Charlotte de Sauve
Charlotte de Sauve | |
---|---|
Flying Squadron | |
Born | 26 October 1551 France |
Died | 30 September 1617 (aged 65) France |
Noble family | de Beaune |
Spouse(s) | Simon Fizes, baron de Sauves Francois de La Tremoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier |
Issue | Louis de La Tremoille |
Father | Jacques de Beaune |
Mother | Gabrielle de Sade |
Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay, Viscountess of Tours, Baroness de Sauve, Marquise de Noirmoutier (26 October 1551 – 30 September 1617)
Biography
Charlotte was born in France on 26 October 1551, the daughter and only child of Jacques de Beaune, Baron Semblançay, Viscount of Tours, and Gabrielle de Sade, a descendant of Provençal nobility. The family seat was in the former province of Touraine. Her great-grandfather, Jacques de Beaune was a superintendent of finance to King Francis I who ordered his execution in 1527 at the instigation of his mother, Louise of Savoy. Charlotte later succeeded her father to the barony of Semblançay and the viscounty of Tours.
Charlotte was sent to court where she was educated in the household of Catherine de' Medici. Blonde-haired,[3] and described as having been "beautiful, intelligent, and immoral", she was married to Simon de Fizes, Baron de Sauve, secretary of state first to King Charles IX and afterwards King Henry III, in 1569 when she was eighteen years old. Her marriage was arranged by the powerful Guise family.[4] In the words of historian Jean Heritier, her background meant that "at twenty-one, she knew all there was to be known about politics".[5] Charlotte's alleged beauty has been contradicted by author Mark Strage who instead described Charlotte as having had a face that was "more agreeable and animated than sensuous".[2]
She was appointed
On 27 November 1579 her husband died. Charlotte married secondly on 18 October 1584, Francois de
Flying Squadron
Shortly after Henry of Navarre's marriage to Catherine's daughter
Charlotte de Sauve has been credited as a source of the information that led to the execution of Marguerite de Valois's lover
In the autumn of 1578, she was recorded as having been one of the three hundred members of the court which accompanied Catherine and Marguerite on a royal progress to the Kingdom of Navarre where the latter was reunited with her husband who had returned to his kingdom two years earlier. However, instead of resuming his love affair with Charlotte, Navarre's interest was caught by Victoria de Ayala, a beautiful Spanish girl and a recent recruit to the "Flying Squadron".[14]
Charlotte de Sauve later became the mistress of Navarre's greatest adversary,
She had other lovers, including the Duc d'Épernon and the Seigneur d'Avrilly.Later years and death
She appears again in 1599 when she was called upon as a witness in the annulment proceedings of Henry of Navarre (who had succeeded to the French throne as Henry IV in 1589) and Marguerite, who had proved to be sterile. Henry wished to annul his marriage in order to marry Marie de' Medici and sire an heir. Charlotte testified that Marguerite had been forced to marry Henry by Charles IX and the Queen Mother, swearing that Catherine had threatened Marguerite that "if she did not consent to this marriage, she would make her the most miserable woman in the kingdom". The annulment was granted on 17 December 1599 leaving King Henry free to wed Marie de' Medici by whom he had six legitimate royal offspring, including his heir Louis.[17]
Charlotte died on 30 September 1617 at age 65.
In film
The role of Charlotte de Sauve was played by Italian actress Asia Argento in the 1994 film La Reine Margot starring Isabelle Adjani in the title role. In the film the character dies while unknowingly trying to poison Henry of Navarre.
Charlotte is also portrayed in season one episode seventeen of The CW's television show Reign by actress Amy Groening.
See also
References
- ^ 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ ISBN 0-15-198370-4
- ^ Seward, Desmond (1976). The Bourbon kings of France. London: Constable. p.12
- ^ Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy (1977). The Peasants of Languedoc. University of Illinois Press. p.178
- ^ Heritier, Jean. Catherine de' Medici, translated by Charlotte Haldane, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1963, OCLC 1678642, p. 306.
- ^ Heritier, p.362.
- ^ Strage, p.209
- ISBN 2-7152-2471-0, p. 79.
- ^ Haldane, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Strage, p.186
- ISBN 0-7538-2039-0
- ISBN 0-582-08241-2
- ^ Frieda, p. 395.
- ^ Strage, p.217
- ^ Frieda, p. 439.
- ^ Strage, p.277
- ^ Strage, p.294