|
CATHERINE DE' See also:MEDICI (1519-1589), See also:queen of See also:France, the wife of one See also:French See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king and the See also:mother of three, was See also:born at See also:Florence in 1519. She was a daughter of Lorenzo II. de' Medici and a French princess, Madeleine de la Tour d'See also:Auvergne. Having lost both her parents at an See also:early See also:age, Catherine was sent to a See also:convent to be educated; and she was only fourteen when she was married (1533) at See also:Marseilles to the See also:duke of See also:- ORLEANS
- ORLEANS, CHARLES, DUKE OF (1391-1465)
- ORLEANS, DUKES OF
- ORLEANS, FERDINAND PHILIP LOUIS CHARLES HENRY, DUKE OF (1810-1842)
- ORLEANS, HENRI, PRINCE
- ORLEANS, HENRIETTA, DUCHESS
- ORLEANS, JEAN BAPTISTE GASTON, DUKE
- ORLEANS, LOUIS
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE JOSEPH
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ROBERT, DUKE
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE, DUKE OF (1725–1785)
- ORLEANS, LOUIS, DUKE OF (1372–1407)
- ORLEANS, PHILIP I
- ORLEANS, PHILIP II
Orleans, after-wards See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry II. It was her See also:uncle, See also:Pope See also:Clement VII., who arranged the See also:marriage with See also:Francis I. Francis, still engaged in his lifelong task of making See also:head against See also:Charles V., was only too glad of the opportunity to strengthen his See also:influence in the See also:Italian See also:peninsula, while Clement, ever needful of help against his too powerful See also:protector, was equally ready to hold out a bait. During the reign of Francis, Catherine exercised no influence in France. She was See also:young, a foreigner, a member of a See also:state that had almost no See also:weight in the See also:great See also:world of politics, had not given any See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of great ability, and was thrown into the shade by more important persons. For ten years after her marriage she had no See also:children. In consequence, a See also:divorce began to be talked of at See also:court; and it seemed not impossible that Francis, alarmed at the possible extinction of the royal See also:house, might listen to such a proposal. But Catherine had the happiness of bringing him grandchildren ere he died. During the reign of her See also:husband, too (1547-1559), Catherine lived a quiet and passive, but observant See also:life. Henry being completely under the influence of his See also:mistress, Diane de See also:Poitiers, she had little authority. In 1552, when the king See also:left the See also:kingdom for the See also:campaign of See also:Metz, she was nominated See also:regent, but with very limited See also:powers. This continued even after the See also:accession of her son Francis II. Francis was under the spell of See also:Mary See also:Stuart, and she, little disposed to meddle with politics on her own See also:account, was managed by her uncles, the See also:cardinal of See also:Lorraine and the duke of See also:Guise. The-queen-mother, however, soon See also:grew weary of the domination of the Guises; and entered upon a course of See also:secret -opposition. On the 1st of See also:April x56o she placed in the
chancellorship See also:Michel de l'Hopital (q.v.), who advocated the policy of conciliation.
On the See also:death of Francis (5th of See also:December 156o), Catherine became regent during the minority of her second son, Charles IX., and now found before her a career worthy of the most soaring ambition. She was then See also:forty-one years old, but, although she was the mother of nine children, she was still very vigorous and active. She retained her influence for more than twenty years in the troubled See also:period of the See also:wars of See also:religion. At first she listened to the moderate counsels of 1'HBpital in so far as to avoid siding definitely with either party, but her See also:character and the habits of policy to which she had been accustomed, rendered her incapable of any See also:noble aim. She had only one virtue, and that was her zeal for the interests of her children, especially of her favourite third son, the duke of See also:Anjou. Like so many of the Italians of that See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time, who were almost destitute of a moral sense, she looked upon statesmanship in particular as a career in which finesse, lying and assassination were the most admirable, because the most effective weapons. By See also:habit a See also:Catholic, but above all things fond of See also:power, she was determined to prevent the Protestants from getting the upper See also:hand, and almost equally resolved not to allow them to be utterly crushed, in See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order to use them as a counterpoise to the Guises. This trimming policy met with little success: rage and suspicion so possessed men's minds, that she could no longer See also:control the opposing parties, and one See also:civil See also:war followed another to the end of her life. In 1567, after the " Enterprise of See also:Meaux," she dismissed l'H6pital and joined the Catholic party. But, having failed to crush the See also:Protestant See also:rebellion by arms, she resumed in 1570 the policy of See also:peace and negotiation. She conceived the project of marrying her favourite son, the duke of Anjou, to Queen See also:Elizabeth of See also:England, and her daughter See also:Margaret to Henry of See also:Navarre. To this end she became reconciled with the Protestants, and allowed See also:Coligny to return to court and to re-enter the See also:council. Of this step she quickly repented. Charles IX. conceived a great See also:affection for the See also:admiral and showed signs of taking up an See also:independent attitude. Catherine, thinking her influence menaced, sought to regain it, first by the See also:murder of Coligny, and, when that had failed, by the See also:massacre of St See also:Bartholomew (q.v.). The whole of the responsibility for this See also:crime, therefore, rests with Catherine; unlike the populace, she had not even the excuse of fanaticism. This responsibility, however, weighed but lightly on her; while her son was overwhelmed with remorse, she calmly enjoyed her See also:short-lived See also:triumph. After the death of Charles in 1574, and the See also:succession of Anjou under the name of Henry III., Catherine pursued her old policy of See also:compromise and concessions; but as her influence is lost in that of her son, it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. She died on the 5th of See also:January 1589, a short time before the assassination of Henry, and the consequent extinction of the House of See also:Valois. In her See also:taste for See also:art and her love of magnificence and luxury, Catherine was a true Medici; her banquets at See also:Fontainebleau in 1564 were famous for their sumptuousness. In See also:architecture especially she was well versed, and Philibert de 1'See also:Orme relates that she discussed with him the See also:plan and decoration of her See also:palace of the Tuileries. Catherine's policy provoked a See also:crowd of See also:pamphlets,. the most celebrated being the Discours merveilleux de la See also:vie, actions et deportemens de la reine Catherine de Medicis, in which See also:Henri See also:Estienne undoubtedly collaborated.
See Lettres de Catherine de Medicis, edited by See also:Hector de la Ferriere (See also:Paris, '88o, seq.), in the Collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de France; A. von See also:Reumont, See also:Die Jugend Caterinas de' Medici (1854; French See also:translation by A. Baschet, 1866); H. Bouchot, Catherine de Medicis (Paris, 1899). For a more See also:complete bibliography see Ernest See also:Lavisse, Histoire de France (vol. v., by H. See also:Lemonnier, and vol. vi., by J. H. Mariejol, 1904-1905). See also See also:Miss E. Sichel's books, Catherine de' Medici and the French Reformatioac (1905), and The Later Years of Catherine de' Medici (1908).
End of Article: CATHERINE
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!