Besides being a political reformer, Cosimo was also a master at using art and literature to glorify not only himself, but his ancestors.
Although kept on a leash by the Emperor Charles V, Cosimo I completes Florence’s consolidation of the rest of Tuscany…except for one hold-out.
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Episode 65: Building a State
Now secure in his reign, Cosimo sets about building something like a modern state. But was he a reformer, a tyrant, or something in-between?
The Uffizi, built during the reign of Duke Cosimo I. Source: Arek N.
A portrait of Eleanor of Toledo by Agnolo Bronzino, which was based on an earlier, now lost portrait and painted on the occasion of her death in 1562. Source: Palazzo Pitti.
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Episode 64: The Medici Phoenix
In the wake of Alessandro de’ Medici’s assassination, the Medici family’s country cousin Cosimo becomes the new duke. Right away, he has to fight for his throne and prove that he is no pawn.
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Episode 63: Anticlimax
The Wars of Religion reaches its crescendo with a three-way struggle, and Catherine watches as her most beloved child makes a horrific and bloody mistake that would prove too much for her to bear.
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Episode 62: Misery and Worry
Henri tries to get comfortable as king surrounded by his minions and scholars while Catherine’s problem son, François d’Alençon, helps cause the Wars of Religion to break out again.
Support the podcast on Patreon. You can also drop some change in the tip jar and see my other work here.
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Episode 61: The Favorite
With an atrocity between them, Catherine de’ Medici’s relationship with her son King Charles IX falls apart. She can take pride in her favorite son Henri’s election as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, although unfortunately her beloved child decides he hates his new job.
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Episode 60: Massacre
Catherine de’ Medici and King Charles IX lash out against perceived enemies only to release a horror beyond their control, one that will stain Catherine’s image forever.
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Episode 59: Eve of an Atrocity
Catherine seems to have finally ended the religious civil war, a lasting peace that would be sealed with the marriage of her glamorous daughter Margot and the Protestant great hope Henri de Bourbon. But no one saw the storm that was coming…
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
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Episode 58: Everyone’s a Martyr
The war between Catholics and Protestants in France finally erupts in earnest. Catherine travels across France with Charles IX to try to calm the volcano, but her own patience with the increasingly desperate Protestants is wearing thin…
Transcript
So a word of warning, the French Wars of Religion are one of the most complicated events in the history of Europe, if not the history of the world. There were multiple factions, power plays, and, of course, lots of battles at play. Also something I should have noted is that historians don’t even agree about when the wars started, although the majority agree that it began with the Massacre of Wassy. So while it’s hard to avoid a lot of narrative involving the Wars because, well, Catherine de’ Medici ruled France for most of the wars’ duration, I’m going to try to simplify things and leave out detailed descriptions of certain phases of the war and certain players in events, and focus on Catherine and her family. Since you’re listening to the Medici Podcast and not the French History podcast or a war history podcast, I doubt this makes you too unhappy.
The Medici Podcast 