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Authors: Roderick Graham
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Antoinette wanted to establish her personal influence as Mary’s substitute mother and to ensure that the infant queen became a member of the Guise faction before she was surrounded by Henri’s court.
The royal courtiers were waiting for her at Carrières-sur-Seine, where she would lodge temporarily in the medieval fortress until the royal apartments in the château of St Germain-en-Laye weremade ready. Through Henri’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, orders were sent that the current occupants of Carrières be lodged in the village. The château of St Germain-en-Laye was only a few miles from Paris, but readily defensible on a cliff overlooking the River Seine. Its foundations dated from the twelfth century, and although François I had rebuilt it entirely as a palatial country estate, it still housed a garrison of 3,000 soldiers. His son was continuing with the refurbishments. Henri’s apartments were on the first floor, overlooking gardens laid out as elaborate parterres and pergolas, while the royal children were on the second floor with its sunny south-facing rooms. Henri was taking a personal interest in Mary’s quarters, sending precise instructions for the furnishings. He also asked for assurances that none of the workmen employed for the renovations had any infectious diseases, and established that all the neighbouring villages were infection free, thus establishing a cordon sanitaire around Mary, whom he now referred to as ‘my daughter’. She arrived in her temporary home at Carrières-sur-Seine on 16 October and was glad that her stay in the grim medieval castle was short. Henri had sent further instructions to Jean d’Humières, who was to be her chamberlain and, with his wife Françoise, in charge of the royal nursery, that ‘she takes precedence over my daughters. She is a crowned queen and, as such I would have her honoured and served.’ This meant, among other things, that she would have a cloth of state with her heraldic bearings hung over her chair and that her servants would kneel in her presence and walk backwards when withdrawing from it. Janet Sinclair would have found these formalities unnecessary but would have encouraged her little charge to behave with proper decorum and not give the French any opportunity to find the Scots’ manners barbaric, as the poet Brantôme had found their language. The other royal children, meanwhile, were enthusiastically beginning the education of their exotic, high-ranking nursery companion in the complex structure of the royal household.
This household was headed by the king. Henri de Valois had been born on 31 March 1519, the second son of François I, andhad had no thought of succeeding to the throne since his eldest brother, François, was in good health. When François I was released from his Spanish imprisonment in 1526 he ignored his sons and rode past them to liberty as they took his place as hostages, though the seven-year-old Henri was kissed goodbye by the tender-hearted Diane de Poitiers, eighteen years his senior. The princes’ imprisonment was harsh. By the time of their release in 1530, the eleven-year-old Henri had become morose and withdrawn but he was greeted on his return to France by Diane, who started to take an interest in the young man. When he rode in his first joust, held to celebrate his release, he carried her colours of black and white on his lance. Three years later, she accompanied him to his wedding to Catherine de Medici, an Italian heiress only two months older than him. Catherine was the only daughter of Lorenzo de Medici and a niece of Pope Clement VII, so the marriage provided François with a useful power base in Italy. Diane, with the Constable of France – Anne, Duc de Montmorency – led the aristocratic faction opposing Catherine as a foreign upstart, with Montmorency unfairly calling her ‘an Italian shopkeeper’s daughter’. These nobles, equally unfairly, accused Catherine of poisoning Henri’s elder brother when
The royal courtiers were waiting for her at Carrières-sur-Seine, where she would lodge temporarily in the medieval fortress until the royal apartments in the château of St Germain-en-Laye weremade ready. Through Henri’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, orders were sent that the current occupants of Carrières be lodged in the village. The château of St Germain-en-Laye was only a few miles from Paris, but readily defensible on a cliff overlooking the River Seine. Its foundations dated from the twelfth century, and although François I had rebuilt it entirely as a palatial country estate, it still housed a garrison of 3,000 soldiers. His son was continuing with the refurbishments. Henri’s apartments were on the first floor, overlooking gardens laid out as elaborate parterres and pergolas, while the royal children were on the second floor with its sunny south-facing rooms. Henri was taking a personal interest in Mary’s quarters, sending precise instructions for the furnishings. He also asked for assurances that none of the workmen employed for the renovations had any infectious diseases, and established that all the neighbouring villages were infection free, thus establishing a cordon sanitaire around Mary, whom he now referred to as ‘my daughter’. She arrived in her temporary home at Carrières-sur-Seine on 16 October and was glad that her stay in the grim medieval castle was short. Henri had sent further instructions to Jean d’Humières, who was to be her chamberlain and, with his wife Françoise, in charge of the royal nursery, that ‘she takes precedence over my daughters. She is a crowned queen and, as such I would have her honoured and served.’ This meant, among other things, that she would have a cloth of state with her heraldic bearings hung over her chair and that her servants would kneel in her presence and walk backwards when withdrawing from it. Janet Sinclair would have found these formalities unnecessary but would have encouraged her little charge to behave with proper decorum and not give the French any opportunity to find the Scots’ manners barbaric, as the poet Brantôme had found their language. The other royal children, meanwhile, were enthusiastically beginning the education of their exotic, high-ranking nursery companion in the complex structure of the royal household.
This household was headed by the king. Henri de Valois had been born on 31 March 1519, the second son of François I, andhad had no thought of succeeding to the throne since his eldest brother, François, was in good health. When François I was released from his Spanish imprisonment in 1526 he ignored his sons and rode past them to liberty as they took his place as hostages, though the seven-year-old Henri was kissed goodbye by the tender-hearted Diane de Poitiers, eighteen years his senior. The princes’ imprisonment was harsh. By the time of their release in 1530, the eleven-year-old Henri had become morose and withdrawn but he was greeted on his return to France by Diane, who started to take an interest in the young man. When he rode in his first joust, held to celebrate his release, he carried her colours of black and white on his lance. Three years later, she accompanied him to his wedding to Catherine de Medici, an Italian heiress only two months older than him. Catherine was the only daughter of Lorenzo de Medici and a niece of Pope Clement VII, so the marriage provided François with a useful power base in Italy. Diane, with the Constable of France – Anne, Duc de Montmorency – led the aristocratic faction opposing Catherine as a foreign upstart, with Montmorency unfairly calling her ‘an Italian shopkeeper’s daughter’. These nobles, equally unfairly, accused Catherine of poisoning Henri’s elder brother when
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