Catherine de' Medici has been called many things over the centuries: "The Serpent Queen",
"The Black Queen", "The Maggot From Italy's Tomb", and even, "The Devil's Queen"
but one thing she was not, was boring.
History has branded her a poisoner and murderer but the new historical drama series named
The Serpent Queen, starring Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as the wicked Queen of France
(and showing on Starz), gives us a broader view of this much maligned powerful and admirable
sixteenth-century Queen.
There is a lot to cover about Catherine de' Medici; from her painful childhood of abandonment
and ridicule through her reign as queen consort of France and her subsequent years as the
queen regent, during her son's reign.
She would draw almost unprecedented fear and hatred from both her enemies and her own subjects;
but as is the case with many strong female leaders, much of the criticism laid at Catherine
Catherine de' Medici's door comes down to sexist notions about a woman's place in the
world.
Her life spans a history of 16th century Europe with its, wars between kingdoms,
social unrest and violence caused by the Protestant Reformation, more wars over religion (including
one of deadliest religious wars in European history), her own efforts to keep the papacy
on her side; dynastic marriages; political factions and, towards the end, her own sons
plotting against each other for the throne and power.
So let’s find out more about this Italian noblewoman who would became Queen of France
by exploring a few remarkable facts about Catherine de Medici and her life history.
First off, Catherine was not born into royalty.
It is a fact that Catherine was not was a person of royal blood.
Rather she was born into the now infamous Medici political dynasty of Florence.
Italy.
The Medici’s were not royalty but an aristocratic family that went into banking and managed
to grow their little enterprise into the most powerful bank in Europe in the 15th century,
with the Vatican was a major client.
Catherine's ties to the Vatican were not only political but familial as well.
The Roman Catholic Pope at the time of Catherine's birth, Leo the tenth, was a Medici and Catherine’s
great-uncle.
But she was soon to be orphaned at an early age.
Within a month of her birth, illness killed both of Catherine’s parents.
For the rest of her childhood, the vulnerable Medici heiress would be shuffled between relatives
and convents to protect her from the family’s enemies in an increasingly volatile Italy.
Catherine de' Medici never knew a stable childhood.
After her parents died, her grandmother Alfonsina Orsini, took custody of her, but more tragedy
was on the horizon.
Alfonsina died just a year later, and Catherine was sent off again.
She jumped around from family member to family member for the first years of her life, but
by 1523, everything was about to change.
Catherine’s fortunes shifted when her uncle Giulio de Medici became Pope Clement the seventh.
Clement brought his young niece to live in an extravagant palace in Florence, where the
people took to fondly calling her “The Little Dutchess.”
It seemed as though Catherine had finally found peace,but it was all about to be ripped
away.
Medici power in Florence came crashing down in 1527.
Cardinal Silvio Passerini overthrew Pope Clement, and suddenly Catherine’s peaceful childhood
was thrown into chaos once again.
Passerini’s forces took Catherine hostage and sent her off to live alone in a series
of convents.
She was taken from her beloved uncle and his extravagant palaces—but Catherine found
a surprising silver lining in her captivity:
Life in the convent was simpler and safer than what she was used to, and one chronicler
calls this period “the happiest time of her entire life.”
Once she left the convent walls, there was only danger and intrigue awaiting her.
In 1527, the Medici dynasty was overthrown in Florence and 8 year old Catherine was taken
hostage.
She was held prisoner for 3 years until her uncle Pope Clement managed to rescue her whereby
he immediately set out to find her a husband.
And because she was rich, her uncle managed to arrange a marriage with Henry, the second
son of the French King.
Fourteen year old Catherine married the French prince Henry only to find out that he had
no interest in her while he pursued numerous affairs, leaving Catherine with little chance
to bear children as was of course, her only duty.
Catherine spent this period of her life where she took up learning the ways of the occult
and developing an interest in the science of poisons (something that would come back,
again and again, to haunt her for the rest of her life.)
There is an interesting story here about how Catherine was supposed to have poisoned the
Queen of Navarre (a neighboring kingdom) to ensure the marriage of her daughter to the
Queen of Navarre's son.
It was said that Catherine used an ingenious way to deliver the poison, but I won't go
into that right now.
I'll save that little tidbit for another video.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-catherine-de-medici-made-gloves-laced-with-poison-fashionable https://www.medievalists.net/2010/06/poison-medicine-and-the-medieval-apothecary/
In 1536, Henry’s older brother caught a chill, contracted a fever and died, so Henry
became heir apparent to the throne.
The pressure was now on for the Catherine to produce some heirs post haste; which (spoiler
alert) finally happened such that Catherine eventually bore 10 children, three of them
were sons who lived to become kings themselves.
When Catherine's husband King Henry the second died in 1559, Catherine was no longer Queen
but was, instead, Queen Regent; but that didn't lessen her power, In fact, with her husband
dead, Catherine's reign as the Black Queen really took off.
It was at this point that Catherine had to become extremely cunning to ensure the rule
of her sons.
She wasn't about to give up all those years learning the court strategies needed to grasp,
consolidate and increase power to her benefit and the benefit of her sons and family (she
was, afterall, a Medici).
And the story doesn't end there.
Catherine's story continues on with loads of palace intrigue, medieval power grabs,
graphic deaths and more.
The series is based upon an historical biography that goes into great detail about Catherine's
many plots, murders, and even the sacrifice of her own child.
She ordered assassinations of individuals who put her son's kingdom in jeopardy.
She clearly ordered the murder of Legnerolles, a gentleman who Catherine believed was steering
her son Henri towards religious fanaticism and perversion.
She also beat her daughter Margot for daring to engage in romantic liasons with Henri of
Guise.
(The Guise brothers were thorns in Catherine's side that enraged her to no end.)
Like I said, there is a lot that goes on in the story of the Serpent Queen and we haven't
even made it to day known as St Bartholomew's Day Massacre for which Catherine was truly
reviled.
No wonder STARZ made it into a series and I doubt the first season will manage to cover
it all; and it is promoted that the Starz show is coming from, wait for it....a feminine
perspective.
The show writer's want you to know that this is truly the real Catherine de'Medici, and
she's telling her own story.
We will have to see how that holds up.
Either way, there is no sugar coating the fact that Catherine de' Medici was one tough
lady.
I will be doing a series of videos on The Serpent Queen through out the airing of the
show on Starz so be sure to subscribe and hit the alert bell to get new videos covering
the true, complex and intricate history of the life of life of Catherine de'Medici.
Let me know in the comments below what you think about the new Starz series, The Serpent