Diane de France, ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

'' Duchess of Angoulême (25 July 1538 – 11 January 1619) was the natural (

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

) daughter of

Henry II of France Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...

. She played an important political role during the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mi ...

and built the Hôtel d'Angoulême in Paris.

Birth and early life

In October 1537, the eighteen-year-old Henry, who had recently become the dauphin but was not yet king, was in

Moncalieri Moncalieri (; pms, Moncalé ) is a town and ''comune'' of 56,134 inhabitants (31 January 2022) about directly south of downtown Turin (to whose Metropolitan City it belongs), in Piedmont, Italy. It is the most populous suburb of Turin and it is ...

in northern Italy on a military campaign.Mariéjol 1920, p. 37
Pébay & Troquet 1990
p. 153Pébay and Troquet 1992, p. 88 There he had an affair with a young woman, usually identified as

Filippa Duci Filippa Duci (french: Philippe Desducs; 1520, Moncalieri, Piedmont – before October 1586, near Tours), dame de Couy, was a French (originally Italian) courtesan. She was the mother of Diane de France. Life Her father was Gian Antonio Duci. Du ...

(french: Philippe Desducs, italic=no), the daughter of a lesser noble of

Fossano Fossano ( pms, Fossan) is a town and ''comune'' of Piedmont, northern Italy. It is the fourth largest town of the Province of Cuneo, after Cuneo, Alba and Bra. It lies on the main railway line from Turin to Cuneo and to Savona, and has a branch l ...

in the Piedmont and the sister of Jean-Antoine, a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

or groom in the Grand Écurie. This union produced an illegitimate daughter, born 25 July 1538 and later known as Diane de France. It is not known whether she was born at court or was brought there when still very young. At court, her care and upbringing were entrusted to Henry's younger sister, Margaret. Diane's father treated her well: her household included a governess, tutors, maids of honor, chamber valets, and even a tailor. Her tutors turned her into an accomplished princess. She learned to write in excellent French, the proof of which can be seen in the large number letters that still survive. She also learned Italian (the second language of the court), Spanish, and enough Latin for religious ceremonies. Her artistic education was not neglected: she also learned to play lute and other instruments, and to sing. She was not formally

legitimised Legitimation or legitimisation is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within a given society. I ...

until much later, in 1572 (not 1547 as previously believed).Lhote and Troquet 2013, p. 4

First marriage

On 13 February 1552, when Diane de France was thirteen, a contract was signed by which she married

Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro ( Valentano, February 1532 – Hesdin, 18 July 1553) was the third duke of Castro. He was the son of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma, and his wife Gerolama Orsini. He married Diane de France on 14 February 1552. O ...

(french: Horace Farnèse, fr, link=no, italic=no).Picot 1907, p. 8, note 2
The wedding ceremony on 15 February 1553 was attended by Orazio's brother

Cardinal Alessandro Farnese Alessandro Farnese (5 October 1520 – 2 March 1589), an Italian cardinal and diplomat and a great collector and patron of the arts, was the grandson of Pope Paul III (who also bore the name ''Alessandro Farnese''), and the son of Pier Luigi F ...

and included masquerades and carnival banquets.Cooper 2007, p. 136
She became a widow five months later, on 18 July 1553, when Orazio was killed while serving with French forces at the siege of

Hesdin Hesdin (; vls, Heusdin) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography The N39, from Arras to Montreuil, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic fl ...

. She spent her period of mourning at the

Château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly () is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The site comprises two attached buildings: the Petit Château built around 1560 for Anne de Montmor ...

, home of Anne de Montmorency, Connétable de France, then returned to court in the service of

Catherine de Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...

Second marriage

Diane's second marriage was to Francis de Montmorency, eldest son of Anne de Montmorency, by a contract of 3 May 1557 and a ceremony that took place on 4 June 1557 at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts. They had a son, named Anne after his grandfather, born by late September 1560 but dead before 15 October. On 22 June 1563, after the death of her father and then her half-brother Francis II, the new king, her half-brother Charles IX gave her, by ''

lettres patentes Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

'' signed at the Château de Vincennes, the Duchy of Châtellerault. The annual revenues of about 6,000

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

were meant to compensate for the gift of 50,000 écus promised for her first marriage but never paid from the royal treasury. The revenues from this duchy were far less than what she was owed. After the death of Charles, Diane became a

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...

of the new king, her other half-brother

Henri III Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of L ...

. In February 1576, he signed additional ''lettres patentes'', giving her the lands and '' seigneuries'' of Coucy and

Folembray Folembray () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The com ...

(both in today's ''département'' of Aisne), as well as some other estates in the

Bourbonnais Bourbonnais () was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''département'' of Cher. Its capital was Moulins. History The title of the ruler of Bourbonnais ...

. Diane was widowed for a second time in 1579, after helping make her husband a leader of the

politique During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ''politiques'' () were those in a position of power who put the success and well-being of their state above all else. During the Wars of Religion, this included moderates of both religious faiths ( ...

s, a moderate

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

group in France.

Later life

In August 1582, Henry III gave her the Duchy of Angoulême in exchange for that of Châtellerault, making her Duchess of Angoulême in

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

(during her lifetime only). The new title came with increased wealth, so in 1584 she started building a new Paris residence, the Hôtel d'Angoulême (now the Hôtel Lamoignon). Construction was likely interrupted by the

Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...

, and only completed with a second phase of construction in 1611.Hartmann, Georges (1917)
"Hôtel Lamoignan", pp. 159–166 (at HathiTrust)
in ''Procès-verbaux de la Commission municipale du Vieux Paris, Année 1917''. Paris: Imprimerie Municipale, 1922. Diane also enjoyed much respect at the court of

Henry IV, King of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

, and superintended the education of his son

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. Diane died on 11 January 1619 in Paris. Her surviving letters reveal her as a woman of great courage and tolerance.

Notes

Bibliography

* Cooper, Richard (2007). "Legate's Luxury: The Entries of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to Avignon and Carpentras, 1553", pp. 133–161, in ''French Ceremonial Entries in the Sixteenth Century: Event, Image, Text'', edited by Nicolas Russell and Hélène Visentin. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. . * Knecht, R. J. (1998). ''Catherine de' Medici''. London: Longman. . * Lanza, Janine M. (2007). ''From Wives to Widows in Early Modern Paris: Gender, Economy, and Law''. Ashgate Publishing. . * Lhote, Claude; Claude Troquet (2013). ''Diane, bâtarde du roi, princesse de la Renaissance'', preface by B. Barbiche, professor emeritus of the École des Chartes. Éditions LULU.com. . . * Mariéjol, Jean-H. (1920)
''Catherine de Medicis (1519-1589)''
Paris: Hachette. * Merrill, Robert V. (1935). "Considerations on 'Les Amours de I. du Bellay'", ''Modern Philology'', vol. 33, no. 2 (November, 1935), pp. 129-138. . * Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1990)
"Philippe Desducs, mère de Diane de France"
''Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes'', volume 148, no. 1, pp. 151–160. * Pébay, Isabelle; Claude Troquet (1992). "Les hôtels d'Angoulême sous Diane de France", pp. 88–97, in ''La rue des Francs-Bourgeois au Marais'', edited by Béatrice de Andia and Alexandre Gady. Paris: Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris. . * Picot, Émile (1907)
''Les français italianisants au XVIe siècle'', volume 2
Paris: Honoré Champion. * Setton, Kenneth M. (1984). ''The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571). Volume IV. The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V''. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. . {{DEFAULTSORT:France, Diane de 1538 births 1619 deaths 16th-century French women 17th-century French women Nobility from Paris

Diane de France Diane de France, ''suo jure'' Duchess of Angoulême (25 July 1538 – 11 January 1619) was the natural (illegitimate) daughter of Henry II of France. She played an important political role during the French Wars of Religion and built the H� ...

6 Dukes of Angoulême Angoulême, Duchess of, Diane de France French ladies-in-waiting Daughters of kings