Book Excerpt – Out of The Shadows: The Ladies of Château Amboise

EXCERPT – Out of The Shadows: The Ladies of Château Amboise

Catherine de Médicis, queen dowager of France, mother of three kings of France (Francis II, Charles IX and Louis III), was among the most powerful women in French history. She, in effect, ran France for twenty-five years.

When we think of Catherine de Medici we think what? Florence? Certainly. It’s where she was born. The Pope? Yes. She was closely related to two popes. Great wealth? Undoubtedly. The Saint Bartholomew Day Massacre? Yes. Diane de Poitiers? Yes. Their names will be forever linked. As Princess Diana so famously said there were three of them in Catherine’s marriage.

Catherine was plain, short, stout and spoke French with a strong Italian accent. She was looked down on by the French Court. For over twenty-five years she took second place to Diane de Poitiers, her husband’s adored mistress.

Catherine’s parents were married at Château Amboise 5 May 1518. Her Italian father was Lorenzo II de Medici, duke of Urbino. Madeleine de La Tour of Auvergne, her French mother, was related to Francis I.

The wedding was a double celebration. Queen Claude had just given birth to the Dauphin Francis. The extravaganza organised by Leonardo da Vinci, the King’s Master of Ceremonies, went on for weeks. Francis I even re-enacted his astonishing 1515 victory at the Battle of Marignano in Italy.

By the time she left Amboise, Catherine’s mother might have been pregnant. Catherine was born 13 April 1519. Her mother, 21, died 28 April 1519. Two weeks later her father a notorious womaniser, died of syphilis ‘worn out by disease and excess’. He was twenty-seven. Rumour had it, he infected his young wife.

Orphaned at birth, Catherine was passed around her father’s relatives and could call nowhere home. Francis I wanted to raise her at his Court in Château Amboise with his own children but instead she was cared for in Florence by the Medici family.

About the Author – Pamela Shields

I was born in England but grew up in Wales where I qualified as an art teacher. I lived in London for twenty years where I trained as a magazine journalist. Age fifty I sold my house and travelled alone for two unforgettable years in Australia, Belgium and America. I wrote a book about my experiences but can’t get an agent or publisher. Commissioned to write five non-fiction books I moved to the countryside where I met my husband Mark, a photographer. We have self-published eight books together on various subjects. We moved to Amboise in the Loire Valley France to launch a photography business.

Here is her interview