 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007) |
| Claude | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of France Duchess of Brittany, Countess of Nantes, Montfort and Richmont, Viscountess of Limoges (more...) |
|
 |
|
| Duchess of Brittany (more...) | |
| Reign Consort |
9 January 1514 - 20 July 1524 1 January 1515 - 20 July 1524 |
| Predecessor | Anne |
| Successor | Francis III |
| Consort to | Francis I of France |
| Issue | |
| Charlotte of Valois Francis III, Duke of Brittany Henry II of France Madeleine, Queen of Scots Charles, Duke of Orléans Margaret, Duchess of Savoy |
|
| Titles and styles | |
| HM The Queen of France The Duchess of Brittany |
|
| Royal house | Valois-Orléans |
| Father | Louis XII of France |
| Mother | Anne, Duchess of Brittany |
| Born | October 14, 1499 |
| Died | July 20, 1524 (aged 24) |
Claude of France (14 October 1499 – 20 July 1524), Queen Consort of France and Duchess of Brittany in her own right, was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany.
As the first wife of Francis I of France, she was the mother of Henry II, and thus grandmother of the last three kings of the Valois line and also of Elisabeth, Queen consort of Spain; Claude, Duchess consort of Lorraine; and Marguerite, the Queen consort of Henry IV of France. She is also the maternal grandmother of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.
Contents |
Betrothals and marriage
Because her mother, Anne, Duchess of Brittany, had no surviving sons, Claude became heiress to the Duchy of Brittany. The crown of France, however, could pass only to and through male heirs, according to Salic Law. In 1504, Anne, eager to keep Brittany separate from the French crown, effected the Treaty of Blois, which promised Claude's hand in marriage to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the promise of Brittany and the Duchy of Burgundy. The prospect of a reduced France surrounded on several sides was unacceptable to the Valois, and so the betrothal was soon canceled.
The French nobles argued against a betrothal to a foreigner, urging Louis XII to marry Claude to her cousin François, Duke of Angoulême, "who is at least all French," and was also the heir-presumptive to the French crown. In 1506, the child was betrothed to François. In 1514, when her mother died, Claude became Duchess of Brittany; and on 18 May 1514, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she married François.
Court life
|
|||||||
Claude, the pawn of so much dynastic maneuvering, was short in stature and afflicted with scoliosis, which gave her a hunched back. She was eclipsed at court by her mother-in-law, Louise of Savoy, and her sister-in-law, the literary Marguerite, Queen Consort of Navarre.
When François became King in 1515, two of Claude's ladies-in-waiting were the English sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn. Mary became the king's mistress before returning home in about 1519. Anne served as Claude's official translator whenever there were English visitors, such as in 1520. Anne was also a temporary companion to Claude's younger sister, Renée. Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1521, where she eventually became the Queen Consort of Henry VIII.
Claude's life was spent in an endless round of annual pregnancies. Her husband had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. Claude imposed a strict moral code on her own household, which only a few chose to flout.
Death and later events
Claude died in 1524, when she was only twenty-four. She was initially succeeded as ruler of Brittany by her eldest son, the Dauphin François, who became Duke François III, with Claude's widower King François I as guardian. After the Dauphin's untimely death in 1536, Claude's second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans, became Dauphin and Duke of Brittany. He later became King of France as Henry II.
Claude's widowed husband himself remarried several years after Claude's death, to Eleanor of Habsburg, the sister of Emperor Charles V. The atmosphere at court became considerably more debauched, and there were rumours that King François's death in 1547 was due to syphilis.
Children
Claude and Francis I had seven children:
- Louise, Princess of France (August 19, 1515 - September 21, 1517) - died young.
- Charlotte, Princess of France (October 23, 1516 - September 8, 1524) - died young.
- Francis, Dauphin of France (February 28, 1518 - August 10, 1536) - died young.
- Henry II, King of France (March 31, 1519 - July 10, 1559) - married Catherine de' Medici. Had issue.
- Madeleine, Princess of France (August 10, 1520 - July 2, 1537) - married James V of Scotland. No issue
- Charles of Valois, Duke of Orleans (January 22, 1522 - September 9, 1545) - Died young. Had no issue.
- Marguerite of France (June 5, 1523 - September 14, 1574) - married Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy in 1559. Had issue.
Ancestors
| Claude of France | Father: Louis XII of France |
Paternal Grandfather: Charles I de Valois, Duke of Orléans |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Valentina Visconti |
|||
| Paternal Grandmother: Marie of Cleves |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Adolph I, Duke of Cleves |
||
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Mary of Burgundy |
|||
| Mother: Anne of Brittany |
Maternal Grandfather: Francis II, Duke of Brittany |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Richard of Brittany, Count of Étampes |
|
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Margaret d'Orléans, Countess of Vertus |
|||
| Maternal Grandmother: Margaret of Foix |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Gaston IV of Foix |
||
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Eleanor of Navarre |
"Reine Claude" plum
Claude is remembered in a classic small plum, the size of a walnut, pale green with a glaucous bloom. It is still called "Reine Claude" (literally, "Queen Claude,") in France and is known in England as a "greengage."
| French nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Anne |
Duchess of Brittany 1514–1524 |
Succeeded by Francis III |
| French royalty | ||
| Preceded by Mary of England |
Queen consort of France January 1, 1515–July 20, 1524 |
Succeeded by Eleanor of Habsburg |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 9 November 2008, at 13:48.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by PediaView.com. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with PediaView.com.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Claude of France".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.