Catherine De' Medici

Catherine de’ Medici played an important role in Sixteenth Century France. She has been blamed for starting the French Wars of Religion, yet it is impossible to blame one person for a war.

Catherine de’ Medici’s full name is Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de Medici. She was born in Florence, Italy, on April 13, 1519. Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne, Countess of Boulogne, were her parents. Even though she was a female, they still adored her. Unfortunately, they both died within weeks of her birth. and she was left to be raised by her grandmother, Alfonsina Orsini, the spouse of Piero de Medici. Alfonsina died within a year, and Catherine was sent to stay with her aunt, Clarissa de Medici. Clarissa educated Catherine, along with her own children, and Catherine was happy in her new atmosphere living with her aunt.

In 1533, at the age of fourteen, Catherine married fourteen-year-old Henry, the second son of King Francis I of France. Pope Clement arranged Catherine’s wedding. Their marriage was meant to bring great wealth. On March 31,1547, her husband became King Henri II, and Catherine became the Queen of France. She loved Henry from the start of their marriage, but he was more interested in his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, a French noblewoman. Catherine had ten children, three who would temporarily reign as king. All of Catherine's children’s names were, Francis II, Elisabeth of Valois, Claude of Valois, Louis, Charles IX, Henry III, Marguerite of Valois, Francois, Duke of Anjou, Victoria of Valois, and Joan of Valois. Unfortunately, three of them didn’t survive infancy, but four of their boys and 3 of their girls survived. At the wedding of Philip II and Elisabeth, who was the teena...

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...ieve that the cabinets were more likely used to hold small works of art or secret papers than a poison “stash”.

On January 5, 1589, Catherine de’ Medici died at Chateau de Blois, in France, of natural causes. Her last words were, “Enough cut off, my son,” when Henry III came to her death-bed to tell her that the the great enemy of the crown was dead.

She is also known for introducing many new foods to France. She taught the French how to eat with a fork and introduced new foods such as; Broccoli, cakes, cream puffs, custards, lettuce, parsley, pasta, spinach, sweetbreads, and many others.
Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power. Also, religion may have been different today, because of the French Wars of Religion, government, because Catherine played a central role, and The Wars of Religion could still be occurring today.