1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

3
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,599
Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdy, and our Medici

4
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,320
Speaker 1: super series isn't all about Italy. In this episode, we're

5
00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: actually going to follow the most famous female member of

6
00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,360
Speaker 1: the Medici clan on her journey to France, where this

7
00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 1: wealthy bourgeois family finally attains what it hasn't had, which

8
00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,240
Speaker 1: is royal standing. But it's not all happily ever after.

9
00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,800
Speaker 1: You have probably heard of Catherine as a poisoner or

10
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 1: an Italian spy, but we're saving that stuff. The Catholic

11
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,880
Speaker 1: Huguenot wars for later, and Katherine's Triple regency as well.

12
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,080
Speaker 1: For this one, We're going to go back to her roots.

13
00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 1: And that's because apparently we're really fascinated by stories about

14
00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,279
Speaker 1: sad royal children. I was thinking about all the episodes

15
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:06,520
Speaker 1: where we've talked about them, Cleopatra's brood, Harrod's kids, Elizabeth

16
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,600
Speaker 1: the first when she was just Lady Elizabeth with kind

17
00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,280
Speaker 1: of an expendable head. So we're going to move on

18
00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: to Florence and start with a really sad childhood in

19
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,479
Speaker 1: our michel Angelo episode, we talked about a Medici pope,

20
00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,919
Speaker 1: Pope Leo the ax as our friend Molly from Stuff

21
00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,200
Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You called him and his various maneuvers

22
00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 1: in Florence for power. He assumed the papal throne in

23
00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 1: fifteen thirteen and replaced his brother as nominal ruler of

24
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:40,400
Speaker 1: Florence with his nephew, a puppet, Lorenzo the Second Medici,

25
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 1: and don't get him confused with Lorenzo the Magnificent, because

26
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,200
Speaker 1: there's nothing like that about it. And Leo arranges an

27
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: advantageous match for this young man with Madeline de la

28
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,040
Speaker 1: Tour du Verne, who's a sixteen year old orphan and

29
00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,800
Speaker 1: also a Bourbon heiress. It's a deal struck up between

30
00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: the Pope and the attack alien territory hungry French King

31
00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,560
Speaker 1: Francis the First, which suits both of their schemes and

32
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 1: is a nice little union of power in the marriage

33
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,399
Speaker 1: is a success. The couple conceives a child within months,

34
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,280
Speaker 1: and Katerina de Medici is born on April nineteen, But

35
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,680
Speaker 1: the sad thing is she's orphaned within weeks of her

36
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,800
Speaker 1: birth because Laurens of the second seems to have had

37
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,520
Speaker 1: a pretty bad case of syphilis. Francis and Leo are

38
00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,799
Speaker 1: of course disappointed that their plan hasn't come to fruition

39
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,800
Speaker 1: quite as they were hoping um. But once baby Catherine

40
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,240
Speaker 1: gets over in early illness, she's healthy and actually turns

41
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,240
Speaker 1: out to be a very valuable pawn to whoever possesses her.

42
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,640
Speaker 1: Pope Leo intends to control her himself and refuses to

43
00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:48,400
Speaker 1: send her to Francis's court because basically she'd be a

44
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,399
Speaker 1: hostage and Francis would be the one who could decide

45
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,720
Speaker 1: who to marry her too. And so when Leo receives

46
00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,960
Speaker 1: baby Catherine in Rome, he says, somewhat ominously, she comes

47
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,400
Speaker 1: bearing the calamity is of the Greeks, but he also

48
00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,960
Speaker 1: says she's a fine and fat little baby, so maybe

49
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,320
Speaker 1: things are going to come out okay. Leo puts his

50
00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,360
Speaker 1: full power behind Catherine and makes her Duchess of Urbino.

51
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,280
Speaker 1: He plans to eventually marry her off to an illegitimate

52
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,200
Speaker 1: Medici son and set them up as the new puppet

53
00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:23,040
Speaker 1: rulers of Florence. But unfortunately things aren't so simple, and

54
00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,919
Speaker 1: in one Leo dies and the new Pope is Adrian.

55
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 1: The six who's a reformist. We talked about him in

56
00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,480
Speaker 1: the Michelangelo Episode two. He has little tolerance for all

57
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,240
Speaker 1: things Medici and um it's not a good time for

58
00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:42,640
Speaker 1: the family. Adrian at first takes Catherine's duchy of Urbino

59
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,040
Speaker 1: and gives it back to its original owners. But even

60
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,720
Speaker 1: though the family is flailing a bit at this time,

61
00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: Catherine's doing okay. She's moved back to Florence to live

62
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 1: under her relative, Cardinal Julio's supervision. And you might remember

63
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,920
Speaker 1: him from our Popsy Conspiracy podcast. He was the illegiti

64
00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,640
Speaker 1: it's son of the Giuliano who was murdered in the Duomo.

65
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:08,480
Speaker 1: But Adrian doesn't last long anyways. He dies, possibly being poisoned,

66
00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,720
Speaker 1: just two years after he comes into power, and so

67
00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,520
Speaker 1: Catherine's uncle, Cardinal Giulio becomes Pope Clement the seventh, and

68
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,640
Speaker 1: with the Medici back on top, back in power, Catherine

69
00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,520
Speaker 1: becomes good marriage bait again. She's valuable again, and so

70
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,479
Speaker 1: Clement outfits her in style in the Medici Palace. You

71
00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,680
Speaker 1: know she's she's raised like a princess there. But as

72
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,840
Speaker 1: we mentioned also in the Michelangelo podcast, Florentines are not

73
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,560
Speaker 1: happy under this new form of Medici rule Cardinal Giulio.

74
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,880
Speaker 1: Now Pope Clement isn't willing to give up his day

75
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,480
Speaker 1: job of micromanaging Florence, and the people in the city

76
00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:53,279
Speaker 1: aren't happy under this Medici control. And in fifteen twenty six,

77
00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:57,039
Speaker 1: when Catherine is just seven years old, Clement joins a

78
00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 1: sort of league with France, England, Florence, and ven Us

79
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,760
Speaker 1: against the eventual Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Five. But

80
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 1: things do not go well for the League of Kognac,

81
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,600
Speaker 1: and soon enough imperial troops are sacking Rome. The Pope

82
00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,200
Speaker 1: hass to flee, hide and melt down his papal Tierras

83
00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,279
Speaker 1: to pay his own ransom, and as of course we

84
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,280
Speaker 1: learned in a previous podcast, while Rome is being sacked,

85
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,000
Speaker 1: the Florentines take the opportunity to try to restore the republic,

86
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,320
Speaker 1: and with the help of the Imperial army, they overthrow

87
00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,359
Speaker 1: the Medici down with the Medici and so this is

88
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: obviously scary times for Catherine de Medici hold up in

89
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,520
Speaker 1: the Medici Palace and she's there with her guardian and

90
00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,200
Speaker 1: mother figure Clarice Strokesie, who the two of them are

91
00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:46,719
Speaker 1: left to face this angry anti Medici Florentine mob and

92
00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,240
Speaker 1: eventually they escape to a Medici country house, but an

93
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,480
Speaker 1: armed f scort comes to collect Catherine and takes her

94
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,560
Speaker 1: off to the Santa Lucia Convent, which is not a

95
00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,560
Speaker 1: pro Medici convent, but still probably a relatively safe place

96
00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,880
Speaker 1: to be, and this begins poor Catherine three years of

97
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,520
Speaker 1: danger and shuffling about and From Santa Lucia, she's moved

98
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,760
Speaker 1: to Santa Katarina of Siena, which is also in Florence,

99
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,000
Speaker 1: and it's a plague ridden convent, so not the best

100
00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,599
Speaker 1: place for a young girl to be living. The French

101
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,840
Speaker 1: ambassador insists that she'd be taken out of it, and

102
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,159
Speaker 1: the Republic's council agreed for her to move to the

103
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,480
Speaker 1: convent of Santa Maria and Nunziata deli Marat, which is

104
00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,440
Speaker 1: a covert operation. They leave in the dead of night.

105
00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,600
Speaker 1: Catherine is wearing several veils, and this is in fifteen

106
00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,120
Speaker 1: twenty seven, just to give you an idea of where

107
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,919
Speaker 1: we are in the time. People people sometimes ask for

108
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:47,039
Speaker 1: more dates and ages and um. But this convent is

109
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: much nicer than the other two. It's set up to

110
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,560
Speaker 1: educate young aristocratic women and they also taken retired noble women,

111
00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,440
Speaker 1: and since the convent has been well supported by the Medici,

112
00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,960
Speaker 1: they're very welcoming to Catherine. The abbess is even her godmother,

113
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,760
Speaker 1: so it's comparatively nice. She learns a lot from these educated,

114
00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,200
Speaker 1: aristocratic nuns, and um picks up a lot of the

115
00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:16,400
Speaker 1: things that make her eventually so successful in court. You know,

116
00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:21,080
Speaker 1: her nice manners, her beautiful bearing, her charm, and one

117
00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,360
Speaker 1: of the nun's notes that she was so gentle and

118
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,239
Speaker 1: pleasant that the sisters did all they could to ease

119
00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:30,880
Speaker 1: her sorrows and difficulty. So this is a um, a

120
00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,360
Speaker 1: calmer time in her imprisonment, essentially, And in the meantime,

121
00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:40,120
Speaker 1: Clement and Charles are hammering out a piece. But new

122
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,520
Speaker 1: extremists in Florence fear that the Medici will come back

123
00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,120
Speaker 1: into power. Of course, of clementon Charles are together on this,

124
00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,280
Speaker 1: so they consider eliminating the main marriage pawn, who of

125
00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,760
Speaker 1: course is little Catherine, precious to the papacy and the Medici.

126
00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:01,440
Speaker 1: And in fine with imperial troops arriving in Florence, these

127
00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,240
Speaker 1: new extremists meet them with a fierce defense. Um. This

128
00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,800
Speaker 1: is when Michelangelo is setting up the fortification, designing fortifications

129
00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,960
Speaker 1: and all that. And these extremists are very anti eleven

130
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,640
Speaker 1: year old Catherine, and they have some terrible ideas about

131
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,400
Speaker 1: what to do with her. One plan is to lower

132
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,560
Speaker 1: her naked in a basket over the city walls, where

133
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,200
Speaker 1: her imperial allies might accidentally kill her. Another is to

134
00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: ditch her in a military brothel so that she's not

135
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,800
Speaker 1: a very desirable marriage pond anymore. They don't accomplish any

136
00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,400
Speaker 1: of these, but regardless, the plan is to take her

137
00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,800
Speaker 1: out of the Marat convent and the poor nuns have

138
00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,480
Speaker 1: to give her up. Catherine thinks that the troops are

139
00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,360
Speaker 1: coming to kill her, so she shaves her head and

140
00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: puts on a habit and yells, Holy Mother, I am yours.

141
00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,520
Speaker 1: Let us now see what excommunicated wretch will dare to

142
00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,880
Speaker 1: drag a spouse of Christ from her monastery and she

143
00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,560
Speaker 1: will not take her habit off. Yeah. I mean, it's

144
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,240
Speaker 1: kind of remarkable though, that she's not harmed when she's

145
00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,520
Speaker 1: taken from the convent. She's kept safe by her escort,

146
00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:11,559
Speaker 1: who behaves quite honorably, but she has to ride through

147
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,200
Speaker 1: the city of Florence in her habit on a donkey,

148
00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,199
Speaker 1: and it's a scary, terrible ride. She can hear that

149
00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,880
Speaker 1: anti Medici people yelling at her on the street, but

150
00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,880
Speaker 1: she's not harmed. She's dropped off at Saint Lucia Convent again,

151
00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,280
Speaker 1: the place where she she started this whole odyssey, and

152
00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,280
Speaker 1: soon enough Clement has Florence again and Catherine is safe.

153
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,679
Speaker 1: So Catherine is shipped off to Rome to live with

154
00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:43,480
Speaker 1: her great aunt Lucrazia Salviata, who is Lorenzo the Magnificence daughter.

155
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,800
Speaker 1: And with the Medici back on top, it is time

156
00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,760
Speaker 1: to make a marriage match, perhaps one with France. So

157
00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,440
Speaker 1: now we're going to take you over to another country

158
00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,840
Speaker 1: in another sad childhood. So Catherine's intended Henry, is born

159
00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,080
Speaker 1: two weeks before her, and his mother dies when he's

160
00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,080
Speaker 1: five years old. But the worst childhood trauma comes a

161
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,680
Speaker 1: year later. And to understand that, we're going to have

162
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,240
Speaker 1: to go a little bit back into his father's life.

163
00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:16,080
Speaker 1: So his father, Francis, was obsessed with Italian conquests as

164
00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,679
Speaker 1: a young man, and this earned him the hostility of

165
00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,280
Speaker 1: Charles the First of Spain, who later became our old friend,

166
00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,720
Speaker 1: the Holy Roman Emperor Charles five and in fifty five,

167
00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:32,040
Speaker 1: Francis had a stupendous loss against the imperial troops in Pavia, Italy.

168
00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,160
Speaker 1: He was overly brave on the field. His nobles were

169
00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,640
Speaker 1: cut down around him, and he manages to get himself

170
00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:42,600
Speaker 1: captured and taken to Barcelona. Francis is treated well by Charles,

171
00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:44,920
Speaker 1: but he gets depressed, you know, not being able to

172
00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,520
Speaker 1: do the things he's used to doing as King of France.

173
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,920
Speaker 1: He stops eating, he gets sick, and Charles is terrified

174
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,400
Speaker 1: that this priceless captive he has, this bargaining chip, is

175
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:58,959
Speaker 1: going to die on him, and Frances fortunately starts to

176
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,480
Speaker 1: get a little better. The two monarchs start to work

177
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,360
Speaker 1: out the Treaty of Madrid in and this results in

178
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,600
Speaker 1: a huge sacrifices of territory from Francis. A bad deal.

179
00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,000
Speaker 1: It's a very bad deal, but of course he's not

180
00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,880
Speaker 1: in a position to bargain here he's held prisoner um. Also,

181
00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,440
Speaker 1: it's gonna result in a royal marriage. The widower Francis

182
00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 1: is going to marry Charles's widowed sister. But to be

183
00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:28,000
Speaker 1: sure that, Francis goes out and actually fills these territory

184
00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,040
Speaker 1: handovers and and keeps up his end of the deal,

185
00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:36,160
Speaker 1: Charles was gonna need a little collateral, and so they

186
00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:40,280
Speaker 1: work out a deal where in Francis instead, Charles will

187
00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:45,280
Speaker 1: hold the Dauphin Francois and Henry, eight and six year

188
00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 1: old boys. Yeah, kids for collaterals. That's a that's very nice.

189
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,400
Speaker 1: The boys are brought by their grandmother to the borderlands

190
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,920
Speaker 1: and the exchange takes place on a raft in a river,

191
00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,400
Speaker 1: which is very strange. It's like two rafts coming from

192
00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 1: the boat coming out to the raft, and then there's

193
00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,760
Speaker 1: the switch um And as a note, this will come

194
00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:08,679
Speaker 1: up a bit later. One woman in the boy's departing

195
00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,800
Speaker 1: group is twenty five year old Dian de Poitier, who

196
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,800
Speaker 1: gives Henry a kiss and later she becomes his mistress

197
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,040
Speaker 1: for the rest of his life and kind of the

198
00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,680
Speaker 1: bane of Catherine de Medici's existence. So Francis is really

199
00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,360
Speaker 1: upset at the handoff. He's sad to be giving his

200
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,240
Speaker 1: sons up as prisoners. He promises them that he'll try

201
00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,480
Speaker 1: to bring them home soon, but really he has no

202
00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,400
Speaker 1: intention of fulfilling the terms of this treaty. So the

203
00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:36,480
Speaker 1: likelihood that the boys are going to come home anytime

204
00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,520
Speaker 1: soon is slim to none. Their initial captivity is fine.

205
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,480
Speaker 1: They're staying with their future stepmother Eleanor and they have

206
00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,920
Speaker 1: this large French household. But as Francis becomes more rebellious

207
00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,760
Speaker 1: you know, starting the league with Kognac for instance, the

208
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,400
Speaker 1: kids are basically put on lockdown and moved deeper and

209
00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,120
Speaker 1: deeper into Spain. And just to compare this again to

210
00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,640
Speaker 1: Catherine's childhood, since it is so interesting that this future

211
00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,680
Speaker 1: couple is in captivity at the same time. This is

212
00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,640
Speaker 1: around the same time that Imperial forces are sacking Rome

213
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:14,080
Speaker 1: and Catherine's hiding in the convent. But by fift twenty nine,

214
00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 1: things have gotten worse for the prisoners and a French

215
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,120
Speaker 1: spy is found near where they're being kept, so they're

216
00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:24,240
Speaker 1: moved even deeper into Spain to Padraza, and the only

217
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:29,240
Speaker 1: member of their once enormous suite of tutors and maids

218
00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:33,600
Speaker 1: and valets and friends that's left is a single French

219
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,520
Speaker 1: dwarf who's there to entertain them. Ultimately, they're moved to

220
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:42,080
Speaker 1: a cell with ten foot thick walls, bars, and straw mattresses.

221
00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:47,120
Speaker 1: They have no companions, no education, and no exercise. But

222
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,640
Speaker 1: in the meantime, the years of war have made France

223
00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,120
Speaker 1: and Spain very ready for peace, even if their actual

224
00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,880
Speaker 1: rulers are not, and the ladies have to be brought

225
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,079
Speaker 1: in to work it out since Francis Charles can't seem

226
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,160
Speaker 1: to do it. So La Pexi dey Dome, with Francis's

227
00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,320
Speaker 1: mom and Charles's aunt, secures the boy's release for quite

228
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,080
Speaker 1: a bit of money instead of territory, and Francis sets

229
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:17,240
Speaker 1: to raising it and getting his boys back, and surprisingly,

230
00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,480
Speaker 1: the boys are in pretty good shape considering the severity

231
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,840
Speaker 1: of their final time in prison. Henry's eleven now the

232
00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:29,080
Speaker 1: Daufines twelve. But they're different kids. They're not these happy

233
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:35,160
Speaker 1: go lucky French princes that left their gloomy Spanish kids

234
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,040
Speaker 1: who have grown up in prison, and to make matters worse,

235
00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,040
Speaker 1: their father doesn't even like them very much anymore, and

236
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,120
Speaker 1: he definitely favors his younger son, who has gotten to

237
00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,320
Speaker 1: still have his happy French prince childhood. He says that

238
00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,240
Speaker 1: the mark of a Frenchman was to be always gay

239
00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,600
Speaker 1: and lively, and he also says that he has no

240
00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,080
Speaker 1: time for dreamy, sullen, sleepy children. I just want to

241
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 1: be like France. They've been in prison for four and

242
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: a half years. Yeah, but it's time to start looking

243
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,800
Speaker 1: for a bribe for Henry, regardless of his dreamy sullenness.

244
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,800
Speaker 1: A match with Mary Tudor falls through, so Francis goes

245
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,400
Speaker 1: to his friend Clement the Pope and enter Catherine in

246
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:23,120
Speaker 1: Henry's life. And this is to be a triumphant marriage

247
00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,520
Speaker 1: for for Clement and for Francis, who have both been

248
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,960
Speaker 1: pretty disgraced recently. This is their chance to show the

249
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 1: world that they're back on top and they're making this

250
00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,760
Speaker 1: great alliance. And the marriage between these two prison raised

251
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,600
Speaker 1: kids is going to be pretty impressive too. Isabella Destay

252
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,760
Speaker 1: helps prepare Catherine. Just to get an idea of her trousseau.

253
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,960
Speaker 1: Isabella requires three pounds of gold, two pounds of silver,

254
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,640
Speaker 1: two pounds of silk. All of that is just for gowns.

255
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,320
Speaker 1: She also gets pearls, and these pearls turn out to

256
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:02,760
Speaker 1: be pretty notable because um Catherine gives them to her

257
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 1: future daughter in law, Mary Stewart, who, when she's beheaded

258
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,000
Speaker 1: Elizabeth the First, ends up with them. Apparently that's that's

259
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 1: how you get pearls. She also has a crystal casket,

260
00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 1: enormous diamonds, emeralds, rubies. Catherine is set as far as

261
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,200
Speaker 1: Trousseau go and she starts her journey to Marseille in

262
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:28,080
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty three. There of course very elaborate marriage festivities

263
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,600
Speaker 1: that go on for days and days, but they're finally

264
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,400
Speaker 1: married by contract October fifteen thirty three and they have

265
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,600
Speaker 1: their religious ceremony the next day. Catherine is dressed in

266
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,600
Speaker 1: gold brocade with a velvet corsage covered in gems and

267
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,920
Speaker 1: edged in ermine. She has jewels in her hair and

268
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,120
Speaker 1: a crown on her head, so quite the lovely bride

269
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,120
Speaker 1: and the Pope in Frances really want to make sure

270
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,120
Speaker 1: that these two fourteen year olds consummate their marriage, and

271
00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 1: consequently they're really creepy about it. They might even stay

272
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,880
Speaker 1: in the room to make sure that everything happens as

273
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,520
Speaker 1: it should. Um. But after that's done, everybody is free

274
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: to go home and they exchange some parting gifts and um.

275
00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,600
Speaker 1: One of the special gifts the Pope gives the King

276
00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,560
Speaker 1: is a unicorn tusk, which Katie was really excited about

277
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,760
Speaker 1: because it is, of course actually a normal tusk and

278
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,199
Speaker 1: anyone at hell stuff works in the editorial department, I

279
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,520
Speaker 1: think knows how obsessed with them I am. I wrote

280
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,320
Speaker 1: an article if you want to go, look for it

281
00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:36,600
Speaker 1: on our homepage. So Catherine's a duchess now. She's gone

282
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,640
Speaker 1: from this sort of derogatory term a merchant's daughter. She's

283
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,280
Speaker 1: clearly no merchant's daughter. But you know, the medicies have

284
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:48,399
Speaker 1: their have their reputations. But regardless, she is a duchess now,

285
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,760
Speaker 1: and it seems like things are going to be pretty

286
00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,320
Speaker 1: great for her, except that the first major blow to

287
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,040
Speaker 1: her her married life comes less than a year after

288
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 1: the wedding, when Clement dies and he hasn't fully paid

289
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,359
Speaker 1: her dowry, and he hasn't fulfilled all his promises to

290
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,600
Speaker 1: King Francis, and so consequently Francis feels like he's gotten

291
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,280
Speaker 1: a pretty bum deal with marrying his son to to Catherine,

292
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,359
Speaker 1: and he says that the girl has come to me

293
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:20,280
Speaker 1: stark naked. Another big problem is that Catherine can't seem

294
00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,600
Speaker 1: to conceive, and this is a major issue when Henry's brother,

295
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,440
Speaker 1: the Dauphin, dies apparently after an exhausting game of tennis

296
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,880
Speaker 1: an embarrassing way to goo it really is seventeen year old.

297
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,439
Speaker 1: Henry has a daughter by an Italian woman, so it

298
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,880
Speaker 1: seems that the problem isn't him, and he's urged to

299
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,520
Speaker 1: repudiate Catherine, but Francis likes her a lot. She's smart,

300
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,440
Speaker 1: she's sporting, she may have brought side saddle to France

301
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,480
Speaker 1: in fact, and she can handle his body jokes. She's

302
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,160
Speaker 1: a good match for him, and so he becomes her

303
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,840
Speaker 1: ally her father in law. So Catherine steps up her

304
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: attempts to conceive a notch and she gets these weird medicines,

305
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,760
Speaker 1: tries all sorts of strange potions out and um. She

306
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,720
Speaker 1: watches Henry and his mistress Dione through a whole drilled

307
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,840
Speaker 1: on the floor to see what they're doing, maybe find

308
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 1: out if she's doing something wrong, although apparently she's so

309
00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,400
Speaker 1: sad watching this that the tears blur her vision. Eventually,

310
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,960
Speaker 1: the couple gets a medical examination, which shows that both

311
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,159
Speaker 1: of them are slightly abnormal, which we have to wonder

312
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:29,639
Speaker 1: what happened detailed, but they're regardless. They're given some instruction.

313
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,359
Speaker 1: It seems to work because she's soon pregnant and she

314
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:37,280
Speaker 1: has a boy. Francis, followed by nine more children, so

315
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:41,560
Speaker 1: whatever they learn certainly works. For them, and an important

316
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,960
Speaker 1: note for our next episode, Catherine has a two parter.

317
00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,680
Speaker 1: The survivors except for one are sickly children. They've got

318
00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,000
Speaker 1: weak lungs. The boys have stres and fits of dementia

319
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,919
Speaker 1: that may have been from congenital syphilis. So file that

320
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,520
Speaker 1: one away. But while marriage isn't easy, neither is jousting,

321
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,000
Speaker 1: and at twenty eight Henry and Catherine become King and

322
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 1: Queen of France. When Francis dies, Catherine sincerely mourned the

323
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: old king. He taught her a lot about regal style

324
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 1: and helped inspire her love of architecture and art, and

325
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,679
Speaker 1: for the next decade or so she absorbed herself in

326
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,800
Speaker 1: her family life, although she had to contend with a

327
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: very pushy third party in her marriage, Dionda Poitier. But

328
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:29,600
Speaker 1: the King grows to respect his wife more and more

329
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,520
Speaker 1: to pay more attention to her, probably because he is

330
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 1: grateful she's born him so many children um, and he

331
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,080
Speaker 1: starts to trust her too. He gives her the regency

332
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 1: several times when he's away on campaigns um, but still

333
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,440
Speaker 1: her role is mostly being a mother and being a

334
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: lady of the court. By the time she's forty life

335
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 1: seems to be going fairly well after all these years

336
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 1: of expensive wars with um France and Spain over Italy.

337
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,119
Speaker 1: There's gonna be peace finally, and it's going to be

338
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: marked by two royal marriages, and to celebrate, Henry is

339
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,200
Speaker 1: going to host festivities. He has sons and his court

340
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: will joust despite Catherine's fears and her foreboding sense of doom,

341
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,639
Speaker 1: and she thinks she has a second sight, so this

342
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,000
Speaker 1: is a big deal. Her astrologers have warned her that

343
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,640
Speaker 1: there's going to be trouble and Nostradamas has predicted disaster.

344
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,119
Speaker 1: She's dreamed of blood and gore. There is no good

345
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: that will come out of this particular jousting a tournament,

346
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:38,879
Speaker 1: and so on Friday June fifty nine, after several successful runs,

347
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,560
Speaker 1: Henry the Second is struck down with a lance through

348
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:47,399
Speaker 1: the eye and brain. It takes him ten agonizing days

349
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,240
Speaker 1: to die, and he leaves his fifteen year old son Francis,

350
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: who is weak in mind and body, as King of

351
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 1: France and the grieving widow Catherine turns out to be

352
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,480
Speaker 1: willing to do anything to protect her children's birthright. But

353
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,159
Speaker 1: that's going to be the subject for our next episode,

354
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,920
Speaker 1: which will also be our exciting conclusion of the Medici

355
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 1: super series. So leaving you with that, we will now

356
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: go to listener mail, which is about the Medici. Appropriately enough,

357
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 1: this message is from Jeremy and Juno Beach, Florida. He

358
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 1: wrote to us, I've been listening to these podcasts and

359
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,960
Speaker 1: found it all very familiar. This is in regard to

360
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 1: the Pozzy conspiracy. By the way, the game Assassin's Creed

361
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: Too takes place in Renaissance Italy and a portion of

362
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 1: the story includes the Medici and Pozzy takeover. The game

363
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: used some of the history for the story and it's

364
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: pretty accurate with your podcast. There's also a downloadable addition

365
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: to the game named Bonfire of the Vanity. I haven't

366
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: played it yet, but it's about a religious zealot that

367
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,200
Speaker 1: takes over Florence and starts burning books. Like the podcast

368
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 1: on Savonarola, nothing spectacular by any stretch, but figured you'd

369
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,119
Speaker 1: be interested in the history aspect of the game, and

370
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,359
Speaker 1: we are. Indeed. We'd also like to remind you that

371
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,679
Speaker 1: we get a lot of suggestions on both our Facebook

372
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 1: fan page and on our Twitter feed and missed in history,

373
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:18,960
Speaker 1: so you should come and find us, and if you'd

374
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: like to check out my article on our walls because

375
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 1: you know you want to, you can find it on

376
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 1: our home page at www dot how stuff works dot com.

377
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit

378
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,560
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and be sure to check

379
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 1: out the stuff you missed in history Class blog on

380
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: the how stuff works dot com home page