A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Clermont, Claude Catharine de
CLERMONT, CLAUDE CATHARINE DE,
Daughter of Clermont, Lord of Dampierre, wife, first of M. d'Aunbaut, who perished in the civil wars of France, and afterwards of Albert, Duke de Metz; was lady of honour to Catharine de Medicis, and governess to the royal children. She was an only daughter, and carefully educated. In all foreign affairs she was consulted as the only person at court who understood the languages. When her husband was in Italy, her son, the Marquis of Belleisle, attempted to seize his father's estate; but she assembled soldiers, pat herself at their head, defeated her son's project, and retained her vassals in obedience to their king, Henry the Fourth, who loaded the duchess with honours. She survived her husband but a few months, dying in the latter part of the sixteenth century.