Maria Medici is the Queen of France and the heroine of our story. This article is devoted to her biography, facts from her personal life, political career. Our narrative is illustrated by photographs of picturesque portraits of the Queen, painted during her lifetime.
Biography of Marie de Medici - early childhood
She was born in beautiful Florence in 1575, April 26th. The baby became the sixth daughter of Francesco I, Duke of Tuscany, and his first wife, Joanna of Austria. On her mother's side, Maria was the great-great-granddaughter of Isabella I (of Castile) and grand-niece of Charles V. Maria's grandfather was Cosimo de' Medici, the second cousin of Catherine de Medici, the formidable Queen of France.
A girl at the age of two lost her mother, Joanna died in an accident. The Grand Duke did not grieve for long, he soon married his mistress Bianca Capello. Mary's stepmother had a cunning and imperious character; it was not for nothing that the courtiers called her a witch. The little Tuscan princess lacked maternal warmth and affection. The girl found love and support from her maid Leonora Dori Galigai.
Marriage withFrench king
In 1599, King Henry IV of France begins to negotiate with Ferdinand de' Medici, Mary's uncle, about a possible marriage with his niece. At that time, the marriage of the French king to Marguerite de Valois had already been annulled due to her childlessness. Yes, Henry was at first the husband of Queen Margo. Marie de Medici was destined to become the second wife of the monarch.
Negotiations go on for almost a year and end with the marriage of Mary de Medici and Henry IV in March 1600. By that time, the bride was already 24 years old. She was the richest bride - Ferdinand gave his niece a dowry of six hundred thousand crowns. At the time, this was a truly fantastic sum. Thus, Marie de Medici brought her husband the largest dowry in the history of the French state.
An interesting fact is that the wedding took place in Florence in the absence of the groom, by proxy. And the wedding ceremony itself took place upon the arrival of the bride in French Lyon, December 17.
Having children
The first-born of Marie de Medici, the future King of France Louis XIII, was born exactly 9 months after the wedding, on September 27, 1601. Subsequently, Mary gave birth to five more children - two boys and three girls. One of the sons - Nicolas Orleans - died in childhood.
Queen's private life
Maria was beautiful in her youth (see photo), and at first Heinrich had passionate feelings for her, from whichlittle by little there was no trace left. Biographers claim that the reason for this was, first of all, the imperious nature of the woman and her overly jealous disposition.
The qualities mentioned above gradually cooled Henry's love for his wife, quarrels often arose between the spouses. In the end, the king began to feel almost hatred for Mary. He was particularly irritated by his wife's affection for Leonora Galigai.
At the court, rumors abounded that the maid had a huge influence on the queen and did not shy away from witchcraft. The situation was also disgusting because Galigai's husband - End - became the favorite of Maria Medici.
Death of Henry IV
The marriage of the Medici and Henry lasted only 10 years. Henry IV during his lifetime did everything to stop sectarian wars. He signed a decree granting the Protestants freedom of religion, after which the Huguenot wars ceased. Such a policy caused discontent among devout Catholics.
In 1610, Marie de Medici's husband was murdered in Paris by a Catholic fanatic named François Ravaillac. This event took place on May 14th. The funeral of the monarch took place on July 1 at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.
Political games of the French queen and years of reign
Maria de Medici was suspected by many of being involved in the death of her husband. The fact is that the queen was not satisfied with the position of Henry's uncomplaining wife. She dreamed of being involved in the government of the country. But this was not possible because Mary was not crowned.
After Heinrich heeded the persuasion of his wife andcrowned her, he was killed the very next day. The suspicion that she was a participant in a conspiracy against the king was not removed from Mary either during her lifetime or after her death. Although direct evidence of such perfidy has not been found.
Next, Marie de Medici became regent for her son Louis XIII, who was proclaimed King of France at the age of 8, immediately after his father's assassination. Years of reign of the country by the Medici Queen - 1610-1617
Her policy was unpopular in the highest circles of society, Maria also did not win the love of the people. The queen made the Roman and Spanish envoys, as well as Concini, to whom she bestowed the title of Marquis de Ancre, her main political advisers and allies. In the end, Mary entered into an alliance with Spain, followed by the betrothal of a young French monarch with the daughter of Philip III - Anna of Austria.
These events provoked strong unrest among Protestants. Numerous nobles leave the court and begin preparations for war. After a number of uprisings that were raised by the princes of the blood, Maria was still able to conclude a truce with them.
At this time, thanks to friendship with the Queen Mother and her favorite Concini, Richelieu, the future Cardinal of France, first appears on the political arena. He becomes a minister at the court of the Queen Mother and later becomes a deputy to the Estates General.
In 1614, Louis was proclaimed an adult. However, even after that, Marie de Medici managed to keep for some timepower in their hands. This was possible thanks to the clever intrigues of Concini and the help of Richelieu. However, young Louis was able to secretly plot against his mother's favorite, as a result of which Concini was killed. As a result, Louis XIII sits on the throne and sends his mother into exile to the distant castle of Blois, and Richelieu to Lucon.
Attempt to regain power
Maria de Medici did not put up with the fate of an exile for long. Two years after losing power, she escapes Blois and begins plotting to overthrow her son from the French throne.
This becomes known to Richelieu, who becomes an intermediary between Ludovic and his mother. Thanks to Richelieu's cunning diplomacy, a formal peace treaty was eventually concluded between the Medici and Louis. Maria was finally able to return to Paris and even become head of the Council of State.
Richelieu's betrayal
In an effort to reassert their influence at court, the Medici leaves his trusted adviser to become the first minister of state and a cardinal. Having received, in fact, unlimited power, Richelieu removes Marie de Medici, who has become unnecessary to him.
The former queen did everything to remove the now hated Richelieu from the court, but she could not fix anything. In July 1631 she was forced to flee to Brussels. But the cardinal did not leave her alone there either; at his request, the Medici were moved to England, then to Amsterdam. The last place of the exile was Cologne, where she died. Queen Marie de Medici, whose biography began so brilliantly, died in poverty and loneliness in 1642year, July 3, at the age of sixty-seven.
Portraits by Rubens
We can't see a photo of the Queen, but fortunately there are picturesque portraits of her, many of which were painted by the famous artist Rubens.
In 1622, the queen decides to create a monument to herself in her lifetime - to build a palace that will be decorated with paintings depicting her life. Work on a series of paintings was entrusted to Peter Rubens.
Together they discuss in detail the plots of the paintings and their smallest plots. The artist begins work with a series of sketches and sketches, the queen poses for him. The full creative process of creating canvases for the Medici Gallery took the artist almost three years.
There are portraits where the queen in the paintings is still quite young. On one of the picturesque canvases, she appears before us in the form of a bride. This canvas was once specially painted for Henry IV, at the time of his matchmaking.
The fate of Mary's son Louis XIII
The son of Marie de Medici ruled France for 27 years and received the nickname "fair" from the people. Louis died at the age of forty-one, in 1643. In the photo below you can see a fragment of the ceremonial portrait of the monarch.
Interesting facts
There are many testimonies of the strong attachment of the French Queen Marie de Medici to her talking parrot, who lived with his mistress until the end of her life. Before her death, the woman did not forget about the feathered pet and bequeathed to take care of him furtherCardinal Richelieu.
France and Paris owe Queen Mary good plumbing, the Luxembourg Palace, Cours la Reine boulevard, and a magnificent collection of Rubens paintings in the Louvre.
By an amazing coincidence, the exiled queen found her last refuge in the house where the artist who painted her portraits spent his childhood.
