When King Henry II of France died in 1559, Catherine de’ Medici was propelled onto the political stage. She had been married to Henry for 26 years and his consort for twelve, during which time she had been allowed little power or influence, the king instead favouring his mistress, Diane of Poitiers. With Henry’s death, however, Catherine wasted no time in taking charge, becoming Queen regent for her young son, Francis II. This was a power she retained for the rest of her life, influencing the reigns of three of her sons as they each inherited the throne. 

Catherine is a controversial figure, both in her own time and now. An Italian woman of humble origin, she was the victim of a vicious propaganda campaign – a Black Legend. Among the ‘evidence’ used against her was the fact that Catherine failed to become pregnant for the first ten years of her marriage, though this was more likely due to Henry’s infrequent visits to her bed and his biological abnormalities. The couple ended up having ten children, seven of which survived infancy. Nevertheless, the three who lived to become kings were called ‘diseased’ (Francis II), ‘mad’ (Charles IX), and ‘unstable’ (Henry III); this, too, was blamed on Catherine.

Her first time as Queen Mother was under her eldest son, Francis. Though technically old enough to rule alone, the boy was sickly and relied on his councillors, who were mostly Guises due to Francis’s marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots. Catherine was not strictly entitled to a role in the court, yet all of her son’s official decrees began with: ‘This being the good pleasure of the Queen, my lady-mother, and I also approving of every opinion that she holdeth…’

When Catherine realised that Francis was going to die, she acted swiftly, all but forcing the Privy Council to name her governor of France. She had extensive powers and, as regent to nine-year-old Charles IX, she made sure to keep her son close to her.

Catherine was impressive in her aptitude for statesmanship. During the 1560s, the Protestant Huguenots and the Catholics were engaged in an escalating conflict; meanwhile, it fell to Catherine to keep the country running smoothly, and she made a clear attempt to heal the religious differences at Poissy in 1561. Being ignorant of how deep the divide ran, she failed in this, though she cannot be entirely blamed. Her background as a foreigner sometimes made the challenges she faced difficult to comprehend – besides which, perhaps she should even be commended for trying to achieve peace.

When the Wars of Religion finally began in 1562, Catherine was at first reluctant to involve herself – and, by proxy, her son. Eventually, however, she raised the royal army, laying siege to the Huguenots. Catherine even insisted on visiting the battlefield herself, saying, “My courage is as great as yours” upon being warned of the dangers.

Eventually, in 1563, she once again attempted to restore peace. The Edict of Amboise ended the first phase of the Wars of Religion and guaranteed the Huguenots religious freedom and privileges. 

She was eager for the entire country to accept the Edict, but Salic law meant that, as a woman, she had less authority than her son. Thus, she quickly hastened the declaration of Charles’s majority and took him on a tour of  the kingdom. By the end of it, in 1566, she seemed satisfied that the peace was holding, having seen Catholics and Protestants dancing together. 

She was wrong.

The defining moment for Catherine came in 1572. After the failed assassination of the Huguenot leader, Admiral Coligny – which has also been blamed on Catherine – Charles IX declared, “Kill the Admiral if you wish; but you must also kill all the Huguenots, so that not one is left alive to reproach me. Kill them all!”

It has been suggested that Catherine was behind this, having convinced Charles that Coligny was using him and was going to try to overthrow the Catholic court.

Two days after the assassination attempt came the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Coligny and other Huguenot leaders were murdered, throwing Paris into panic. In total, after five days of slaughter, ten thousand Huguenots were killed in and around Paris. 

It has never been proven that Catherine ordered the attacks. Nevertheless, the massacre forever stained her reputation. 

Charles was plagued by the massacre for the rest of his life, alternately blaming himself and his mother. He died in 1574, aged 23, naming his mother regent as his brother, Henry, was away in Poland where he had been elected king. 

Henry was Catherine’s favourite son and, due to his disinterest in the crown, she remained a significant power behind the French throne upon his return and coronation. She toured France on his behalf and became a patron of the arts, winning herself a new respect from the French people.

Enough cut off, my son. Now piece together.

Catherine de’ Medici to her son, Henry III, on her death-bed, according to Honoré de Balzac

Despite her best efforts, however, Henry III grew away from his mother, and she saw his order to murder the Duke of Guise and eight other Guises as a rejection of everything she had worked for. 

Catherine died days later on 5th January 1589, aged sixty-nine. Henry III was assassinated later that year and, due to having no children, the Valois dynasty ended, succeeded by the house of Bourbon. It has been suggested that they were only able to do so because of the efforts of Catherine de’ Medici.

Sources:

• https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ma-Mo/Medici-Catherine-de.html
• Knecht, R. J., ‘Catherine de’ Medici and the French wars of religion’, Historian; London, 62 (1999), 18-23
• Crouzet, Denis, ‘“A strong desire to be a mother to all your subjects”: A Rhetorical Experiment by Catherine de Medici’, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 38.1 (2008), 103-118
• Balzac, Honoré de, Catherine de’ Medici, trans. by Katharine Prescott Wormeley (Auckland: The Floating Press, 2010)