When Marie de Medici married
King Henry IV in 1600, France was a country
torn apart by years of religious and civil wars. Desperate for
power, Marie watched while her husband struggled
to control a country intent on destroying
itself, and she waited for her moment to strike. Today, we're going to
take a look at the rise and catastrophic downfall
of Marie de Medici, but before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel, and let
us know in the comments below what other Royals you
would like to hear about. OK, let's find out
how a queen went from royal to royally [BLEEP]. Henry IV's first marriage
was to Marguerite de Valois, who was a Medici
through her mother. That marriage, however,
was annulled in 1599. After which, Henry
married Marie de Medici in an elaborate ceremony
held in Florence. As King, Henry couldn't
leave his kingdom, and Marie couldn't
leave Florence without becoming
a married woman. So, he didn't actually attend
the ceremony and marriage was carried out by a proxy. It certainly wasn't the
most romantic arrangement, but in his line of work
marriage is a business. Speaking of not
the most romantic it turns out the marriage
was a last minute alternative for Henry. He had originally intended
to marry his mistress of many years, Gabrielle d'Estreés. The two were set to take the
plunge on Easter day in 1599, however, Henry's hopes
were tragically dashed when d'Estreés, five months
pregnant at the time, suddenly took ill and died
giving birth to a stillborn baby boy. Henry had no heir from
his first wife, so, he needed a woman who
could give him sons. And, Marie's family
had a reputation on both sides of her family for
being exceptionally fertile. The huge dowry of 600,000 crowns
she brought with her was also fairly attractive. [STRINGS MUSIC] Marie was the daughter
of Francesco de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany,
and Joanna of Austria. Born in 1575, she was
one of seven children, although, only two
survived into adulthood. Marie's family descended from
Lorenzo de Medici the Elder, and was part of the so-called
cadet branch of the family. This branch produced
two centuries worth of Tuscan dukes, and
participated in Medici affairs, though, they had limited
political influence. Marie's mother,
Joanna of Austria, was a member of the
powerful Habsburg family, and the daughter of Holy
Roman emperor Ferdinand I. It was this royal blood, along
with her huge dowry and family reputation for fertility
that guaranteed, her marriage to the French King. And, when it came to fertility
Marie did not disappoint, and in 1601 she gave birth
to the long awaited heir to the throne, the
future Louis XIII. Louis was a sickly child
with a number of ailments, both mental and physical,
which worried the doctors. Many even feared he would not
live to sit upon the throne. Marie, however, made
certain to provide the King with a spare heir. Over the course
of nearly a decade she produced six children, five
of whom survived to adulthood. An impressive feat for
the time, regardless of social rank and wealth. Her eldest daughter
became Queen of Spain, her second the Duchess of
Savoy, and the youngest, Henrietta Maria, married Charles
I, and became Queen of England. Meanwhile, her
other son, Gaston, spent the rest of his life
lurking around the French court enjoying his royal privileges. He didn't spend this
time idly, however. More than once he fomented
rebellion against his brother with ill advised attempts
at seizing the throne. Despite producing several
children together, Henry and Marie had a
tumultuous marriage. Henry was known for keeping a
body court, and having a wife didn't change that. In fact, he continued to
take mistresses and sleeping with other women. Marie mistrusted and
resented any and all women in her husband's proximity,
but it was hard for her to escape their existence. Many of his mistresses
produced children who are raised at
the Royal court alongside Henry and Marie's
legitimate children. That makes for a
weird dinner table. On the flip side,
Henry took issue with Marie's Italian entourage. Notably, Concino
Concini, an adventurer with a knack for annoying
the French, and his wife Leonora Galigai, one of
Maria's childhood friends. Marie, for her part, was
extremely generous with money and favors with her
Italian friends, breeding mistrust and
jealousy at the Royal court. The fact that Galigai
was accused of witchcraft probably didn't help matters. During his life,
Henry tried to find a balance between the warring
religious factions, which in turn, made him all the
more hated by fanatics. He survived over 20
assassination attempts, which is pretty impressive
considering we made a video about
Queen Victoria, and she only survived eight. But unless you're the
Washington Generals, every lucky streak
comes to an end, and Henry was finally struck
down by a zealous Catholic on May 14, 1610. stabbed twice, he
died immediately, with his young son,
Louis, becoming King. Since Louis was
too young to rule, Marie became regent,
and ruled on his behalf. This transfer of royal authority
didn't happen smoothly. Marie's rise to power was
actually extremely suspicious. The day before
Henry's assassination she was finally
crowned queen of France after nearly 10
years of marriage. The ceremony cemented Marie as
queen before God and kingdom, and it would have been
nearly impossible for her to attempt to rule without this
important event taking place. In other words, she was
confirmed in her role only 24 hours before her
husband's death paved the way for her to seize power. A real coincidence
by any reckoning. Marie was supposed to
serve as queen regent only until Louis
came of age at 13, but she held on to
power for longer than she was supposed to
by continually demeaning her son in public and
refusing to allow him any part in politics. During her rule, Marie
continued to show favor to her Italian associates,
Concino Concini and Leonora Galigai. Concini was even elevated to
the position of Marquis d'Ancre, and became her closest advisor. Maria also took on Armand
Jean du Plessis de Richelieu as an advisor, and he worked
with both the queen regent and Concini. During all of this, Marie
emptied the royal treasury with her lavish
lifestyle, readily gave up royal power
to the nobles when she was even slightly
intimidated, and fomented general instability, both at the
court and in France at large. Surprising no one,
Marie's popularity plummeted day by day. Even Marie's son Louis didn't
like his mother's behavior. He knew his rightful
place was on the throne, leading the kingdom. He watched from the
sidelines biding his time for the right moment to
strike, just like any good son. Finally, in the early
hours of April 24, 1617, Charles de Luynes
initiated a palace coup. Concini was assassinated, his
wife beheaded for witchcraft, and her remains
burned, and Marie was placed under house
arrest before being exiled to the Chateau de Blois. [STRINGS MUSIC] At the Chateau de Blois, Marie
plotted her return to power with the help of a few nobles
who remain loyal to her. After two years of
waiting, she finally made her escape on the night of
February 21st, or 22nd, 1619. The escape, however, turned
out to be a comedy of errors. The queen was lowered
down onto a ladder by rope from a high tower,
then proceeded to climb down, until she got stuck. Paralyzed with fear,
Marie couldn't move, and some soldiers were forced to
carry her down from the ladder. When they finally got
her to the ground, she was mistaken by a
group of passing guards for a prostitute. Marie had the good
humor to find it amusing when they inquired how much an
evening with her would cost. As if all that wasn't bad
enough, when they finally got a few miles away
from the Chateau, Marie realized she had left
behind a casket of jewels she had intended to sell to
finance the necessary armies to wage war against her son. Whoopsies. Without them, her fight would
be over before it had begun. She ordered the
carriage to turn around, and miraculously, the jewel case
was still sitting in the grass where she had forgotten it. After Marie escaped
confinement and threatened to bring war against
her son in 1619, Richelieu was
called in to broker a peace between mother and
son, which he accomplished with the Treaty of Angouleme. According to this
agreement, Marie would remain free,
have her own court, and be allowed to participate
on the royal council. Richelieu made an impression
on the young King, and soon became one of
his closest advisors. With Marie and Louis'
support, Richelieu was elevated to the position
of Cardinal in 1622. During the early
1620s, Richelieu was a fundamental force
behind Louis VIII's policies and actions against Huguenots,
or French Protestants. He conspired against the King's
chief minister, Charles de la Vieuville, and bought him down
with charges of corruption in 1624. Richelieu then took his place
as the effective Prime Minister of France. By the way, if Richelieu's
name seems familiar to you, it's probably because
French author Alexandre Dumas made him the Big Bad,
his 1844 novel, The Three Musketeers. Thanks to Dumas, the Cardinal
has been portrayed on screen by the likes of Vincent Price,
Charlton Heston, Tim Curry, Christoph Waltz, and
many, many others Once Marie was at
peace with her son, she set her sights on building
an elaborate palace in Paris to glorify her position. The design of what became
known as the Luxembourg Palace was inspired by the
Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and construction began in 1615. But building came to a halt
when Marie fell out of favor. However, she was free
to return to the project during the relatively
peaceful period of the 1620s. Architect Salomon de
Brosse built the palace, and its famous gardens, along
the left bank of the Seine, and it has served as the seat
of the French Senate since 1958. In one wing of the
Luxembourg Palace, Marie established
a special gallery to display a series of paintings
by Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens. The two dozen masterpieces
were commissioned during their early
1620s, and were intended to create a visual
biography of her life. Known as the Maria
de Medici cycle, the paintings allegorically
represent significant events in her life, including
her marriage by proxy, the death of her husband, and
proclamation of her regency, and her negotiations
at Angouleme. The paintings were more
of an early exercise in public relations than
a true telling of events. Marie was made out to be the
savior of France over and over again, when in
reality, she nearly drove the country
into the ground on more than one occasion. Despite making peace with her
son, Marie's position in France declined again during
the late 1620s. Louis and Richelieu
systematically undid everything she had
done as queen regent, which infuriated Marie. Marie did whatever she could
to discredit and get rid of Richelieu. On November 10, 1630, in a
moment of unbridled anger, Marie let loose a torrent of
abuse against the Cardinal, laying down every charge she
could think of before her son. Louis left the room without
saying a word, which Marie took as a good sign. She believed her son would
dismiss his chief minister, and she made a point of
letting everyone at court know she was the true power
behind the throne, not Richelieu. The court flocked to
Marie's apartments to pay their fawning respect
to the woman everyone believed would control the future of
France, but they were mistaken. When Louis visited his
mother the next day, she expected him to
announce Richelieu's demise, instead, on what has
forever been remembered as the Day of the
Dupes, the King chose Richelieu over his mother. Louis made his
second formal break with Marie, who was arrested,
and later exiled from France. In 1631, Marie was
banished, winding up in the Spanish
Netherlands before making her way to Cologne. During the last 11
years of her life, Marie was destitute,
having fallen from Royalty to a life in exile. In 1642, Marie died
in Cologne, where she was living at the
expense of Peter Paul Rubens, the same man
who had once glorified her life so majestically. She was followed to the
grave only a few months later by Richelieu, and then
by her son in 1643. The only time Marie
ever returned to France was after she died. Her body was interred
in the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis in Paris. Right until the
end of her life she never stopped railing
against Richelieu, producing pamphlets
against him and his tyranny until she drew her
final breath as a beggar in a far off country. So, what do you think? What went wrong for Maria? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
