was almost considered a commoner.

Quickly, the preparations for this awaited wedding began taking place, and in October 1533, Catherine de Medici married Henri, Duke of Orleans.

The outrageously fancy ceremony took place at the Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins in Marseille, and included every extravagant thing one can think of ~ exotic foods, crazy gifts, expensive utilities, and more.

Both Catherine and Henry danced through the night, and seemed to click right away – some would say that this was a match made in heaven.
Of course, they would learn soon enough that that wasn’t the case.

The fourteen-year-old couple left their wedding ball at midnight, to perform their nuptial duties.

At the time, there was no way to know that the sweet little Catherine would grow up to become the feared Serpent Queen in the French court…..