Elisabeth of Valois
Elisabeth von Valois ( French Élisabeth de France ; Spanish Isabel de Valois ; born April 2, 1545 in Fontainebleau , † October 3, 1568 in Aranjuez ) was Princess of France and Queen of Spain.
Elisabeth von Valois was the eldest daughter of Henry II of France from the House of Valois-Angoulême and his wife Caterina de 'Medici . Although she was actually engaged to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos , the marriage between the French princess and the Spanish King Philip II was decided within the framework of peace negotiations between Spain and France . In the course of her short life, Elisabeth of Valois transformed herself from a French princess into a Spanish queen, whose political intelligence, gentleness and beauty were celebrated throughout Europe. Elisabeth tried to fulfill her duties as the Spanish queen perfectly. She died giving birth to a child.
Childhood and youth at the French court
Elisabeth von Valois was born on April 2, 1545 as the first daughter of Henry II of France and his wife Caterina de 'Medici in Fontainebleau . Elisabeth's childhood was overshadowed by her parents' unhappy marriage. During this time the desire for a harmonious marriage and family life grew in the little princess, which she tried to realize during her short marriage to Philip II of Spain.
Marriage of parents
Elisabeth's mother Caterina was born as the only daughter of Duke Lorenzo von Urbino of the Medici family and his wife Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne on April 13, 1519 in the Medici Palace in Florence . Katharina's mother died two weeks after the daughter was born on April 28, 1519 as a result of the difficult delivery. After the death of Katharina's father on May 4, 1519, her great-uncle, Pope Clement VII , took over the guardianship of his young niece.
He had ambitious plans for Katharina and offered her to King Francis I as a bride for one of his sons. The Medici were an Italian family of merchants who owed their rise to the European aristocratic circles and high church offices to their skillful commercial activities. Franz I finally consented to a marriage between Katharina and his second son Heinrich, because he hoped that this connection would give him better contacts to the Vatican and support in the fight against Spain . On October 18, 1532, the Pope blessed the very young couple and on October 28, 1533, the youths of the same age married in Marseille .
Katharina von Medici did not feel at home at the French court at first because, as a foreigner and improper merchant's daughter, she was subjected to numerous humiliations and was hardly noticed by her young husband. In 1536, after the death of his older brother, Heinrich became the new Dauphin of France and Katharina became a Dauphine. In the same year, after a series of changing mistresses, Heinrich fell madly in love with the 37-year-old Diane de Poitiers and ennobled her as Countess of Saint-Vallier and later as Duchess of Valentinois. The betrayed wife Katharina stayed in the background and learned over time to submit and be patient.
The marriage of Katharina and Heinrich remained childless for ten years and Heinrich even expressed the wish to have the marriage declared invalid. During this time Katharina tried to end childlessness with various medical procedures and fertility drugs and finally wanted to retire to a monastery in order to enable her husband to marry again. But this was forbidden by her father-in-law, who had the medical care of his daughter-in-law intensified. The treatments only paid off on January 20, 1544, when Katharina gave birth to her first child, the heir to the throne, Francis of France . The child was small, weak and had difficulty breathing, so that it was feared that it would die soon. Katharina feared for the life of this child, on which her whole fate depended. To the great relief of the parents, the baby recovered and Katharina gave birth to nine more children over the next eleven years. Three of these ten offspring died in early childhood, seven remained alive.
Youth as the future queen of Spain
Elisabeth was the second child and first daughter of her parents and was brought up together with her other siblings. In contrast to her older brother Franz, who constantly suffered from various diseases and was mentally and physically retarded, the young princess showed a quick perception and a high thirst for knowledge very early on. In addition, the girl very soon developed into a beautiful and elegant young woman who caught the attention of her contemporaries.
Elisabeth had inherited the thick black hair, the dark eyes and the high intelligence from her Italian mother. Unlike her mother, however, she showed more sensitivity and gentleness in her behavior and tended to be intensely pious. Katharina discovered in her daughter those qualities that she herself lacked, and so over time a close relationship of trust developed between mother and daughter, which was continued in the form of frequent correspondence even after the marriage of Elizabeth to Philip II of Spain.
Elisabeth's advantages did not go unnoticed in other European countries and so many applications for the hand of the king's daughter at the French court were soon received. France was weakened by the numerous wars against Spain , so Heinrich and Katharina decided to marry their daughter to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos and thus strengthen relations with Spain. Philip II of Spain suddenly broke off the engagement between his son and Elisabeth after the death of his second wife Maria I of England in 1558 and sent the Duke of Alba as a courtship to Catherine de Medici. The French queen was at first surprised at the new turn. In the end, however, she agreed to her daughter's marriage to the much older Spanish king in the hope that Elisabeth could influence Spanish policy in favor of France. Katharina von Medici had probably also heard rumors about the poor mental and physical condition of Don Carlos, which soon made the rounds in Europe. There are no sources that describe Elisabeth's feelings during this eventful time.
As part of the wedding celebrations, Elizabeth's father, Henry II of France, organized a tournament on June 20, 1559 . Heinrich was an avid tournament rider and so he fought a duel with his friend Gabriel de Montgomery that day. The lance slid off the armor and pierced the king's right eye. The king did not survive his severe injuries and died within a few weeks on July 10, 1559, despite intensive medical treatment. The wedding ceremony, which was overshadowed by the agony of the bride's father, Henry II, took place on June 21, 1559 per procurationem in Paris . The Duke of Alba served as the bridegroom's deputy. Death remained a constant companion to Elisabeth and her childhood friend, Maria Stuart .
Half a year later, Elisabeth left France for Spain and, after an arduous journey across the Pyrenees, met her husband for the first time in the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara . When they first met, Philip II of Spain worriedly asked his young wife whether she was offended by his gray hair and his age. The actual wedding finally took place on February 2, 1560 in Toledo and the French princess from the House of Valois became the third wife of King Philip II of Spain after Mary of Portugal and Mary I of England .
Life as Queen of Spain
The first years of marriage
The Spanish people named the French princess Isabel de la Paz because her marriage to King Philip II of Spain sealed the long-awaited peace of Cateau-Cambrésis between Spain and France. Elisabeth was 14 years old when she got married and was praised by her contemporaries as a radiant beauty. With her dark hair and eyes, her even face, her petite figure, her fair complexion, her elegant demeanor and her modern wardrobe , she won the affection of her royal husband, the Spanish courtiers and the entire Spanish people.
In her new home, Elisabeth was initially homesick and had difficulty getting used to her new role as Queen of Spain. As early as February 1560, the young queen fell ill with chickenpox and recovered only slowly. Elisabeth's weakened body was finally attacked by smallpox at the end of the year , so that the princess had to stay in bed most of the time. During this time Philip II of Spain hardly left his wife's side, despite the high risk of infection, and cared for her with devotion. Elisabeth was touched by her husband's behavior and overcame her initial fear of her silent husband. In the years that followed, up to her untimely death, she became a close confidante for her husband, who was even allowed to advise him on important political issues.
Philipp, who was described by his contemporaries as cool, ice cold and aloof, changed in the presence of his young wife into a happy and loving husband who read his wife's every wish from her eyes. Elisabeth, traumatized by the experiences in her childhood, tried to build a healthy family life and to be a faithful wife to her husband. During the marriage of Elisabeth and Philip, the rigid Spanish court ceremonies were relaxed a little and the young queen filled the gloomy Spanish court with the relaxed French way of life and fashion . Although Philipp sincerely loved Elisabeth, family life was only second in his daily routine. Philip II was a monarch with body and soul and could spend days planning campaigns and making political decisions.
Sacrifice for the heir to the throne
In the following years there was a change in Elisabeth's life. She had found a new mission in life and was beginning to feel comfortable in her new role as Queen of Spain. She supported her husband in his government business and changed more and more from the young French princess to an intelligent, benevolent, pious and compassionate Spanish queen, who was concerned with the welfare of the Spanish people. Katharina, who had hoped for a French-friendly policy in Spain from the marriage between Elisabeth and Philip II, was shocked by the development of her daughter and remarked in her letters that her daughter Elisabeth had become very Spanish.
Elisabeth fully concentrated on her role as wife and mother of the country and tried diligently to fulfill her duties as queen. The most important task of a queen, the birth of an heir to the throne, could not be fulfilled by her petite build.
Elisabeth was pregnant five times. Her first pregnancy was harmless compared to the following: In April 1560, she was given birth to a son who, however, died after a few hours. However, Elisabeth consoled herself with the thought of having more children. In May 1564 her second pregnancy began and with it a martyrdom from which she was only to free her early death. In the fourth month she suffered a dangerous attack of fever, which was treated by the Spanish doctors with the purgations and bloodletting that were customary at the time . As a result of this medical treatment, she suffered a miscarriage and lost her pair of twins. After the life-threatening delivery, Elisabeth hovered between life and death for several days and temporarily lost consciousness. The many illnesses and the agony of childbirth had left their mark on Elisabeth's body. She got paler and thinner and the emaciated body got weaker and weaker. Even so, she continued to try to advise her husband on government affairs.
In June and July 1565 occurred in Bayonne at a meeting of Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Alba, and Elizabeth took part in the. Alba urged the French queen widow to crack down on the Huguenots , something Katharina was not prepared to do due to her interest in maintaining domestic peace. Elisabeth had already adopted the point of view of Spanish politics to such an extent that she supported her husband's envoy to a greater extent than her mother at the meeting.
As early as the end of 1565, Elisabeth's pregnancy was announced again, and in the following years she gave birth to two healthy daughters after life-threatening births. Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain was born in 1566 and her sister Katharina Michaela of Spain , also called Catalina Micaela, was born a year later. In the course of another pregnancy, the queen fell seriously ill in the autumn of 1568 and did not recover. In the late morning of October 3, she gave birth to premature birth . The child, a girl again, was baptized just before he died. Elisabeth lost consciousness several times and passed away on the same day in the presence of Philip II as a result of this difficult birth, without having given her husband a male heir to the throne. Elisabeth died in Aranjuez and was buried in the Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Chapel 9 of the Pantheon of the Infants in the order of the Franciscans .
Philip II of Spain married his niece Anna of Austria for dynastic reasons in 1570 , who on April 14, 1578, gave him the longed-for heir Philip III. donated from Spain . The Spanish monarch could not transfer the deep feelings he had felt for his third wife to his fourth wife, nor could he develop a proper relationship with his children from the fourth marriage. His two daughters Isabella Clara Eugenia and Katharina Michaela of Spain became his most important confidants, who, like his late wife Elisabeth von Valois, were allowed to advise him on important political issues.
myth
Elisabeth is said to have had a love affair with her stepson Don Carlos , which later inspired Friedrich Schiller to his drama Don Karlos and Giuseppe Verdi to the opera Don Carlo .
Don Carlos was the eldest legitimate son of his father Philip II, heir to the throne of Spain. He was considered physically and mentally retarded, possibly due to the close relatives of his parents. However, there are theories that as a child he would have suffered severe brain damage if he fell, which repeatedly led to uncontrolled behavior. Carlos was considered a capricious, headstrong and ailing youth. So Philipp felt compelled to hide his son strictly shielded from the outside world.
Elisabeth spent a lot of time with her stepson and took part in his sad fate. A close relationship of trust developed between the young people of the same age. Elisabeth tried to mediate between her husband and Don Carlos, and during the short marriage between Philip and Elisabeth, the strained relationship between father and son improved at times. Shortly after the birth of her second daughter, Don Carlos was arrested by surprise. The capture of her stepson affected her so much that she locked herself in her room for days and cried. Don Carlos died a good two months (July 24th) before the death of his stepmother Elisabeth von Valois (October 3rd).
Despite speculation about an alleged love affair between the stepmother and her ailing stepson of the same age, the relationship between the two seems to have been based more on compassion, friendship and compassion and was only later elevated to a romance.
progeny
- a boy who lived only a few hours
- Miscarriage of a female twin couple
- Isabel Clara Eugenia of Austria (1566–1633) ⚭ 1599 Albrecht VII of Austria (1559–1621)
- Katharina Michaela of Austria (1567–1597) ⚭ 1585 Charles Emanuel I (1562–1630) Duke of Savoy
- Premature birth of a girl who died shortly after she was born
literature
- Sigrid Maria Großering: We could have sat in a rose garden - love and suffering in the Habsburg family . Heyne, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-16346-X .
- Irene Mahoney: Catherine de Medici . Diederichs, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-424-01229-7 .
- Antoine Théodore du Prat: Histoire d'Élisabeth de Valois, pure d'Espagne, 1545–1568 . Techener, Paris 1859 ( PDF; 13.3 MB ).
- Karla Reinhart: Those lilies of Valois: a Spanish queen in the history of the 16th century, in Schiller's "Don Karlos" and in Verdi's "Don Carlos" . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-631-31610-0 .
- Martha Walker Freer: Elizabeth de Valois - Queen of Spain and the Court of Philip II. 2 volumes. London 1857, ( PDF; 10.6 MB ).
Web links
- Elisabeth of Valois. In: FemBio. Women's biography research (with references and citations).
- Picture gallery
- http://sayaespanola.glittersweet.com/isabeldevalois.htm
Remarks
- ↑ Irene Mahoney, Katharina von Medici , German 5th edition 1997, ISBN 3-424-01229-7 , pp. 135-141.
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Mary I (England) |
Queen of Spain 1559–1568 |
Anna of Austria |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elisabeth of Valois |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elisabeth de France; Isabel de Valois |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Daughter of Henry II of France and Catharina de 'Medici, wife of King Philip II of Spain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 2, 1545 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fontainebleau |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 3, 1568 |
| Place of death | Aranjuez |