Catherine de' Medici
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Catherine de' Medici was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and a cousin to Pope Clement VII. The
Portrait, c. 1560
Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, Pope Clement VII, by Sebastiano del Piombo, c.1531. Clement called Catherine's betrothal to Henry of Orléans "the greatest match in the world".
Catherine and Henry's marriage, painted seventeen years after the event
Henry, Duke of Orléans, by Corneille de Lyon. During his childhood, Henry spent almost four and a half years as a hostage in Spain, an ordeal that marked him for life, leaving him introverted and gloomy.
Henry II of France
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Henry II was King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1
Catherine de' Medici
…Catherine de' Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and a cousin to Pope Clement VII. The years during which her sons reigned…
Portrait by François Clouet, 1559
Henry as a child
Henry II enters Metz following the 1552 Treaty of Chambord
Henry II