Catherine de Médicis favourite granddaughter

[An Ard Ri]

Catherine de Médicis favourite granddaughter-Christina of Lorraine



Christina of Lorraine was born on August 16th,1565,the daughter of Princess Claude de France and Charles III,Duke of Lorraine.Claude was also the favoutite daughter of Queen Catherine!

Christina of Lorraine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Artemisia]

A very, very interesting woman - a true lady of the Renaissance who wielded considerable influence throughout Europe, and not just Tuscany.

The regency of Cristina of Lorraine and her daughter-in-law (and co-regent) Maria Maddalena of Austria was very successful and surprisingly harmonious. I never understood why the ladies agreed to cede Urbino to the Papacy though: after all, the heiress to the Duchy, Vittoria, was married to Ferdinando II Medici - Maria Maddalena's son and Cristina's grandson. And of course, it amazes me that such enlightened woman allowed the trial of Galileo to take place.

Catherine de Medici and her family is never-ending source for amazement and interesting facts. OF Catherine's daughters, I'm mostly fascinated by Marguerite (wife of Henry of Navare, later Henry IV of France) and Elizabeth (wife of Philip II of Spain), although Claude was very interesting too. She appeared to have inherited their mother's strong character as well because it must have taken a lot of courage to warn Marguerite about the impeding massacre on St. Bartholomew's night (thereby allowing Marguerite to save several Huguenot leaders, including her husband) again Catherine's explicit orders.


Cristina of Lorraine came to my attention after reading Strathern's "The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance" - a truly fascinating account of the powerful family and their influence on European affairs. I would really recommend that book to anyone who's interested in the Medici family.

[An Ard Ri]

Very little is known or written about Claude de France other than she was married off at 11 on the 19th of January 1559 to Charles III of Lorraine.Claude was very close to her mother and Christina of Lorraine inherited quite a lot from her grandmother following her death in January 1589,including the famous Valois Tapestries.

Valois Tapestries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Artemisia]

She was certainly the least famous of the sisters - although it's be hard for anyone to compete with Marguerite of Valois, the Pearl of France.
In one of the books I read on Mary, Queen of Scots it said she was particularly close to Claude: they had been raised together and continued sending letters to each other until Claude's death in 1575.

Claude was only 27 at the time of her death but had already given birth to 9 children. Among her direct descendants are:
- King Juan Carlos of Spain
- Albert II of Belgium
- Margrethe II of Denmark
- Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Artemisia

She was certainly the least famous of the sisters - although it's be hard for anyone to compete with Marguerite of Valois, the Pearl of France.
In one of the books I read on Mary, Queen of Scots it said she was particularly close to Claude: they had been raised together and continued sending letters to each other until Claude's death in 1575.

Claude was only 27 at the time of her death but had already given birth to 9 children. Among her direct descendants are:
- King Juan Carlos of Spain
- Albert II of Belgium
- Margrethe II of Denmark
- Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein

Yes Mary would have been close to both Elisabéth and Claude as they were all of a similar age.Claude also married a Guise relation of Mary,Queen of Scots,Charles III Duc de Lorraine's uncle was Claude Duc de Guise.His daughter was the courageous Marie de Guise,Queen of Scots.