Queen Catherine is a non-negligible presence in France's history, and after her son became king, she ruled France for decades as queen mother.
Her life is legendary, with its ups and downs.
What she is best at is forbearance, forbearance is first-class, relying on a forbearance word, she has the power of the world later.
Catherine was born in 1519 into one of the most powerful families in Florence.
Her father, Lorenzo II, was the head of the Medici family, the powerful and uncrowned ruler of Florence.
Her mother was a countess of France and possessed countless wealth and land.
Less than a month after she was born, her mother and father died, and she became an orphan, first raised by her grandmother, who lived with her aunt after her death.
As a girl of the Medici family, Catherine was destined to marry for the benefit of the family as soon as she was born.
After Catherine's father died, her uncle Clement VII became the head of the Medici family and placed her in the Medici-Ricardi Palace in Florence.
In 1527, when she was 8 years old, Clement VII's reign in Florence was overthrown by rival factions, and Catherine was arrested and imprisoned in a convent for three years.
She has no parents, no dependence, in order to survive, she can only please the people around her, she can only endure, and the experience when she was young gave her endurance beyond ordinary people.
In 1529, Clement VII returned with foreign aid and recaptured Florence, and Catherine was freed again.
After that, Clement VII kept Catherine with him.
Catherine was short, thin, and ordinary-looking.
In her position, beauty is not important, and those who want to marry her value her strong background and wealth.
With a dowry of 6 cities worth 100,000 gold and an aqueguin, Clement VII sent her to the France royal family, marrying Henry, Duke of Orleans, second son of King François I.
In 1933, 14-year-old Catherine married 14-year-old Prince Henry of France.
Henry didn't like her and often left her alone in the palace.
A year after their marriage, Clement VII died, and his successor refused to pay Catherine's exorbitant dowry.
Catherine married into the France royal family empty-handed, climbed the France royal family, and the entire France royal family was replaced with a cold face in front of her.
Husband Henry also showed his lustful nature and found a lover, and his favorite was a lover who was 20 years older, Diane.
Diane was older, but she was beautiful, tall and plump, fair-skinned, and had delicate features, like a goddess in mythology.
In 1536, Crown Prince Francis of France died suddenly of illness, and Catherine's husband Henry became the crown prince, and she became the crown princess.
Catherine has never been able to have children, Henry does not like her, and her position as the crown princess is in jeopardy.
She was as humble and submissive as she could, pleasing everyone in the court, and everyone but her husband Henry had a good opinion of her.
can't give birth to a son, and she, the crown princess, will have to give up sooner or later.
Catherine tried all kinds of remedies and couldn't give birth to a son, and found her husband's lover, Diane, and told her that if she couldn't give birth to a son, Henry might marry another princess.
This is not the result that Diane wants, Catherine is ordinary-looking, and Henry has no interest in her, and if she marries another young and beautiful person, she may steal the limelight.
Diane actively matched Henry and Catherine to have a child, the couple spent more time together, and with the help of doctors, Catherine finally gave birth to a son after more than 10 years of marriage.
The more children she has, the more confident she is, Catherine gave birth to 8 children in a row, and finally she doesn't have to worry about losing her status.
In 1547, King François I of France died, Henry succeeded him, and Catherine became queen.
His father died, and no one could control him anymore, Henry gave his lover Diane a castle and priceless jewels, and the two attended royal events together.
Diane is more like the queen of France, and Catherine, the queen, has become superfluous.
Catherine has endured it since she married into the France royal family, and she still has to endure it when she becomes a queen.
She has a son and has enough patience to believe that she will be able to survive one day.
Catherine was not idle while enduring it, and won over those noble ministers and had a large number of supporters.
In 1559, at a wedding celebration, the competitive Henry participated in a horse spear contest, was critically wounded by the opponent, and died more than 10 days later.
After Henry's death, Catherine's eldest son, François II, became the new king.
The first thing Catherine did when she became the Queen Mother was to ask her husband's lover Diane for all the jewels and castles that her husband had given her.
She didn't embarrass Diane, knowing that her husband was the one who started it, and after retrieving her things, she let her go.
François II died of illness after just over a year on the throne, and his 10-year-old brother Charles was put on the throne as Charles IX.
Charles IX reigned for 14 years and died at the age of 24, and after his death, his younger brother, Henry III, stepped onto the stage of history.
In 1589, after Catherine's death, Henry III was also assassinated.
During the reign of her three sons, Catherine took the regency and was the de facto ruler of the country.
It was not easy for her, the queen mother, to be at that time, France was not peaceful, the struggle for power among the ministers, the war between sects, and all kinds of open and secret battles.
Catherine is politically minded, trying to balance the forces of all sides, resolve contradictions, and push the vast state apparatus forward.
During her regency, there was a massacre in which tens of thousands of Protestants were killed.
There is no evidence that Catherine orchestrated the massacre, but the account was put on her head, and she became known as the "Viper Queen".
Her image is horrible, bloody in history.
Catherine drew a bad hand, her parents died after she was born, she was a pawn before she got married, and she survived in the cracks after marriage, and she became the queen mother and lived a life of dancing on the tip of a knife.
In Catherine's particular era, it was difficult to judge whether it was good or bad, right or wrong.
She was able to survive the harsh environment and shine brightly, and for that alone, she was an amazing woman.