13 フランス料理に貢献した王妃♪

1519年4月13日、フランス王アンリ2世の王妃カトリーヌ誕生♪

カトリーヌ・ド・メディシスは、フィレンツェで生まれ、1533年、フランスの第2王子アンリ・ド・ヴァロワと結婚する。馬上槍試合でアンリ2世が死去、長男フランソワ2世の短い治世の後に幼いシャルル9世の摂政として政治を担う♪

アンリ二世とカトリーヌの婚儀

フィレンツェの富豪一族メディチ家はイタリアで巨大な権力を手にしていたが、フランスでは不釣り合いな結婚と見なされて、息子の嫁のスコットランド女王メアリーに「フィレンツェの商人女」と陰口を言われている（笑

アイスクリーム

フロランタン

マカロン

カトリーヌはフィレンツェ料理を宮廷に持ち込み、フランス料理を改革した♪　それまでフランス人は、手づかみで食事をしていたが、カトリーヌがフォークや食器類、そして食事作法をイタリアから持ち込んだ♪　アイスクリーム、フロランタン、マカロンといった菓子類も伝えた♪　本人も美食家で晩年はかなりな肥満体だったという（笑

Catherine de' Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589), daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici and of Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II. As the mother of three sons who became kings of France during her lifetime, she had extensive, if at times varying, influence in the political life of France. For a time she ruled France as its regent.


In 1533, at the age of fourteen, Caterina married Henry, second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France. Under the gallicised version of her name, Catherine de Médicis,[1] she was Queen consort of France as the wife of King Henry II of France from 1547 to 1559. Throughout his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from participating in state affairs and instead showered favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded much influence over him. Henry's death thrust Catherine into the political arena as mother of the frail fifteen-year-old King Francis II. When he died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her ten-year-old son King Charles IX and was granted sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life.


Some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, though evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters. In practice, her authority was always limited by the effects of the civil wars. Her policies, therefore, may be seen as desperate measures to keep the Valois monarchy on the throne at all costs, and her patronage of the arts as an attempt to glorify a monarchy whose prestige was in steep decline. Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power. The years in which they reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici". According to one of her biographers Mark Strage, Catherine was the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe.