Six Crowns and a Whole Lot of Trouble
Forget the TV show Succession! The Valois family of France, did royal family dysfunction for centuries!
Imagine you're Catherine de’ Medici, the Queen of France, circa 1548. You have a royal household to manage, ten children to marry off to make alliances, a husband who is the king, and a rather complicated family business to manage back in Italy. Your hands are clearly already full.
Then one day your husband, Henry II of France, says to you: “Oh, by the way darling, we're taking in that little Scottish queen to marry the boy.”
Say what now?
Meet Mary, Queen of Scots, the five year old daughter of King James V of Scotland. Who, because of the Auld Alliance agreement between France and Scotland, is now fleeing her home country because Henry VIII is being a bully and she is now about to land at Catherine's castle door. Surprise!
Fleeing her country because one of the most tyrannical king's on the planet is trying to kidnap you? Yeah, Mary might of only been five, but the girl was already bringing enough baggage to sink even a boat built for a tiny queen!
AND now, because of this Auld Alliance business, the king insisted that the child queen be treated as the official Queen of Scotland which meant she would be treated better than Catherine's own children because they were merely princes and princesses.
This, of course, did not set well with Catherine! Taking in a little brat she'd rarely ever see was one thing. Taking in a barbarian's child and expecting her to curtsey to it was a-damned-nother!
So poor Mary was already off to a rocky start. Think about it! She finds out she's engaged before she even learns her ABC's. She barely escapes being kidnapped by her great-uncle the madman, nearly drowns on rough waters just getting to France, and now arrives to a welcome so frosty even her Scottish woolen layers weren't enough to save her!
But now see it from Catherine's perspective. You're already balancing all you can. You've got family members back in Italy going to war with Sienna. Another set are spending way too much building the Roman equivalent of the Taj Mahal! And now what, you're supposed to bow to her tiny Highness every time she walks into the room? Where does it end?
Well, it ended with the King reminding Catherine that Mary wasn't just the daughter of the late King of Scotland. Oh no no no. This child's mother, Marie, was also a member of one of the most influential Catholic houses in all of France, the House of Guise.
This mattered because the Reformation started by Martin Luther and then added onto by none other than Henry VIII himself, was raging throughout Europe and Catherine was so Catholic, she had actual pope's in her bloodline! Trust us, it mattered!
Marie de Guise, was also the one running things in Scotland while her daughter was safely in France. While defending Scotland against the aggressive proposals of Henry VIII, she was also dealing with the very unfriendly to all women in authority, Protestant reformist, John Knox. Trust me, Marie was no slouch in her own regard and Catherine knew it.
For years, Mary grew up fairly happy in the French court with Catherine's children. She became very close with Francois, Catherine's oldest son. Which was good because she had been practically engaged to him since birth.
On April 24, 1558, at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Mary and Francois married and Mary became not only Queen of Scotland, but also Dauphine of France! Finally the sun was starting to shine on the young queen.
Then, just over a year later, Francois' father died, leaving him to become King Francois II and Mary the Queen Consort. The King's death left Catherine now as the Queen Mother and she worried how much influence the Guises would now try to have at court.
But fate had another hand to deal the young monarchs. Because just shy of seventeen months after losing his father, Francois II also passed away, likely from an ear infection, leaving Mary a widow at just 18.
Catherine wasted no time taking advantage of her chance to regain control of the throne appointing her ten year old son, Charles the new king and claiming the role of regent for herself. No longer would she have to worry about the House of Guise! She was the new Ruler of France, at least for a little while.
Catherine would continue to have great influence on France and Italy all throughout the Renaissance. Leading with the cutting precision you would expect of a matriarch of her stature.
After a few months to ensure Mary was not pregnant, Catherine politely, yet firmly, advised Mary that she might better serve her time running her own country back in Scotland.
In August 1561, Mary made the arduous journey back to rule a kingdom she did not know. She had just lost her mother, her husband and her crown. She, too, would have many runs in with Knox and other Reformists and her life would go on to take many twists and turns.
Eventually, her story ended beneath the blade, on the orders of none other than Henry VIII's paranoid daughter and her own cousin, Queen Elizabeth.
The irony.
That relationship is quite the story in and of itself, but that, dear reader, is tea for another day!
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