Diana Poitier went down in history not only as one of the most beautiful women of her era, but also as the uncrowned Queen of France. A significant age difference did not prevent her from becoming the favorite of King Henry II and for a long time keeping him near her. However, it is in vain to look for self-interest or a thirst for power in her actions: unlike the subsequent mistresses of the French (and not only) monarchs, Diane de Poitiers loved in Henry not a king, but a man.
Origin and early life
According to experts in the field of genealogy, the Poitiers family is much older than the royal Valois dynasty, which is a side branch of the more ancient Capetian family. In any case, there were connections between the two noble dynasties: Aymar de Poitiers was married to Marie Valois, who was the illegitimate daughter of King Louis XI (1461-1483). Their son, Jean, married Jeanne de Batarnay, a representative of another noble French family. Their first child was Diane de Poitiers.
Unfortunately, the exact date of her birth is unknown. There are two options that are equally successful with historians: either September 3, 1499, or January 91500. Close ties with the ruling dynasty allowed the early deceased Jeanne de Batarnay to entrust the care of Diana to another daughter of King Louis - Anna de God.
One of the main concerns of the girl's teacher was the search for a suitable husband for her. This was found quickly enough: at the age of thirteen, Diana married Ludovic de Breze. This marriage, as expected, was no different from other marriage unions of the Middle Ages: Diana's feelings were not taken into account, it was only about making a good party. Ludovic de Brese was 56 at the time of the marriage.
Happy marriage
Paradoxically, such an unequal marriage became happy for Diane Poitier. According to contemporaries, the young wife was distinguished by fidelity, rare for those times. For almost eighteen years of marriage, she cheated on her husband only once, but this episode also took place against the wishes of Diana.
In 1525, the constable (the highest state position in France at that time) Charles de Bourbon joined the troops of the main enemy of France - the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles of Habsburg. On charges of high treason, not only the criminal was punished, but also his closest friends, namely the father of Diane de Poitiers. To save her father, she immediately went to Paris and obtained an audience with the king. Jean de Poitiers' life was saved at the cost of his daughter's betrayal of her husband. The friend of the traitor was pardoned. But after that, Jean de Poitiers, just in casethe case isolated the daughter in the remote castle of Saint-Vallier: the risk that she would join the staff of the king's numerous mistresses was too high.
Louis de Breze forgave his wife. In the summer of 1531 he died at an advanced age. Two daughters remained from this marriage: Louise and Françoise.
Political battles and first meeting
As already mentioned, in the first half of the 16th century, the political life of Europe was marked by the confrontation between France and the vast territories of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain united under one scepter. Charles V of Habsburg sought to surround France with his lands and thereby deprive her of her independence.
In 1525, the battle of Pavia, unsuccessful for France, took place. The army of King Francis I was utterly defeated, and he himself experienced an unprecedented humiliation, being captured. Among the conditions imposed by Charles was the payment of a huge indemnity and the marriage of Francis to his sister. While in captivity, Francis could not fulfill the requirements of the winner, therefore he was released, but he had to send his children as hostages as a pledge of the execution of the contract.
The princes were seen off by a huge retinue, among which, as a lady-in-waiting to the queen, was Diane de Poitiers. All the attention of the courtiers was directed to Francis, the eldest son and heir to the throne: they encouraged him in every possible way, gave advice on how to behave in captivity. Henry didn't seem to exist. Only Diana kissed the eleven-year-old prince and said a few parting words.
Younger son
If Frenchthe nobility knew that Francis Jr. would never become king, but would die in 1536 after drinking a cup of cold water, then Henry would have gotten much more attention. But the little prince was not lucky: first his mother died, then four years of Spanish captivity. And if everyone was worried about the he alth and fate of the Dauphin, then Heinrich was remembered only for the sake of politeness.
Contemporaries note the dramatic change that happened to the prince during the years of captivity. As a child, he was a cheerful and sociable boy, and returned as a gloomy and withdrawn young man, who clearly harbored a grudge against his father. The king, concerned about his son's condition, asked Diane de Poitiers to take care of his upbringing. According to another version, Heinrich himself asked his father about this.
The fact that the young prince has some feelings for a woman much older than himself, it became clear to the whole court during the jousting tournament of 1531. According to the terms of such fights, each knight had to choose a lady for whose honor he promised to fight. Heinrich chose Diana without hesitation.
Catherine de' Medici
The widowed Diane de Poitiers with two children in her arms could not become the wife of the prince of the blood, and everyone understood this. Perhaps Heinrich dreamed of such an outcome, but the power of tradition was so great that no love could break it. After a careful study of foreign policy issues and family trees, King Francis appointed the Italian Catherine from the noble Florentine Medici family as his wife to his youngest son.
Sources unanimously claimthat Catherine was extremely ugly. The surviving portraits seem to confirm these assessments, but at the same time the prince's wife was smart, knew how to behave and was pleasant to talk to. King Francis still preferred to see that the prince would spend his wedding night in bed with his wife.
The relationship between Catherine and Diane de Poitiers, of course, was not smooth. Especially offensive for the prince's wife was the fact that Heinrich wore the colors of his mistress (Diana did not part with white and black clothes to her death as a sign of mourning for her husband), decorated his things with the monogram DH (the initials of the names Diana and Henri) and even at his coronation gave the favorite a more honorable place than his wife.
Struggle of the favorites
The French court of the 16th century is a fairly eclectic phenomenon: medieval simplicity has not yet been completely eliminated, but the trends of luxury from the times of absolutism have already appeared. Even a century earlier, the frank appearance of royal mistresses in public would have seemed reprehensible. King Francis, a lover of sensual pleasures, did not particularly care about people's rumors. His favorite, Anna d'Etampes, not only controlled court life, but also actively intervened in politics. Whether because of her Protestant sympathy or because of her faded beauty, the king's mistress was nicknamed the Old Mushroom.
Meanwhile, the position of Diane de Poitiers at the court became so strong that Anna was seriously afraid for her title of the first beauty of France. She did her best to denigrate her rival, not disdaining a custom-made pamphlet in which far-fetched ideas were ridiculed. Diana's attempts to hide her age with various cosmetics. Apparently, Anna d'Etampes' conjectures were so much in conflict with reality that the pamphlet had no success.
The dispute between the two favorites was decided by time: in 1547, King Francis died. He was the only one who connected Anna with the court world, and her position was immediately shaken. It soon became clear that shortly before the death of her lover, Anna made contact with his worst enemy, Charles V, hoping to secure a comfortable old age. Heinrich immediately expelled his father's favorite from Paris and took away the diamonds that he presented to Diane Poitiers. She, contrary to the expectations of the public, did not take revenge on her opponent.
Diana de Poitiers: the secret of beauty
Anne d'Etampes' pamphlet is interesting in that it slipped through the accusation of witchcraft. For the medieval world, this is a very serious accusation, for which they could easily be sent to the scaffold. The beauty of forty-year-old Diana really caused a lot of questions and a desire to imitate her. However, Diana Poitier did not possess any magical secret of youth. Her secret was only in careful self-care and exercise. For example, Diana's morning began with a bath of ice water, after which, in any weather, she went on a horseback ride that lasted at least three hours.
Subsequently, Diana's beauty became canonical. All noble ladies have long tried to comply with the following rules:
- skin, teeth, hands should bewhite;
- eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes - black;
- lips, cheeks, nails - pink;
- body, hair, fingers long;
- teeth, ears, feet short;
- lips, waist, feet - thin;
- arms, thighs, calves - full;
- nipples, nose, head are small.
Queen without a crown
When King Francis died and Henry succeeded to the throne, Diane de Poitiers was at the pinnacle of power. Even during the life of her husband, she showed that, in addition to beauty, she had a remarkable mind, giving him valuable advice related to the management of estates. Now Diana has proved to be an important political player.
Never before has the favorite reached such heights. Even Anna d'Etampes' participation was limited to her concern for the Protestants and recommendations, which Francis listened to carefully, but did not always follow. Many foreign monarchs, knowing about the influence of Diana on French politics, entered into correspondence with the favorite. Even the Pope did not stand aside.
Through the hands of Diane Poitier passed many appointments. She personally determined to whom to give this or that position. The real queen all this time remained on the sidelines. But Diana was by no means indifferent to her fate. On the contrary, knowing that for some reason Catherine could not give France an heir, the all-powerful favorite undertook to personally deal with this problem. She gave her unfortunate rival various advice, did not allow Henry to come to her, urgently demanding from him the fulfillment of his marital duty. As a result, Diana managed to find a certain doctor who was able to help. Catherine de Medicigave birth to ten children. Diane de Poitiers was assigned to their upbringing.
An unexpected end
Deprived of access to politics, Catherine gathered around her a society of various fortune-tellers and soothsayers. Among them was the famous Nostradamus, who made several vague prophecies. Among them was the prediction of Henry's death at the age of forty.
Brought up on chivalric novels, Heinrich loved to arrange tournaments in compliance with all medieval rules. The year 1559, when he turned forty, was no exception. Ekaterina begged her husband to refuse to participate this time. Even Diana seemed to believe the predictions, but Heinrich was adamant.
Faith in predictions in those days was very strong. Gabriel Montgomery - the knight with whom Henry was supposed to fight - refused to enter the battlefield, fearing that it was he who was destined to kill the king. The enraged king ordered the knight to immediately enter the battlefield.
The tournaments were fought with wooden weapons, and the participants were protected by real armor. But the count unsuccessfully threw a spear: it broke, and one of the chips pierced right into the king's eye. He only had time to say that Montgomery was innocent, and lost consciousness. The agony lasted ten days, and on July 10, 1559, the king died in inhuman agony.
Recent years
Catherine de Medici finally had the opportunity to get even with the favorite. First of all, she forbade Diana to enter the room where the dying king was. Some time later, according to the acceptedin France, tradition demanded that Diana return all the jewelry and real estate donated to her. The strange thing was that Catherine even demanded back what Heinrich had presented to Diana Poitiers from personal funds. The favorite meekly returned all the things on the list. The vengeful queen even took Chensoneau, Diane de Poitiers' favorite castle.
The story of Diana and Heinrich has attracted the attention of novelists for many centuries. Since Platonic love was not honored in those years, many of them claimed that Henry was the father of the son of Diane de Poitiers. However, this is not true. Whether the love between them was platonic or carnal is still a matter of dispute. But it is hard to believe that from all the records that curious contemporaries left for any reason, the mention of such a high-profile event as the birth of a royal bastard disappeared. As already mentioned, Diane Poitiers had two children, and they were born in a legal marriage with Ludovic de Breze.
The uncrowned queen spent the last six years of her life in the castle of Ane. She devoted them to the opening of various shelters, from which she demanded only one thing: to pray for the soul of Henry. Eyewitnesses reported that Diana retained her beauty until her death. At the age of sixty-six, she did not change her habit and went on a horseback ride. The horse on which Diana was riding stumbled, and the former favorite, falling from it, broke her hip. Recovery was very difficult. Anticipating an imminent death, Diana ordered a tombstone from the sculptor. 26 AprilShe died in 1566.
Time turned out to be even more merciless for Diana than Catherine de Medici. For more than two hundred years, her embalmed remains were in the cathedral of Anet. But during the French Revolution, when the rebels wanted to destroy not only the monarchy, but everything connected with it, the temple was devastated, and the remains of Diane de Poitiers were buried in a common grave. They were discovered only in 2008.
