Marie de Medici is the queen of France and the heroine of our story. Her biography, facts from her personal life, political career is the subject of this article. Our story is illustrated by photos of picturesque portraits of the Queen, painted during her lifetime.
Biography of Maria Medici - early childhood
She was born in beautiful Florence in 1575, April 26th. The baby became the sixth daughter of the Duke of Tuscany, Francesco I and his first wife, Joanna of Austria. On the maternal side, Maria was the great-great-granddaughter of Isabella I (Castile) and the grandniece of Charles V. Maria’s grandfather was Cosimo Medici - the second cousin of Catherine de Medici - the formidable Queen of France.
A girl at the age of two lost her mother, John 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, not without reason the courtiers called her a sorceress. The little Tuscan princess lacked maternal warmth and affection. The girl found love and support at her cameraman Leonora Dori Galigay.
Marriage with the French King
In 1599, King Henry IV of France began negotiations with Ferdinand Medici, uncle of Mary, on the possible conclusion of a marriage with his niece. At that time, the marriage of the French king with Margarita de Valois was already annulled due to her childlessness. Yes, Henry was at first the husband of Queen Margot. Maria Medici fate was destined to become the second wife of the monarch.
Negotiations have been going on for almost a year and end with the marriage of Maria Medici and Henry IV in March 1600. By that time, the bride was already 24 years old. She was the richest bride - Ferdinand gave for his niece a dowry of six hundred thousand crowns. At that time, it was a truly fantastic amount. Thus, Marie de Medici brought her husband the greatest 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.
Birth of 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 of Orleans - died in childhood.
Queen's personal life
Maria was beautiful in her youth (see photo), and at first Heinrich had passionate feelings for her, from which gradually there was no trace. Biographers argue that this was primarily due to the imperious nature of the woman and her overly jealous disposition.
The qualities mentioned above gradually cooled Henry's love for his wife, and quarrels often arose between spouses. In the end, the king began to feel almost hatred for Mary. Especially annoying was his wife's affection for Leonora Galigay.
At the court there were rumors that the chamberlain had a great influence on the queen and did not shy from witchcraft. The situation was disgusting also because the husband of Galigay - Konchini - became the favorite of Maria Medici.
The death of Henry IV
The marriage of the Medici and Henry lasted only 10 years. Henry IV, during his lifetime, did everything in order to stop interfaith wars. He signed a decree granting Protestants freedom of religion, after which the Huguenot wars ceased. Such a policy caused discontent among Orthodox Catholics.
In 1610, the husband of Maria Medici was killed in Paris by a Catholic fanatic named Francois Ravalliac. This event occurred 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 the years of rule
Many people suspected Mary of Medici that she was involved in the death of her husband. The fact is that the queen was not satisfied with the position of the meek wife of Henry. She dreamed of being involved in governing the country. But this was impossible, because Mary was not crowned.
After Henry heeded the persuasion of his wife and crowned her, he was killed the very next day. The suspicion that she was a participant in a conspiracy against the king was not withdrawn from Mary either during her lifetime or after her death. Although direct evidence of such treachery was not found.
Further, Marie de Medici became regent with her son Louis XIII, who was proclaimed king of France at the age of 8, immediately after the murder of his father. Years of rule by the Queen of the Medici country - 1610-1617.
Her policy was unpopular in the highest circles of society, the love of the people of Mary also did not earn. The Queen made Roman and Spanish envoys, as well as Conchini, to whom she bestowed the title of Marquis de Ancré, as her chief political advisers and allies. In the end, Maria entered into an alliance with Spain, followed by the betrothal of the young French monarch with the daughter of Philip III - Anna of Austria.
These events excited strong unrest among the Protestants. Numerous noble nobles leave the courtyard and begin preparations for war. After a series of uprisings, which were raised by the princes of blood, Mary still managed to conclude a truce with them.
At this time, thanks to friendship with the queen mother and her favorite Conchini, Richelieu, the future cardinal of France, first appeared on the political arena. He becomes minister at the court of the Queen Mother, and later becomes deputy to the General States.
In 1614, Louis was proclaimed an adult. However, even after this, Maria Medici managed to hold power in her hands for some time. This was possible thanks to the clever intrigues of Conchini and the help of Richelieu. However, the young Louis was able to secretly prepare a conspiracy against the favorite of his mother, as a result of which Conchini was killed. As a result, Louis XIII sits on the throne and sends his mother into exile in the distant castle of Blois, and Richelieu - in Luzon.
Attempt to regain power
Maria Medici did not long put up with the fate of the exile. Two years after losing power, she flees from Blois and begins to make plans to overthrow her son from the French throne.
This becomes known to Richelieu, who becomes an intermediary between Louis and his mother. Thanks to cunning diplomacy, Richelieu between the Medici and Louis eventually concluded an official peace treaty. Maria was finally able to return to Paris and even become the head of the Council of State.
Betrayal Richelieu
Trying to reinforce his influence at court, the Medici provides his faithful adviser to become the first Minister of State and Cardinal. Having received, in fact, unlimited power, Richelieu removes Maria Medici, which has become unnecessary, from his affairs.
The former queen did everything to remove Richelieu, now hated by her, 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, at his request, the Medici were relocated to England, then to Amsterdam. The last place of the exile was Cologne, where she died. To Queen Maria de Medici, whose biography began so brilliantly, died in poverty and loneliness in 1642, July 3, at the age of sixty-seven.
Portraits by Rubens
We can not see the photo of the queen, but, fortunately, there are her picturesque portraits, many of which were painted by the famous artist Rubens.
In 1622, the queen decides to create a lifetime monument - to build a palace, which 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 artist took almost three years to complete the complete creative process of creating paintings for the Medici Gallery.
There are portraits where the queen in the paintings is still very young. On one of the picturesque canvases, she appears before us in the image of a bride. This canvas was once specially written for Henry IV, at the time of his matchmaking.
The fate of the son of Mary Louis XIII
The son of Maria 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 is a lot of evidence that speaks of the strong affection of the French Queen Maria 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 further to Cardinal Richelieu.
France and Paris owe Queen Mary good water pipes, the Luxembourg Palace, Cours la Reine Boulevard, as well as a magnificent collection of paintings by Rubens in the Louvre.
By an amazing coincidence, the exiled queen found her last refuge in the house in which the artist who painted her portraits spent her childhood.