Trudy Gold
Exotic Mistresses: Diane de Poitiers
Summary
The intertwined lives of the French King Henry II, son of Francis I, his mistress Diane de Poitiers, and his wife Catherine de Medici, focusing on women and their road to power in a patriarchal world.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
Honestly, I really think he’d had enough. He’d fought the wars of religion. He tried to hold that terrible empire together. He was sick and he was finished, he died a year after abdication. He went to stay in a monastery. And he divided his empire between Philip II of Spain, and of course, Philip II of Spain and his brother Ferdinand.
Yes. Clement VII was Catherine de’ Medici’s uncle. He wanted the marriage. One of the things about the Popes at this period, they’re not actually very spiritual, you know. One of the reasons Protestantism developed - it begins when Martin Luther nails those 95 Theses to a church door at Wittenberg. What do you think those 95 Theses are about? The abuses in the Church. Who was Pope in 1590, 1594? 1494? The Borgia pope. So see the popes as princes, Renaissance princes. So of course, Martin Luther, Protestantism. Look, princes became Protestant. Sometimes they believed, but usually it was a way of breaking away from the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire, but for the ordinary folk. So basically, the reason the Pope refused to annul the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Henry VIII is quite simple. Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor. The Pope was in his pocket. And not only that, and Catherine of Aragon was his aunt. So there’s no way he’s going to allow the divorce of his aunt. That’s why Henry VIII became a Protestant. He wasn’t a Protestant theologically, although Anne Boleyn was, he wasn’t at all. He wanted to become head of the Church. And the reason he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn is he wanted a son. And in those days, go back to the role of women. It was believed that women were the ones who predetermined the sex of a child. If you couldn’t have children, it had to be the woman’s fault. If only girls were born, it’s the woman’s fault.
Yes, she had two children by her first husband, who was 39 years older than her. And they were given important places at court. In fact, her elder daughter became the chief lady-in-waiting to Catherine, and her son-in-laws become very important. Now, if you want a bit of medical history, it seems that Henry II, there was something wrong with him and he had to have a correction because he had no children with Catherine. By the time, or perhaps by the time he’s impregnating his wife, it’s too late for her to bear children. Remember, she was 41 when they started their affair.