caterina de medici

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A TUSCAN QUEEN
IN FRANCE

Caterina de’ Medici

An important figure of the Renaissance, Caterina de’ Medici (niece of Lorenzo), unwillingly became one of the most influential people in culinary history.

In 1533, at age fourteen, she was married to Henry of Orlèans, the future king of France. Her life was difficult because, from the beginning, Caterina was not what Henry expected: She was chubby, with a big nose and the round eyes typical of all the Medici. Henry married her only because he was forced by political reasons. In a short while, he betrayed her with a beautiful and older milady, Diana de Poitiers—a humiliating relationship Caterina couldn’t ignore.

Unpopular with the French people, Caterina was called the Italian “grocer” because she was from a rich family of bankers but not of noble blood progeny. In addition, she was expected to give an heir to the crown of France: For years the couple tried in vain. With her marriage in jeopardy, she feared being repudiated and sent back to Italy.

The superstition of that time induced Caterina to try to become pregnant by any expedient from special dishes believed to help: artichokes, cibreo (chicken gizzards), and disgusting potions of all kinds. Finally, after ten years, a renowned physician of the Louvre diagnosed the two partners with congenital anomalies. Simple remedies finally allowed her to give birth to nine children in the next eleven years, four of them future kings and queens.

[...] Catherine began feeling insecure in regards to facing the "splendid" French Court. In desperation, she sought the aid of an ingenious Florentine artisan. [...] He removed the clunky wooden soles from Catherine's shoes and replaced it with a slender padded four-inch heel. [...] As necessity is the mother of invention, Catherine de Medici is the mother of the modern high-heeled shoe.

www.harlanyaffe.com/

[...] Catherine is also known as the person who started Ballet through her love for dancing and brought many famous Italian dance masters to France and throwing grand Spectacles of Court. Around 1530, Aglio, the Count of Savoy prepared and acted Ballets with the Prince's and Princesses of his Court. The main experiment in Ballet came from the court of France when Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) along with Henry II (r.1547-1559) brought a dance master in from Italy by the name of Baitazarini. On 10/15/1581, Catherine would hold the first Ballet called the "Ballet Comique de la Reine," for the Duc de Joyeux's marriage. A violinist named Beujoyeux who would later become the Valet De Chambre (dance master) designed this Ballet.

Dance History Archives

Catherine unwittingly had vast influence on fashions for the next 350 years when she enforced a ban on thick waists at court attendance during the 1550’s. For nearly 350 years, women's primary means of support was the corset, with laces and stays made of whalebone or metal. They forcefully shrank women's waists from their natural dimensions to as little as 43, 38, or even fewer centimetres (17, 15, or fewer inches).

In her taste for art and her love of magnificence and luxury, Catherine was a true Medici; her banquets at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau in 1564 were famous for their sumptuousness. In architecture, especially, she was well versed, and Philibert de l'Orme (Philibert of the Elm) relates that she discussed with him the plan and decoration of her palace of the Tuileries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_de_Medici

Only after the death of Henry was she able to get rid of the intruding presence of Diana, as well as to affirm her abilities as a strong ruler and wise politician—even in the midst of the turbulent and bloody events that took place in the years that followed.

When she moved to France, a crowd of friends, servants, and waiters accompanied her. The Florentine cooks who went with her brought the secrets of Italian cooking to France, including peas and beans, artichokes, duck in orange (canard a l’orange), and carabaccia (onion soup). But especially the pastry makers, as Jean Orieux (a biographer of Caterina) wrote, demonstrated their innovative genius with sorbets and ice creams, marmalades, fruits in syrup, pastry making, and pasta. A certain Sir Frangipani gave his name to the custard and the tart known in France as Frangipane.

Caterina also brought with her to the French table new protocol, such as the separation of salty and sweet dishes, at a time when all over Europe sweets were still consumed together with meat and fish in the style of the medieval times. Everyone in France was amazed by the Florentine elegance Caterina introduced: gracious table setting and dining, embroidery and handkerchiefs, light perfumes and fine lingerie, as well as luxurious silverware and glasses.

At that time, French cooking already was a rich, evolving discipline, and the presence of the new style profoundly influenced French cuisine for the next centuries. Jean Orieux wrote: “It was exactly a Florentine who reformed the antique French cooking of medieval tradition; and was reborn as the modern French cooking.” The French cooks improved and magnified the Florentine contribution, and while in Italy many dishes and techniques were being forgotten, the French made them into an international cuisine.

Many efforts have been done to discredit her historically, but Caterina’s influence over French society can’t be denied.

Anna Maria Volpi