Orphaned at one month, Catherine de' Medici ended up steering France for three kings
Within weeks of Catherine de' Medici's birth in Florence in 1519, both her parents were dead. She grew up a political pawn, held hostage in convents during a revolt, then married off at 14 to a French prince who preferred his mistress. Decades later she was the power behind three of her sons' thrones.
Her uncle, Pope Clement VII, arranged the match in 1533 with Henry, second son of Francis I; the Medici were rich but of common origin, so a French prince was a prize. The advantage evaporated when Clement died the next year and his successor refused to pay her enormous dowry, prompting the king to grumble that the girl had arrived with nothing. Henry's elder brother died suddenly in 1536, making Catherine the future queen, yet for ten years she bore no children and divorce was openly discussed. Her first son finally arrived in January 1544, and nine more children followed.
Henry kept her away from government. His lifelong favourite was Diane de Poitiers, nearly twenty years his senior, to whom he even gave the Château of Chenonceau that Catherine had wanted. Catherine also raised the young Mary, Queen of Scots, betrothed to her eldest son, alongside her own children.
Everything changed in 1559 when Henry died in an accident at a tournament. Their frail 15-year-old son reigned as Francis II for barely a year; Catherine then became regent for ten-year-old Charles IX and gained sweeping authority, and later remained central under her third son, Henry III. France was torn by religious war, with the Catholic Guise family scheming for power and the Protestant Huguenots in revolt.
Catherine first offered concessions to the Huguenots, then turned to harsh measures, and she was blamed for the St Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, in which thousands of Protestants were killed. Some historians see her policies as desperate efforts to keep the Valois dynasty alive, noting that her sons probably could not have held power without her. She has been called the most important woman in 16th-century Europe. She died in January 1589, just seven months before Henry III.
Source: Catherine de' Medici
