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...

Catherine de' Medici takes the reins under the novel title of Governess of France. Just as she assumes power, a crisis that will overshadow the rest of her life begins to take shape. 

Catherine de' Medici's chronically ill son is now King François II of France. Rather than getting to enjoy the perks of being a king's mother, she finds herself caught having to deal with not only the growing tensions between Catholic and Huguenot, but the feud between two powerful families, the Guises and the Bourbons.

(Note that I'm going on hiatus until late January. Also, apologies for the sound issue where there's an occasional noise outside my voice. I think I identified the cause and I should have it resolved by the time I return from my January hiatus!).

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Now queen of France, Catherine de' Medici is forced to form a somewhat unorthodox household with her husband Henri and Diane de Poitiers. Meanwhile religious persecution and violence have been growing, and Henri prepares to once again face his and his father's nemesis, Emperor Charles V. 

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Far from a fairly tale life, to secure her future Catherine de' Medici must overcome snobbery at the royal court, anti-Italian racism, escalating religious and political tensions, her husband's bizarre love for his own surrogate mother Diane de Poitiers, and even her own body's seeming inability to get pregnant with an heir to the French throne. 

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Catherine de' Medici has just married into the monarchy of France, arguably the oldest surviving Catholic Christian monarchy in Europe. So it's a good time to ask the question that would shape Catherine's life: how was it that a monarchy that barred women and their children from the crown also had a long history of powerful women guiding it? 

Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com.

Support the podcast on Patreon.

Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com.

Support the podcast on Patreon.

Duke Alessandro de' Medici enters a deadly contest with his cousin, Cardinal Ippolito. The real threat, however, may be closer to home.

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For our 50th episode, I give an overview of how the Medici went from being just one of several powerful banking families to joining the ranks of European royalty and high nobility.

Check out pictures, bibliographies, and more at http://www.medicipodcast.com.

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Just a brief update on the latest way the Worst Summer Of My Life has messed with me and what that means for the podcast along with what's in store with future episodes.