Albert de Gondi, Duke de Retz (* 4 November 1522; † 12 April 1602) was an important member of the French court and confidant of Caterina de' Medici as well as her sons. His mother Marie Catherine Gondi was the wife of a Florentine banker who had settled in Lyon….
Alexandre-Édouard de Valois (* 19 September 1551; † 2 August 1589) was the fourth son of Henri II and Caterina de' Medici. Of all his brothers, he was the one with the most robust health. He did not get on well with his siblings, but was his mother’s declared favourite….
Anne de Bartarnay, Duke of Joyeuse (* 1560; † 20 October 1587) was the second archmignon of Henri III after Épernon. Like the other mignons, he came from lower nobility without influence. Henri III married him to a half-sister of the Queen in 1581, made him Duke and Peer of…
Guillaume de Saluste du Bartas (* 1544; † 28 August 1590) was a Huguenot poet who had already been promoted by Jeanne III.. He was one of the advisers of Henri IV, who sent him on several diplomatic missions that took him to England and Scotland, among other places. He…
Caterina de' Medici (* 13 April 1519; † 5 January 1589) was the only child of Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici and Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne. Her mother was related to the Bourbons (Caterina’s maternal great-grandfather Jean de Bourbon was also the great-great-grandfather of her later son-in-law Henri de…
Catherine de Clèves, Duchess of Guise (* 1548, † 11 May 1633) was a direct cousin of Henri de Navarre on her mother’s side. Her first husband Antoine de Croÿ, Prince of Porcien, forced her, who was after all a godchild of Caterina de' Medici, to convert to Calvinism. After…
In Marlowe’s drama The Massacre at Paris, the Catholic League is mentioned several times. It was founded in Nancy in September 1584 under the leadership of the Duke of Guise. Their primary goal was to prevent the Huguenot Henri de Navarre from ascending to the throne. Besides Navarre, the only…
Charles de Lorraine-Guise, Duke of Mayenne (* 26 March 1554, † 4 October 1611) was a younger brother of the Duke of Guise. He was not in Paris during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. He accompanied Anjou to Poland and after his return fought successfully against the Huguenots. Mayenne sent…
Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise (* 20 August 1571 , † 30 September 1640) was the eldest son of Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise and Catherine de Clèves. After the murder of his father, he was imprisoned in the Château de Tours, but managed to escape in 1591….
Charles IX (* 27 June 1550; † 30 May 1574) was the fifth child and third son of Henri II and Caterina de' Medici. In 1560, his eldest brother François II died (Louis, his other older brother, had already died in 1550.) Under François II, the Guise family had influenced…
