I’ve written four books at this point about the French Renaissance, and Catherine de Medici is a major supporting character in all of them. You cannot get away from studying 16th Century France without a thorough understanding of Catherine’s life as Duchess, Dauphine, Queen Consort, and finally, Queen Mother of France. Free sources about Catherine
Category Renaissance
One of the many downsides of having over fifty-four mistresses in one’s lifetime is the fact that sooner or later, one mistress will begin behaving badly. Henry IV of France experienced this a couple of times in his life, but he never really learned from his mistake. An early example of a mistress gone spurned
I’ve gushed in the past about the prayers books that were created during Renaissance France. Before, they were books that belonged to royal and noblewomen. Color me shocked when I learned that Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV of France, carried a prayer book of his own. I have the folks at Medievalists to
I’m addicted to Francois Clouet’s work, probably because I’ve seen it so often that it seems “normal” to me. The last time I went to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, I almost had a panic attack until I got to the Renaissance era paintings. (hashtag: “sad”). You can spend hours doing a Google search
ETA: The heart has been recovered! Just when you thought people had run out of inappropriate things to steal from museums, news comes from Nantes, France, that Anne of Brittany’s heart is missing. Specifically, a reliquary containing Anne’s heart is now missing from the Thomas-Dobrée Museum. Anne, who became Queen of France twice in
While Francis’ library began at the Chateau de Blois, by 1544, it was on the move once again. Determined to expand his literary reputation, Francis made an effort to start a separate collection at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. On May 22, 1544, he ordered in inventory of the library at Blois to prepare them for
Once Francis I ascended the throne of France, he immediately began creating a legacy of culture and power for his new dynasty. A large part of that legacy involved creating a royal library. As he carried on the tradition of warfare across Italy, he spent a large part of his time collecting books that soon
Prayer books are one of the most common forms of art that survives from the Renaissance and mideaval eras. Although most ladies knew the scriptures contained in them by heart, they carried these books with them daily as they went about their regular routine. Generally speaking, a prayer book, sometimes referred to as a Book
The grands rhetoriqueurs of Anne of Brittany’s era continued to evolve during the French Renaissance, eventually morphing into official court poets. As France opened their minds to the classical world the landscape of French verse continued to evolve throughout the Sixteenth Century. One of the last surviving grands rhetoriqueurs, Jean Bouchet lived through the reign
I tend to think of the Tuileries as one of Catherine de Medici’s projects. Like the Hotel de Soissons, it’s a Parisian home that I associate with her widowhood. But the Tuileries first became a royal residence decades later, during the reign of her father in law, Francis I. Francis bought it for his