Christine of Lorraine

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Portrait of Christines of Lorraine by an unknown French school painter, 1588

Christine or Christiane von Lothringen ( French Chrestienne or Christine de Lorraine , Italian Cristiana / Christiana or Cristina di Lorena , born August 16, 1565 in Bar-le-Duc ; †  December 19, 1636 in Florence ) was by marriage to Ferdinando I. de 'Medici Grand Duchess of Tuscany and ruled the Grand Duchy from 1621 to 1628 together with her daughter-in-law Maria Magdalena of Austria , while her grandson Ferdinando II. De' Medici was underage.

Surname

During her lifetime, several forms of the Lorraine's name were circulating, with different connotations. Recent research has looked more closely at the name form. In the earliest documents, "Chrestienne" ("the Christian") is mentioned as her first name. The name goes back to her famous ancestors Cristierna of Denmark , the paternal grandmother, and Caterina de 'Medici (as "royne tres chrestienne"), the mother of her mother. The name forms “Christiana” and “Cristina” only appear in connection with her marriage to Ferdinando I de 'Medici . The use of the latter form was particularly preferred by the Florentine side, as it was linked to the Tuscan saint Cristina di Bolsena , whose representation was also included in the Grand Duchess' private chapel in the Villa La Petraia . An identification of the Lorraine woman with the saint probably corresponded to the expectations of the Florentine court.

The Grand Duchess herself initially preferred "Christiana", the Latin translation of "Chrestienne". This form can be found on portrait medals and her seal as well as in a number of books dedicated to her and various donor inscriptions. Several of her sponsored children were baptized with the name "Christiana". In a set of rules she wrote in 1615 with the title Capitoli, Constituzioni, Et Regole per le Convertite di Pisa , she sometimes referred to herself as "Christiana", but in places also as "Crestina". Finally, in the last decade of life, the Grand Duchess increasingly identified with Christina von Bolsena . This manifested itself among other things in the donation of a statue of the saint for the cathedral of Pisa as well as in the collection of their relics and culminated in the consecration title of the Florentine church Santi Agostino e Cristina , which was named in honor of the founder ("Christina Lotharingia Fundatrix"). According to Strunck, the changing use of the name forms - Chrestienne, Christiana, Cristina - not only shows the increasing identification with the saint, but also the "arrival" of the Lorraine woman in her Italian homeland.

Life

Childhood, youth and marriage

Christine of Lorraine was the second child and first daughter of Duke Charles III. von Lorraine and his wife Claudia von Valois , a daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici . She got her name in honor of her godmother and grandmother Christina of Denmark (see section Name). When Christine was ten years old, her mother died of complications from a difficult birth in 1575, and Christine was raised by her grandmother at the French court in Paris . During this time, a close relationship of trust developed between Katharina von Medici and her granddaughter, who was strongly influenced by her grandmother.

When Christine was of marriageable age, there was no shortage of possible husbands for her. In 1580, Catherine de Medici pursued the plan to marry her granddaughter to her own son François-Hercule de Valois , but this plan met with little approval from the bride and so it was dropped again. Also Vincenzo I Gonzaga , Duke of Mantua, and Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy were as candidates in the conversation. At the French court there were even rumors about a planned marriage between Christine and the Scottish King James VI. King Henry III the hand of his niece had in turn held out the prospect of one of his mignons , Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette , the Duke of Épernon, but this project met with determined opposition from Katharina. In December 1586 she is said to have made her son-in-law Heinrich von Navarra the offer to have the unfortunate relationship with her daughter Margarete annulled in order to clear the way for a marriage between him and her granddaughter Christine - at least that is what Heinrich IV later claimed. and Albert de Gondi, duc de Retz , who is said to have been present at the conversation.

After lengthy negotiations conducted by Orazio Rucellai and Catherine de Medici, Catherine finally appointed Ferdinando I de 'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to be Christine's husband. Their marriage contract was signed on October 24, 1588, but it has not yet been signed. It contained an extraordinarily impressive dowry for the bride: in addition to 200,000  Goldécu , the Queen Mother gave her granddaughter all of the Florentine possessions. The wedding by procurationem took place on December 8th of the same year in the Saint-Calais chapel of the Blois castle . The groom was represented by Charles de Valois, duc d'Angoulême . Christine was only able to start her bridal trip to Florence in March of the following year, because in addition to fighting in the course of the Huguenot Wars , the death of Catherine de Medici in January 1589 delayed her departure. In her will, she had declared Christine her main heir, so that the 22-year-old was now endowed with a dowry worth around two million livres . This also included all movable goods and works of art of the deceased. Christine also brought the famous Valois tapestries (French: Tapisseries des Valois ) to the ducal court in Florence, which are now kept in the Uffizi .

The wedding of Christine to Ferdinando I, engraving by Jacques Callot , around 1614

After the marriage contract had been signed retrospectively on February 20, 1589, five weeks after Katharina's death, the newly crowned Grand Duchess set off for Italy. Her journey took her from Blois via Lyon , Avignon and Aix-en-Provence to Marseille , where she boarded a Florentine ship on April 11th. With stops in Monaco and Genoa , the journey continued to Livorno , where Christine was received by Pietro de 'Medici , a brother of her husband. After a three-day stay in Pisa , she arrived in Poggio a Caiano on April 28, 1589 , where she met her husband personally for the first time. On to Florence , where the new Grand Duchess moved in on April 30th, with great sympathy from the population. Before that, she was officially crowned in an elaborate staging outside the city gates. This was followed by festivities lasting several weeks, consisting of banquets, triumphal parades, tournaments and popular amusements. There were also several theatrical performances, the plays of which had either been written especially for the wedding or were premiered there. These included the comedy La Pellegrina by Girolamo Bargagli and the Commedia dell'arte play La pazzia di Isabella . An ancient sea battle was even staged in the courtyard of Palazzo Pitti . All productions and performances are now considered milestones in theater and stage technology and art. The climax of the festivities was the so-called intermedia for La pellegrina , musical interludes between the acts of the comedy La pellegrina .

Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Christine of Lorraine as Grand Duchess of Tuscany, painting by Tiberio Titi , 1600/1605

Christine played a major role in ensuring that her husband continued to pursue a pro-France policy in the aftermath of their wedding. The connection between Ferdinando's niece, Maria de 'Medici , who was married to Henry IV of France and was accompanied by the Grand Duchess to Marseille, can also be seen in this light . However, Christine was not significantly involved in the decisions of her husband at the beginning, only over time did he include her and her views more and more often.

After the death of Ferdinando I in 1609, the widowed Grand Duchess had a great influence on the country's fortunes when her son Cosimo II. De 'Medici ascended the throne, but did not rule himself because of his poor health. Cosimo's youth teacher, Galileo Galilei , addressed one of his four Copernican letters to her in 1615. Christine survived not only her husband, but also her first-born, because Cosimo II died in 1621. In his will he had appointed his mother and his wife Maria Magdalena of Austria to be regents for his underage son Ferdinando II . She held this office until 1628, before her grandson took over the rule himself. In retrospect, however, Christine's reign is judged to be unfortunate and unsuccessful, and she is given some responsibility for the gradual decline of the Grand Duchy. Her predilection for extravagant luxury, which was paired with mismanagement, left her grandson with a heavily indebted country that was heavily influenced by the church because the devout duchess of the duke had entrusted many administrative offices to church dignitaries. Christine's piety was also expressed in the founding and endowment of numerous monasteries, such as the Monastero della Pace in Florence and a convent in Pisa. She received the Golden Rose twice for her activities , in 1589 from Pope Sixtus V and in 1593 from Clement VIII.

Christine von Lorraine died at the age of 71 on December 19, 1636 in the Villa Medici in Castello, a residential area of ​​Florence. In her will, drawn up in 1630, she had decreed that her savings should go to poor girls as dowries.

progeny

The marriage with Ferdinando I had nine children:

literature

  • Sheila Barker: Christine of Lorraine and Medicine at the Medici Court. In: Giovanna Benadusi, Judith C. Brown: Medici Women. The Making of a Dynasty in Grand Ducal Tuscany. Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Toronto 2015, ISBN 978-0-7727-2180-8 , pp. 157-183 ( PDF ; 878 kB).
  • L. Bertoni: Cristina di Lorena, granduchessa di Toscana. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 31. Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, Rome 1985 ( online ).
  • Hilarion de Coste: Christine de Lorraine, Grande Duchesse de Toscane. In: Les Eloges et vies des reynes, princesses, dames et damoiselles illustres en piété, courage et doctrine, qui ont fleury de nostre temps, et du temps de nos peres. Volume 1, 2nd edition. Sébastien et Gabriel Cramoisy, Paris 1647, pp. 417-432 ( online ).
  • Christina Strunck: Christiane von Lothringen at the Medici court. Gender discourse and cultural transfer between Florence, France and Lorraine (1589–1636). Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7319-0126-6 .
  • Christina Strunck: Christiane von Lothringen (1565–1636), in The Medici. People, power and passion , ed. v. Alfried Wieczorek, Gaëlle Rosendahl and Donatella Lippi (exhib. Cat. Mannheim, Reiss-Engel-Horn-Museen), Regensburg 2013, 322–325.
  • Christina Strunck: How Chrestienne became Cristina. Political and Cultural Encounters between Tuscany and Lorraine, in Medici Women as Cultural Mediators (1533-1743). Le donne di casa Medici e il loro ruolo di mediatrici culturali fra le corti d'Europa , ed. v. Christina Strunck, Milan 2011, 149–181.
  • Christina Strunck: Christiane von Lothringen, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1565–1636): a 'female Hercules', in The Women of the House of Medici. Politics, patronage, role models (1512–1743) , ed. v. Christina Strunck, Petersberg 2011, 74-93.

Web links

Commons : Christine von Lothringen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ A b Entry of Christina of Lorraine in the Medici Archive Project, accessed on August 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ The following remarks are based on Christina Strunck: Christiane von Lothringen at the Medici court. Gender discourse and cultural transfer between Florence, France and Lorraine (1589–1636) . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7319-0126-6 , p. 41-46 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e L. Bertoni: Cristina di Lorena, granduchessa di Toscana. 1985.
  4. ^ A b Hippolyte Aubert (Ed.): Correspondance de Théodore de Bèze. (1583) . Volume 24. Droz, Geneva 2002, ISBN 2-600-00694-X , p. 345, note 8 ( digitized version ).
  5. ^ Leonie Frieda: Catherine de Medici. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2003, ISBN 1-84212-725-X , p. 48.
  6. ↑ a b H. de Coste: Christine de Lorraine, Grande Duchesse de Toscane. 1647, p. 420.
  7. ↑ a b Jean Hértier: Catherine de Medici. Ruler without a throne. 6th edition. Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-55044-7 , p. 332.
  8. ↑ On the dowry cf. Christina Strunck: Christiane von Lothringen at the Medici court. Gender discourse and cultural transfer between Florence, France and Lorraine (1589–1636) . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg, ISBN 978-3-7319-0126-6 , p. 36–41, 37, note 84 .
  9. ↑ According to Leonie Frieda: Catherine de Medici. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2003, ISBN 1-84212-725-X , p. 436. However, the information regarding the exact date varies in the various publications.
  10. ↑ Jonathan Spangler: The society of princes. The Lorraine-Guise and the conservation of power and wealth in seventeenth-century France. Ashgate, Aldershot 2009, ISBN 978-0-7546-5860-3 , pp. 148-149 ( digitized version ).
  11. ^ Description of the Valois tapestries on the Friends of the Uffizi Gallery website , accessed on January 2, 2017.
  12. ^ H. de Coste: Christine de Lorraine, Grande Duchesse de Toscane. 1647, p. 422.
  13. ↑ Gabrielle Langdon: Medici Women. Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal in the Court of Duke Cosimo I. University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2006, ISBN 978-0-8020-3825-8 , p. 299, note 63 ( digitized version ).
  14. ↑ Christoph Gaiser: The power of tones and the tones of power. April 2007 (PDF; 27 kB) ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ This date is also listed as the wedding date in the Medici Archive.
  16. ↑ a b Christina Strunck: The virtues of Christine von Lothringen - self-view and perception of others (1589-1636). Lecture at the Symposium of Medici Women. Your rites of passage in a diachronic comparison on September 30, 2006 ( online ).
  17. ^ H. de Coste: Christine de Lorraine, Grande Duchesse de Toscane. 1647, p. 426.
  18. ^ Original text of the letter , accessed on January 2, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Christine of Lorraine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christine de Lorraine; Cristina di Lorena
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Duchess and Regent of Tuscany
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1565
PLACE OF BIRTH Bar-le-Duc
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1636
Place of death Florence