Court Festivals

Court Festivals were the most fun things to go to. Court festivals are filled with different kinds of entertainments. Every time I go to these festivals, I would always have the time of my life. I was again influenced by my father-in-law, King Francis I. He would always tell me that the court always needed to be active and always needed to be entertained so I decided to choose some days where people can have fun without worrying about their work. In these festivals, I used females to go and seduce courtiers. I am willing to do anything to attract people to come. One time I even allowed the women to serve topless so they will attract men. My court festivals would usually last for several days. Usually people were responsible to preparing a certain entertainment. Also, people would dress up as mythical characters. I find this part of my festival pretty amusing since you get to see people dress up into something they do not usually wear. Also included in my wonderful festivals were music, dance, and ballet! Dancing was also very fun. Everyone can join in anytime they want so everyone was able to have a great time. You would see everyone dancing having the time of their life and enjoying themselves. The one activity I don’t allow is jousting. After the incident that happened with my husband, I hope it won’t happen to anyone else. Hope you can come to one of my court festivals!

Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

Massacre de la Saint- Barthelemy……oh my word was this day really bloody.  August 24, 1572. All those dead bodies. All that blood. The Guise family had told me that the gathering of the Huguenots posed a threat to us. The Huguenots were coming to Paris to witness the wedding of my son. My son was advised to get rid of the Huguenot leaders. I had ordered for the murder of Admiral  Gaspard de Coligny, but he was only injured. This has started the days of blood. The massacre started on August 24 with the start of the murder of Coligny. Authorities of Paris were told to shut the gates and arm the citizens. We wanted to arm the citizens so we can make sure that there would be no Protestants that will be willing to stand up to us. As the day went by, people started hunting for all of the Protestants. No one could get out or escape from this situation. There were chains to block the houses so no one could get away. Mobs ran through the streets killing Huguenots in a various types of ways. Bodies were picked up using carts. I guess this massacre has made my reputation as being evil.  

the bodies from the massacre and me overlooking them

The religious problems were not resolved until the Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598. This statement said that the main religion of France will be Catholicism. It also gave some rights to the Huguenots like giving some places in France to allow them to worship freely.  

Wife of Henry, Duke of Orleans

I was born to the great and powerful Medici family and when I was born, both my mother and father died before I can even have any memories with them. Oh how I wish I could have met them. As an infant, I was being taken care of by my father’s relatives, Popes Leo X and Clement VII. In 1533, Pope Clement arranged a marriage between Henry, the duke of Orleans, and I. The wedding between us was very glamorous and there were a lot of fun things to do. Our wedding was held at Marseille on October 28, 1533. I still remember the night when he jousted and danced for me and I also remember that we left the wedding at midnight. As his wife, I kind of already knew he had little interest for me but either way I still loved him as a husband. He would often have different ladies with him but I have no idea why I accepted that. One in particular named Diane de Poitiers was someone he loved very much.

Since I could not have any children, divorce between us was being brought up because they needed a male heir to the throne. With the help of Jean Fernel, I was now able to produce children. I am really thankful to him for allowing me to now have 7 wonderful children. Even though I gave birth to many kids, Henry still liked Diane de Poitiers and will for the rest of his life. 

Henry, my husband

I LOVE THE ARTS!

One thing that I have to tell everybody is that I am a huge supporter of the arts. I come from a family that loves the arts. I was first inspired by my father-in-law when he hosted the leading artists of Europe at his court. As governor and regent of France I wanted to support royal influence by using the arts. Tapestries, maps and sculptures were some of the many things that I collected. One of things that I enjoyed having painted is my beloved children. Just seeing their portraits alone makes me happy. I remembered even writing to my children's governor, Jean d'Humieres, saying, " I would like to have paintings of all the children done... and sent to me, without delay, as soon as they are finished." Here are some of my children's portraits.

Francis, Duke of Alencon

Charles XI of France

Francis II of France

Marguerite de Valois

My biggest love of all for art has to do with architecture. Before I die, I wish to establish as many achievements of myself as much as possible. The thing I love about architecture is the ability to supervise my own projects and design them myself. Throughout my life I had many architectural projects. Some of them would include the Versailles, Chateau de Chenonceau, and Hôtel de la Reine.

Versailles

Chateau de Chenonceau

Hôtel de la Reine

I paid patronage to many of the artists back then. Germain Pilot would be one of the artists I supported. His work was amazing and I loved it so much. His sculpture was of the three graces standing back to back and it looks like as if they were about to dance. 

Welcome to My Life!

Hello my fellow readers! Catherine de' Medici here. Here is a chance to get to know a little of whom I am and what I do. I was born on April 13, 1519 in Florence, Italy with the name Caterina Maria Romula de Lorenzo de' Medici. Both my parents died right after I was born so I never really got the chance to meet them. As a child, I had a great education. Also as a child I was trained and disciplined by nuns in Florence and Rome. At the age of fourteen on October 29, 1533 I was arranged by Pope Clement to marry Henry, the second son of King Francis I. When I was married to Henry, at first I could not bear children until one day I gave birth to two twin girls. I could have died if it hadn’t been for the surgeon. The surgeon sadly had to break the legs of one of the babies in my stomach that had already died. My surviving daughter died seven weeks later and I had no more children until four years later. Out of all the children I had given birth to, only seven survived out of ten. Those ten included Francis II, Elizabeth, Claude, Louis, Charles IX, Henry III, Margaret de Valois, Hercule Francois, Victoire, and Jeanne.

When my husband’s older brother passed away, my husband and I were next to the throne of France. Throughout the reign of my husband, I had little say about anything. This was until my husband was seriously injured from a jousting competition and later died from it. A little later my oldest son, Francis II,  took the crown of king. While he was king, we had to face the Guise family. When my son passed away, I became governor of France and my other son Charles XI took the throne. This time is when I started to have control over the country because I was announced regent to my son since he was young and too feeble to be king. As the queen, my goal was to settle the religious conflict between the Catholics and the Huguenots. Both parties were both unwilling to make peace to one another. While both parties were in disagreements, I decided not to take any sides between them two. Their struggle with each other eventually led to the French Wars of Religion. The French Wars of Religion presented a major crisis for France, as it stopped having France develop as a centralized state. One thing that happened during the French Wars of Religion was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. It was a day of bloodshed.

At the age of twenty three, my son Charles XI died. I still remember the words he said to me the day he died. “Oh, my mother….” That day was a truly sad day. After his death, someone else had to inherit the throne and it was none other than my favorite son Henry. I was unable to control him as I had to Francis and Charles. During his reign I did many other things to help resolve the problems of France but you will just have to read and find out later.