Claude Catherine de Clermont- Tonnerre de Vivonne (1543 – 18 February 1603), lady of Dampierre, countess and duchess of

Retz Retz is a town with a population of 4,168 in the Hollabrunn District in Lower Austria, Austria. Geography Retz is located in the north western Weinviertel in Lower Austria. The municipality's area covers 45,01 km². 11.83 percent of this ...

, was a French courtier, writer and salon host.

Life

Family and private life

Claude Catherine de Clermont was born in Paris, the only child of Claude de Clermont-Tonnerre and of Jeanne de Vivonne. In 1561, at 18, she married Jean d'Annebaut, but found herself widowed at 20 after he was killed in the battle of Dreux in 1563. In 1565, she married for a second time, to Albert de Gondi, duc de Retz. Their children included Jean-François de Gondi (later archbishop of Paris) and Claude-Marguerite de Gondi (later Marquise de Maignelay and patroness of the Madelonnettes Convent). During the absence of her spouse, she assembled troops at his expense to drive off robbers threatening his lands, led them herself and forced the robbers to take flight.

Court career

Beautiful and courteous, Catherine was made lady in waiting to queen Catherine de' Medici. She was later appointed

Governess of the Children of France The Governess of the Children of France (sometimes the Governess of the Royal Children) was office at the royal French court during pre-Revolutionary France and the Bourbon Restoration. She was charged with the education of the children and grandchi ...

. She spoke several living languages. In 1573, when ambassadors from Poland came to see the

duke of Anjou The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...

, she publicly replied to them in Latin on behalf of the queen-mother and her speech took on those of René de Birague and the comte de Cheverny, who replied on behalf of Charles IX and the duke of Anjou.

Cultural activity

She spoke Latin, Greek and several living languages. She acquired a great reputation as an intellectual, becoming known as the "10th

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

" and the "4th

Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

". The Croix du Maine wrote that: :"she deserved to be in the first rank of those learned and well-versed in poetry, oratory, philosophy, mathematics, history and other sciences". Holding a salon and regularly attending the sittings of the Académie du Palais, she was also a patroness of the arts, supporting the foundation of

Jean-Antoine de Baïf Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''. Life Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...

's Académie de musique et de poésie in 1570. She circulated her own writings mostly in manuscript, so that little of it has been preserved.

References

External links

*Official WebSite of the House of Clermont-Tonnerre

*Claude Catherine De Clermont Biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clermont 1543 births 1603 deaths French countesses French duchesses 16th-century French women writers 16th-century French writers French salon-holders Governesses to the Children of France French ladies-in-waiting Household of Catherine de' Medici