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Essay on Catherine de Medici
Introduction
Catherine de Medici, who was destined to become the future Queen of France, was born in Florence, Italy in the year 1519. Her parents were Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, her father being of the Medici family. Family relationships were and still are important in Italy. The Medici family was a part of the Italian nobility and some of its members held important offices in the Church and the state. Both of Catherine’s parents died when she was quite young and she was left as the sole heir of the Medici family fortunes at a tender age. She had no close relatives who could have taken care of her and she was raised by one of her father’s distant relatives Cardinal Guilio de' Medici who also governed Florence after the death of her parents (Case, 2003) and (Goyau, 2004).
When Catherine was eight years old, there was a popular revolt in Florence and the Medici palace was attacked. She was left behind as a hostage while her relatives were permitted to make their escape. She was brought up in various convents in Florence, where she was also educated and she was a remarkably well educated woman of her time. The rebellion in Florence was finally crushed by Guilio d'Medici who had been elevated to become Pope Clement VII and at the age of 14, she was married to Henry of Orleans, who was the second son of the French King, Francis I. Despite the fact that she was related to a family who was a part of the Italian nobility and this family had served the Catholic Church well, her marriage to the French Royalty was not very popular in France. Although she traveled around France with her father-in-law King Francis I, who liked and appreciated her virtues as a traveling companion....
