Claude of France

Queen of the Dazzling, Renaissance Court

 

    Queen Claude of France was the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and his wife, Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Queen Anne gave birth to Princess Claude on 13 October 1499 in Romorantin in the Loire Valley of France. Princess Claude was allegedly named after St. Claudius; a saint Anne had fervently prayed to in hopes of giving birth to a living child. It worked for Queen Anne, and it may have been passed down through Claude, as she later gave birth to many living children.

Queen Claude of France, Corneille de Lyon

    Louis XII and Queen Anne had no surviving male heirs, and as such, Claude was the heiress of the Dutchy of Brittany. However, Claude could not inherit her father’s crown, as France ruled under Salic law. Initially Louis XII wanted to keep the Dutchy of Brittany separate from France, so in 1501, Princess Claude was betrothed to the future King Charles V of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor. This betrothal was broken off in 1505, when Louis XII changed his mind and decided Princess Claude should marry Francis, Duke of Valois, heir presumptive to the French throne.

King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Bernard van Orley, c. 1519

     On 9 January 1514, Queen Anne died, and Claude became the Duchess of Brittany, in her own right. Four months later, at the age of 14, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, married Francis, Duke of Valois at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Claude seemed disinterested in running the Dutchy of Brittany, so she handed over the rule of her lands to Francis in perpetuity.

King Francis I, Jean Clouet, c. 1515

    Claude’s father, Louis XII married Princess Mary Tudor, the sister of King Henry VIII, in October 1514, in a last-ditch effort to obtain a male heir. Part of Mary’s bridal entourage included Mary and Anne Boleyn, who were provided with a magnificent opportunity to learn at the French court.

 

Queen Anne Boleyn, Unknown, c. 1550, Hever Castle

    Upon King Louis XII’s death on 1 January 1515, Francis and Claude became King Francis I and Queen Claude of France. However, Queen Claude wasn’t crowned until 10 May 1517, at St. Denis Basilica. Mary and Anne Boleyn chose to stay at the French court to serve Queen Claude, rather than return to England with Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France. Queen Claude influenced Anne Boleyn immensely during her seven years stay at the prosperous and dazzling Renaissance court.

 

    Queen Claude spent the last eight years of her life in nearly constant pregnancies. In 1515, Claude gave birth to Louise, who died at the age of three. In 1516, Charlotte was born; she only lived until the age of seven. Francis, the heir apparent was born in 1518, but died at the age of eighteen, before he could inherit the throne. Henry was born in 1519 and would become King Henry II of France. Then came Madeline in 1520, who would become Queen of Scotland, and then Charles in 1522. Her last child, Margaret, was born in 1523.

 

    Queen Claude died on 26 July 1524 at the Chateau de Blois. Speculation of the cause of her death continues today, arguments consisting of complications from childbirth or miscarriage, exhaustion from her many pregnancies, tuberculosis, and possibly contracting syphilis from the ever-philandering Francis I. Queen Claude was laid to rest at St. Denis Basilica in a tomb designed by her son, King Henry II.