Catherine was the daughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent who ruled Florence. She was orphaned when both parents died within weeks of her birth. When her family was overthrown at age 8, she was taken hostage and shuffled from nunnery to nunnery. She was rescued by her uncle Pope Clement VII. She was married at age 14 to a French prince who would become Henry II. He only had eyes for his mistress and she had no children for the first ten years of their marriage. She turned to necromancy and astrology to have ten kids, but all were sickly. She patronized Nostradamus. She had a vision of her husband’s death jousting, but she could not convince him not to compete. She wore mourning cloths for the rest of her life. She acted as regent for her son Francis II. When he died, Charles IX took over. During this period, France was wracked by religious warfare between the Catholics and Protestants (called Huguenots). Catherine actually tried to work out compromises, but she misread the fanaticism of both sides. When Huguenots came to Paris for the marriage of her loose daughter Marguerite to the Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre, she convinced Charles to wipe out the leadership of the Huguenots. In the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Catholic forces slaughtered not just the leadership, but many civilians. It was a black stain on her reputation. She continued to be a force behind the throne when her third son Henry III became king. Henry was a homosexual who his mother had tried to convert by giving him a banquet served by naked servants. Mission not accomplished. Henry had no children and the Valois Dynasty came to an end. Ironically, Henry of Navarre became the new king. Catherine outlived all but one of her kids and saw three sons become kings and two daughters become queens.
– Amazing pp. 399-400 / https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/french-history-biographies/catherine-de-medici
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