Catherine de M�dicis, Italian Caterina de' Medici 1519-89
Queen and Regent of France

Born in Florence, the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, she was to become the mother of three French kings. Married at 14 to Henri, Duke of Orl�ans (the future King Henri II of France), as Henri's queen (1547-59) she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress, Diane de Poitiers. When her husband died (1559), Catherine acted as queen regent (1559-60) during the brief reign of her eldest son, Francis II, the first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and again during the minority of her second son, Charles IX, whom she dominated throughout his reign (1560-74). She tried to pursue moderation, to give unity to a state increasingly torn by religious division and aristocratic faction, but she nursed dynastic ambitions and was drawn into political and religious intrigues. She was also implicated in the infamous St Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572), together with Charles and her third son, Henri of Anjou, who succeeded to the throne (1574) as Henri III. Catherine's political influence waned during his troubled reign, but she survived long enough to ensure the succession of Henri IV, who married her daughter Margaret, and who restored royal authority.

Bibliography: N M Sutherland, Catherine de Medici and the Ancien Regime (1966)