France: Kings, Queens and Royal History


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As queen consort,Elisabeth was more or less sidelined at the French Court by her mother in law,Catherine de Médicis.Charles IX & Elisabeth had only one surviving child a daughter,Marie Elisabeth de Valois who died in 1578.



Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voSR7GKUi-Q
 
In Emperors, Kings & Queens, Sonya Newland wrote:

The first French king of the Bourbon house, Henry IV endeared himself to his subjects by exercising a domestic restraint and concern for his people that was a welcome contrast to the selfish extravagance of the Valois monarchs who had preceded him.

:bourbonparma::bourbonparma::bourbonparma::bourbonparma::fleurdelis::fleurdelis::fleurdelis::fleurdelis::fleurdelis::fleurdelis:

Just before his demise in 1137, William X, Duke of Aquitaine, appointed King Louis VI guardian of his daughter and heiress, Eleanor.
William expressed his wish for Eleanor to marry Louis's son.
The prospects of adding Aquitaine to his son's domains made Louis VI so elated that he could hardly speak. :):):):)

Pope Julius II had been opposed to France since Louis XII had ordered a General Council of the Church in 1511 in direct opposition to the Pope.
Julius II denied Louis XII's title of Most Christian King.
 
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The Kingdom of France in 1180,from the map the Royal Domain in blue were quite small and centered around Paris.The Duché d'Aquitaine would greatly have increased the territory controlled by the French King!

422px-Map_France_1180-fr.svg.png
 
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Catherine de Medici: she loved her husband (they both were 14 when they were married!!) Henri II, but he was in love with the beautiful Diane de Poitiers, who was 19 years his senior.

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Diane ... a legend in French history...... alas her tomb and remains were destroyed by revolutionary mobs in the 1790s
 
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Catherine de Medici: she loved her husband (they both were 14 when they were married!!) Henri II, but he was in love with the beautiful Diane de Poitiers, who was 19 years his senior.

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Diane ... a legend in French history...... alas her tomb and remains were destroyed by revolutionary mobs in the 1790s

Diane's remains were rediscovered in 2008 and re interred at the chapel at Anet in 2010!

Diane de Poitiers returns to her grave… « Versailles and More

Henri & Catherine's remains were not as fortunate.
 


It was interesting to learn that Elisabeth's older sister Anna may have been the Queen Consort of Charles IX.
However Anna was chosen as the new wife of King Philip II of Spain.

Catherine de Médicis had wanted Philip II to marry her youngest daughter Marguerite de Valois,but he married Anna of Austria in 1570.
 
Little wonder,by 1511 the French King Louis XII occupied large parts of Italy under the command of his nephew,Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours.

Gaston_de_Foix.jpg
 
In 1680 Louis XIV began to refer to himself as "Louis the Great" on his own coins.

In Emperors, Kings & Queens, Sonya Newland wrote:

By patience and caution Louis XVIII gradually restored France's position as a great power, but was unable to dampen the better internal antagonisms resulting from years of revolution.

King Philippe II continued the construction of Notre-Dame de Paris and had the first Louvre built.
He had the main Parisian streets paved and he had the city of Paris walled.

At Lyon, on October 8, 1548, Henri II granted Diane de Poitiers the title of Duchesse de Valentinois.
This elevation placed her on a par with princes of the blood, because in France, dukedoms were reserved for members of the blood royal.

King Louis XV hosted Tsar Peter I of Russia at Versailles in 1717.
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/587490200
 
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I read on Noblesse & Royautes that it was in fact Queen Marie Leszczynska, the wife of King Louis XV, who introduced the idea of the Christmas Tree. She bought a tree to Versailles in 1738, and later in 1837, the Duchess of Orléans, Hélène of Mecklenburg, decorated a tree at the Tuileries. The Christmas Tree soon became popular and after 1870, it became widespread in France.

I found this fascinating as I originally thought that it was Prince Albert who had 'invented' the idea of the Christmas Tree in Victorian Britain. I had no idea that it was actually thought of earlier at the court of Versailles.

Here is a portrait of Queen Marie Leszczynska. It looks like she is holding mistletoe.
 
I'd never heard that before but perhaps it was a custom on the continent before being introduced to Britain & Ireland by Prince Albert and then further afield?
 
The custom of decorating trees for Christmas is very old in the Germanic, Baltic and West Slavic parts of Europe. It's believed to originate in pagan traditions and also comes down to the fact that in the warm, crowded and unclean houses you needed something to freshen things up with during the winter time. At first it could be any kind of tree or greens but eventually with start in Germany it became most common to use a Christmas tree. Since Marie Lezcscynska was Polish she could've been brought up in the tradition of Christmas trees and apparently took it with her to France.
The custom was widespread in Protestant parts of Germany in the late 1700s and from what I've read on Wikipedia it was Queen Charlotte that put up the first Christmas tree in Britain during a party in the year 1800 and apparently Queen Victoria mentions them in her childhood diaries but it wasn't until she married Prince Albert that the custom became more widespread among the middle class.

Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app
 
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Queen Marie de' Medici commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to create 24 tableaux for the decoration of the two galleries in the Luxembourg Palace in 1621.
 
King Louis XIII appointed a regency council for his son, Louis XIV so that his wife, Anne of Austria would not be able to govern alone. Within a short period of Louis XIII's demise, Anne called upon the Parlement de Paris to abolish the council and have herself named as sole regent.

On November 21, 1589, Cardinal de Bourbon was recognized as King of France in absentia as Charles X by an act of the Parliament of Paris. What is in absentia?

Louis Philippe of Orleans was regent for Henry V. The Chamber of Deputies proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king. Was this a violation of the Fundamental Laws of Succession to the French Crown?
 
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Moscow Kremlin Museums: - Saint Louis and Relics of the Sainte-Chapelle
The Moscow Kremlin Museums present an exhibition introducing the greatest achievements of medieval culture of France to the Russian audience. This joint international project of the Moscow Kremlin Museums and the Centre des monuments nationaux of France supported by the French Embassy will become the main event of the Russia-France Year of Cultural Tourism.

The exhibition in the Moscow Kremlin Museums will show true masterpieces of French Gothic art related to the epoch of one of the most famous French kings – Saint Louis IX (1214 - 1270). Most of them will be presented in Russia for the first time, including items from the largest collections of France - Louvre Museum, Museum of the Middle Ages (Cluny), a number of provincial French museums, as well as manuscripts and documents from the National Library and the National Archives of France. The State Hermitage participates in the exhibition, giving on loan magnificent Limoges enamels and ivory pieces dating back to 13th — early 14th century.
 
Sounds fascinating Al_bina,King Louis IX is a historical figure whom I'm highly interested in along with his mother,Blanche de Castile.
 
A gold reliquary containing the heart of Duchess Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France has been stolen yesterday at the Musée Dobrée in Nantes, France.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de...aire-du-coeur-d-anne-de-bretagne-vole-5696532

800px-_Reliquaire_Anne_de_Bretagne_-_Mus_e_de_Bretagne_20141102-0.jpg



Anne married successively Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII.
That was part of her first marriage contract with Charles VIII : if they had no male heir together before Charles' death, Anne would marry the next-in-line to the throne. And that is exactly what happened.
 
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How sad that this has been stolen. And as a side note, how lax is security that something like this gets stolen from a museum? Ridiculous.
 
The museum is currently undergoing renovations and some of the artifacts including the reliquary were exposed on another site next to it.
There was lesser security there. The thieves knew what they were doing :sad:
 
A gold reliquary containing the heart of Duchess Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France has been stolen yesterday at the Musée Dobrée in Nantes, France.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de...aire-du-coeur-d-anne-de-bretagne-vole-5696532

800px-_Reliquaire_Anne_de_Bretagne_-_Mus_e_de_Bretagne_20141102-0.jpg



Anne married successively Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII.
That was part of her first marriage contract with Charles VIII : if they had no male heir together before Charles' death, Anne would marry the next-in-line to the throne. And that is exactly what happened.

The reliquary has been found, intact, after a quick but conclusive investigation :

Exclusif. Le reliquaire du cœur d'Anne de Bretagne retrouvé à Saint-Nazaire | Presse Océan
 
Wonderful news ! Fortunately the reliquary remained intact! :flowers:
 
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