WEBVTT

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Hello and Welcome to Western Sieuve episode
two hundred and eighty four. A New

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King. Catherine was only fifteen when
Pope Clement's unexpected death entirely destroyed her political

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existence. Knowing she was regarded as
a poor excuse for a princess by the

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ever cast conscience French. Lacking any
foreign dynastic support and without any powerful French

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connections of her own, she must
have felt incredibly vulnerable. If she had

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been beautiful, perhaps she could have
evoked the love of the common people,

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but her heavy cheeks and bulging eyes
were stubborn features that could not be coaxed

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away by makeup. Her Italian fashions
and other hints of her origins only served

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to remind people of past French military
failures in Italy and a lost opportunity of

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allying France with a superior bride.
Besides, when the French were not busy

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imitating the Italians in art and culture
or occupying their country, they tended to

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despise them as money grabbing opportunists who
would slip a knife between a man's shoulder

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blades as soon as his back was
turned. It is unlikely that the Venetian

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ambassador exaggerated excessively when he wrote that
the marriage quote displeases the entire nation end

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quote. Catherine, above all,
was a practical person. She knew that

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she could neither change her birth nor
her face, but she could use the

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experiences of her past and her formidable
willpower and intelligence to overcome her present misfortunes.

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Recognizing that she was unpopular, she
decided to cultivate the most important people

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at court. The first and most
obvious would be the King. Fortunately,

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Catherine seems to have from the start
evoked protective feelings from her father in law.

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Ever, quick to see what made
people happy, she had no trouble

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at all identifying Francis's weakness. The
king put pleasure before almost anything else.

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He was frequently found in the company
of a beautiful group of courtly ladies referred

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to as La petitbund. Membership to
this group required several traits. A quick

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wit, a willingness to take body
jokes, courage on horseback, and above

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all, good looks. Catherine found
herself admitted, though she was decidedly lacking

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in the final element. Her job
became keeping Francis happy. She was terrific

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at it and proved quite adept at
performing the latest dances. Catherine is even

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credited with having brought the side saddle
to France. Her conversational skills, more

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learned than most girls of her age, amused Francis immensely. Catherine also appealed

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to the king's sister, Marguerite,
now the Queen of Navarre, for friendship

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and guidance. Marguerite was one of
the cleverest women at court. She also

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supported religious reform, certainly much more
than her brother did. Marguerite had a

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ton of influence at court and over
her brother, so Catherine was fortunate to

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be taken under her wing. Despite
all these inroads, the one person Catherine

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did not seem to be able to
grow closer to was her own husband.

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Henry treated his wife with civility,
but his indifference to her was plain for

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all to see. Henry resented his
father's choice of bride. He did not

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find Catherine attractive and bristled at her
lack of royal blood. Plus, with

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Clement dead, there was no dowry. From Henry's perspective, Catherine no longer

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brought anything to the table at all. Oh, how wrong he was.

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The biggest problem was that Catherine now
found herself in a growing rivalry with Henry's

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favorite, Diane de Poitiers. If
you remember from last time, Diane was

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the woman who had endeared herself to
Henry when he was a child by showing

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him kindness on the day of the
prisoner exchange. Now, Diane was nineteen

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years older than Henry at this point, though she was still considered a beauty,

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Diane had been widowed since fifteen thirty
one. While they were not openly

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having an affair during the period before
Francis's death, there is little doubt amongst

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scholars that by fifteen thirty two thirty
three, Henry had become completely infatuated with

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Diane. The biggest issue here is
that Diane's relationship with Henry would create massive

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problems for Catherine moving forward. In
fifteen thirty six, Francis declared war on

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the emperor again, and he took
his sons with him on campaign. Well

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on campaign, on August the second, despite the immensely hot and oppressive weather,

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the Dauphin, the heir to the
throne, played a vigorous game of

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tennis with one of his gentlemen.
After the game, he felt hot and

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breathless, sending his secretary, an
Italian count named Sebastian de Montai, for

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a glass of freezing water to cool
himself. He collapsed immediately after drinking it.

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Not long afterwards, the prince developed
a high fever and experienced difficulty breathing.

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He died in the early morning hours
of the tenth of August at Tournon.

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The king, not near his son
when he passed, was heard later

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to cry out, quote, my
God, I know I must accept with

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patience whatever it be thy will to
send me. But from whom, if

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not from thee ought I hoped for
strength and resignation end quote. With the

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sudden and unexpected death of the Dauphin, Henry and Catherine were pressed into the

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limelight. They were now the future
king and Queen of France. Both were

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seventeen years old. Unfortunately, Catherine
found herself in her new position and almost

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immediately under threat. Imperial ambassadors accused
her of poisoning the former Dauphin so that

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her husband might be king. This
sounds ridiculous to us because it is,

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but Italians were assumed to be all
experts in the art of poison. Hence,

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to many in France, Catherine was
a natural suspect. Luckily for her,

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Francis gave the wild allegations no credence
at all. Still, it was

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a sign of things to come.
But the real problem was in baseless poisoning

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accusations. The real problem was that
Catherine and Henry had been married for three

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years, and yet there had been
no sign of her becoming pregnant, making

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matters worse. In fifteen thirty seven, Henry got the wife of one of

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his grooms pregnant, or at least
Henry assumed the child was his. This

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would mean that the problem was Catherine. Evidently, Henry was more than capable

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of fathering a child. If Catherine
could not produce an air, there was

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every reason to believe she might go
the path of another Catherine, Catherine of

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Aragon, and find herself in the
proverbial royal dust bin. Catherine's endurance faced

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another test as Diane de Poitier became
more assiduous in her attentions to Henry.

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In fifteen thirty eight, a truce
was declared between France and the Empire,

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encouraged by Pope Paul the Third,
who wanted Francis and Charles to unite in

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a campaign against the ever threatening Ottoman
Turks. When Henry returned from the war,

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Diane, now thirty eight years old, found him more confident and no

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longer the timid boy she had been
coaching for years. She showered Henry the

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Dauphin with compliments on his military prowess. Knowing that the moment had arrived for

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her to take possession of him completely. Casting aside any platonic ideals with which

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she had fended him off forever,
she decided to become involved with him romantically

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and become effectively the mistress to the
future king. Aided by Anne de Montmorenci,

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who offered the couple the use of
his castle for their trysts, Diane

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allowed Henry to become her lover.
It's not known exactly when this happened,

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but certainly, by some point in
fifteen thirty eight, the two were having

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a f Catherine knew she would not
last long now unless she produced a child,

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and unbeknownst to her, a campaign
to replace her was already under way.

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But then, in an odd twist
of fate, Diane de Poitier decided

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to throw her weight to influence behind
Catherine. She was worried about her own

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position. There was no reason to
believe that a new young bride might be

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quite as willing to indulge Henry's affair
with Diane as Catherine had been. In

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Catherine Diane had resignation, so she
decided she would not risk a throw of

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the dice. Diane would back Catherine. Of course, the final decision rested

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with the King, and knowing that
he was, however unwillingly having to consider

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a new wife for his son,
Catherine gambled everything on a show of feminine

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submission to the man who liked to
call himself quote the first gentleman of France

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end quote, which is a ridiculous
title given his behavior, but anyway,

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throwing herself at his feet. Sobbing, Catherine told Francs that she accepted that

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she must stand aside for a bride
who would bear Henry children, begging only

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to be allowed to remain in France
and serve the fortunate lady who might replace

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her in whatever lowly capacity the King
might permit. Her sorrow and humility were

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so touching that the King found himself
her champion against his own better judgment,

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unable to stand the sight of any
woman in tears, Frances profoundly moved declared,

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quote, my child, it is
God's will that you should be my

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daughter and the wife of the Dauphin. So be it end. Quote.

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It was a reprieve, but everyone
knew a temporary one, and so the

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king had spoken. Catherine would remain
the Dauphine. Even Henry began treating his

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wife with some affection, realizing he
had no option. He after all,

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needed an air as well. Her
enemies silenced for a moment, Catherine turned

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first to traditional medicine, with almost
no success. Prayers and offerings to God

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were constantly on her lips. Diane, for her part, gave her advice

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potions, sent the daff ann off
to do his duty conscientiously and regularly by

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sleeping with his wife. He followed
Diane's orders, but with little enthusiasm.

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Catherine poured over old medical texts,
anything that she could find, even references

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to ancient magic and pagan remedies.
Some of these were borderline dangerous and ridiculous,

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but Catherine followed them anyway. She
drank large contents of mules or urine,

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and the current wisdom being that it
would provide a primitive form of inoculation

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against a real She was given clear
instructions, though not to go near the

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mule okay. The astrologers were also
consulted, and Catherine faithfully followed their every

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instruction, but no child appeared.
Finally, exasperated, Catherine became convinced that

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she was sexually incompetent in committing some
sort of an error. Whatever Diane was

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doing with her husband, she had
to try to do the same. It

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is said that the young woman ordered
holes to be bored through the floor so

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that she could look down into the
bedchamber where her husband and Diane spent their

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passionate nights together. Catherine's ladies and
waiting begged her not to go through this

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agonizing process, but she would hear
no argument and instead went to watch Henry

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make love to his mistress. What
she had seen suggested to her that she

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and her husband did something different when
they lay together, and so at last,

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a doctor named Jean Vanrell was called. He examined the couple and found

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that their reproductive organs both carried slight
physical abnormalities. The sensible doctor counseled a

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method that might overcome the problem,
though we don't know what that was.

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The couple were told what to do, and Henry performed his duty. Their

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joy was obvious to all when,
in the early summer of fifteen forty three,

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Catherine became pregnant. On January the
nineteenth, fifteen forty four, she

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went into labor, and everyone was
relieved when she delivered a healthy baby and

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a boy at bat The happy couple
named the child Francis, for the aging

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King. The symbolism was obvious.
Whatever cured doctor Farnell had prescribed for the

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Dauphin and his wife, it worked
spectacularly. Over the following twelve years,

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Catherine would give birth to another nine
children. Catherine's good health was, not,

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however, inherited by her children,
with the notable exception of their daughter

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Margot, who enjoyed good health.
Her siblings were by and large sickly.

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Of the seven children who would survive
infancy, six suffered from weak lungs and,

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most likely tuberculosis. Francois, Charles
Maximilian, and Edouard Alexandre were also

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prone to septic sore's infections, and
as they grew older, fits of dementia

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that implied genetically inherited syphilis from their
grandfather, Lorenzo the second de Medici.

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In many ways, the dreadful health
of the royal children, especially the boys,

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was one of the major factors that
forced Catherine to maintain her central role

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in governing France even once her sons
were mature. At the birth of her

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first son and immediately went from being
barely tolerated to widely celebrated. Oddly,

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if anything, Diane's influence over Henry
grew as Catherine gave birth to child after

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child. Katherine, in the end
was forced to concede that there were three

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people in this marriage. Now,
what happens next is kind of interesting,

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and it has a lot to do
with court intrigues, so I'll get into

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it a little bit. But essentially, there's two court favorites. There's Diane,

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who's Henry's court favorite, and then
there's Madame de et Temps, who

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is favorite to the King Francis.
Catherine tried to navigate between the two as

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best she could, even though their
quiet rivalry had sort of blown up into

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open hostility. At first, the
two sort of had a mild dislike for

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each other. Over time, this
grew into open hatred, mostly driven by

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the fact that Madame de Eestempes really
started to fear at one point that eventually

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Francis was going to die, and
that was becoming increasingly clear as the years

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went on, meaning that she was
almost certainly going to be replaced by Diane,

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and so it was sort of a
jealousy thing. By fifteen forty,

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as Francis began to weaken from excesses
that stemmed from his youth, talents from

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the Tempes about quote unquote, the
old Lady, as she called Henry's Mistress,

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grew louder and louder. She claimed
to have been born on her rival's

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wedding day, though she was actually
only nine years younger than Diane. Rumors

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about Henry's favorite were enlarged, and
any differences between them was eagerly seized upon.

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Dad Tempes took a keen interest in
the new religion, while Diane detested

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the reform movement. Essentially the two
which just sort of picked opposites sides of

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every issue that they could maybe regardless
of to their personal beliefs. The positions

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between the two parties at court polarized
progressively. Overtime. Madame de et Tempes

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championed the King's son, Charles,
who was his favorite but youngest. She

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planned to make him powerful enough to
protect her when the king died. After

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the Emperor and Francis had met in
Nice in fifteen thirty eight and settled a

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ten year truce, the king,
egged on by his younger favorite, entered

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into talks with his erstwild enemy about
a marriage between Charles and the Emperor's daughter

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Mary. Francis would lad to believe
that Milan would be her dowry, which

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infuriated Henry, his son, who
considered that duchy rightfully. His Montmorenci,

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who had promoted peace between the two
rulers, found himself disgraced and banished from

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court when the Emperor proceeded to go
back on his earlier promise is by installing

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his son later Philip the Second of
Spain, who we're going to get too

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soon in the podcast, as Duke
of Milan in fifteen forty. The relationship

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between Henry and Charles, the two
remaining royal brothers, which could never really

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have been described as cozy or close, now became a dangerous feud, each

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party sort of led on by these
two rival women, Diane de Poitier and

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the Duchess of Essampeis, and enjoyed
considerable backing by the princess's respective followers.

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Henry always felt jealous of his father's
clear love for his younger brother, and

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he may have even resented the fact
that Charles had not been forced to endure

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the appalling years of captivity and spain. Now he was witnessed to quit blatant

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efforts by Charles to carve out wrong
base for himself as a feudal lord so

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powerful that he would in fact represent
a major threat to Henry when Henry became

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king. Now, after the Emperor
had made a fool of Francis with his

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promise and marriage and milan for Prince
Charles, the king had no choice but

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to go to war with his old
enemy. The brothers now competed with each

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other for military glory. In fifteen
forty two, Charles took Luxembourg with little

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effort, but when he heard that
Henry was preparing to attack Pepignon, he

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hastened to join him and share in
the military success. Perepignon proved impossible to

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take, and during Charles's absence,
the imperialists recaptured Luxembourg as the rivalry between

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the two princes now exacerbated France's declining
position. France continued to suffer, steadily

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running out of allies. Henry begged
his father to allow Morancy to return with

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his undoubted military skills, which might
help France recover the initiative, but the

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king denied his own request. Nevertheless, despite his father and re fought with

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notable valor and distinction, but was
powerless to do anything to prevent further imperial

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successes. The Emperor's troops proceeded to
invade Champagne and directly threatened Paris, but,

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as just so often happened in his
reign, just as Charles the Fifth

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was about to destroy his old enemy, we know, his troops deserted him

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because, as we know, they
hadn't been paid. Perpetual problem for Charles

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the Fifth. Both parties, exhausted, now negotiated a settlement, and the

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peace Treaty of Crepe was signed on
the eighteenth of September and fifteen forty four.

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This treaty could probably be described as
the maybe second dumbest act of Francis's

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reign, second only to being captured
in battle, because it incorporated a marriage

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between Charles of France and either a
daughter of the Emperor or one of his

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brother's daughters. If it were the
emperor's own daughter, then he would bestow

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the Netherlands upon her as her dowry. If it was her niece, then

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she would receive Milan as her wedding
gift. In return, Francis agreed to

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give his son several of France's most
important duchies, ang Le May, Bourbon

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and Orleans. Now why was this
a bad deal? Because he's basically dividing

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France in half between his two sons. Henry was apoplectic when he heard the

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details. For though the secession had
been assured thanks to the birth of his

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son, now Charles, his younger
brother, would be just as powerful as

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he was, and more worse still, he would have the backing of the

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Emperor. The House of Balois would
be effectively split in half. Doubtless,

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this is exactly what Charles the Fifth
intended, and Francis just didn't see it.

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The country was only now just starting
to emerge as a national entity,

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leaving behind the old factional feudalism that
had just been deviled France for so long.

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Henry understood, as did many other
outraged members of the nobility, that

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the Treaty of Crape contained all the
ingredients to revive this dangerous situation. Having

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been obliged to sign this treaty out
of quote, fear and reverence from my

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father end quote, and reproceeded to
write a secret denunciation of the pact,

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which gave away inalienable crown properties.
Three members of his closest entourage, Francois

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of Geese Andtoine de Bourmont, and
Bourbon's brother, the Count de Anlais,

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witnessed the document. Now, the
Duchess of Estampees was triumphed. At this

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point she had manipulated the increasingly decrepit
Francis, possibly using treachery. She had

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skillfully undermined the Dauphin and his party, and this gave her every reason to

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hope that she might be secure after
Francis's death. After all, although there

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is no direct evidence against her,
it is thought that the Duchess was passing

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secrets to the Emperor and therefore almost
certainly guilty of treason. She left for

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Brussels with Queen Eleanor and Charles to
celebrate the signing of the treaty. The

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cool relationship between Francis and his oldest
son, Henry worsened. Henry rarely now

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saw his father and absent at himself
from court as much as he could.

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In revenge, Francis ostentiously lavished gifts
and love and pride all on Charles,

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his youngest son. Finally, in
the fall of fifteen forty four, King

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Francis vanished Diane de Potier from court
after constant pestering from his own favorite.

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Now, as an aside, you
know, some of these court politics issues

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may seem a little bit mundane to
be covering in the podcast, but they

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actually a lot of times, and
they will in this case have major foreign

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policy and domestic ramifications. We're covering
them now in the podcast and didn't episodes

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before because frankly, we just didn't
have the information. It's extremely likely that

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there was a lot of court intrigue
in the court of let's say, Charlemagne,

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we just don't have the sources to
substantiate it. What happens starting in

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the early modern period is our number
of sources increases dramatically. That's really what

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drives the change in the narrative.
It's not so much that I've decided this

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part of history is more interesting.
It's just that the number of sources up

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exponentially, all right. So getting
back to the story. After Diane was

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banished from court, Henry moped around
a bit, but Catherine was no doubt

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secretly a little gleeful. But Henry
didn't have much time to mope around because

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there was still ongoing wars and conflicts
going on. As you will recall,

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back in the reign of Henry the
eighth, the English captured the city of

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Bologne, and so Charles, the
youngest son, and Henry decided to go

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campaigning in the Bone area, trying
to evict the English who had captured the

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town back in fifteen forty four.
At this time, you could actually finally

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start to see relations between Henry and
his younger brother Charles getting a little bit

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better. Francis, anxious to keep
busy in order to avoid dwelling on his

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dwindling health, had actually gone with
his sons on campaign. That was a

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little unusual for this period. Henry
and his brother had hardly addressed one word

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to each other since the Peace of
Crepe had been signed, But gradually a

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general sort of fraternal spirit started to
emerge. During the military operations, maybe

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a sense of camaraderie. And then
in the month of August fifteen forty four,

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plague, this is the recurring waves
of bubonic plague to come back every

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eight to ten years, broke out
in the vicinity of Bologne. On September

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the sixth, Charles and some of
his young nobles came upon a house where

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all the inhabitants had recently died of
the disease. Charles, in what could

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only be described as a colossal blunder
or maybe an excess of youthful confidence,

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decided to go in and have a
look. He was urged not to,

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but laughing, the young prince commented, quote, never yet has a son

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of France died of the plague?
End quote. And with that he and

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his friends went inside and they started
to tear the place apart, allegedly pillow

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fighting at one point, and he
was right, never yet to this point

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had a son of France died of
the plague. By evening he began to

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feel sick. Three days later Charles
was dead. Never yet the piece of

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crepe was now totally obsolete. Henry
was now going to be the undisputed ruler

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of a United France. Henry,
going forward, refused to attend council meetings.

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He now said he didn't wish to
be tainted by his father's failed legacy

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when he passed. Finally, after
long last, and if we're being honest,

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a lot of wasted money and a
lot of wasted lives. In June

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of fifteen forty six, France and
England signed a peace treaty, giving back

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Bologne for the price of two million
ECUs. With a natural sense of relief,

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Catherine and Henry went on their first
official progress together that fall. Catherine

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had given birth to two children in
the span of just fourteen months, and

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fell ill while the couple was traveling. Henry stayed by her side as she

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recuperated, an indication of just how
much their relationship had changed. Fortunately for

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France, she did recover. Then, in February of fifteen forty seven,

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word reached France that Henry, the
eighth King of England, had died.

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Francis was devastated by the news.
He knew he likely did not have much

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longer to go himself. He could
no longer ride a horse and could barely

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walk. By late February, he
was bedridden. The most likely cause of

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his final sickness was probably gone rhea, which if left untreated, would lead

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to bladder and urinary tract infections.
Catherine visited her dying benefactor shortly thereafter,

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on March the twentieth, and she
could tell the end was near. Then,

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on March the thirty first, fifteen
forty seven, the king, who

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had started his reign so auspiciously,
only to see it end so badly,

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breathed his last. Certainly, both
Henry and Catherine had learned a lot from

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Francis and his reign, and as
the new King and Queen of France,

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they were determined not to repeat his
mistakes as always. Before our next episode,

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if you're interested in additional content,
check out the links to the show

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00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:04.359
notes, links to the website there, and links to the Patreon Western Ciev

316
00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:08.279
two point zero. You can get
the whole story of Western Ciev in better

317
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:14.960
detail and better audio quality all over
again, getting into the Romans once more,

318
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.000
everyone's favorite classical civilization