Because of what Queen Maria de Medici was at enmity with her son and How she became the "kept woman" of the artist Rubens

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The story of Marie de Medici is so epic that it's hard to believe. A failed marriage, lust for power, escape and hatred of her own son are just a small part of what she had to face. The once powerful and domineering woman, forever banished by her own son, ended her days as a poor beggar dependent on the generosity of the artist Peter Paul Rubens. But her name has gone down in history forever, leaving an indelible mark on it.

1. Marriage to Henry IV

After a very unsuccessful first marriage, Henry IV of France married Marie de Medici in an elaborate ceremony held in Florence. As king, he could not leave his kingdom, and Mary, being an unmarried woman, could not leave Florence, so their marriage was concluded by proxy and was considered the last alternative for Henry. He originally intended to marry his longtime mistress, Gabrielle d'Estre. The wedding was scheduled for Easter 1599. However, his hopes were dashed when Gabrielle, five months pregnant, suddenly fell ill and died giving birth to a stillborn boy. Since Henry did not have an heir from his first wife, he needed a woman who could give birth to his sons. Maria was just the very chosen one on which the king made another bet. And the huge dowry of six hundred thousand crowns, which she brought with her, also did not become superfluous in the new royal court.

2. Children of Mary

As soon as Maria connected her life with Henry and ended up in the palace, she immediately took up her direct duties. And soon the firstborn was born to the couple, the future King Louis XIII. Louis was a sickly child with a range of ailments, both mental and physical, that bothered doctors. Many feared that he would not live to see the throne, but Mary made sure to give the king another heir.

However, in ten years she had six children, five of whom survived to their adulthood, and this is a very decent and uncharacteristic indicator for that time. One of her daughters became Queen of Spain, another was honored to become the Duchess of Savoy, and the third, having married Charles I, became Queen of England. As for her son Gaston, he hid almost all his life at the French court, from time to time inciting feuds against his older brother in an attempt to gain the throne.

3. Treason of Henry

Despite the fact that they had several children, their marriage was far from indicative. The king still continued to have mistresses, changing girls like gloves, as if he had no wife at all. Among his chosen ones were his favorites, who enjoyed special privileges, like their children, born of Henry. Knowing about the adventures of her husband, Maria stoically endured what was happening, then closing her eyes to the adventures of the king, then trying to somehow influence the situation. But everything was in vain and the husband continued to revel, not paying attention to gossip, rumors and attempts by his wife to reason with him. At the same time, Heinrich was rather jealous of his wife's friends and girlfriends, who, with their mere presence, could infuriate him, especially when she showed generosity towards some of them.

4. Coronation of Mary

Throughout his life, Henry tried to find a balance between warring religious groups, which made him even more an enemy in the eyes of fanatics. He survived multiple assassination attempts, but was eventually killed by a ferocious Catholic who stabbed him with two fatal wounds. After the death of King Henry, his eldest son Louis ascended the throne, but due to his age he could not be a full king, so his mother, Mary, becoming regent, began to rule on his behalf.

The sudden death of Henry and the sudden coronation of Mary (after ten years of marriage) aroused many suspicions and rumors began to circulate around the palace that the newly-made queen of France was involved in the death of the king.

5. Palace coup

Maria was well aware that she would not be able to hold power in her hands forever, and that as soon as Louis turned thirteen, she would have to hand over the reins to him. But the Queen Regent was in no hurry to part with what belonged to her "by right." She in every possible way protected Louis from politics and his attempts to delve into the essence of government, constantly humiliating him in public and ridiculing any attempts to make this or that decision.

Maria also continued to support her Italian friends in every possible way. As a result, Conchino Concini became her closest assistant. With his help, she deftly solved her problems, looking for advantageous sides and getting her way. But her actions and excessive squandering of the royal treasury only every day aggravated the position of the would-be queen, whose reputation was falling by the minute, provoking indignation from the indignant crowd, both from the nobles and her own son, and from the common people.

As a result, Louis, along with his friend Charles de Luin, began a palace coup. The Queen's chief adviser was killed, his wife beheaded for witchcraft, and her remains were burned. As for Mary, she was initially placed under house arrest, and then exiled to the castle of Blois.

6. Escape

But Maria turned out to be not one of a timid dozen. This woman, being in captivity, decided not to sit back and watch how they are trying to take power away from her.

After spending two years at the castle of Blois, she not only planned her escape, but also acquired quite powerful support among several loyal and loyal nobles, as well as the army that took her side.

One winter night in 1619, Mary, with the help of soldiers and maids, escaped from the castle. And all would be fine, but as soon as she was lowered down the rope ladder, the guards passing by took the queen for a girl of easy virtue. One of them even asked how much it would cost to spend the night with her, to which Maria simply joked and continued on her way. But on the way, the worried queen remembered that she had forgotten the jewelry box near the castle. She was going to sell them, and spend the money on the army, which would help her settle scores with her own son. As a result, the crew had to return to the place of escape. Fortunately, the box was found in the grass, and its contents were in value and safety.

7. Conclusion of peace

Maria's relationship with her protege Richelieu was initially mutually beneficial for both parties. He served as Secretary of State and was one of the most prominent clerics in France. After Mary escaped from prison and threatened to start a war against her son in 1619, Richelieu was called to mediate the peace between mother and son, which took place with the Treaty of Angouleme. According to this agreement, Mary will remain free, will have her own court and will be able to participate in the royal council.

Richelieu impressed the young king and soon became one of his closest advisers. With the support of Mary and Louis XIII, Richelieu was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1622. In the early 1620s, Richelieu was the main force behind the policies and actions of Louis XIII against the Huguenots or French Protestants. He entered into a conspiracy against the chief minister of King Charles de La Vieville and soon accused him of corruption. Richelieu then took his place as effective Prime Minister of France. Richelieu is considered by many historians to be the architect of French absolutism, and his decades in power were a huge inspiration for Louis XIV and other future monarchs.

8. Construction of the Luxembourg Palace

As soon as Maria made peace with her son, she decided to build a luxurious palace in Paris to glorify her position. Construction on the Luxembourg Palace began in 1615, but came to a halt when Maria fell out of favor. However, she returned to the project a few years later. The architect Salomon de Brosse built the palace and its famous gardens along the left bank of the Seine.

9. Peter Paul Rubens

In one wing of the Luxembourg Palace, Maria created a special gallery to display a series of paintings by the Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens. Two dozen masterpieces were commissioned in the early 1620s to create a visual biography of her life. Known as the Marie de Medici cycle, the paintings allegorically depict significant events in her life, including the marriage by proxy, the death of her husband and the proclamation of her regency, and the negotiations at Angoulême. She also commissioned a series of paintings to tell the story of her husband, Henry IV, but these were never completed.

Paintings were an early practice in public relations, but the visual biography they created was hardly a true account of events. Maria has been portrayed again and again as the savior of France, although in fact, she nearly drove the country into the grave several times.

10. Conspiracy and defeat

Despite the conclusion of peace with her son, Mary's position in France deteriorated again in the late 1620s. King Louis XIII and Richelieu systematically canceled everything she did as Queen Regent, and this infuriated Mary. Richelieu was instrumental in bringing France back to the opposite of the Spanish and Hapsburg empires, essentially turning against Mary. She conspired against Richelieu with her youngest son, Gaston of Orleans, but the cardinal was too powerful for the queen dowager to overthrow him.

11. Exile

Maria did everything she could to discredit Richelieu and get rid of him. On November 10, 1630, in a moment of unbridled anger, she unleashed a torrent of insults at the cardinal, bringing all the accusations she could think of to her son. Louis left the room without a word, which the queen took as a sign. She believed that her son would fire his chief minister, and tried to ensure that everyone at court knew that the real power on the throne belonged to her, not Richelieu.

The courtiers flocked to Mary's chambers to show their obsequious respect for the woman who, as everyone believed, would rule the future of France, but this was a mistake. When Louis XIII visited his mother the next day, she expected him to announce the death of Richelieu. Instead, on a day that will forever be remembered as "Fools' Day," Louis XIII chose Richelieu over his mother. He made his second official break with Maria, who was arrested and then expelled from France. In 1631 she was exiled, ending up in the Spanish Netherlands before traveling to Cologne.

12. Kept woman

During the last eleven years of her life, she was destitute, moving from royalty to life in exile. In 1642, Maria died in Cologne, where she lived at the expense of Peter Paul Rubens, the very man who once so majestically glorified her life. A few months later she was buried by Richelieu, and in 1643 by her son.

Maria returned to France only after her death: her body was buried in the Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris. Until the very end of her life, she did not cease to oppose Richelieu, issued pamphlets against him and his tyranny, until she breathed her last breath as a beggar in a distant country.

And in the next article, read also about what was put in the coffin of Queen Victoria, who, even in case of her death, provided for everything, creating a secret funeral list.