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Catherine de Medici

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:30,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
Catherine de Medici

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Auction Date:2013 Jun 19 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Queen Consort of France (born Florence, 1519) from 1547 to 1559 and mother of three French kings: Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. ALS in French, signed “Caterine,” one page both sides, 8.5 x 12, April 16, 1562. Letter to Sebastien de L’Aubespine, bishop of Limoges, defending herself against the accusation of having converted to Protestantism. In full (translated): “I accept that all these gentlemen write to the King of Spain on the way I [dis]respect the religion; not to witness what I want either before God or before men, my faith or my good works, but to talk about the lies that were told about me and slander that was made ??to me. Because it has long been told anything else than it was at this time, people lied; I have not changed or harmed or stolen, in the way I have lived my religion for forty-three years, and I called and fed and I do not know if anyone can say the same. I was married without sin, and this lie has lasted for too long not to feel angry at the end and mainly, when you feel a clear conscience and that is very bad that they talk much about that. Kindly show this letter to the Duc d'Albon and The King, my son, because I do not want them to think that I am begging for a witness, as I have been living all my life in the right way. But I did write, as I cannot stand that one talks about my attitude towards charity and I want to shut the mouths of those who invent and say, without being willing to help. And they do everything to get me away from the good graces of the King, my son, whom I consider more important than my own life. Assure me well before leaving that no power may decrease and tell the Queen, my daughter, if she wants to do something to make me happy to live, she shall talk to me and do all that is good for me, I shall always be what I have been so far, a Catholic Christian, neither a liar nor a hypocrite, and you shall always find me to be so." Intersecting folds, a thin mounting strip and small repair to left edge, and a small collector’s stamp to bottom edge of reverse, otherwise fine condition. Provenance: Christie’s 1995.

When Catherine’s son, King Francis II died in 1560, she was appointed regent on behalf of her ten-year-old son King Charles IX, giving her enormous political power. Initially hopeful that growing hostilities between Catholics and the rebelling Protestants, or Huguenots, could be quelled with compromise, she passed the controversial Edict of Saint-Germain in January of 1562, granting Huguenots private worship outside of towns. Accusations that Catherine had rejected Catholicism abounded, and she frequently defended herself as in this letter to L’Aubespine, the French Ambassador to Spain; vehemently denying that she has changed her religion, she asks that the letter be shown to her son-in-law King Philip II and his queen (her daughter, Elizabeth de Valois). Unable to ignore the hurtful slander, she writes, “I do not want them to think that I am begging for a witness, as I have been living all my life in the right way. But I did write, as I cannot stand that one talks about my attitude towards charity and I want to shut the[ir] mouths.” As the French Wars of Religion began and criticism of her leniency intensified, Catherine renounced her hopes of compromise and encouraged what would become some of the most brutal and excessive persecutions in history, including the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed throughout France. With such fervid and personal self-defense pouring from the hand of the most powerful woman in France, this is an outstanding letter in both its content and its rarity—the only Catherine ALS we have ever offered.