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Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and family's status. She was a major patron of French Renaissance
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
.


Early life

Diane de Poitiers was born on 9 January 1500, in Château de Saint-Vallier, Drôme, France. Her parents were Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier, and Jeanne de Batarnay. She became a keen athlete, and kept a fit figure by riding and swimming regularly, remaining in good physical condition for her time. When still a girl, Diane was briefly in the retinue of Princess Anne de Beaujeu, King Charles VIII's eldest sister who skillfully held the regency of France during his minority. Like her fellow charges, Diane was educated according to the principles of Renaissance humanism, including Greek and
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, rhetoric, etiquette, finance, law, and
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
.


Grand Seneschal of Normandy

On 29 March 1515, at the age of 15, Diane was married to Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Count of Maulévrier, and Grand Seneschal of
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, who was 39 years her senior. He was a grandson of King Charles VII by his mistress Agnès Sorel and served as a courtier to
King Francis I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
. They had two daughters, Françoise (1518–1574) and Louise (1521–1577). Shortly after her marriage, Diane became lady-in-waiting to Queen
Claude of France Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was Queen of France by marriage to King Francis I. She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514 until her death in 1524. She was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his second wife ...
. After the Queen died, she served in the same capacity to Louise of Savoy, the King's mother, and then Queen
Eleanor of Austria Eleanor of Austria (15 November 1498 – 25 February 1558), also called Eleanor of Castile, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen consort of Portugal (1518–1 ...
. In 1523, her husband uncovered Constable Charles de Bourbon's plot against King Francis I, but did not know at the time that his father-in-law was involved as well. In 1524, Jean de Poitiers was accused of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted. He instead was confined to prison until the Treaty of Madrid in 1526. After her husband died in 1531 in Anet, Diane adopted the habit of wearing black and white for the rest of her life. They were among the permitted colours of mourning and the symbolic colours of the sides of the moon, playing on her name which derived from the Roman moon goddess. She commissioned sculptor
Jean Goujon Jean Goujon (c. 1510 – c. 1565)Thirion, Jacques (1996). "Goujon, Jean" in ''The Dictionary of Art'', edited by Jane Turner; vol. 13, pp. 225–227. London: Macmillan. Reprinted 1998 with minor corrections: . was a French Renaissance sculpt ...
to build a tomb for Louis in the Cathedral of Rouen. Diane's keen interest in financial matters and legal acumen became apparent for the first time during this period. She managed to retain her late husband's emoluments as grand seneschal of Normandy and challenged in court the obligation to return the family's appanages to the royal domain. Impressed, King Francis I allowed the widowed Diane to manage her inherited estates without the supervision of a male guardian and keep their considerable revenues.


Royal favourite

Charles V's troops captured Francis during the battle of Pavia (1525), and in 1526 the princes Francis and Henry were sent to
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
as hostages for their father. Because the ransom was not paid, the two boys (eight and seven at the time) spent nearly four years isolated in a bleak castle. The experience may account for the strong impression that Diane made on Henry, as the very embodiment of the ideal gentlewoman: as his mother was already dead, his grandmother's lady-in-waiting gave him the farewell kiss when he was sent to Spain. At the tournament held in 1531 for the
coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...
of Francis's new wife,
Eleanor of Austria Eleanor of Austria (15 November 1498 – 25 February 1558), also called Eleanor of Castile, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen consort of Portugal (1518–1 ...
, the Dauphin Francis wore the colors of the new Queen as expected, but Henry wore Diane's colors. In 1533, Henry married Catherine de' Medici despite opposition to the alliance, since the Medicis were no more than merchant upstarts in the eyes of many in the French court. However, Diane approved of the choice of bride, to whom she was related (Catherine's maternal grandfather and Diane's paternal grandmother being siblings, making them second cousins). Based on allusions in their correspondence, it is generally believed that Diane became his mistress in 1534, when she was 35 years old and Henry was 15. As the couple remained childless and she became concerned by rumours of a possible repudiation of a royal wife that she had in control, Diane made sure that Henry's visits to the marital bedroom would be frequent, to the point that he had ten legitimate children. In another act of self-preservation toward the royal family, Diane helped nurse Catherine back to health when she fell ill. Despite his occasional affairs with other women, such as Philippa Duci, Janet Fleming, and Nicole de Savigny, Diane remained Henry's lifelong companion. For the next 25 years, she was one of the most powerful women in France. When Francis I was still alive, Diane had to compete at the court with his mistress, Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly. In 1544, Anne convinced Francis I that Henry (now the Dauphin) and Diane were working to reinstate Constable Montmorency at court. After his father banished Diane, Henry and his supporters retreated to the chateau of Anet; father and son wouldn't reconcile until 1545. After Francis's death, Henry had Anne banned from court and confiscated her duchy of Étampes. By then, Diane's position in the Court was such that when Pope Paul III sent the new Queen the " Golden Rose", he also presented the royal mistress with a pearl necklace. She received the prestigious title of
Duchess of Valentinois Duke of Valentinois (french: Duc de Valentinois; it, Duca Valentino) is a title of nobility, originally in the French peerage. It is currently one of the many hereditary titles claimed by the Prince of Monaco despite its extinction in French law ...
in 1548 and was made Duchesse d'Étampes in 1553. Through the extensive patron-client network she cultivated, her sons-in-law received important positions. Although she was not openly involved, Diane's sharp intellect, confident maturity and loyalty to Henry II made her his most dependable ally in the court. He trusted her to write many of his official letters, which were signed jointly with the one name: "HenriDiane". Until 1551, she was in charge of the education of Henry's children, and gave orders to their governors, Jean and Françoise d'Humières. Her daughter Françoise managed the Queen's household as ''
première dame d'honneur ''Première dame d'honneur'' ('first lady of honour'), or simply ''dame d'honneur'' ('lady of honour'), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the tasks of the post ...
'' (chief lady-in-waiting). The King's adoration for Diane caused a great deal of jealousy on the part of Queen Catherine, particularly when Henry entrusted Diane with the Crown Jewels of France and gave her the
Château de Chenonceau The Château de Chenonceau () is a French château spanning the river Cher (river), Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley. The estate of Chen ...
, a piece of royal property that Catherine had wanted for herself. However, as long as the King lived, the Queen was powerless to change that.


Construction projects

Most of the sources in Diane's hand are accounts, demonstrating her meticulous attention to finances. She profited from the confiscation of Anne de Pisseleu's estates and managed the lands well, to the point where she became the beneficiary of 300,000 écus. One of the most successful royal mistresses in acquiring wealth, Diane used her income to build castles by commissioning architect Philibert de l'Orme. Making strikingly effective use of Renaissance arts and rhetoric, she constructed an image of herself as a paragon of virtue and presented the image of Henry II as a model of chivalry. Diane supervised the remodeling of Château d'Anet, her late husband's feudal castle of stone. It has a porch with widely spaced paired ionic columns between towers crowned by pyramidal spires. The château is noted for its exterior, notably the Fountain of Diana, in which the mistress represented the goddess reclining with her two dogs and stag. There is the mortuary chapel built according to Diane's wishes to contain her tomb, commissioned from architect Claude de Foucques by her daughter Louise, Duchess of Aumale. Although its ownership remained with the crown until 1555, Diane was the unquestioned mistress of Château de Chenonceau, the jewel of the Loire Renaissance palaces. In 1555, she asked de l'Orme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank and oversaw the planting of extensive gardens filled with varieties of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, her exquisite gardens were famous and copied.


Later years

Despite wielding such power over the court, Diane's status depended on the King's welfare and remaining in power. In 1559, Henry was critically wounded in a jousting tournament, when his lance wore her favour (ribbon), rather than his wife's. Queen Catherine soon assumed control, restricting access to the royal chambers. Although Henry was alleged to have called out repeatedly for Diane, she wasn't admitted to his deathbed nor invited to his funeral (the latter as was custom and tradition). She was immediately obliged to give to the Queen Mother the Château de Chenonceau in exchange for the less attractive Château de Chaumont, a punishment much less severe than the ones suffered by other royal mistresses. Diane lived out her remaining years in her château in Anet,
Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, her tomb was opened, her corpse desecrated, and her remains thrown into a mass grave. In 1866, Georges Guiffrey published her correspondence. When French experts dug up her remains in 2009, they found high levels of gold in her hair. It is suggested that the "drinkable gold" that she "reportedly" regularly took, believed to preserve youth, may have ultimately killed her. In May 2010, she was reburied at her original tomb in the Château d'Anet.


In popular culture


Novels

* '' The Two Dianas'', by Alexandre Dumas, père * ''Courtesan'', by Diane Haeger * '' La Princesse de Clèves'', by Madame de La Fayette * ''The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici'', by
Jeanne Kalogridis Jeanne Kalogridis (pronounced ''Jean Kal-o-GREED-us''), also known by the pseudonym J.M. Dillard (born 1954), is a writer of historical, science and horror fiction. She was born in Florida and studied at the University of South Florida, earning ...
* ''Queen's Play'' and ''Checkmate'', by Dorothy Dunnett * ''The Master of All Desires'', by Judith Merkle Riley * ''Mary Queen of Scots: A Scottish Queen's Diary, France 1553'', by Kathryn Lasky * ''The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots'', by Carolyn Meyer * ''The Confessions of Catherine de Medici'', by C.W. Gortner * ''Royal Road to Fotheringhay'' and ''Madame Serpent'', by Jean Plaidy * ''The Serpent and the Moon'', by Princess Michael of Kent (remote descendant of Diane de Poitiers) * ''The Ruling Passion'', by Alice Acland * ''Rival Queens, The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots'', by historian Kate William


Films

* '' Diane'' (1956), portrayed by Lana Turner * '' Nostradamus'' (1994), portrayed by
Diana Quick Diana Marilyn Quick (born 23 November 1946) is an English actress. Early life and family background Quick was born on 23 November 1946 in London, England. She grew up in Dartford, Kent, the third of four children. Her father was Leonard Q ...


Television

* ''
Reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism ...
'' (2013), portrayed by
Anna Walton Anna Walton (born 18 December 1980) is an English actress known for her roles in '' Vampire Diary'', ''Mutant Chronicles'', and the compassionate Princess Nuala in '' Hellboy II: The Golden Army''. Walton began working as a model while still a ...
* '' The Serpent Queen'' (2022), portrayed by Ludivine Sagnier


See also

*
List of French royal mistresses A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* Fountain of Diana


References


Sources

* * * * * *


Further reading

* * * Cloulas, Ivan. (1997). ''Diane de Poitiers.'' Fayard. *


External links


French king's mistress poisoned by gold elixirA comprehensive web site about Diane de Poitiers, written by one of her descendants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poitiers, Diane De 1499 births 1566 deaths Duchesses of Valentinois Diane Dukes of Valentinois People from Drôme Mistresses of Henry II of France Diane French ladies-in-waiting Diane 16th-century French women Court of Francis I of France French royal favourites