The Six Queens of Francis the First

[Prince of Permsia]

Claude
“Had God made her body as beautiful as her soul I should have wanted for no other. Alas. I should have been kinder to her.”
(Francis on Claude)

“It would not hurt so much if I did not love him so.”
(Claude on Francis)

Francis’s first wife was Claude, daughter of his predecessor Louis XII and heiress to her mother, Anne, the Duchess of Brittany. Though they longed for a son, the Queen and King cherished their daughters Claude and Rene. The girls had a happy childhood, one that for Claude, ended abruptly with her mother’s death and her marriage to Francis, her father’s heir. Though Francis vowed to honor and respect her, he declared that for love, “I will have others.”

Claude for her part is a model of meek wifely devotion, dutifully singing away the administration of Brittany to her husband’s control and staying out of the affairs of state. Francis comes to care for her in a strange way, though this does not stop him from constantly cheating on her. Still, the Queen was not neglected. She spent her marriage in a near-constant state of pregnancy.

After giving birth to a daughter, named Louise after her mother-in-law and chief tormentor, at the age of just sixteen, she bore another daughter, named Charlotte the next year, she gave her husband a son, named Francis in 1518. “A boy as beautiful as his father”, the young Queen declared. Nobody would ever call poor Claude a beauty.

At first Queen Louise disdained her daughter-in-law, believing her hunchback and ill health made her unable to bear children. When she bore her husband's two daughters she chided her for not giving him a boy. When she gave birth to a long-awaited heir, Louise moved on to chiding her for her appearance, including the weight she put on during her pregnancies.

Claude endured all with the patience and understanding of a Saint, never failing to show courtesy, even love, to the family who mocked and persecuted her at every turn. Only the death of her daughter Louise, the very year of young Francis’s birth, brings her to tears. Soon afterward the young Queen found herself pregnant again.

Besides bearing children, the foremost duty of a Queen, Claude took a role in the education of many young ladies of the court, including the young Anne Bolyn and her own little sister Rene. Renee would not remember much of her sister. But she will remember her kindness, and how that kindness was taken advantage of. Though Claude insisted on upholding the strictest standards of both learning and morality amongst her ladies, it does not stop her husband from sleeping with many of them. Mary Bolyn in particular becomes known as the King’s “English Mare” because he enjoyed riding her so much.

Despite her ill health and pregnancies, Claude insisted on keeping up with the court, desperately clinging to what little influence she had over her husband the King. It was on one of their many journeys around France that her carriage crashed.

A model of courtly chivalry, Francis leaped to his heavily pregnant wife’s aid, carrying her in his arms to safety. The crash and her injuries caused Claude to go into premature labor. This would be the only birth of any of his children that the King would attend in person. With great difficulty, Claude was able to successfully deliver a son, named Henri, but she was weakened and on the verge of death.

Her husband held her hand tightly, pleading for her to stay alive, professing his undying love and devotion, even vowing to be faithful to her alone. Claude’s eyes welled with tears for at last, at the very end, she had received his affections. Her last words were a profession of undying love for her husband and a plea for him to cherish her memory and care for their little children.

Claude, fille of France, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of France, the daughter, wife, and mother of Kings, died in her husband’s arms with a smile upon her face. She was just twenty years old.

Francis was left wailing in grief. It seemed he cared for his Claude far more in death than he ever did in life, as his sister Marguerite would later note. “If I could have only given my life for hers I would have done so without hesitation”, the the King declares.

At her funeral, even Louise of Savoy would note that the daughter-in-law she had heaped abuse upon was a “very good girl.” Young Renee would note what being a good girl got her poor sister and silently vowed not to go down that path.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Beatriz
“The most marvelous woman who ever lived.”
Francis on Beatriz)

“I certainly intend to be the most magnificent jewel in his crown”
(Beatriz on Francis)

Despite his grief at Claude’s death, Francis knows he must remarry. It is what she would have wanted, for her children to have a mother, Francis declares to his advisors. The more cynical note that this is the first time the King had ever cared for what Claude would have wanted.

He resolves to secure his hold on Milan, mend relations with Emperor Charles V, and secure a large dowery by wedding one of the daughters of King Manuel of Portugal. At first, he requested the hand of the eldest girl Isabella. But she refused, stating that she would either wed Emperor Charles V or go to a convent. And so the King of Portugal dispatched his youngest sister, Beatriz to be the King's new bride.

In 1521, the year of her marriage, Beatriz was a beautiful, spirited, and proud girl of just seventeen years. Francis was taken with her at first sight. Though it was her beauty that immediately drew the King’s attention it was her fire, her spirit, her wit, so much unlike meek and kind Claude, that kept his affections firmly fixed on his new Queen.

Beatriz for her part was transfixed by her husband, a handsome powerful man who would indulge her insatiable need for attention. To the surprise of everyone, Francis sent away his mistresses, having eyes for no other but his Queen.

While Louise of Savoy was happy that her son was ending his embarrassing debaucheries, and no longer putting himself at near-constant risk of syphilis, she soon found herself missing her son’s petite amours. For Beatriz proved herself unlike Claude in another way, she was unwilling to allow herself to be upstaged by Louise and her daughter Marguerite. With Beatriz in the midst, the famed trio was broken up, with the King relying more on his wife than his mother and sister.

"The poor Queen Mother now weeps for my sister almost as much as her son", Renee observed drily to a friend.

Marguerite for her part found herself respecting the new Queen, though Beatriz’s pride and Marguerite’s loyalty to her mother ensured they would never be friends. "We did not appreciate Claude when we had her", she admitted to a confidant.

Queen Claude’s children by contrast adored their new stepmother, and she in turn loved them. Amongst many areas of competition, Beatriz competed with Louise and Marguerite for influence over the late Queen’s brood.

The young Queen fell pregnant within the first three months of her marriage. This was not a surprise to Beatriz. “The King calls me his Portuguese mare, for he so enjoys mounting me”, the Queen confided in a rather vulgar letter to her sister Isabella, where she all but gloated about her illustrious station, for once elevated above her older sister who pinned seemingly in vain for the hand of Charles V. Evidently the Queen had no idea a similar epithet had been applied to the King’s mistress Mary Boleyn. Perhaps if she had known she would have been less thrilled to receive the title.

The end of 1521 saw the new Queen deliver a son, named Charles. Francis was utterly besotted with his third son. Beatriz for her part immediately took to spoiling the boy, as she would do all of her children, both natural and those from her husband’s first marriage. The King in turn continued to spoil his Queen, weighing her down with gold and gems.
Beatriz loved the power and perks of being Queen of France and lorded them over the other ladies of the court, making many enemies, but because she always possessed the favor of the King nobody could touch her. On the rare occasions when Francis challenged her a good pout could always bring him back under control.

Some of her enemies may have hoped that the deterioration of relations between Francis and Charles would have brought the Queen low, but once again she retained royal favor. Indeed Francis seemed drawn even closer to his wife, perhaps viewing her as a sort of trophy to lord over the Emperor, a role Beatriz was more than happy to fill.

In 1522 she bore the King another daughter, named Margaret after his sister. Once again the King lavished his favorite with gifts of gold and jewels, which she gleefully flaunted about the court. The gifts he gave Beatriz for bearing a mere girl were more than poor Claude had been given for a son, Renee noted bitterly.

In 1523 the Italian wars continued to escalate and Beatriz once again found herself pregnant. Despite her condition, the lively Queen continued to host raucous balls and dances. It was during one of these arguments that the Queen went into labor. The birth proved difficult and though the Queen was delivered of a healthy girl, who was named Beatriz after her mother, she was greatly weekend. For weeks she fought for life, as gossip swirled that Beatiz had been poisoned by Louise of Savoy, or one of her many other enemies at court. Throughout her illness, the King remained by her bedside. Despite his love and the treatments of his doctors, Beatriz perished. Francis was beside himself with grief, as were his children, the younger ones especially having no memory of Claude, remembered her as the only mother they had ever known. The rest of the court by contrast did their best to hide their obvious relief that this arrogant foreigner no longer had the King’s ear.

In her journal Louise of Savoy simply wrote that what had happened had been “God’s will”, and left it at that.

Despite his grief Francis soon returned to the affairs of state. He had a war to win. In 1524 he departed for Italy, for a fateful confrontation with the forces of Charles V at Pavia.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Elanor

“She was uglier than her brother”
(Francis on Elanor)

“The kindest thing he ever did was end our marriage”
(Elanor on Francis)

The years following Beatriz’s death were some of the worst of Francis’s life. His wife was dead and his Italian campaign ended in disastrous defeat at Pavia. The King was now a captive of his archnemsis, Emperor Charles V. More grief followed, for his visiting sister Marguerite revealed that his son and heir, young Francis, had perished of an illness.

Though Louise of Savoy proved an able regent, Francis knew he had to free himself from captivity if he was to keep the state from falling into chaos. Therefore he concluded a treaty with Charles. Francis would cede Milan and Burgundy to Charles and renounce French serenity over Flanders and Artois. He would also wed Charles’s sister Eleanor of Austria. Francis was able to persuade Charles that he must return to France to ratify the treaty. The Emperor was persuaded to let him go on two conditions. First, he must turn over his heir Henri as a hostage. Second, he was to wed the King’s sister Elanor immediately. Seeing no choice, Francis agreed to both of these terms. However, he was able to argue the marriage could only be consummated and formally celebrated upon their return to France.

While his original refusal to consummate was a political choice, upon seeing Eleanor, the King’s reasons became personal. He took an instant dislike to his new wife, who he called “ugly even for a Hapsburg”

Eleanor's reaction could not have been more different. She fell instantly in love with her intended and did everything in her power to please him. She begged to be taken to France with him but the King demurred. He claimed he had to set the country to right before he wed again, but he would send for her as soon as things were safe.

However, he would not do so. As soon as he returned to France Francis would repudiate the treaty and his new marriage and resume the war with Charles V.

The Emperor was incensed and Eleanor , was heartbroken, even more so when Francis wed another. Charles declared the marriage bigamous and the children produced bastards. A French army was able to take Rome, liberating the Pope, and permitting him to grant Francis’s request to annul his marriage to Eleanor of Austria.

Despite her travails, Eleanor made the best of her situation. Besides writing pleading letters to her “husband”, she took care of Prince Henri, preventing her brother from inflicting the worst abuse upon him, and spent more time with her daughter Maria.

After years of fighting, Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria negotiated the “Ladies' peace”, ending the ongoing conflict. The only two changes from the previous treaty were that Charles was to give up his claim to Burgundy and recognize the validity of Francis’s fourth marriage.

Elanor was left humiliated and heartbroken. But her tales has a happy ending. Charles V found he had a need to placate the new elector Palatine Frederick. He had been Elanor’s first love, their secret relationship discovered and destroyed by the Emperor for the sake of his political ambitions. Now for those same reasons, Elanor was at long last allowed to be with her beloved.

Though Elanor and Frederick were never able to have children of their own they had a long and happy marriage, with Elanor maintaining a warm correspondence with her daughter Maria of Viseu. Looking back, she would conclude it was best for the happiness of all involved that Francis had forsaken their marriage.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Renée

“Had she been born a man she would have been a better King than me.”
(Francis on René)

“Despite my best efforts, I loved him.”
(Rene on Francis)

Upon returning to France Francis recognized he needed a new wife. He had no intention of honoring the alliance he had made to Charles V. Instead he had an eye on a bride much closer to home.

Though he had two sons, Henri was a captive and Charles lacked the all-important claim to Brittany. Francis recognized he had but one option in his search for a new bride.

In 1526 Claude’s younger sister Renee was sixteen years old. Though she lacked her sister’s most crippling aliments, she was no great beauty. She was however highly educated, headstrong, and wise beyond her years. Though he needed to wed her for her claim to Brittany, the King found himself genuinely desiring his former sister-in-law.

Renee for her part was conflicted. Already a budding believer in religious reform, and keenly conscious of her own dignity as a daughter of France. Becoming Queen would allow her to advance the cause of reform and would be the highest station she could possibly aspire to as a woman.

Yet there were also major reasons to be wary of the crown. All of Francis’s wives, apart from Eleanor of Austria who according to the King was not a real wife, had met tragic ends. Renee had seen firsthand the horrible way the King and his mother and sister had treated her sister Claude. She would not allow them to act that way towards her.

Ever the gallant the King attempted to woo Renee with gifts and tokens of affection. He even did the honor of asking for her hand in person. So one can only imagine his surprise when she came back to him with conditions.

First, he was to keep an open mind and refrain from persecuting religious reformers and dissenters.

Second, should little Henri and Charlotte die without issue Brittany would go to Renee’s line.

Finally, he was to honor her as a Queen should be honored. “I remember all too well how kind my sister Claude was to your mother and sister, and how that kindness was repaid.”

Surprisingly the King agreed to all of those conditions and even expressed genuine remorse for the way he had treated Claude. Renee was deeply touched.

The King promised to rapidly gain papal permission for the marriage but Renee was unbothered. Why should the King of France bow to some corrupt Italian?

“The King of England can set his own policy in regard to marriage, why should the most magnificent prince in Christendom have any fewer rights than that corpulent ogre.”

Francis laughed. “If you flatter me like that this will be a most happy marriage indeed.”

The King and the Princess were wed in regal splendor at the beginning of 1527. Like her predecessors, Renee fell pregnant within just a few months of her wedding. Despite her condition, the young Queen will not allow herself to be usurped in court functions. She quarrels with Louise of Savoy over precedence and power. Louise wonders aloud why Renee cannot be like her sister, focus on the children, and leave the affairs of state to those who know better.
Renee in turn accuses Louise of bullying her poor older sister into an early grave. The two quarrel extensively, worse even than Louise’s clashes with Beatriz. “It took all my strength not to slap the King’s mother”, Renee would confide to a friend.

The Queen’s first child, a girl, was delivered near Christmas. “A present for the King”, Francis’s young wife declared. The King was content with this gift but made it clear he needed a son from Renee.

In 1529 French forces reached Rome and liberated the Pope, who promptly legitimized Francis's new marriage. All of France breathed a sigh of relief, but the Queen herself reiterated the belief that the Pope's opinion did not matter. It was an early glimpse of her reformist tendencies. A conviction that bordered on the heretical. Renee was expecting again and shortly after receiving news of the legitimacy of her marriage, she gave birth to her second daughter, whom she was permitted to name Anne, after her mother. Louise of Savoy chastised her for her failure to produce a son. Renee responded that she was high enough in the King’s affections to be sure that another child would soon follow.

Though the young Queen feuded incessantly with her mother-in-law, she established friendly relations with her sister-in-law Marguerite. The two women bonded over their love of scholarship and religious reform. More conservative courtiers accused both women of heresy but the King would hear none of it. The combined influence of his sister and his wife persuaded the King to tolerate reformers and dissidents. However, the King himself remains a strict Catholic, in terms of confessional allegiance if not personal conduct.

Despite being less naturally maternal than her sister Claude or less friendly than her predecessor Queen Beatriz, Renee is close to her stepchildren. She is especially close with her niece Charlotte. The budding young beauty leans on Renee as not just a mother but a philosophical mentor.

As part of an alliance with King Francis against his former benefactor Charles V, Duke Francesco betrothed himself to young Charlotte. This caused a quarrel between husband and wife, as Charlotte was reluctant to have her favorite stepdaughter married to a man so much older than her, and in such a perilous political position. Francis curtly reminded her that he was the King. His job was to conduct policy, hers was to give birth. Renee responded by kicking him from her bed, something Claude never would have done. To his credit, the King consented to his wife’s wishes.

It was around this time that Francis began flaunting relations with his mistress, Anne de Pisselou de Hielly, cousin of the infamous Francois de Foix who had been the King’s mistress during Claude’s time. Francis had never been faithful over the course of his marriage to Renee and Renee had never seemed to be overly concerned. The King had seen that his young Queen’s position was respected, despite the efforts of his mother to drive a wedge between them. Now in her stubbornness and pride, Renee had been the author of her own estrangement.

When young Henri returned to France, at the conclusion of the war of the war, Francis made a point to appear in public with his mistress, fondling and kissing her for all of Paris, and Renee to see. This was enough for the Queen. She confronted Anne and a physical altercation ensued. Francis had to personally break up the fight between the two women.

Thereafter the King confronted his Queen on her behavior. The two rowed furiously but in an odd twist, the quarrel seemed to draw them closer. The King ordered his courtiers to leave them alone. The next day he emerged from his chambers, satisfied, and declared his rift with Renee was over.

Thereafter no mistress would upstage the Queen of France. With Prince Henri returned Renee tried her best to heal his damaged psyche. But the introverted, emotionally stunted boy, refused to bond with her as a mother. “She’s too young to be our mother and is our aunt in any case”, Henri complained to his sister, and close confidant Charlotte. Despite this distance, Renee defended the young prince from his father’s criticism and unfavorable comparisons to his favorite son Charles.

In September of 1531, Louise of Savoy passed away. A heavily pregnant Renee was able to skip the funeral. Despite her rivalry with the Queen dowager she did in the end admit that she had been a very intelligent and accomplished woman. If nothing else Renee genuinely mourned for the grief the passing of his mother caused the King and did her best to comfort him. Thus she did not object when her newest daughter was named Louise.

Renee kept up an active correspondence with the French Protestants, urging them towards moderation and away from confrontation with the King. In secret, she also began to direct the education of the King’s children in the reformist direction. Louise of Savoy’s death also removed the last obstacle between Renee and Marguerite, and a beautiful friendship soon blossomed. They wrote many letters discussing art, politics, and theology, and Renee would even make an appearance in Marguerite’s works of fiction.

In spring 1532 it came time for Francis to dispatch Charlotte to wed the Duke of Milan. A newly pregnant Renee was present at the departure of her niece and stepdaughter. The two embraced and vowed to keep in touch, with Charllote promising to visit her father and stepmother whenever she had a chance. Among her things was a book of hours Anne of Brittany had commissioned for her son Charles Orlando, it had been passed from Anne to her daughter Claude and was now being passed by Renee to Claude’s daughter Charlotte. It was a touching farewell. Little did anyone know it was the last time the two young women would see one another.

That December it came time for Renee to deliver her child. The birth proved difficult and the doctors claimed they could only save one or the other. Francis, despite wanting a son, asked that they save the Queen, but Renee herself furiously insisted that her child be rescued. Francis reluctantly bowed to her wishes. Renee lived long enough to name the boy Louis, after her father, and say her farewell to her husband and children. Then she passed. “What a loss for France, and for me”, was all the King could say, between barely muffled sobs.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Diane
“She was a great comfort to me.”
(Francis on Diane)

“We were each other’s comforts.”
(Diane on Francis)

After Renee's death, Francis spiraled into a grief-fueled spasm of hedonism. In the past, he had been able to both work hard and play hard, but now his debauchery threatened to interfere with the affairs of state. He showed up drunk to the wedding of his son and heir Henri and the Portuguese Princess Maria, the daughter of spurned Eleanor of Austria, and the sister of late Queen Beatriz. During the consumption of the marriage, he had made lewd remarks about her figure and the bedability of Portuguese women.

It fell to a long-time lady of the court, a friend of both Claude and Renee to pull Francis out of his spiral. The name of this savior was Diane de Poitiers. How exactly she gained her pull over the King was unknown. Some said she was the only one willing to be honest with him about how far he had fallen. Others said she was a comfort and a shoulder to cry on. The fact that, though over thirty, Diane herself was a handsome woman, certainly helped matters.

Diane herself was recently widowed. Though her husband had been much older than her she had been greatly attached to him, and this commiseration in grief drew her closer to the King.

Despite the growing closeness between the two it still came as a shock when Francis announced his next wife would not be a foreign princess, nor his long-time mistress Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly, but the widow Diane.

Though many of his subjects were upset by this development, the one who took it by far the worst was Francis’s son Henri. He had developed an attachment to Diane that was not the kind a son developed for his mother, or at least not the healthy type of mother-son relationship. Despite being married to Maria of Portugal, he poured his heart out in a letter to his sister Charlotte declaring that Diane was both his true mother and the only woman he had ever loved.
Afterward, the Dauphin refused to have anything to do with Diane, despite her own best efforts to rebuild her relationship with her stepson.

Her relations with her other stepchildren were much better, especially Beatriz's two daughters Margaret and Beatriz. Soon enough, and to her own great surprise, Diane became pregnant with her own child. In 1535 she gave birth to a son named Francis after his father.

Diane was an advisor to her husband, helping him manage relations in Italy following the death of his son-in-law Francesco Sforza, and arrange a rapprochement with Henri VIII.

The death of Beatriz’s only son, Francis’s favorite boy, Charles, following a disastrous dare related to a plague quarantine, greatly grieved the King. Once again Diane was there to be his comfort.

Despite his love for Diane Francis had other women, especially his long-term mistress Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly. This she dutifully tolerated declaring that she was lucky to have the King’s love at all and willing to share her blessings with others. For his part, Prince Henri detested his father cheating on Diane almost as much as he detested him marrying her and made it known that he despised the King’s mistresses.

Ironically Diane would prove a good friend to Henri’s wife Maria and was able to help coax the couple to sleep together for the good of France.

Diane herself was an avid hunter, fitting given her namesake. However her luck would run out in 1540 and she would fall while riding, breaking her neck. The King and the Dauphin were for but a moment reconciled in grief.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Anne
“At last I am right with God”
(Francis on Anne)

“I shall remember this final kindness until the day I die”
(Anne on Francis)

In his last years, Francis grew more and more depressed and more and more debauched. In vain he tried to drown his sorrows in wine and loose women. Through it all Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly maintained her reign as Francis’s chief, but by no means only, mistress.

As the King lay on his deathbed he had a sudden attack of religious fervor. He summoned his mistress and a priest. On his deathbed, to the surprise of all, the King took Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly to be his sixth and final wife. Afterward, he confessed his sins, and shortly after that, King Francis passed away.

Anne’s new status meant that the new King Henri and his wife Maria of Portugal, could not exile her from court or seize her assets as they had planned. This last brief marriage had been an enormous kindness, one that Anne would remember until the day she died.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Louise
Francis's first child with Claude was a little girl. The young Queen had hoped to name her daughter Anne, after her recently deceased mother. However, Louise of Savoy would have none of it. Instead the girl was named Louise, for the King's mother. The one thing that Claude and her mother-in-law agreed upon was an undying love for the little girl and her siblings. She was betrothed to Charles V at one point to mend ties between her father and the Emperor. This betrothal was ended by the death of the little girl, at the age of just three. Her family was devastated.

 

[EdwardRex]

Francis, King of France (1494-1547) m. Claude, Duchess of Brittany (1499-1519) m. Beatriz, Infanta of Portugal (1504-1523) m. Eleanor, Archduchess of Austria (1498-1558) -annulled- m. Renee, Princess of France (1510-1532) m. Diane de Poitiers (1500-1540) m. Anne d’Pisseleu d’Heilly (1508-1580)
1a. Louise, Princess of France (1515-1518)
2a. Charlotte, Princess of France (1516-)
3a. Francis, Dauphin of France (1518-1524)
4a. Henri II, King of France (1519-)
5b. Charles, Duke of Angouleme (1521-1539)
6b. Margaret, Princess of France (1522-)
7b. Beatrice, Princess of France (1523-)
8d. Claude, Princess of France (1527-)
9d. Anne, Princess of France (1529-)
10d. Louise, Princess of France (1531-)
11d. Louis, Duke of Berry (1532-)
12e. Francois, Duke of Orleans (1535-)

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Charlotte

Francis and Claude's next child was another daughter. Charlotte was a pretty girl with auburn hair and a happy temperament. Even after Queen Claude bore her husband his namesake son the King admitted that little Charlotte had a special place in his heart. As the oldest surviving child she was the only one to retain even vague memories of Queen Claude. Her one memory of her mother was being held tight one night and sung to.

She was close to both her grandmother, Louise of Savoy, her Aunt Marguerite, and her first stepmother, Beatriz of Portugal. She would always fondly remember her stepmother handing her sweets after dinner. The years following Beatriz’s death would be some of the worst of her life. She would lose her stepmother, and her brother Francis, her father was captured, and finally, to gain his freedom, he took away her only remaining full sibling, Henri.

Her aunt Renee proved to be far more than just another stepmother to young Charlotte. She proved to be a mentor and a friend, helping the young girl navigate this tremulous time in her life.

As her aunt, Renee provided a link to her mother Claude, something Charlotte would always be grateful for. Charlotte learned that her mother was a kind woman. A good woman who loved her husband and children with all her heart. Charlotte must always love and honor her mother. But she must never become weak like her. Renee censored the worse of it but it was obvious to Charlotte that her mother had been taken advantage of. She vowed to never allow herself to fall into that role.
Though Francis made sure all of his daughters were educated in the high culture of the Renaissance, Charlotte proved to be an especially adept polymath. She frequented the literary circles of her Aunt Marguerite and the reformist circles of her stepmother Renee.

When her brother Henri returned from captivity Charlotte took it upon herself to be his guide and support in the family. Like her stepmother, she defended the prince when he faced criticism from his father. Francis, who loved and respected Charlotte, would listen to her advice.

As she grew older Charlotte, always a pretty child, grew into a beauty, desired by many men of the court. Alas, all knew she was destined for a foreign match.

In a twist of fate, her father had allied with the Duke of Milan, so long the subject of his ambitions for conquest. Duke Francesco suggested the matter of the Visconti claim to Milan be settled by his marriage to one of Francis’s daughters. Even after the end of the war, Francis still expressed interest in the match.

Queen Renee was against the marriage on account of the age difference between the bride and the groom and because she felt the Sforza’s were usurpers. Charlotte kept herself remote from the quarrel between her stepmother and father over her marriage, declaring only that she wished to do her duty. A letter does however survive, written to her aunt Marguerite, lamenting that she would be a mere duchess instead of a Queen like her younger sisters. Little did young Charlotte know what fate would have in store for her.

Upon her arrival young Charlotte rapidly became beloved by the people of Milan and the court, earning praise for her beauty, wisdom, and commitment to charity. Her husband too was well pleased with her, writing that she was “a delight to possess.” Charlotte too found herself growing fond of her husband. In some ways, he reminded her of her brother Henri, for both men were prone to melancholy. She became his light and he in turn lavished her with attention and affection.

The loss of her stepmother hurt Charlotte deeply. Shortly thereafter she became pregnant for the first time. She disappointed her husband by bearing only a daughter, named Beatrice, after the Duke’s mother. The Duke’s ill health, and his aloofness towards her greatly distressed young Charlotte, who began to grow depressed. “Our French flower has wilted”, one of her ladies would write.

Charlotte regained hope when in 1535 she became pregnant once again. However, the Duke’s health entered its final collapse. He would pass in October, leaving a grieving and extremely pregnant Charlotte as regent of Milan. In his last words to her he begged her to keep Milan independent and their children safe. Europe held it’s breath waiting to see if the Duchess would produce an heir. In November, following a difficult birth that nearly took the young Duchess’s life, Francesco’s posthumous son was born. The boy was named Francesco after his father and immediately proclaimed Duke of Milan. His birth almost certainly prevented a war between France and the Empire over the Milanese succession.

Though she wore black for the requisite time, and indeed in some ways did genuinely mourn her husband, Charllote was far freer and happier as a widow than she had been in married life. Moving quickly she was able to establish herself as regent for her son. Francis would not attack a Duchy ruled by his grandson, but Emperor Charles V was suspicious of Charllote, viewing her as a French proxy. An independent Milan, under Imperial influence, was vital to connecting his far flung empire. The Duchy could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands.

Though Charlotte wrote to the Emperor, proclaiming her desire for an independent foreign policy, and indeed did grant him many concessions, the only thing that would convince Charles that the daughter of his greatest enemy governing one of his most important vassals was not a threat was a personal meeting.

This meeting would take place in 1536. The Emperor was charmed by the young Duchess. Not only was she a great beauty, indeed age and motherhood had seemed to enhance rather than diminish her appeal, but she was also wise, educated, and persuasive. True to her word Milan would remain friendly with both France and the Empire, striving to keep the peace in Italy.

The Emperor and the Princess would grow close on a more personal level. For years afterwords both would deny that anything more than politics had been discussed in 1536. Charlotte would write to her father urging him not to believe “those vile accusations and slanders hurled against me by your enemies.” Charles would write to his wife Isabella, assuring her that she was his “true and only Empress and love.”

However, centuries later the diary of Charlotte’s confessor would be unearthed. The Duchess revealed that she had indeed felt something for the Emperor, love, with far greater passion than she had ever had for her husband. They had kissed and caressed and done anything a man and wife would do except consummate their relationship. The Emperor had remembered his honor, and his love for Isabella of Portugal and pulled back from the brink. Charlotte had been grateful for that.

Charlotte continued to govern Milan in the name of her son, becoming a key fixture of Italian politics and patron of the arts. Under her rule, Milan recovered from the war and regained it’s status as a great hub of Renaissance culture and learning.

In 1541 the Emperor once again made a progress through Italy. The three black clouds of the death of his wife, the disastrous Algiers expedition, and the breaking apart of the Church hung over Charles V’s head. Once again it fell to Charlotte to be the light in a brooding man’s world. Charles would describe his time in Milan as a respite from his troubles.

The Emperor lingered in Milan far longer than expected. When it seemed like he was about to leave he and the Duchess together made a shocking announcement. They were to wed. Charles had been asking for her hand for just about the entire time he had been in Milan. Though she loved him, Charlotte was reluctant to marry again and loose her independence and custody over her children. Despite these hesitations, they gave in to their passions. Charlotte would, decades later, confide to her second daughter Margaret that she only married the Emperor because she suspected she was already pregnant.

The match shocked Europe. Francis was happy to have a tie to bind the Emperor to him, but furious at his daughter’s lack of caution. True to her suspicions Charlotte gave birth to a daughter, Margaret, exactly nine months after her marriage to Charles.

Her relationship with Beatrice and Francesco was forever altered.

Though he would always honor her, and consult with her in matters of state, Francesco would never trust his mother, nor forgive her for abandoning him. He would live the rest of his life as a suspicious and paranoid man, loyal only to a select few friends and lovers.

Beatrice by contrast would be more forgiving. A gentle and mild girl, so unlike her mother and namesake, she had a temperament more resembling Queen Claude. In time she and her mother would grow close again, bonding over their shared fondness for Beatrice’s vast brood of children. Her marriage to John Stephan Zapolya would prove to be a happy one both for the couple and for the future of Hungary.

Like with her first husband Charlotte served as an advisor and a shoulder to lean on for the beleaguered Emperor. Though her love, and a lack of conflict with France, did improve his health somewhat, Charles was still not the fit youth he had once been. Though he often apologized for this fact, Charlotte would claim it did not matter. He was the man she chose. The man she loved, and that was enough for her.

In 1544 she would bear Charles another child, a daughter named Charlotte after her mother. Charlotte would treasure both of her girls and do her best to stay in touch with her two children in Milan. Though she had reformist sympathies, thanks to her education from Renee and Margaret, she would keep them hidden from her husbands and children. She would however advocate for tolerance and reconciliation to her husband. It was wise advise, advice that the Emperor would later admit that he wished he had followed Charlotte’s council.

An account of their relationship was recorded by a young singer named Barbra Blomberg, who attended the couple during their stay in Regensburg for the Imperial Diet in 1546. The couple warmly interacted with their children as they listened to her performance. The young Empress noticed her husband eying the young singer. Thereafter she made every effort to kiss and touch him in public, glaring formidably at Barbara like a lioness securing her territory.

Barbra subsequently noted that the couple proceeded to make love in a “most indiscreet manor” with the Empress in particular being described as “boisterously enthusiastic.” Thereafter Barbra noted the Emperor no longer seemed to notice her.

In February of 1547 Charlotte gave birth to a son, named John. The baby immediately became the subject of furious intrigues. Charles wanted to give him Burgundy and the right to succeed his brother Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor. This enraged Ferdinand’s son, Maximilian, along with his wife the Emperor’s daughter Maria of Austria, who had never liked her stepmother.

The issue also raised tensions between Charles and Ferdinand, at a time when the dynasty could ill afford it. Even Charlotte, who fiercely adored her son, recommended her husband not try to make him Holy Roman Emperor, for fear of upsetting the delicate balance within Casa de Austria. But once again Charles refused to heed his wife’s council.

In 1551 Maria’s brother Henri declared war on the Emperor, with the aid of the Protestant German Princes. The betrayal was a heavy blow, one Charlotte would never forgive. The war ended thousands of lives, along with the close bond shared between the last of Queen Claude’s children.

An even deeper wound was created in Italy. Charlotte’s son Francesco renewed his father’s alliance with France, breaking his betrothal with Ferdinand’s daughter, Archduchess Maria, and rebelled against the Emperor. His biographers have long been divided over if this was done for reasons of state or as a way to get back at his mother for abandoning him. Whatever the reasons Henri and Francesco partitioned the Savoyard state between themselves before moving on to strike Naples.

In Germany, the Imperial family was nearly captured and had to fleet Innsbrook. Chroniclers noted the Empress’s bravery and how she strove to comfort her small children, fretful servants, and ailing husband. “You truly have the heart of a sovereign, whereas I have grown old and weary”, Charles told her. Charlotte’s response was that her heart was his and only his and she would serve as his source of strength as long as he lived.

The Emperor was forced to conclude a truce with the Protestant princes, agreeing to amongst other things, keep the line of Ferdinand as Emperors in perpetuity. Privately Charlotte was happy at the religious tolerance her husband had granted.

With peace concluded in Germany, the Emperor was able to reinforce his armies along the line and in Italy. In Italy further good fortune would be achieved by the defection of Milan back to the Imperial cause. Duke Francesco, apparently satisfied that he had driven Imperial troops and influence out of his duchy, and weary of having the French to his East and South, agreed to change sides and take Maria back. She would bear him a brood of children, though the Duke’s heart would be with a series of mistresses he maintained over the course of his life.

The war and the divisions within Casa de Austria strained the Emperor to the breaking point. It was said that only Charlotte’s love and support kept him from losing his mind and abdicating.

In 1559 peace was made at Cateau-Cambrésis. Territorial changes were small, with the French annexing most of Savoy beyond the Alps, the three bishoprics, and several positions in Italy. Both of Charles’s sons were to wed French Princesses, with Charlotte's daughter Margaret to be wed to the Dauphin Francis. Charles would also abdicate in the Spanish Kingdoms, handing them over to his son Philip.

Henri believed that with the Empire fragmenting, the threat of encirclement was dissipating. It was at a celebration that brother and sister saw each other for the last time. Henri was apparently taken aback by how much of a grudge his sister held, for the King viewed the whole issue as merely an affair of state.

Charles would not live to long enjoy this peace. In 1560, while traveling around the Empire, he caught a chill. Despite the doctor’s treatments he died, holding the cross of his first wife the Empress Isabella in one hand, and the hand of his second love, Charlotte, in the other. The devastated Empress would wear black for the rest of her life and never remarry. For unlike Francesco, Charles had been her true love.

Charlotte was no left as regent of Burgundy, in the name of her young son John. Her grief was only added to when a scant few months following her father’s passing, Charlotte’s daughter Margaret would die giving birth to the Dauphin’s son. Though Margaret had been a staunch Catholic in the Habsburg mold, disapproving of her mother’s reformist tendencies, and harboring a certain guilt for her own conception out of wedlock, Charlotte loved her fiercely and was left wailing in grief at the news. This final straw would forever poison the heart of Francis’s favorite daughter against her homeland.

In the Duchy of Burgundy Charlotte, and later her son John, would promote a policy of religious tolerance similar to the stance of Emperor Maximilian II, ironic given the mutual loathing between Charlotte and the Emperor.

To sure up her son’s position in Burgundy Charllote would wed her younger daughter and namesake to Duke William “the Rich” of Cleves. A happy and fun-loving girl, Charlotte the Younger would enjoy a happy marriage with the Duke despite their age gap. Together they would have ten children and enjoy a colorful and cultured court.

John by contrast was not so keen on marriage. After breaking his betrothal with Henri’s daughter he would hold out his hand to multiple powers so as to gain their allegiance, all the while enjoying himself with his many mistresses.

Wanting revenge, and recognizing that a strong France would pose a threat to her son’s duchy, Margaret promoted the French protestant rebellions against her brother. Her intimate knowledge of French politics, culture, and the heart of its King, served only to further her effectiveness. The broken bond of love between Charlotte and Henri was replaced by one of mutual loathing. Their correspondence was filled with bitterness and accusation. In their final exchange, Henri called Charllote a heretic, a traitor, and a whore, while Charllote called her brother “the murderer of our mother.”

Shortly thereafter Henri was assassinated by a Protestant sympathizer. Despite her hatred, Charlotte wept for him. “I cry for the little boy I once knew, not the man he became”, she would explain to Charlotte the younger. The death of her brother seemed to take something out of Charlotte. She would pass away a scant year later. “I have lost my best minister”, Duke John would say.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Francis
After two daughters Claude gave birth to Francis’s long-awaited male heir. His mother told the midwife to “tell the King that he is even more beautiful than himself.” Francis agreed saying that he was “a beautiful dauphin who is the most beautiful and strong child one could imagine and who will be the easiest to bring up.” As a reward for his birth oft neglected Claude was showered with presents and for a brief moment that rarest of gifts, her husband’s affections. But she would always say the greatest gift by far was her son.

Francis was an ideal prince, close with all his siblings, and beloved by his father and mother. The young Dauphin proved equally charming to his stepmother Beatriz of Portugal, who loved to spoil him with sweets. His aunt Marguerite and Grandmother Louise also adored him, often taking steps to raise him themselves, which irritated Beatriz and broke poor Claude’s heart.

Beatriz’s death in childbirth deeply upset the young prince, as it did all of Francis’s children. Nevertheless, he behaved as a true monarch, comforting his younger siblings and doing his best to keep them in good cheer. With their father away, Francis and all the other children fell into the care of their aunt Marguerite, She recorded that the Prince seemed very mature for his age, asking questions about the war and affairs of state.

Alas France would be robbed of a potential great King when little Francis took ill in 1524. The little boy, after confessing his few sins and commending his soul to God, passed from this world at the age of just six. His death, coming on the heels of his father’s capture and the death of his stepmother Beatriz in childbirth was a devastating blow to the family. Marguerite wrote about him in her poems. Charlotte and Henri would remember their big brother until the day they died. Henri in particular would later confide to a confidant that his one goal throughout his entire reign was to be the kind of monarch young Francis would have been had he lived.

 

[Prince of Permsia]

Henri II
(part 1)

Henri, the future King of France was born prematurely, a tragedy that would cost the life of his mother, the long-suffering Queen Claude. For the few moments they spent together the Queen felt nothing but love for her young son, her heart aching at his distress even as her own life faded away.

His father by contrast was far more ambivalent. Despite losing two subsequent wives to childbirth, Henri was the only child he would ever hold responsible for the death of his mother. His sister Marguerite, who had a better insight into the King’s psyche than any of his wives, speculated that the King blamed Henri to displace his own guilt over both the way he had treated Claude, and his failure to save her life. Whatever the reasons the relationship between father and son would remain forever strained.

Though Henri would retain deep-seated guilt for Claude’s death, leading to a secretive melancholy temper that would last all his life, the first mother he would actually remember was his stepmother Queen Beatriz. In contrast to her husband the young Queen never judged or abused her stepson. Instead, she did her best to bring this quiet sensitive child out of his shell. The results were mixed but Henri would always appreciate her efforts and remember her fondly, if only vaguely.

His aunt Marguerite and grandmother Louise of Savoy likewise did not hold a grudge, although they favored his older siblings, Francis and Charlotte.

His two older siblings were especially protective of Henri, as if at even a young age they sensed the low regard their father held him. He in turn worshiped the ground both of them walked on, which makes the death of Francis and his estrangement from Charlotte all the more tragic.

From the age of four onward little Henri, and all of his siblings suffered a series of blows. First, he lost yet another mother to childbirth. Then his father was captured at Pavia and then his big brother Francis perished from sickness, leaving sad introverted little Henri as heir to the French crown.

In order to secure his own freedom Francis offered young Henri to Charles V as a hostage. Henri received a farewell kiss from one of his mother’s former ladies, Diane de Poitiers. He would cherish that kiss for the rest of his life.

When the King proceeded to break his word and resume the war Charles made the conditions of Henri’s imprisonment much harsher. However, he was prevented from doing the worst by the intervention of his sister, Henri’s new stepmother, Elanor of Austria. She did her best to love and care for Henri but the young Prince was disinterested, thinking her just another captor. One night, attempting to get him to open up, she would mention her own feelings of sadness around leaving her only daughter, Maria, in Portugal. Henri did not think much of it then but looking forward he felt that was the point where the threads of destiny began to bind him to her.

In 1529 Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria signed the Peace of Cambrais, ending the war and permitting Henri to return home, to his siblings, his disapproving father, and yet another stepmother. At ten years old he was forever marked by this time in captivity.

His female relations, including his sister Charlotte, his aunt Marguerite, his grandmother Louise of Savoy, and his stepmother Renee formed a protective circle around the traumatized young prince, seeking to comfort him and mold him into the heir France needed. While Henri was grateful for their help, he would not lose his introverted nature.

He was close to Charlotte who, at thirteen, was beautiful, popular, sociable, beloved by her father and the court, everything Henri was not. This only strengthened his worship of her. “The Prince follows his sister around like a puppy”, complained the King.

By contrast, the young Prince remained distant from his stepmother Renee. She was too young to be his stepmother, and for whatever reason he did not see her as an older sister the way his sister Charlotte did. Instead, she was what she always was to him, his aunt, a loved, but distant presence in the family.

Relations with his father were as distant as ever made worse by Francis’s failed attempts to mold Henri into the kind of Dauphin he wanted, and his blatant favoritism of Beatriz’s son Charles. The spoiled young princling in turn taunted his older brother, beginning a rivalry that would last as long as they both lived.

The parental figure he latched onto was not blood-related at all. Diane de Poitiers, a friend of both his mother and stepmother provided the maternal figure Henri had been searching for all his life. He became attached and devoted to her, often presenting her presents of flowers. She in turn did her best to care for Henri and laughed off his gifts as childish infatuation. However, Henri viewed their relationship as genuine romance and dreamed of the day when he would be old enough to marry her, planning to defy his father’s plans to make a marriage of state for him.

Though he knew it was coming for some time, Charlotte’s departure for Milan devastated young Henri and drove him closer to Diane, who was now his only remaining friend.

The death of his stepmother Renee also greatly saddened him. Henri felt great guilt for not having treated her better when he had the chance.

His grief-stricken father fell further and further into debauchery, leaving Henri to take up more and more responsibilities at court.

Chief, and most disliked amongst these was marrying the daughter of his former stepmother, and niece of his jailor, Maria of Viesu, the Princess of Portugal.

According to rumors he proclaimed his love for Diane just prior to the wedding and begged her to marry him. But she demurred, believing that the Duaphin had a duty to France to make an advantageous marriage.

At age just thirteen Maria was a budding beauty, with clear blue eyes and pale complexion. She was also charming, highly intelligent, and highly cultured, counting famous humanists among her tutors.

Despite this the young prince showed minimal interest in his bride. His love was reserved for Dianne. When the ceremony was done and the marriage consummated Henri left poor Maria alone in the bed while he went off to brood. By her own admission, in a letter to her mother, the young princess cried herself to sleep that night, despite keeping a stoic and courteous demenor in public.

Though the young Prince cared little for his bride, the King by contrast openly lusted after the girl, jokingly telling young Henri that if he did not appreciate Maria he was more than happy to take her off his hands. One contemporary claimed that Henri’s response was to state that his father was welcome to have Maria so long as he was allowed to marry Diane de Poitiers.

Alas, the exact opposite scenario came to pass. At his low point King Francis found his salvation in the beautiful Diane and decided to marry her. Diane for her part was much more attracted to the father than the son, whom she cared for, but as a mother would care for a child.

Henri never fully forgave his father or Diane for this “betrayal.” Now the Dauphin was truly alone. He would correspond frequently with his sister Charlotte, the Duchess of Milan. In one of her letters, she would suggest that Henri try and spend more time with his wife, as she was bound by oath to love and obey him. At the time Henri brushed the suggestion off, but it would prove precinct.

Diane’s pregnancy by the King further deepened Henri’s depression. Though the young Prince despised the Queen, she had not forgotten him. At her urging, Maria went to her husband to try and comfort him.

Gradually the two grew closer. Maria confessed her fears about being so far from home and family, and her worries about the King’s intentions towards her. Her opening up to him allowed Henri to open up about his lifelong loneliness, his grief over his brother, his longing for Diane, and his continued trauma from his time in Spain.

Slowly but surely Henri began to appreciate his wife’s positive qualities. Even if he could not love her as a husband, he could protect her as an older brother, ironic given his own distant relationship with his younger siblings. She in turn fell ever more in love with him. "I don't think it is possible to love a boy any more than I love my dear Henri", Maria would write to her mother.

Though the couple grew closer, no child resulted. This was of no concern at first, given the young age of the couple, but as the years went on and no child came the pressure intensified. Maria resorted to desperate measures to conceive. The couple were taunted about this by Charles of Auglame, who at one point suggested he take over the task of getting Maria with child. In response Portuguese Princess attempted to attack her brother in law, and had to be physically restrained. Henri was very happy to witness this and even Francis admired her spirit and loyalty to her husband. Charles for his part thought the whole thing rather funny.

Things grew even more desperate when Charles Duke of Auglame died in 1539, age of just eighteen. Henri barely bothered to pretend to mourn his hated younger brother. This furthered tensions with his father, who was devastated.

Once again it was Queen Diane who came to the rescue of the French Royal line. She was able to get a doctor to examine the couple’s sexual organs. What he found was lost to history but it seems to have worked, for in 1540 Maria at long last found herself pregnant.

To celebrate the King called a great hunt. It was on this hunt that Queen Diane fell from her horse, which resulted in her breaking her neck, killing her instantly. The King, Henri, and Maria were all grieved. Only now did Henri realize that he still cared for Diane. Maria, who was also grief-stricken at the loss of a mentor and friend, did her best to comfort her husband. When their child was born, a daughter, she was named Diane, to the delight of King Francis.

After 1540 the couple would have no trouble conceiving. Indeed over the course of her marriage, Maria would find herself in a near-constant state of pregnancy, which would have a negative effect on her health. In total Maria of Portugal would bear her husband sixteen children, with twelve surviving to adulthood. Henri proved to be a distant and aloof father, too occupied with the affairs of state and his own dark moods to spend time playing with small children. Maria for her part was frequently occupied with intellectual endeavors, but always made time for her children, especially in order to supervise their educations. Even her daughters would prove to be more educated than the sons of many powerful noblemen. In turn, while the children would always respect their father, they adored their mother.

In 1541 they welcomed a son and heir, named Francis at the King’s instance. With King Francis plunging further into debauchery, it fell to the Dauphin and his wife to keep up appearances at court.

Maria in particular excelled in her position as Francis’s new matriarch, presiding over an educated and cultured court. Between a debauched and grieving King and a dower Dauphin, she was the “bright sun in the heart of France”, as Bartome put it.

Meanwhile, Henri began to gather his own faction of advisors and confidants. In particular, the Dauphin and his wife feuded with the King’s powerful mistress Anne d’Pisseleu d’Heilly. They resented her over-mighty attitude and the corrupt favorites she elevated at court.

Henri also began to develop his own ideas on foreign policy. In particular, he believed his father was being too passive. He was furious at Charllote’s marriage to Charles V, his one-time jailor. When his father came around to the marriage, seeing it as a way to keep the peace, and maybe even split off Burgundy should Charllote succeed in bearing her new husband a son, Henri saw only betrayal and humiliation.

His father’s failure to prevent Henri VIII from increasing his influence in Scotland at France’s expense, following the death of James V only added to Henri’s sense of estrangement.

Matters came to a head in 1544 when Francis, suspecting that Henri and Maria were plotting with the disgraced constable Montmorency, exiled the couple from court. They retreated to a private Chateau and spent the year living a quiet life with their children, before being reconciled with the King in 1545. Both Henri and Maria blamed Anne d’Pisseleu d’Heilly for their exile and tensions between the two camps only increased.