Renée of France
| Renée of France | |
|---|---|
Château de Blois, Kingdom of France | |
| Died | 12 June 1574 (aged 63) Château de Montargis, Kingdom of France |
| Burial | Château de Montargis |
| Spouse | |
Catholicism | |
Renée of France (25 October 1510
Background
Renée was born on 25 October 1510 at the
Renee's early education was undertaken by her governess, Michelle de Saubonne, Madame de Soubise. Saubonne was a partisan of Anne of Brittany and opposed to Anne's enemy, Louise of Savoy; so, after the death of Renée's parents, Louise and her son, Francis I of France, had Saubonne sacked. Renée never forgot this, and when she married, she took Saubonne with her.[4]
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In return for renouncing her claims to the Duchy of Brittany, Renée was granted the Duchy of Chartres by Francis. She was considered as a possible bride for King Henry VIII.[5]
Duchess of Ferrara
Renée was married in April 1528 to
On 31 October 1534, her father-in-law died and Ercole succeeded to the throne. Hardly had he rendered his oath of allegiance to
Heresy trial
Renée was in correspondence with a very large number of Protestants abroad, and with intellectual sympathizers like
Finally, Duke Ercole lodged an accusation against Renée before her nephew King Henry II of France. Through the Inquisitor Ortiz, whom the king charged with this errand, Renée was arrested as a heretic, and declared forfeit of all possessions unless she recanted. She resisted steadfastly for some time, until her two daughters were taken away from her, supposedly forever. As a condition for being reunited with her children, she yielded and made confession on 23 September 1554. Subsequently, however, she refused to attend mass, which for her was a form of blasphemy.
Return to France
Renée's longing to return home was not satisfied until a year after the death of her husband on 3 October 1559. In France she found her eldest daughter's husband Francis, Duke of Guise, at the head of the Catholic party. His power was broken by the death of his nephew Francis II in December 1560, so that Renée was able to provide Protestant worship at her estate Montargis, engaging a capable preacher by application to Calvin. She acted as a benefactress for the surrounding Protestants, making her castle a refuge for them when the first phase French Wars of Religion began in 1562.
Again, her conduct won Calvin's praise (10 May 1563), and she is one of the frequently recurring figures in his correspondence of that period. He repeatedly shows recognition of her intervention in behalf of the Evangelical cause; and one of his last writings in the French tongue, dispatched from his deathbed (4 April 1564), is addressed to her.
While Renée continued unmolested in the second phase of the wars (1567), in the third phase (1568–70) her castle was no longer respected as an asylum for Protestants. On the other hand, she succeeded in rescuing a number of them from the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, when she happened to be in Paris. The Catholic forces left her personally undisturbed at that time, though Catherine de' Medici still sought to move her to retract, a demand which she ignored.
Children
| French monarchy |
| Capetian dynasty, House of Valois (Valois-Orléans branch) |
|---|
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|
Louis XII |
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With Ercole II she had:
- Jacques de Savoie, 2nd Duc de Nemours
- Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, 22 November 1533 – 1597[9]
- Lucrezia Maria d'Este, 16 December 1535 – 1598,[9] married Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino.
- Eleonore d'Este, 1537-1581[9]
- Archbishop of Auch
Renee was widowed in 1559. As a result of being on bad terms with her son,
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Renée of France | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23. Margaret of Bavaria[13] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1. Renée of France | |||||||||||||||||||
| 24. John IV, Duke of Brittany[11]: 452 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12. Richard, Count of Étampes[11]: 462–463 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 25. Joan of Navarre[11]: 452 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 6. Francis II, Duke of Brittany[11]: 463–465 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 26. Louis I, Duke of Orléans[11]: 207, 452 (= 8) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 13. Margaret of Orléans[11]: 462–463 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 27. Valentina Visconti[11]: 207, 452 (= 9) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 3. Anne, Duchess of Brittany | |||||||||||||||||||
| 28. John I, Count of Foix[14] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 14. Gaston IV, Count of Foix[11]: 465 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 29. Jeanne of Albret[14] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 7. Margaret of Foix[11]: 465 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 30. John II of Aragon[15] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15. Eleanor of Navarre[11]: 465 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 31. Blanche I of Navarre[15] | |||||||||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ Duchess of Chartes from 1528
References
- ^ Knecht 1996, p. 15.
- ^ Peebles & Scarlatta 2021, p. 1.
- ^ Previté-Orton 1978, p. 776.
- ^ Matarasso 2001, p. ?.
- ^ Warnicke 1989, p. 22.
- ^ Wieck 2021, p. 89.
- ^ a b c d Robin 2007, p. 322.
- ^ Parker 2007, p. 269.
- ^ a b c d e Peebles & Scarlatta 2021, p. 6.
- ^ Peebles & Scarlatta 2021, p. 112.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Père (1726). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France [Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
- ^ a b Ornato, Monique (2001). Répertoire de personnages apparentés à la couronne de France aux XIVe et XVe siècles [Directory of characters related to the crown of France in the 14th and 15th centuries]. Publications de la Sorbonne. p. 145.
- ^ a b Backhouse, Janet (1997). The illuminated page: ten centuries of manuscript painting in the British Library. p. 166.
- ^ a b Courteault, Henri (1895). Gaston IV, comte de Foix, vicomte souverain de Béarn, prince de Navarre, 1423–1472 [Gaston IV, count of Foix, sovereign viscount of Béarn, prince of Navarre] (in French). É. Privat. p. 23. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ a b Anthony, R. (1931). Identification et Étude des Ossements des Rois de Navarre inhumés dans la Cathédrale de Lescar [Identification and Study of the Bones of the Kings of Navarre buried in the Cathedral of Lescar] (PDF). Archives du Muséum, 6e series (in French). Vol. VII. Masson et Cie. p. 9.
Sources
- Parker, Holt (2007). "Morata, Fulvia Olympia, (1526/1527–1555)". In Robin, Diana Maury; Larsen, Anne R.; Levin, Carole (eds.). Encyclopedia of women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England. ABC-CLIO, Inc.
- Knecht, R.J. (1996). Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521578851.
- Matarasso, Pauline Maud (2001). Queen's Mate: Three Women of Power in France on the Eve of the Renaissance. Ashgate.
- Peebles, Kelly Digby; Scarlatta, Gabriella, eds. (2021). Representing the Life and Legacy of Renée de France: From Fille de France to Dowager Duchess. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Previté-Orton, C. W. (1978). Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter: Volume 2, The Twelfth Century to the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press.
- Robin, Diana (2007). "Renata di Francia (Renée de France, 1510–1574)". In Robin, Diana Maury; Larsen, Anne R.; Levin, Carole (eds.). Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1851097722.
- Warnicke, R.M. (1989). The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family politics at the court of Henry VIII. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37000-4.
- Wieck, Roger S. (2021). "The Primer of Renee of France". In Peebles, Kelly Digby; Scarlatta, Gabriella (eds.). Representing the Life and Legacy of Renée de France: From Fille de France to Dowager Duchess. Palgrave Macmillan.
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