Catherine’s early years were shaped by political upheaval in Florence. In 1527, republican forces hostile to Medici rule seized the city. Catherine, then only 8, was taken hostage. For three harrowing years, she was moved between convents and even threatened with being paraded on city walls as a human shield.

Eventually, Clement VII’s papal armies regained control, and Catherine was restored to her family’s guardianship. These early experiences—rootlessness, imprisonment, survival through negotiation—helped form her cautious, adaptive political instincts.

Marriage to the French Throne: Catherine Becomes Duchess of Orléans

Catherine’s fortunes changed dramatically when her uncle Clement VII arranged her marriage to Henry, Duke of Orléans, the second son of King Francis I of France. The marriage, held in Marseille in 1533, served a clear political aim: cementing an alliance between France and the Papacy against the powerful Habsburg Emperor, Charles V.

At just 14 years old, Catherine arrived at the French court, a glittering but alien world dominated by ambitious nobles and elaborate intrigues. Her new husband was reserved and indifferent, already emotionally devoted to his older mistress, Diane de Poitiers. For years, Catherine occupied a marginal position at court, overshadowed by Diane and pressured by her failure to produce an heir shutdown123