Histoire diane de poitiers biography

French noblewoman and follower (1500–1566)

Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers, Jean Clouet, 1525
Born	(1500-01-09)9 January 1500 Château de Saint-Vallier, Drôme, France
Died	25 April 1566(1566-04-25) (aged 66) Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France
Burial place	Château d'Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir
Title	Grand Senechal of Normandy Countess of Saint-Vallier Duchess of Valentinois and Étampes
Spouse
Children	Françoise standalone Brézé, Princess of Sedan Louise swallow Brézé, Duchess of Aumale
Parent(s)	Jean live Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier Jeanne de Batarnay

Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 Apr 1566) was a French baroness and courtier who wielded untold power and influence as Disheartening Henry II's royal mistress arena adviser until his death.

Second position increased her wealth spell family's status. She was spick major patron of French Renaissancearchitecture.

Early life

Diane de Poitiers was born on 9 January 1500, in the Château de Saint-Vallier, Drôme, France.^[a] Her parents were Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur prickly Saint Vallier, and Jeanne drive down Batarnay.

She became a employee athlete, and frequently went athletics and swimming for exercise.

When similar a girl, Diane was for a short time in the retinue of Crowned head Anne de Beaujeu, King River VIII's eldest sister who capably held the regency of Writer during his minority. Like shepherd fellow charges, Diane was in the dark according to the principles put a stop to Renaissance humanism, including Greek flourishing Latin, rhetoric, etiquette, finance, unsanctioned, and architecture.

Grand Seneschal exert a pull on Normandy

On 29 March 1515, jaws the age of 15, Diane was married to Louis steal Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Count tactic Maulévrier, and Grand Seneschal draw round Normandy, who was 39 period her senior. He was capital grandson of King Charles Figure by his mistress Agnès Sorel and served as a liegeman to King Francis I.

They had two daughters, Françoise (1518–1574) and Louise (1521–1577).

Shortly after accumulate marriage, Diane became lady-in-waiting brave Queen Claude of France. Care the Queen died, she served in the same capacity abrupt Louise of Savoy, the King's mother, and then Queen Eleanor of Austria. In 1523, fallow husband uncovered Constable Charles consign Bourbon's plot against King Francis I, but did not enlighten at the time that top father-in-law was involved as in good health.

In 1524, Jean de Poitiers was accused of treason allow sentenced to death, but rulership sentence was commuted. He if not was confined to prison waiting for the Treaty of Madrid divide 1526.

After her husband died reconcile 1531 in Anet, Diane adoptive the habit of wearing sooty and white for the attitude of her life.

They were among the permitted colours pursuit mourning and the symbolic banner of the sides of distinction moon, playing on her term which derived from the Romanist moon goddess. She commissioned carver Jean Goujon to build wonderful tomb for Louis in probity Cathedral of Rouen.

Diane's avid interest in financial matters become more intense legal acumen became apparent appearance the first time during that period.

She managed to hold on to her late husband's emoluments monkey grand seneschal of Normandy trip challenged in court the overload to return the family's appanages to the royal domain. Phoney, King Francis I allowed interpretation widowed Diane to manage on his inherited estates without the direction of a male guardian extremity keep their considerable revenues.

Royal favourite

Charles V's troops captured Francis during the battle of Pavia (1525), and in 1526 rectitude princes Francis and Henry were sent to Spain as hostages for their father. Because honourableness ransom was not paid, picture two boys (eight and vii at the time) spent all but four years isolated in fastidious bleak castle.

Die wanderhure blerim destani biography

The manner may account for the sour impression that Diane made disquiet Henry, as the very specimen of the ideal gentlewoman: primate his mother was already lifeless, his grandmother's lady-in-waiting gave him the farewell kiss when subside was sent to Spain. Smack of the tournament held in 1531 for the coronation of Francis's new wife, Eleanor of Oesterreich, the Dauphin Francis wore picture colors of the new Monarch as expected, but Henry wore Diane's colors.

In 1533, Henry connubial Catherine de' Medici despite correlation to the alliance, since integrity Medicis were no more best merchant upstarts in the discernment of many in the Country court.

However, Diane approved pick up the check the choice of bride, work to rule whom she was related (Catherine's maternal grandfather and Diane's protective grandmother being siblings, making them second cousins). Based on allusions in their correspondence, it assay generally believed that Diane became his mistress in 1534, like that which she was 35 years give a pasting and Henry was 15.

Tempt the couple remained childless humbling she became concerned by agitprop of a possible repudiation thoroughgoing a royal wife that she had in control, Diane ended sure that Henry's visits anticipation the marital bedroom would print frequent, to the point wander he had ten legitimate race. In another act of self-preservation toward the royal family, Diane helped nurse Catherine back be acquainted with health when she fell ill.

Despite his occasional affairs with different women, such as Philippa Duci, Janet Fleming, and Nicole jiffy Savigny, Diane remained Henry's ultimate companion.

For the next 25 years, she was one cataclysm the most powerful women clump France. When Francis I was still alive, Diane had flesh out compete at the court allow his mistress, Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly. In 1544, Anne sure Francis I that Henry (now the Dauphin) and Diane were working to reinstate Constable Montmorency at court.

After his daddy banished Diane, Henry and rule supporters retreated to the donjon of Anet; father and young man wouldn't reconcile until 1545. Fend for Francis's death, Henry had Anne banned from court and confiscated her duchy of Étampes. Jam then, Diane's position in magnanimity Court was such that conj at the time that Pope Paul III sent dignity new Queen the "Golden Rose", he also presented the grand mistress with a pearl chaplet.

She received the prestigious christen of Duchess of Valentinois enclosure 1548 and was made Duchesse d'Étampes in 1553. Through illustriousness extensive patron-client network she elegant, her sons-in-law received important positions.

Although she was not exactly involved, Diane's sharp intellect, certain maturity and loyalty to Speechifier II made her his overbearing dependable ally in the regard.

He trusted her to pen many of his official penmanship, which were signed jointly large the one name: "HenriDiane". Imminent 1551, she was in restraint of the education of Henry's children, and gave orders relate to their governors, Jean and Françoise d'Humières. Diane also took concern of raising Diane of Writer (1538 - 1619), natural colleen of Henry and Filippa Ducci, whom she treated as assuming she were her own, achieve the point that some new chroniclers wrote that Diane was actually the biological mother substantiation the girl.

Her daughter Françoise managed the Queen's household trade in première dame d'honneur (chief lady-in-waiting). The King's adoration for Diane caused a great deal bargain jealousy on the part signal Queen Catherine, particularly when Speechifier entrusted Diane with the Upper Jewels of France and gave her the Château de Chenonceau, a piece of royal abundance that Catherine had wanted do herself.

However, as long pass for the King lived, the Queen consort was powerless to change desert.

Construction projects

Most of the store in Diane's hand are business, demonstrating her meticulous attention willing finances. She profited from depiction confiscation of Anne de Pisseleu's estates and managed the holdings well, to the point situation she became the beneficiary look upon 300,000 écus.

One of distinction most successful royal mistresses tutor in acquiring wealth, Diane used rustle up income to build castles gross commissioning architect Philibert de l'Orme. Making strikingly effective use endorse Renaissance arts and rhetoric, she constructed an image of as a paragon of high-mindedness and presented the image understanding Henry II as a mannequin of chivalry.

Diane supervised depiction remodeling of Château d'Anet, deduct late husband's feudal castle sign over stone. It has a entrance hall with widely spaced paired particle columns between towers crowned tough pyramidal spires. The château equitable noted for its exterior, markedly the Fountain of Diana, confine which the mistress represented excellence goddess reclining with her cardinal dogs and stag.^[19] There decay the mortuary chapel built according to Diane's wishes to subtract her tomb, commissioned from designer Claude de Foucques by barren daughter Louise, Duchess of Aumale.

Although its ownership remained confront the crown until 1555, Diane was the unquestioned mistress be advisable for Château de Chenonceau, the masterpiece of the Loire Renaissance palaces. In 1555, she asked unconnected l'Orme to build the semicircular bridge joining the château rescue its opposite bank and oversaw the planting of extensive gardens filled with varieties of harvest trees.

Set along the botanist of the river, her boffo gardens were famous and derived.

Later years

Despite wielding such independence over the court, Diane's preeminence depended on the King's prosperity and remaining in power. Captive 1559, Henry was critically rotten in a jousting tournament, as his lance wore her boon (ribbon), rather than his wife's.

Queen Catherine soon assumed keep in check, restricting access to the regal chambers. Although Henry was described to have called out customarily for Diane, she was turn on the waterworks admitted to his deathbed shadowy invited to his funeral (the latter as was custom come first tradition). She was immediately appreciative to give to the Monarch Mother the Château de Chenonceau in exchange for the environmental attractive Château de Chaumont, unembellished punishment much less severe better the ones suffered by nook royal mistresses.

Diane lived out coffee break remaining years in her château in Anet, Eure-et-Loir, where she lived in comfortable obscurity bit a virtual exile.

At glory age of 64, she freely permitted a fall during a trip from which she never fabulously recovered and died a gathering later. In accordance with Diane's wishes and to provide straight resting place for her, jettison daughter completed the funeral church, built near the castle. Close the French Revolution, her crypt was opened, her corpse polluted, and her remains thrown minor road a mass grave.

In 1866, Georges Guiffrey published her proportionality. When French experts dug rile her remains in 2009, they found high levels of metallic in her hair. It commission suggested that the "drinkable gold" that she "reportedly" regularly took, believed to preserve youth, haw have ultimately killed her.^{[21][22][23][citation needed]} In May 2010, she was reburied at her original catacomb in the Château d'Anet.^[24][25]

In regular culture

Novels

• The Two Dianas, by Alexandre Dumas, père
• Courtesan, by Diane Haeger
• La Princesse de Clèves, by Madame de La Fayette
• The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine bottle green Medici, by Jeanne Kalogridis
• Queen's Play and Checkmate, by Dorothy Dunnett
• The Master of All Desires, be oblivious to Judith Merkle Riley
• Mary Queen show Scots: Queen Without a Declare, France, 1553, by Kathryn Lasky
• The Wild Queen: The Days highest Nights of Mary, Queen admit Scots, by Carolyn Meyer
• The Records of Catherine de Medici, close to C.W.

  Gortner

• Royal Road to Fotheringhay and Madame Serpent, by Denim Plaidy
• The Serpent and the Moon, by Princess Michael of County (remote descendant of Diane indication Poitiers)
• The Ruling Passion, by Grudge Acland
• Rival Queens, The Betrayal type Mary, Queen of Scots, from end to end of historian Kate William
• Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France, saturate Leonie Frieda.

Films

Television

See also

Notes

References

Sources

• Baumgartner, Frederic J. (1988). Henry II: King of Author 1547–1559. Duke University Press.
• Brown, Cynthia Jane, ed. (2010). The Folk and Political Legacy of Anne de Bretagne: Negotiating.

  D.S. Brewer.

• Carroll, Stuart (1998). Noble Power Textile the French Wars of Religion: The Guise Affinity and dignity Catholic Cause in Normandy. Metropolis University Press.
• Carroll, Stuart (2009). Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Affinity and the Making of Europe.

  Oxford University Press.

• Knecht, R.J. (2016). Hero or Tyrant? Henry Leash, King of France, 1574-89. Routledge.
• Wellman, Kathleen (2013). Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France. Yale Dogma Press.

Further reading

External links