Gabrielle d'Estrées

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Gabrielle d'Estrées

Gabrielle d'Estrées (* around 1570 in Coeuvres Castle ( Picardy ), † April 10, 1599 in Paris ), Duchesse de Beaufort et Verneuil, Marquise de Monceaux , was the mistress of the French King Henry IV from 1592 to 1599 and took in this time influence on French politics. She had three illegitimate children with Heinrich, her son César , later Grand Admiral of France founded the Bourbon branch line Vendôme . She was the sister of François-Annibal d'Estrées ', Marshal of France .

Life

Henry IV of France
Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters - The painting by an unknown artist probably shows Gabrielle d'Estrées and her sister, the Duchess of Villars; made around 1594, exhibited in the Musée du Louvre , Paris

Gabrielle d'Estrées was born around 1570 as the daughter of the later Grand Master of Artillery Antoine IV. D'Estrées and his wife Françoise Babou de La Bourdaisière . When she was around 20, she met Henry IV, King of France, when he happened to visit her place of residence, the Castle of Cœuvres. The king, who was married to Margaret of Valois , fell in love with the young woman, who was described as beautiful and witty, and took her to be his lover. The king apparently married her to Nicolas d'Amerval , but the marriage was annulled after a short time. D'Estrées became the king's closest confidante and even accompanied him as a heavily pregnant woman on his campaigns to be close to him.

In the early 1590s, the Huguenot king was involved in violent conflicts with the Holy League , a Catholic group that fiercely opposed Henry's enthronement because of his religious affiliation. D'Estrées, herself a Catholic, convinced Heinrich to convert to Catholicism in order to break the influence of the Holy League. She thereby consolidated her position and in 1594 was made Marquise de Monceaux and the official mistress of the King of France.

D'Estrées lived like a wife with Henry IV. Together they had four children, one of whom was stillborn. Her firstborn César (* 1594, † 1665) inherited his mother's title after the death of his mother and founded the House of Vendôme . The only daughter, Catherine Henriette (* 1596; † 1663), married Charles II. De Lorraine-Guise , Duke of Elbeuf , and their son, Alexandre († 1628), called Le Chevalier de Vendôme , who was born on April 19, 1598 , later Grand Prior of France , was by King Louis XIII. as envoy at the court of Pope Paul V. appointed.

Despite the opposition of Minister Sully , she was made Duchess of Beaufort in 1597. The annulment of Henry IV's marriage to Margaret of Valois had already begun and the marriage to D'Estrées was scheduled when she died on April 10, 1599. The cause of death is unclear. There were suspicions that she was poisoned because the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand I de 'Medici , wanted to marry his niece Maria de' Medici to Henry. Others assume that the death was caused by complications in a new pregnancy ( eclampsia ).

literature

Her from a manuscript of the Royal Library published in Paris Mémoires are probably not authentic. The 1996 novel Die Purpurlinie by Wolfram Fleischhauer contains historical and art-historical reflections on Gabrielle d'Estrées' death and the painting Two Ladies in the Bath . The mistress was also immortalized in the two novels The Youth of King Henri Quatre and The Completion of King Henri Quatre by Heinrich Mann .

Web links

Commons : Gabrielle d'Estrées  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mémoires de Gabrielle d'Estrées, 4 vols., Mame et Delaunay-Vallée, Paris 1829, new edition: 1852.


personal data
SURNAME Estrées, Gabrielle d '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mistress of the French King Henry IV.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1570
PLACE OF BIRTH Coeuvres Castle, Picardy
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1599
Place of death Paris