Marie de M�dicis, Italian Maria de' Medici 1573-1642
Queen of France

Born in Florence, she was the daughter of Francis I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, second wife of Henri IV from 1600, and mother of Louis XIII. After Henri's assassination (1610), she became regent (1610-17) for her nine-year-old son. Squandering state revenues and adopting a pro-Spanish foreign policy, she dismissed her husband's Minister, the Duc de Sully, and relied on a circle of unscrupulous favourites, especially her Italian lover Concini, and his wife. At the Estates General (1614), she received support from the young Richelieu, Bishop of Lu�on, who was in charge of foreign affairs from 1616. In 1615 she had arranged a marriage for her son Louis with the Infanta Anne of Austria (daughter of Philip III of Spain), and for her eldest daughter Elizabeth to the heir to the Spanish throne (the future Philip IV), thus bringing an end to the war with the Habsburgs. In 1617 Louis assumed royal power, arranged for the assassination of Concini, and exiled his mother to the provinces. With Richelieu's mediation she was reconciled to her son (1620), was readmitted to the council (1622), and persuaded Louis to make Richelieu his Chief Minister. She plotted tirelessly against her former prot�g�, Richelieu, but he broke her power on the Day of Dupes (1630) and she went into exile in Brussels. Her lasting achievement was the building of the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, whose galleries were decorated by Rubens.

Bibliography: Louis Batiffol, Marie de Medicis and the French Court in the Seventeenth Century (1908)