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{{Short description|French noblewoman (1538–1619)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox nobility
{{Infobox nobility
| name = Diane de France
| name = Diane de France
| title = ''suo jure [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]]''<br>''Duchess of Castro''
| title = ''suo jure'' [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]]<br />Duchess of Castro
| image = Image:Diane de France.jpg
| image = Diane de France Atelier de Clouet.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[François Clouet]], 1568
| birth_date = 25 July 1538
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1538|07|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1619|1|11|1538|7|25|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1619|1|11|1538|7|25|df=y}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| death_place = Paris, Kingdom of France
| noble family = [[House of Valois-Angoulême|Valois-Angoulême]]
| noble family = [[House of Valois-Angoulême|Valois-Angoulême]]<br />[[house of Farnese|Farnese]] (by marriage)<br />[[Montmorency family|Montmorency]] (by marriage)
| spouse = {{plainlist|
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro]]<br>|14 February 1552|1553|end=d.}}<br>{{marriage|[[François de Montmorency]]<br>|1559|1579|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro]]<br />|14 February 1552|1553|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[François de Montmorency]]<br />|1559|1579|end=d.}}
}}
| father = [[Henry II of France]]
| father = [[Henry II of France]]
| mother = [[Filippa Duci]]
| mother = [[Filippa Duci]]
}}
}}
'''Diane de France''', ''[[suo jure]]'' [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]] (25 July 1538 &ndash; 11 January 1619) was the [[royal bastard|natural]] and later
'''Diane de France''', ''[[suo jure]]'' [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]] (25 July 1538 &ndash; 11 January 1619) was the natural ([[royal bastard|illegitimate]]) daughter of [[Henry II of France]] and his Italian lover [[Filippa Duci]]. She played an important political role during the [[French Wars of Religion]] and built the [[Hôtel d'Angoulême]] in Paris. She was the favorite of her half-brother, [[Henry III of France]].

[[Legitimation#Family law|legitimised]]<ref name=Lhote2013p4>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2N-gBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 Lhote and Troquet 2013, p. 4].</ref> daughter of King [[Henry II of France]]. She played an important role during the [[French Wars of Religion]] and built the [[Hôtel d'Angoulême]].
==Birth and early life==
Born 25 July 1538, Diane de France was the illegitimate daughter of eighteen-year-old [[Dauphin of France|dauphin]] Henry and [[Filippa Duci]] ({{langx|fr|Philippe Desducs|italic=no}}), the daughter of a minor [[Italian nobility|Italian nobleman]] of [[Fossano]] in the Piedmont.<ref name=PebayTroquet1990p153/><ref>Merrill 1935, p. 133.</ref> Her father was in [[Moncalieri]] in northern Italy on a military campaign.<ref name=Mariejol>[https://archive.org/details/catherinedemedic00mariuoft/page/37/mode/1up Mariéjol 1920, p. 37].</ref><ref name=PebayTroquet1990p153>[https://www.persee.fr/doc/bec_0373-6237_1990_num_148_1_450567 Pébay & Troquet 1990], p. 153</ref><ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88>Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88</ref> It is not known whether she was born at court or was brought there when still very young.<ref>Pébay & Troquet 1990, p. 154.</ref> At court, her care and upbringing were entrusted to Henry's mistress, [[Diane de Poitiers]].<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/>

⚫
Diane's father treated her well: her household included a governess, tutors, maids of honor, chamber valets, and even a tailor. She learned to write in excellent French, the proof of which can be seen in the large number letters that still survive. She also learned Italian (the second language of the court), Spanish, and enough Latin for religious ceremonies.<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> Her artistic education was not neglected: she also learned to play [[lute]] and other instruments, and to sing.<ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88/><ref>Jeanice Brooks, ''Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France'', (University of Chicago Press, 2000), 12.</ref>

She was not formally [[Legitimation#Family law|legitimised]] until much later, in 1572 (not 1547 as previously believed).<ref name=Lhote2013p4>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2N-gBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 Lhote and Troquet 2013, p. 4].</ref>

==First marriage==
⚫
On 13 February 1552, when Diane de France was thirteen, a contract was signed by which she married [[Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro]] ({{langx|fr|Horace [[House of Farnese|Farnèse]]|link=no|italic=no}}).<ref name=Picot>[https://archive.org/details/lesfranaisitali01picogoog/page/n20/mode/1up Picot 1907, p. 8, note 2].</ref><ref>Helge Gamrath, ''Farnese: Pomp, Power and Politics in Renaissance Italy'', (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2007), 70. {{OCLC|472548273}}. {{ISBN|978-88-8265-426-9}}.</ref> The wedding ceremony on 15 February 1553 was attended by Orazio's brother [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Cardinal Alessandro Farnese]] and included [[Masquerade ball|masquerades]] and [[carnival]] banquets.<ref name=Cooper>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jDBR7-0b6ZoC&pg=PA136 Cooper 2007, p. 136].</ref> She became a widow five months later, on 18 July 1553, when Orazio was killed while serving with French forces at the siege of [[Hesdin]].<ref name=Picot/><ref name=Cooper/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SrUNi2m_qZAC&pg=PA596 Setton 1984, p. 596, note 119], gives the date as 16 July.</ref> She spent her period of mourning at the [[Château de Chantilly]], home of [[Anne de Montmorency, Connétable de France]], then returned to court in the service of [[Catherine de Medici]].<ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88/>


==Childhood==
==Second marriage==
Diane's second marriage was to [[François de Montmorency]], eldest son of Anne de Montmorency, by a contract of 3 May 1557<ref name=Picot/> and a ceremony that took place on 4 June 1557 at the [[Château de Villers-Cotterêts]].<ref>Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88; [https://books.google.com/books?id=4yRglTuGEnkC&pg=PA29 Lanza 2007, p. 29].</ref> They had a son, named Anne after his grandfather, born by late September 1560 but dead before 15 October.<ref>Lhote 2013, pp. 5, 76. The authors cite a letter to Montmorency in late September praising the newborn, but letters from 15 October from the king, the queen and the [[Francis, Duke of Guise|Duke of Guise]] expressing condolences for Montmorency's loss of his son.</ref>
In October 1537, 18-years-old Henry, who had recently become the [[Dauphin of France|dauphin]], was in [[Moncalieri]] in northern Italy on a military campaign<ref name=Mariejol>[https://archive.org/details/catherinedemedic00mariuoft/page/37/mode/1up Mariéjol 1920, p. 37].</ref><ref name=PebayTroquet1990p153>[https://www.persee.fr/doc/bec_0373-6237_1990_num_148_1_450567 Pébay & Troquet 1990], p. 153</ref><ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88>Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88</ref> and had an affair with a young woman usually identified as [[Filippa Duci]] ({{lang-fr|Philippe Desducs|italic=no}}), daughter of a lesser noble of [[Fossano]] in the Piedmont<ref name=PebayTroquet1990p153/><ref>Merrill 1935, p. 133.</ref> and sister of Jean-Antoine, a [[Page (servant)|page]] or [[Groom (profession)|groom]] in the Grand Écurie.<ref name=Mariejol/><ref name=Lhote2013p4/><ref>Knecht 1998, p. 29.</ref> This union produced an illegitimate daughter, born 25 July 1538 and named after her father's favourite mistress, [[Diane de Poitiers]].<ref name=PebayTroquet1990p153/> It isn't known whether she was born at court or was brought there when still very young.<ref>Pébay & Troquet 1990, p. 154.</ref> Her upbringing were entrusted to Henry's younger sister, [[Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry|Margaret]].<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/>


⚫
On 22 June 1563, after the death of her father and then her half-brother [[Francis II of France|Francis II]], the new king, her half-brother [[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]] gave her, by ''[[lettres patentes]]'' signed at the [[Château de Vincennes]], the [[Duke of Châtellerault|Duchy of Châtellerault]]. The annual revenues of about 6,000 [[French livre|livres]] were meant to compensate for the gift of 50,000 [[écus]] promised for her first marriage but never paid from the royal treasury. The revenues from this duchy were far less than what she was owed. After the death of Charles, Diane became a [[favourite]] of the new king, her other half-brother [[Henri III of France|Henri III]]. In February 1576, he signed additional ''lettres patentes'', giving her the lands and ''[[seigneuries]]'' of [[Coucy-la-Ville|Coucy]] and [[Folembray]], including the [[Château de Folembray]] (both in today's ''département'' of [[Aisne]]), as well as some other estates in the [[Bourbonnais]].<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/>
⚫
Diane was treated well by her father: her household included a [[governess]], tutors, ladies-in-waiting, chamber valets, and even a tailor. Much like her legitimate siblings, royal tutors turned her into an accomplished woman. She learned to write in excellent French, learned Italian (the second language of the court), Spanish, and enough Latin for religious ceremonies.<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> She was well-versed in [[architecture]], [[lute]] playing and singing.<ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88/><ref>Jeanice Brooks, ''Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France'', (University of Chicago Press, 2000), 12.</ref>


Diane was widowed for a second time in 1579, after helping make her husband a leader of the [[politique]]s, a moderate [[Roman Catholic]] group in France.
⚫
On 13 February 1552, a contract was signed by which Diane was married to [[Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro]] ({{lang-fr|Horace Farnèse|fr|link=no|italic=no}}).<ref name=Picot>[https://archive.org/details/lesfranaisitali01picogoog/page/n20/mode/1up Picot 1907, p. 8, note 2].</ref><ref>Helge Gamrath, ''Farnese: Pomp, Power and Politics in Renaissance Italy'', (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2007), 70. {{OCLC|472548273}}. {{ISBN|9788882654269}}.</ref> 14-years-old Diane's wedding ceremony on 15 February 1553 was attended by her brother-in-law [[Alessandro Farnese (cardinal)|Cardinal Alessandro Farnese]] and included both [[masquerades]] and [[carnival]] banquets.<ref name=Cooper>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jDBR7-0b6ZoC&pg=PA136 Cooper 2007, p. 136].</ref> She became a widow five months later on 18 July 1553, when Orazio was killed while serving with French forces at the siege of [[Hesdin]].<ref name=Picot/><ref name=Cooper/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SrUNi2m_qZAC&pg=PA596 Setton 1984, p. 596, note 119], gives the date as 16 July.</ref> She spent her period of mourning at the [[Château de Chantilly]], home of [[Anne de Montmorency, Connétable de France]], and then returned to court in the service of Queen [[Catherine de Medici]].<ref name=PebayTroquet1992p88/>


==Wars of Religion==
==Later life==
In August 1582, Henry III gave her the [[Counts and Dukes of Angoulême|Duchy of Angoulême]] in exchange for that of [[Châtellerault]],<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> making her [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]] in [[appanage]] (during her lifetime only). The new title came with increased wealth, so in 1584 she started building a new Paris residence, the Hôtel d'Angoulême (now the [[Hôtel Lamoignon]]). Construction was likely interrupted by the [[French Wars of Religion|Wars of Religion]], and only completed with a second phase of construction in 1611.<ref>Ayers, Andrew (2004). "Hôtel Lamoignon", pp. 99–100, in ''The Architecture of Paris''. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. {{ISBN|978-3-930698-96-7}}.</ref><ref>Hartmann, Georges (1917). [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101074213594?urlappend=%3Bseq=203 "Hôtel Lamoignan", pp. 159–166 (at HathiTrust)], in ''Procès-verbaux de la Commission municipale du Vieux Paris, Année 1917''. Paris: Imprimerie Municipale, 1922.</ref>
⚫
18-years old Diane later married to [[François de Montmorency|Francis de Montmorency]], eldest son of Anne de Montmorency, by a contract of 3 May 1557<ref name=Picot/>. Their ceremony that took place on June at the [[Château de Villers-Cotterêts]].<ref>Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88; [https://books.google.com/books?id=4yRglTuGEnkC&pg=PA29 Lanza 2007, p. 29].</ref> The couple had a son, born in 1560 and named Anne after his grandfather, but died in the cradle.<ref>Lhote 2013, p. 5.</ref> On 22 June 1563, after the death of her father and then her half-brother [[Francis II of France|Francis II]], the new king, her half-brother [[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]] gave the couple the Duchy of [[Châtellerault]] by ''[[lettres patentes]]'' signed at the [[Château de Vincennes]]. The annual revenues of about 6,000 [[French livre|livres]] were meant to compensate for the gift of 50,000 [[écus]] promised for Diane's first marriage but never paid from the royal treasury. The revenues from this duchy were far less than what she was owed. After the death of Charles, she became a [[favourite]] of the new king, her other half-brother [[Henri III of France|Henri III]].<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> In February 1576, he signed additional ''lettres patentes'', giving her the lands and ''[[seigneuries]]'' of [[Coucy-la-Ville|Coucy]] and [[Folembray]] (both in today's ''département'' of [[Aisne]]), and other estates in the [[Bourbonnais]].<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> With such [[income]]s, Diane not only saved money but helped make her husband the leader of the [[politique]]s, a moderate [[Roman Catholic]] group in France. Her letters reveal her as a woman of great wisdom, courage and tolerance.


⚫
Diane also enjoyed much respect at the court of [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV, King of France]], and superintended the education of his son [[Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]].
In August 1582, many years after her husband's death, Henry III gave Diane the Duchy of [[Angoulême]] in exchange for that of Châtellerault,<ref name= PebayTroquet1992p88/> making her [[Duke of Angoulême|Duchess of Angoulême]] in [[appanage]]. In 1584, she started building a new residence: the [[Hôtel Lamoignon|Hôtel d'Angoulême]], the best preserved historic house in Paris. Construction began in 1584, but was likely interrupted by the [[Wars of Religion]] and only completed by a second phase of construction in 1611.<ref>Ayers, Andrew (2004). "Hôtel Lamoignon", pp. 99–100, in ''The Architecture of Paris''. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. {{ISBN|9783930698967}}.</ref><ref>Hartmann, Georges (1917). [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101074213594?urlappend=%3Bseq=203 "Hôtel Lamoignan", pp. 159–166 (at HathiTrust)], in ''Procès-verbaux de la Commission municipale du Vieux Paris, Année 1917''. Paris: Imprimerie Municipale, 1922.</ref> Its architect is still uncertain, though suggestions include [[Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau]]; [[Louis Métezeau]]; the latter's father, [[Thibault Métezeau]]; and [[Philibert de l'Orme]]. The hotel stood between its entrance courtyard to the west and its garden to the east, a layout reminiscent of a small [[château]]. It was among the first in France to use Corinthian pilasters based on the writings of [[Vitruvius]] translated in 1567 by [[Daniele Barbaro]]. The use of giant order for these pilasters, then an unusual feature for an hôtel particulier, aims to give the facade a majestic appearance, fitting and expressing the social dignity of its royal inhabitants. The central bay, where the principal entrance was originally located, is surmounted by an open-bed pediment, and the curved pediments at the top of the pavilions are decorated with carved reliefs, which feature deer and hound heads, reflecting Diane's keen interest in the hunt.


Diane died on 11 January 1619<ref name=Picot/> in Paris. Her surviving letters reveal her as a woman of great courage and tolerance.
⚫
An older Diane enjoyed much respect at the court of [[Henry IV of France|King Henry IV]]. She succesfully superintended the education of his heir and son, the future [[Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]]. The originally illegitimate princess died in Paris, France, on 11 January 1619 at the age of 80.<ref name=Picot/>


==Notes==
==Notes==
Line 33: Line 48:


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* Cooper, Richard (2007). "Legate's Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Carpentras, 1553", pp. 133–161, in ''French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text'', edited by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. {{ISBN|9780772720337}}.
* Cooper, Richard (2007). "Legate's Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Carpentras, 1553", pp. 133–161, in ''French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text'', edited by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. {{ISBN|978-0-7727-2033-7}}.
* Knecht, R. J. (1998). ''Catherine de' Medici''. London: Longman. {{ISBN|0582082412}}.
* Knecht, R. J. (1998). ''Catherine de' Medici''. London: Longman. {{ISBN|0-582-08241-2}}.
* Lanza, Janine M. (2007). ''From Wives to Widows in Early Modern Paris: Gender, Economy, and Law''. Ashgate Publishing. {{ISBN|9780754656432}}.
* Lanza, Janine M. (2007). ''From Wives to Widows in Early Modern Paris: Gender, Economy, and Law''. Ashgate Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7546-5643-2}}.
* Lhote, Claude; Claude Troquet (2013). ''Diane, bâtarde du roi, princesse de la Renaissance'', preface by B. Barbiche, professor emeritus of the [[École des Chartes]]. Éditions LULU.com. {{OCLC|923867218}}. {{ISBN|9781291343731}}.
* Lhote, Claude; Claude Troquet (2013). ''Diane, bâtarde du roi, princesse de la Renaissance'', preface by B. Barbiche, professor emeritus of the [[École des Chartes]]. Éditions LULU.com. {{OCLC|923867218}}. {{ISBN|978-1-291-34373-1}}.
* Mariéjol, Jean-H. (1920). [https://archive.org/details/catherinedemedic00mariuoft/page/iii/mode/1up ''Catherine de Medicis (1519-1589)'' {{Bracket|at Internet Archive}}]. Paris: Hachette.
* Mariéjol, Jean-H. (1920). [https://archive.org/details/catherinedemedic00mariuoft/page/iii/mode/1up ''Catherine de Medicis (1519-1589)'' {{Bracket|at Internet Archive}}]. Paris: Hachette.
* Merrill, Robert V. (1935). "Considerations on 'Les Amours de I. du Bellay'", ''Modern Philology'', vol. 33, no. 2 (November, 1935), pp. 129-138. {{JSTOR|433932}}.
* Merrill, Robert V. (1935). "Considerations on 'Les Amours de I. du Bellay'", ''Modern Philology'', vol. 33, no. 2 (November, 1935), pp. 129-138. {{JSTOR|433932}}.
Line 42: Line 57:
* Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1992). "Les hôtels d'Angoulême sous Diane de France", pp. 88–97, in ''La rue des Francs-Bourgeois au Marais'', edited by Béatrice de Andia and Alexandre Gady. Paris: Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris. {{OCLC|965245235|886559761}}.
* Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1992). "Les hôtels d'Angoulême sous Diane de France", pp. 88–97, in ''La rue des Francs-Bourgeois au Marais'', edited by Béatrice de Andia and Alexandre Gady. Paris: Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris. {{OCLC|965245235|886559761}}.
* Picot, Émile (1907). [https://archive.org/details/lesfranaisitali01picogoog/page/n11/mode/1up ''Les français italianisants au XVIe siècle'', volume 2 {{Bracket|at Internet Archive}}]. Paris: Honoré Champion.
* Picot, Émile (1907). [https://archive.org/details/lesfranaisitali01picogoog/page/n11/mode/1up ''Les français italianisants au XVIe siècle'', volume 2 {{Bracket|at Internet Archive}}]. Paris: Honoré Champion.
* Setton, Kenneth M. (1984). ''The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571). Volume IV. The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V''. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. {{ISBN|9780871691620}}.
* Setton, Kenneth M. (1984). ''The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571). Volume IV. The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V''. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. {{ISBN|978-0-87169-162-0}}.


{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1538 births]]
[[Category:1538 births]]
[[Category:1619 deaths]]
[[Category:1619 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century French people]]
[[Category:17th-century French people]]
[[Category:16th-century French women]]
[[Category:16th-century French women]]
[[Category:17th-century French women]]
[[Category:17th-century French women]]
[[Category:People from Paris]]
[[Category:Nobility from Paris]]
[[Category:House of Valois-Angoulême|Diane de France]]
[[Category:House of Valois-Angoulême|Diane de France]]
[[Category:Illegitimate children of French monarchs|Diane de France]]
[[Category:Illegitimate children of French monarchs|Diane de France]]
[[Category:Dukes of Châtellerault|6]]
[[Category:Dukes of Châtellerault|6]]
[[Category:Dukes of Angoulême]]
[[Category:Dukes of Angoulême]]
[[Category:French suo jure nobility|Angoulême, Duchess of, Diane de France]]
[[Category:French suo jure nobility]]
[[Category:French ladies-in-waiting]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]

Latest revision as of 17:54, 8 December 2024

Diane de France
suo jure Duchess of Angoulême
Duchess of Castro
Portrait by François Clouet, 1568
Born(1538-07-25)25 July 1538
Died11 January 1619(1619-01-11) (aged 80)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Noble familyValois-Angoulême
Farnese (by marriage)
Montmorency (by marriage)
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1552; died 1553)​
​
​
(m. 1559; died 1579)​
FatherHenry II of France
MotherFilippa Duci

Diane de France, suo jure Duchess of Angoulême (25 July 1538 – 11 January 1619) was the natural (illegitimate) daughter of Henry II of France and his Italian lover Filippa Duci. She played an important political role during the French Wars of Religion and built the Hôtel d'Angoulême in Paris. She was the favorite of her half-brother, Henry III of France.

Birth and early life

[edit]

Born 25 July 1538, Diane de France was the illegitimate daughter of eighteen-year-old dauphin Henry and Filippa Duci (French: Philippe Desducs), the daughter of a minor Italian nobleman of Fossano in the Piedmont.[1][2] Her father was in Moncalieri in northern Italy on a military campaign.[3][1][4] It is not known whether she was born at court or was brought there when still very young.[5] At court, her care and upbringing were entrusted to Henry's mistress, Diane de Poitiers.[4]

Diane's father treated her well: her household included a governess, tutors, maids of honor, chamber valets, and even a tailor. She learned to write in excellent French, the proof of which can be seen in the large number letters that still survive. She also learned Italian (the second language of the court), Spanish, and enough Latin for religious ceremonies.[4] Her artistic education was not neglected: she also learned to play lute and other instruments, and to sing.[4][6]

She was not formally legitimised until much later, in 1572 (not 1547 as previously believed).[7]

First marriage

[edit]

On 13 February 1552, when Diane de France was thirteen, a contract was signed by which she married Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro (French: Horace Farnèse).[8][9] The wedding ceremony on 15 February 1553 was attended by Orazio's brother Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and included masquerades and carnival banquets.[10] She became a widow five months later, on 18 July 1553, when Orazio was killed while serving with French forces at the siege of Hesdin.[8][10][11] She spent her period of mourning at the Château de Chantilly, home of Anne de Montmorency, Connétable de France, then returned to court in the service of Catherine de Medici.[4]

Second marriage

[edit]

Diane's second marriage was to François de Montmorency, eldest son of Anne de Montmorency, by a contract of 3 May 1557[8] and a ceremony that took place on 4 June 1557 at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts.[12] They had a son, named Anne after his grandfather, born by late September 1560 but dead before 15 October.[13]

On 22 June 1563, after the death of her father and then her half-brother Francis II, the new king, her half-brother Charles IX gave her, by lettres patentes signed at the Château de Vincennes, the Duchy of Châtellerault. The annual revenues of about 6,000 livres were meant to compensate for the gift of 50,000 écus promised for her first marriage but never paid from the royal treasury. The revenues from this duchy were far less than what she was owed. After the death of Charles, Diane became a favourite of the new king, her other half-brother Henri III. In February 1576, he signed additional lettres patentes, giving her the lands and seigneuries of Coucy and Folembray, including the Château de Folembray (both in today's département of Aisne), as well as some other estates in the Bourbonnais.[4]

Diane was widowed for a second time in 1579, after helping make her husband a leader of the politiques, a moderate Roman Catholic group in France.

Later life

[edit]

In August 1582, Henry III gave her the Duchy of Angoulême in exchange for that of Châtellerault,[4] making her Duchess of Angoulême in appanage (during her lifetime only). The new title came with increased wealth, so in 1584 she started building a new Paris residence, the Hôtel d'Angoulême (now the Hôtel Lamoignon). Construction was likely interrupted by the Wars of Religion, and only completed with a second phase of construction in 1611.[14][15]

Diane also enjoyed much respect at the court of Henry IV, King of France, and superintended the education of his son Louis XIII.

Diane died on 11 January 1619[8] in Paris. Her surviving letters reveal her as a woman of great courage and tolerance.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Pébay & Troquet 1990, p. 153
  2. ^ Merrill 1935, p. 133.
  3. ^ Mariéjol 1920, p. 37.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88
  5. ^ Pébay & Troquet 1990, p. 154.
  6. ^ Jeanice Brooks, Courtly Song in Late Sixteenth-Century France, (University of Chicago Press, 2000), 12.
  7. ^ Lhote and Troquet 2013, p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c d Picot 1907, p. 8, note 2.
  9. ^ Helge Gamrath, Farnese: Pomp, Power and Politics in Renaissance Italy, (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2007), 70. OCLC 472548273. ISBN 978-88-8265-426-9.
  10. ^ a b Cooper 2007, p. 136.
  11. ^ Setton 1984, p. 596, note 119, gives the date as 16 July.
  12. ^ Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88; Lanza 2007, p. 29.
  13. ^ Lhote 2013, pp. 5, 76. The authors cite a letter to Montmorency in late September praising the newborn, but letters from 15 October from the king, the queen and the Duke of Guise expressing condolences for Montmorency's loss of his son.
  14. ^ Ayers, Andrew (2004). "Hôtel Lamoignon", pp. 99–100, in The Architecture of Paris. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. ISBN 978-3-930698-96-7.
  15. ^ Hartmann, Georges (1917). "Hôtel Lamoignan", pp. 159–166 (at HathiTrust), in Procès-verbaux de la Commission municipale du Vieux Paris, Année 1917. Paris: Imprimerie Municipale, 1922.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Cooper, Richard (2007). "Legate's Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Carpentras, 1553", pp. 133–161, in French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text, edited by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. ISBN 978-0-7727-2033-7.
  • Knecht, R. J. (1998). Catherine de' Medici. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-08241-2.
  • Lanza, Janine M. (2007). From Wives to Widows in Early Modern Paris: Gender, Economy, and Law. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-5643-2.
  • Lhote, Claude; Claude Troquet (2013). Diane, bâtarde du roi, princesse de la Renaissance, preface by B. Barbiche, professor emeritus of the École des Chartes. Éditions LULU.com. OCLC 923867218. ISBN 978-1-291-34373-1.
  • Mariéjol, Jean-H. (1920). Catherine de Medicis (1519-1589) [at Internet Archive]. Paris: Hachette.
  • Merrill, Robert V. (1935). "Considerations on 'Les Amours de I. du Bellay'", Modern Philology, vol. 33, no. 2 (November, 1935), pp. 129-138. JSTOR 433932.
  • Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1990). "Philippe Desducs, mère de Diane de France" [at persée.fr], Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, volume 148, no. 1, pp. 151–160.
  • Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1992). "Les hôtels d'Angoulême sous Diane de France", pp. 88–97, in La rue des Francs-Bourgeois au Marais, edited by Béatrice de Andia and Alexandre Gady. Paris: Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris. OCLC 965245235, 886559761.
  • Picot, Émile (1907). Les français italianisants au XVIe siècle, volume 2 [at Internet Archive]. Paris: Honoré Champion.
  • Setton, Kenneth M. (1984). The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571). Volume IV. The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-162-0.
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