Catherine de' Medici Biography

Catherine de Medici, the wife of King Henry II, was the Queen of France from 1547 until 1559. Born as the daughter of Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, the ruler of Florence, and his wife Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, the Countess of Boulogne, she lost both her parents at an early age. After being cared for by a series of relatives, she was finally housed in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, by her uncle Cardinal Giulio de' Medici who was elected Pope Clement VII in 1523. She received a good education and grew up to be an artistic, intelligent, and extroverted girl. Concerned about the girl’s future, her uncle started looking for a husband for her and accepted joyfully when he received a marriage proposal from Francis I of France for his second son, Henry, Duke of Orléans. The young couple was married in an extravagant affair in 1533. The marriage ran into trouble when Catherine was unable to bear children for several years, though she eventually went on to bear ten children. She became the Queen of France when her husband ascended the throne in 1547 though she started enjoying real power only after the death of King Henry II in 1559. As the queen mother, she exercised considerable political control and emerged as one of the most powerful woman in 16th century Europe