Editing Marie de' Medici (section)

===Queen of France===
[[File:MariadeMedici04.jpg|right|thumbnail|Marie de Médicis, by Pietro Facchetti, c. 1595, Palazzo De Torres-Lancellotti, [[Rome]] ]]
The marriage of Henry IV with Maria de' Medici represented above all, for France, a solution to dynastic and financial concerns: it was said that the French king "owed the bride's father, Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had helped support his war effort, a whopping 1,174,000 écus and this was the only means Henry could find to pay back the debt..."{{sfn|Goldstone|2015|p= 377}} In addition, the Medici family{{emdash}}banking creditors of the Kings of France{{emdash}}promised a dowry of 600,000 ''[[écu]]s d'or'' (2 million livres including 1 million paid in cash to cancel the debt contracted by France with the Medici bank),{{sfn|Bassani Pacht|2003|p=51}} which earned the future Queen the nickname "the big banker" (''la grosse banquière'') from her jealous rival, [[Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues]], Henry IV's current [[List of French royal mistresses|''maîtresse-en-titre'']].{{sfn|Baudouin-Matuszek|1991|p=104}} Moreover, Maria de' Medici was the granddaughter of [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]] (in office: 1556–1564), thereby ensuring and reinforcing a legitimate royal descent for prospective future members of the [[House of Bourbon]] (the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] and [[Habsburg Spain]] had questioned Bourbon legitimacy during the previous [[Succession of Henry IV of France|French Succession War]] of 1589 - {{circa}} 1593).

After having obtained the annulment of his union to [[Margaret of Valois]] in December 1599,{{sfn|Chiarini|2002|p=77}} Henry IV officially started negotiations for his new marriage with Maria de' Medici. The marriage contract was signed in Paris in March 1600 and official ceremonies took place in [[Tuscany]] and [[France]] from October to December of the same year: the [[marriage by proxy]] took place at the [[Florence Cathedral|Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore]] (now Florence Cathedral) on 5 October 1600 with Henry IV's favorite the [[Roger de Saint-Lary de Termes|Duc de Bellegarde]] representing the French sovereign. The celebrations were attended by 4,000 guests with lavish entertainment, including examples of the newly invented musical genre of [[opera]], such as [[Jacopo Peri]]'s [[Euridice (Peri)|''Euridice'']].[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 050.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|''Coronation of Marie de' Medici in St.&nbsp;Denis ''(detail), by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1622–1625]]Maria (now known by the French usage of her name, ''Marie de Médicis'') left Florence for [[Livorno]] on 23 October, accompanied by 2,000 people who made up her suite, and set off for [[Marseille]], which she reached on 3 November. [[Antoinette de Guercheville|Antoinette de Pons]], Marquise de Guercheville and ''[[Première dame d'honneur]]'' of the new Queen, was responsible for welcoming her to Marseille. After her disembarkation, Marie continued her trip, arriving at [[Lyon]] on 3 December. She and Henry IV finally met on 9 December and spent their wedding night together. On 17 December, the [[Papal legate]] finally arrived, and gave his blessing to the religious wedding ceremony at the [[Lyon Cathedral|Cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delorme |first1=Philippe |title=Marie de Médicis |date=1998 |publisher=Pygmalion/G. Watelet |isbn=978-2-85704-553-3 |pages=40–61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtVnAAAAMAAJ |language=fr}}</ref>
[[File:Maria de' Medici and her son Louis XIII by Charles Martin.jpg|thumb|right|Marie de Médicis and her son the Dauphin (future Louis XIII) by Charles Martin, 1603. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Blois.]]
Marie gave birth to her first child, a son, on 27 September 1601 at the [[Palace of Fontainebleau]]. The boy, named [[Louis XIII|Louis]], and automatically upon birth heir to the throne and [[Dauphin of France]], was born to the great satisfaction of the King and France, which had been waiting for the birth of a Dauphin for more than forty years. Marie gave birth to five more children (three daughters and two more sons) between 1602 and 1609; however, during 1603–1606 she was effectively separated from her husband.

Although the marriage succeeded in producing children, it was not a happy one. Marie was of a very jealous temperament, and she refused to accept her husband's numerous infidelities; indeed, he forced his wife to rub shoulders with [[Henry IV of France's wives and mistresses|his mistresses]]. She mostly quarreled with the ''maîtresse-en-titre'' Catherine de Balzac d'Entragues (whom Henry IV had allegedly promised he would marry following the death in 1599 of his former ''maîtresse-en-titre'', [[Gabrielle d'Estrées]]<ref name="THE AMERICAN CYCLOPEADIA">{{cite book|title= THE AMERICAN CYCLOPEADIA|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=l2kP_63gEXYC&pg=PA671|access-date= 21 February 2011|year= 1874|pages= 671–}}</ref>) in a language that shocked French courtiers; also, it was said in court that Henry IV took Marie only for breeding purposes exactly as [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] had treated [[Catherine de' Medici]].{{sfn|Goldstone|2015|p=377 footnote}} Although the King could have easily banished his mistress, supporting his wife, he never did so. Marie, in turn, showed great sympathy and support to her husband's banished ex-wife Marguerite de Valois, prompting Henry IV to allow her back to [[Paris]].

Another bone of contention concerned the proper maintenance of Marie's household as Queen of France: despite the enormous dowry she brought to the marriage, her husband often refused her the money necessary to pay all the expenses that she intended to carry out to show everyone her royal rank. Household scenes took place, followed by periods of relative peace. Marie was also very keen to be officially crowned Queen of France, but Henry IV postponed the ceremony for political reasons.

Marie had to wait until 13 May 1610 to be finally [[Coronation of the French monarch|crowned]] [[Queen of France]]. At this time Henry IV was about to depart to fight in the [[War of the Jülich Succession|War of Succession over the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg]]; the coronation aimed to confer greater legitimacy on the Queen from the perspective of a possible regency which she would be called upon to provide in the absence of the King.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://academiesciencesmoralesetpolitiques.fr/2003/07/07/la-reine-de-france-a-lepoque-moderne|title= Fanny Cosandey: The Queen of France in modern times|publisher= academiesciencesmoralesetpolitiques.fr|language= fr|date= 7 July 2003|access-date= 29 August 2020}}</ref> The very next day (14 May), Henry IV was [[Henry IV of France#Assassination|assassinated]] by [[François Ravaillac]] - which immediately raised suspicions of a conspiracy.<ref>
{{Cite book|title= Les secrets du Louvre|last= Torres|first= Pascal|date= 2013|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SfO1DwAAQBAJ|publisher= La Librairie Vuibert|pages= 288|isbn= 9782311100211|language= fr}}
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