Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France

Elisabeth painted by François Clouet in 1571.

Considered as a great beauty and a very intellectual woman, Elisabeth was married off to Charles IX of France. As France was ruled by his mother, the infamous Catherine de Medici, Elisabeth was not involved in state of affairs, and was secluded from public life.

Elisabeth was the second daughter and the fifth child, born on the 5^th of July in 1554 to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and his wife Maria of Spain. She became her father’s favourite as they were very alike, both in appearance and character. She was intelligent and lovely; her skin was white and smooth, her hair long and blonde, and her physique was perfect. Paired with her good looks was also her kind and pious personality, making her the perfect princess of her age. It is said that Elisabeth actually modelled herself after her namesake, Saint Elisabeth of Hungary.
Together with her older sister Anna and younger brother Matthias she lived secluded at Schloss Stallburg near Vienna. In 1562 the Maréchal de Vieilleville, a member of the French delegation sent to Vienna, exclaimed after see the eight-years-old princess: "Your Majesty, this is the Queen of France!" Elisabeth was married by proxy to Charles IX on the 22^nd of October 1570. Catherine de Medici originally wanted her sister, Anna, as wife to the French king, but she was already promised to Philip II of Spain. Elisabeth left Austria on November 4, after long celebrations. Once in French territory, the roads were impassable thanks to the constant rain; this caused the decision that the official wedding was to be celebrated in the small border town of Mézières-en-Champagne. While staying in Sedan before reaching her destiny, the King, curious about his future wife, dressed himself as a soldier and went to Sedan to observe her incognito while she was walking in the palace of Sedan's garden with Henry, the Duke of Anjou. He was reportedly very happy about what he saw.

Finally, Charles IX and Elisabeth were formally married on the 26^th of November. The occasion was celebrated with immense pomp and extravagance, despite the French finances not being on top. The new Queen's wedding gown was of silver and her tiara was studded with pearls, emeralds, diamonds and rubies.

They never really fell in love with each other, but Elisabeth was delighted with her husband and did not hesitate to kiss him in front of others. However, Charles had a long-time mistress, Marie Touchet, and he soon returned to her. Still, the royal couple had a warm and supportive relationship. Charles realised that the liberal ways of the French Court might shock Elisabeth and, along with his mother, he made an effort to shield her from its excesses. Queen Elisabeth was fluent in German, Spanish, Latin and Italian, but she learned French with difficulty. She also felt lonely in the lively and dissolute French court, but she surprisingly befriended one of her controversial sister-in-law, Margaret of Valois.

As the pious and sober woman she was, she attended Mass twice a day, but despite her resentment of Protestants she was genuinely shocked and upset when she heard of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre where Protestants were slaughtered. Elisabeth never publicly rejoiced at so many deaths - like other prominent Catholics did. According to Brantôme, the next morning after the massacre, the shocked Queen asked her husband if he knew about it, when the King told her that he was the initiator, she said she would pray for him and the salvation of his soul.

At this time Queen Elisabeth was heavily pregnant, and she gave birth to her one and only child, a daughter, on the 27^th of October 1572. She was named Marie Elisabeth after her grandmother, Empress Maria, and Elizabeth I of England who were her godmothers. Little Marie Elisabeth was deeply loved by her parents despite not being a future king to the nation. Charles, being sickly his entire life, died on the 30^th of May 1574, leaving Elisabeth heartbroken and even more alone than she was.

After having completed the 40 days mourning period, Elisabeth, now called la reine blanche, the White Queen, rejecting her father's proposition that she attempt to marry her dead husband's brother - now King Henry III of France. As a widow, she was given the title Duchess of Berry. She left France for Vienna in December 1575, leaving her daughter behind. Three years later she also lost her daughter to an infection. The little princess was only six years old.

After the death of her daughter in 1578, she bought land upon which she founded a convent of the order of Saint Clare, were she spent the rest of her life, refusing all offers of marriage, including one from her uncle, King Philip II of Spain. She also wrote two books which are now lost.

Elisabeth died on the 22^nd of January 1592 in Vienna, aged 37. By this time the House of Valois had been destroyed and a new royal family ruled France. She was buried in the church of the convent that she had founded. In 1782 her body was transferred to one of the crypts beneath St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Austria,_Queen_of_France

PS! I must thank Amy over at Passages to the Past and author Christine Trent for the giveaway of A Royal Likeness which I was so lucky to win a copy of! 

Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Born Anne Stanhope cirka 1497 to Sir Edward Stanhope of Sudbury and Elizabeth Bourchier, Anne was through her mother a direct descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of King Edward III of England and his wife, Queen Philippa of Hainault. Anne’s father had been married once before, so Anne had two older half-brothers – Richard Stanhope and Sir Michael Stanhope. The latter was selected for the governorship of Hull, was knighted, and made Shelford Priory his residence.

In 1511 Anne came as a maid of honour to Queen Catherine, and in 1529 Edward Seymour (the brother of Queen Jane, yes) noticed her and fell in love with her. They were married in 1535 (Anne being his second wife, his first, Catherine, had led an affair with his father, woah!)
As Jane became queen a year after Anne married her brother, Edward was elevated to Viscount Beauchamp, and shortly thereafter elevated again to earl, becoming the first Earl of Hertford. Ten years later, in 1547, he was elevated to Duke of Somerset, thus making Anne Duchess of Somerset.

Anne gave birth to ten children, among them Edward Seymour who married Lady Catherine Grey (younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen). When Elizabeth I became queen she had the two lovers impersonated, as they had married without her consent, and the fact that they had two sons was a minor threat to Elizabeth’s reign as Catherine had a claim to the throne, through her grandmother, Mary, who was the daughter of Henry VII. Anne supported her daughter-in-law's claims to the throne as that meant that her grandson could become King of England.

The Duchess of Somerset was described as being a “violent woman", a "devilish woman & 'monstrous' in her pride”. Lady Hertford constantly made scenes in public, and she was spitefully unforgiving, haughty, grasping and bad tempered. She was universally disliked by those in the Royal Court. She has also been held responsible for the fate of her husband Edward, having urged him to adopt the policies which ruined him. 

When Henry VIII died, Anne’s husband became Lord Protector, and she felt she was the first lady of the realm, ahead of the widowed queen Catherine Parr whom she had never been on good terms with.  There was even a quarrel over some jewels, which Anne meant were hers out of right! Anne considered that the Dowager Queen forfeited her rights of precedence when she married so far beneath her station (Thomas Seymour, Edward’s brother, thus making the two women sisters-in-law). Anne refused to bear Catherine's train, and even physically tried to push her out of her place at the head of their entrances and exits at court. Anne was quoted as having said of Catherine, "If master admiral teaches his wife no better manners, I am she that will". Catherine, in her turn, privately referred to Anne as"that Hell". Catherine Parr won the battle by invoking the Act of Succession which clearly stated that Katherine had precedence over all ladies in the realm; in point of fact, as regards precedence, Anne came after the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, and Anne of Cleves. 

Anne married, as her second husband, a lesser noble Francis Newdigate, who had been Steward to her late husband. Little is known of their life together.

Anne Seymour died at the advanced age of 90, the 16^th of April, 1587.

Source: http://tudorswiki.sho.com/page/Anne+Stanhope

Isabella de' Medici

(Isabella painted in the 1560s by Alessando Allori)

Isabella de’ Medici was born in Florence the 31^st of August in 1576 to the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de’ Medici and his Spanish wife, Eleonora di Toledo. Unfortunately for her, her parents married her to an ill-tempered man who eventually had her killed when he found out that she was having an affair with his cousin.

Isabella was a great beauty and she was also very charming, which of course led to her being courted by several men. She was also very clever and well-educated and could talk many different languages, sing and write verses and play instruments. She was so devoted to her studies that she even had her Poggio Imperiale mansion in Florence transformed into a haven of authentic literary and artistic works. You can say that Isabella was what we today call an "it-girl". Unfortunately for this beauty, her family’s position forced her to marry for economical and political reasons, and Isabella was betrothed at the age of eleven to a very violent man, Paolo Giordano Orsini, who happened to be Duke of Bracciano. They married in 1558 when Isabella was sixteen. Her father Cosimo negotiated a marriage contract which ensured that Isabella could continue to live in Florence instead of with her husband; that meant Isabella had far more freedom and control over her own affairs than other women of her era. When her mother died in 1562, Isabella acted as first lady of Florence for a time, displaying the de' Medici aptitude for politics.

Interestingly enough, Isabella did not have her first child until 1571 (she suffered several miscarriages), when she gave birth to her daughter Francesca Eleonora . A year after she birthed an heir, Virginio.

When her husband went away for a while in 1576, Isabella travelled back from Rome (where the two of them lived with their two children) to Florence together with Paolo’s cousin, Trolio Orsini. Paolo had given his cousin instructions to take care of his wife and watch her while he was gone. However, Trolio and Isabella were very much alike and got on very well, so well that they allegedly became lovers. At the age of 34, Isabella was still beautiful, so resisting her was not that easy. 

It is not known how her husband came to know of her affair, but when he heard about it he ordered his wife to come to Cerreto Guidi’s mansion. It was here, on the 16th July 1576, that after having dined, the two of them went together to the bedroom, and as soon as Paolo was certain that they were completely alone with Isabella, and that he would not be seen, he lowered the oxbow which was hanging by a rope which had been looped through a hole that had been made in the ceiling earlier on. Then, with the help of several hit men, he drew the rope around her neck and brutally strangled his wife. Her lifeless corpse was then left to hang freely above the bed. Isabella’s powerful father had died at that time, so it was no problem for Paolo to strangle Isabella as her brother, Francesco de’ Medici, the newly appointed Grand Duke of Tuscany, chose not to take any action. This being because he too was also guilty of committing adultery. He was having an affair with an attractive Venetian woman called Bianca Cappello, and he knew that if his wife ever found out she would most probably kill him.

Isabella’s cousin and good friend, Eleonora di Toledo (yes, she shared her name with her aunt) had also been killed by her husband (Isabella’s brother) for her infidelity only six days earlier. I will write about her some other day.

It is said that Isabella’s restless ghost appears periodically in some of the places where she lived, including the Odescalchi Castle on Lake Bracciano, near Rome.

If you want to know more about this ill-fated woman, there is a biography written by Caroline P. Murphy called Isabella de’ Medici. I have not had the pleasure of reading this myself though.


Source: http://tuscany.travel/en/locations/florence/isabella-de-medici/