Catherine De Medici's Influence On The Medici Family

Catherine De’ Medici was born on April 13th, 1519 in Florence, Italy. She was the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici II and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne but was orphaned in less than a month from both parents dying from syphilis. She was served as Duchess of Urbino, Queen of France, Regent of France (for all three sons), and was a huge source in the Medici family. Catherine de’ Medici was the most famous and influential woman of the Medici family.
After her parents death, Pope Leo X and future Pope Clement VII, her uncles, took her under their wing. When Catherine was just a baby, Pope Leo X gave her the title of Duchess of Urbino. Pope Leo X had an awesome idea to use Catherine as a main source in marriage for the Medici family. But when Leo X died, his successor Adrian took away Catherine’s title as Duchess of Urbino and gave it back to whom it belonged to before. But when Adrian died 2 years later, Clement VII was elected Pope and set Catherine back on track to be married again. As all was going well, in 1527 Rome was sacked and Clement VII had to flee, forcing Catherine to be under the protection of her motherly figure, Clarice Strozzi. In fear, Clarice takes Catherine to a convent in Santa Lucia.
Bartholomew’s Day was a massacre that killed tens of thousands of protestants. King Charles IX was still in rule at this time along with the hypnotizing word of Catherine. Catherine ordered the assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny- but the assassin didn’t fully kill him. Coligny was found injured, leaving the Huguenots furious at the Catholic throne. Catherine convinced Charles IX that Huguenots were on the verge of overthrowing Charles, the young king panicked and sent troops to kill off these Huguenot rebels. During that same time, Coligny was thrown off his bedroom window, which made Huguenots even more mad. Overall, 70,000 protestants were murdered, most killed in mass murders. This tragedy was all because of a Catholic regent’s hate for