A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Mary de Medici
MARY DE MEDICI,
Daughter of Francis the First, Grand-duke of Tuscany, and of the Archduchess Joan of Austria, was born at Florence, in 1573, and was married, in 1600, to Henry the Fourth of France. She was handsome, and Henry was, for a time, really attached to her; but she was violent, jealous, and obstinate, and often quarrelled with her husband, so that his affections were soon alienated. But the best historians acquit her of any more serious misconduct, especially of the insinuation thrown out by some writers, that she was privy to the murder of her husband. Mary was weak rather than wicked, and ambitions without corresponding mental powers. After her husband's death, and during the minority of Louis the Thirteenth, she became regent and guardian of her son. Dismissing the great Sully, she allowed herself to be guided by Italian and Spanish favourites. The state lost its respect abroad, and was torn by the dissensions of the nobles at home. A treaty was concluded in 1614, granting to the disaffected all they had required; but this did not bring quiet. Mary's conduct caused universal dissatisfaction, as she permitted the Marshal d'Ancre and his wife to manage the affairs of the kingdom. Louis the Thirteenth was at length persuaded to favour, if not to order, the murder of d'Ancre, the shameless favourite, and Mary was banished for a time; but Cardinal Richelieu, in 1619, reconciled the mother and son. Mary grew dissatisfied, because the terms of the treaty were not fulfilled; another civil war was kindled, but, fortunately for the people, soon subdued. The death of de Euynes, the connétable. who was the enemy of Mary, gave her the ascendency, and she took her place at the head of the council of state. In order to strengthen her authority, she introduced Richelieu into the council; but he proved ungrateful the moment he felt his power secure, and Mary then sought to effect his downfall. This was no easy task. Richelieu had obtained complete ascendency over the weak-minded king, who resisted, all the efforts of his mother to draw him to her party. This contest for the mastery over the king was at length decided in favour of Richelieu, who succeeded in making Louis believe his crown would be lost without the support of the prime-minister. The cardinal roused the apprehensions of the king, and excited him against his mother the queen, by representing that she intended to place her second son, Gaston, on the throne. Mary was therefore ordered, in 1634, to retire to the castle of Compiegne, and all her adherents were either banished or confined in the Bastile. Richelieu was now all-powerful in the kingdom, and Mary soon felt she was a prisoner at Compiegne; she therefore escaped, went to Belgium, England, and Germany, wandering about from place to place in much sorrow, and even want. Repeatedly she demanded justice from the parliament; but she was a weak woman, and who would dare listen to her complaints against the vindictive cardinal, who was the real sovereign of the state? After leading this miserable wandering life for about ten years, the poor exiled queen died at Cologne, 1642, in great poverty and sorrow. Mary was unfortunate, but there is no stain of vice or cruelty on her character. She did much to embellish Paris, built the superb palace of Luxembourg, the fine aqueducts and public walks called Cours-la-Reine, She was jealous, and suffered deeply in her affections from the licentiousness of her husband, which was, probably, the first cause of her violent temper, so often censured. His was the fault. Had Henry the Fourth been a faithful husband, Mary would, no doubt, have been a devoted wife. "She was," says one of her biographers, "ambitious from vanity, confiding from want of intelligence, and more avaricious of distinction than power." The defects of character thus enumerated are such as a bad or neglected education induces, rather than the emanations of a bad heart.