MARIA de' Medici, queen of FRANCE. — Born in Florence on 26 Apr. 1573. Daughter of Francesco II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and of Giovanna d'Austria. In Dec. 1600 Henry IV married her in a second marriage, divorcing Margaret of Valois (daughter of Catherine de' Medici).
In the opinion of political circles, M. was expected to reconcile the throne of France with the head of the Huguenots and to reconcile France with the Catholic house of Austria. But this aim failed. Henry IV’s licentious habits estranged M.’s affections, and she found steadfast support in the couple Concino Concini and Leonora Galigai. Nevertheless, Henry IV wished her to share in the conduct of government and introduced her into the Council. Yet she gave the impression of indifference and political incapacity. In 1610, when Henry IV was about to depart for a military campaign, he appointed her regent. M. was confirmed as regent by the Parlement on the very evening of Henry IV’s assassination (14 May 1610). Her counsellors were the two Italians who had already been closest to her heart. Through them, nobles obtained offices and favours. Concini made a market of these. In a short time he acquired great wealth and power: to a large extent, the government of France depended on him. In foreign policy, servitude to the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs: the treaty of Brossolo, threatening to Vienna, was denounced; the minister Sully, opposed to Madrid, was removed; a defensive alliance treaty with Spain was signed.
The rule of a foreigner irritated the princes of the blood and stirred up intrigues and opposition in court circles. The chief leader of this was the Prince of Condé, M.’s cousin. An armed rising by Condé forced the Queen to buy another truce at a high price: Condé was received as a friend and became head of the Council. Yet he persisted in a policy of conspiracy, and Concini had him arrested. M. sought a new point of support: Richelieu, a court chaplain who had championed the interests of the Church in the Estates-General, was made Secretary of State (1616). Now the reaction came from Louis XIII. He organised the arrest of Concini. On the night of 14 Aug. 1617, the Marquis of Vitry, captain of the guard, carried it out: Concini resisted and was killed. With his disappearance, the power of the Queen Mother ended. Louis XIII began his rule under the guidance of Albert de Luynes, minister, duke and marshal. M. left Paris on 3 May; she had a moment of renewed fortune with the death of Luynes. Louis XIII accepted reconciliation with his mother, promoted and concluded by Richelieu. Richelieu was made a cardinal, and in Apr. 1624 M. obtained that he enter the King’s Council; he became its head, that is, the leading minister. M. was still able to dominate her son and impose her own will even on Richelieu. In Sept. 1625 she forced him, against his will, to accept the peace treaty with Spain over the Valtellina question. But their relations became irreconcilably hostile. Richelieu had his own programme (to restore the prestige of the sovereign, to humble the nobility, to restore France’s European primacy…) and could not agree with the Queen, who wished to supplant her son and to subject France to Spain. M. attempted to have Richelieu dismissed. But on 10 Nov. 1630 the King confirmed his trust in Richelieu; the next day the Queen’s favourites were imprisoned or exiled. A few months later she herself was exiled, to Compiègne, from where she fled to the Netherlands. She died in Cologne twelve years later (1642).