CATERINA de' Medici, queen of FRANCIA. — Daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino, and Maddalena de la Tour d'Auvergne, countess of Boulogne, born in Florence on 13 April 1519, died at Blois on 15 January 1589. In 1533 she married Henry, duke of Orleans, the second son of Francesco I of France, whom the death of the dauphin made, three years later, the heir presumptive to the crown. Even after the death of Francesco I in 1547 and Henry's accession to the throne, C. lived in seclusion, devoting herself entirely to the education of her ten children.
Widowed in 1559, she prudently continued to remain in the background during the brief reign of Francesco II, whose guardians were the duke of Guise and his brother, the cardinal of Lorraine. But, upon Carlo IX's accession to the throne in 1560, she succeeded in having herself proclaimed regent; she was unable, however, to prevent the climate from developing in which the Wars of Religion were to flare up. During the period of heated disputes, she remained undecided between Catholics and Huguenots. In 1563 she promulgated the Edict of Amboise on freedom of conscience. What decided her was once again ambition, which saw a danger in the influence that the Huguenot admiral Coligny was acquiring over the mind of the young Carlo IX. The attempt on Coligny's life in 1572 achieved only half its aim. The king ordered a severe and impartial investigation, and C., whose threatened ambition was joined by fear for her own safety, gave her followers a free hand in the massacre on the night of Saint Bartholomew (24 August 1572; V. BARTOLOMITI, NOTTE DI SAN). In vain, during her final years, did she attempt a policy of balance between the warring parties: she succeeded only in earning the hatred of them all.
Her personality was complex: avid for glory, she felt the attraction of political power; though Italian, she nevertheless understood and defended the sense of nationhood that France as a whole possessed. A woman of little religious faith, she acted on a politico-religious plane, following the dictates of a ruthless raison d'état. Rather than dominating events, she was very often dominated by them.