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| Claude | |
|---|---|
.png) Contemporary image of Claude,c. 1520 | |
| Duchess of Brittany | |
| Reign | 9 January 1514 – 26 July 1524 |
| Predecessor | Anne |
| Successor | Francis III |
| Queen consort of France | |
| Tenure | 1 January 1515 – 26 July 1524 |
| Coronation | 10 May 1517 |
| Born | 13 October 1499 Romorantin-Lanthenay |
| Died | 26 July 1524(1524-07-26) (aged 24) Château de Blois |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue more... | |
| House | Valois-Orléans |
| Father | Louis XII of France |
| Mother | Anne of Brittany |
Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 26 July 1524) wasQueen of France from 1 January 1515 as the wife ofKing Francis I andDuchess of Brittany in her own right from 9 January 1514 until her death in 1524. She was the eldest daughter of KingLouis XII of France and DuchessAnne of Brittany.
Claude was born on 13 October 1499 inRomorantin-Lanthenay[1] as the eldest daughter of KingLouis XII of France and his second wife,Duchess Anne of Brittany.[2] She was named afterClaudius of Besançon, a saint her mother had invoked during a pilgrimage so she could give birth to a living child. During her two marriages, Anne had at least fourteen pregnancies, of whom only two children survived to adulthood: Claude and her youngest sisterRenée, born in 1510.
Because her mother had no surviving sons, Claude washeir presumptive to theDuchy of Brittany. The crown of France, however, could pass only to and through male heirs, according toSalic Law. Eager to keep Brittany separated from the French crown, Queen Anne, with help of CardinalGeorges d'Amboise, promoted a solution for this problem, a marriage contract between Claude and the futureHoly Roman Emperor Charles V.[3]
This sparked a dispute between the Cardinal andPierre de Rohan-Gié [fr] (1451–1513),Lord of Rohan, known as theMarshal of Gié, who fervently supported the idea of a marriage between the princess andFrancis, Duke of Valois, the heir presumptive to the French throne, which would keep Brittany united to France.[4]
On 10 August 1501 at Lyon the marriage contract between Claude and the future Charles V was signed byFrançois de Busleyden, Archbishop of Besançon,William de Croÿ, Nicolas de Rutter and Pierre Lesseman, all ambassadors ofDuke Philip of Burgundy, Charles' father. A part of the contract promised the inheritance of Brittany to the young prince, already the next in line to thrones ofCastile andAragon,Austria and the Burgundian Estates.
In addition, the firstTreaty of Blois, signed in 1504, gave Claude a considerable dowry in the case of her father's death without male heirs: besides Brittany, Claude also received the Duchies of Milan and Burgundy, the Counties of Blois and Asti and the territory of theRepublic of Genoa, then occupied by France.[5]
In 1505, her father, Louis, very sick, cancelled Claude's engagement to Charles in the Estates Generals of Tours, in favor of his heir,Francis, Duke of Valois.Louise of Savoy had obtained from the king a secret promise that Claude would be married to her son.[6] Queen Anne, furious to see the triumph of the Marshal of Gié, exerted all her influence to obtain his conviction fortreason before the Parliament of Paris.[7]
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On 9 January 1514, when her mother died, Claude became Duchess of Brittany; and four months later, on 18 May, at the age of 14, she married her cousin Francis atSaint-Germain-en-Laye. With this union, it was secured that Brittany would remain united to the French crown, unless the third marriage of Louis withMary of England (celebrated on 9 October 1514) produced the long-waited heir. However, the third marriage of Louis was short-lived and childless: Louis XII died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after the wedding.[8] Francis and Claude became king and queen.
As Duchess of Brittany, Claude left all the affairs of the duchy to her spouse; she did, however, refuse his repeated suggestion to have Brittany incorporated into France, and instead named her oldest son,Francis, heir to the duchy.[9]
As queen, Claude was eclipsed at court by her mother-in-law,Louise of Savoy, and her sister-in-law, the literary Navarrese queenMargaret of Angoulême. She never ruled over Brittany; in 1515 she gave the government of her domains to her husband in perpetuity. Unlike her younger sister Renée, she seems to have never showed any interest in her maternal inheritance nor had any disposition to politics, as she preferred to devote herself to religion under the influence, according to some sources, ofChristopher Numar of Forlì, who was the confessor of her mother-in-law. Gabriel Miron repeated his functions under Anne of Brittany and remained as chancellor of Queen Claude and first doctor; he wrote a book entitledde Regimine infantium tractatus tres.[10]
After Francis became king in 1515,Anne Boleyn stayed as a member of Claude's household.Renée of France later mentioned that she was one of Claude'smaid of honour.[11] It is assumed that Anne served as Claude's interpreter whenever there were English visitors, such as in 1520, atthe Field of Cloth of Gold.[citation needed] Anne Boleyn returned to England in late 1521, where she eventually became Queen of England as the second wife ofHenry VIII.Diane de Poitiers, another of Claude's ladies, was a principal inspiration of theSchool of Fontainebleau of the French Renaissance, and became the lifelong mistress of Claude's son,Henry II.
Claude was crowned Queen of France atSt. Denis Basilica on 10 May 1517 by CardinalPhilippe de Luxembourg (also known as Cardinal du Mans), who "anointed her in the breast and forehead".[12]
She spent almost all her marriage 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.
About Claude, the historianBrantôme wrote:
I must speak about madame Claude of France, who was very good and very charitable, and very sweet to everyone and never showed displeasure to anybody in her court or of her domains. She was deeply loved by the King Louis and the Queen Anne, her father and mother, and she was always a good daughter to them; after the King took the peaceful Duke of Milan, he made him declare and proclaim her in the Parliament of Paris the Duchess of the two most beautiful Duchies of Christendom, Milan and Brittany, one from the father and the other from the mother. What an heiress! if you please. Both Duchies joined in all good deed to our beautiful kingdom.[13]
The pawn of so much dynastic maneuvering, Claude was short in stature and affected byscoliosis, which gave her a hunched back, while her husband was bigger and athletic. The successive pregnancies made her appear continuously plump, which drew mockeries at Court. Foreign ambassadors noted her "corpulence",claudication (tendency to limping), thestrabismus affecting her left eye, her small size, and her ugliness, but they acknowledged her good qualities.[14] She was little loved at court after the death of her parents. Brantôme testified:
That the king, her husband gave her the pox, which shortened her days. And madame the Regent [Louise of Savoy] bullied her constantly [...].
The king's will imposed the omnipresence of his mistress,Françoise de Foix.
Claude died on 26 July 1524[a][b] at theChâteau de Blois, aged twenty-four.[19] The exact cause of her death was disputed among sources and historians: while some alleged that she died in childbirth or after a miscarriage, others believed that she died for exhaustion after her many pregnancies or after developing bone tuberculosis (like her mother) and finally some believed that she died fromsyphilis caught from her husband.[20][21] She was buried at St. Denis Basilica.
She was initially succeeded as ruler of Brittany by her eldest son, the DauphinFrancis, who became Duke Francis III, with Claude's widower King Francis I as guardian. After the Dauphin's 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, toEleanor of Austria, the sister of Emperor Charles V. The atmosphere at court became considerably more debauched, and there were rumours that King Francis' death in 1547 was due to syphilis.
Foreign ambassadors noted her "strong corpulence", her limp, thestrabismus of her left eye, her short stature, her ugliness, and her reserve, but they also emphasized her good-hearted nature.[22]
It has been speculated based on these descriptions that she hadDown syndrome.[23]
Claude and Francis I had:
Claude of France Cadet branch of theCapetian dynasty Born: 13 October 1499 Died: 20 July 1524 | ||
| French nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duchess of Brittany 1514–1524 withFrancis (1514 – 1515) | Succeeded by |
| Countess of Étampes 1514-1524 | Vacant Title next held by John V | |
| French royalty | ||
| Preceded by | Queen consort of France 1515–1524 | Vacant Title next held by Eleanor of Austria |
