Marie Elisabeth of Valois

Marie Elisabeth of Valois
Portrait placed ca. 1577/78.[1]
Father	Charles IX of France
Mother	Elisabeth of Austria
Born	27 October 1572 Louvre Palace, Paris
Died	2 April 1578 Hôtel d’Anjou, Paris
Burial	Basilica of St Denis

Marie Elisabeth of Valois (27 October 1572 – 9 April 1578) was the only child of Charles IX of France and Elisabeth of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain, her paternal grandparents were Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Her father had times of madness, so her grandmother Catherine served as regent. The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurred only two months before Marie Elisabeth's birth. When Marie Elisabeth was less than two years of age her father, King Charles IX died and her uncle became Henry III of France. Her mother then returned to Vienna after Maximilian II repaid her dowry, leaving Marie Elisabeth on 25 November 1575, never to see her again. Marie Elisabeth was raised at the court and later in Paris, where she died on 2 April 1578, apparently of frail health, at the age of five.^[2][3][4][5]

Ancestors

Marie Elisabeth's ancestors in three generations

Marie Elisabeth of Valois	Father: Charles IX of France	Paternal Grandfather: Henry II of France	Paternal Great-grandfather: Francis I of France
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Claude of France
		Paternal Grandmother: Catherine de Medici	Paternal Great-grandfather: Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne
	Mother: Elisabeth of Austria	Maternal Grandfather: Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor	Maternal Great-grandfather: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary
		Maternal Grandmother: Maria of Spain	Maternal Great-grandfather: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Isabella of Portugal

Footnotes

1. ^ Les princesses de France- Les Derniers Valois. Previously was believed that this portrait belonged to her aunt Margaret of Valois, the later Queen of Navarre, but this was disputed in modern times. The authory of the portrait is also controversial, because the traditional author mentioned in several sources, François Clouet died on 22 December 1572, when Marie Elisabeth was only two months old.
2. ^ L’Estoile, Journal, o. c., p. 180.
3. ^ Pierre de L’Estoile, Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III, vol. II (1576-1578), Genève: Droz, 1996, p. 180.
4. ^ Brantôme, Œuvres complètes, o. c., vol. VIII, p. 248.
5. ^ Brantôme, Vie des dames illustres, o. c., II, article XIII, pp. 313-315.

Additional bibliography

• Jacqueline Boucher, Deux épouses et reines à la fin du XVIe siècle : Louise de Lorraine et Marguerite de France, Saint-Étienne, Publications of the University of Saint-Étienne, 1995, p. 60. In 1580, Queen Margaret of Navarre sold the Hôtel to her Chancellor Guy Du Faur, Seigneur de Pibrac.
• Oraison funebre de treshaute et vertueuse princesse Marie Isabeau de France fille de Treshaut et Treschrestien Roy Charles IX, amateur de toute vertu, et protecteur de la Foy. Pronounced in Notre-Dame of Paris on 11 April 1578, by Arnaud Sorbia, Royal Chaplain. This prayer was published in Lyon in 1578 by Rigaud Benoit, and is preceded by a dedicatory letter to Margaret de Valois, dated 16 April 1578. See Jacqueline Vons (éd.),Dédicace à l’Oraison funèbre et Tombeau de Marie-Élisabeth de France (1572-1578). Documents posted on Cour de France.fr on 3 May 2010 as part of the research project "La médecine à la cour de France". (Cour-de-france.fr: Article 1417).

Persondata
Name	Marie Elisabeth Of Valois
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 October 1572
Place of birth	Louvre Palace, Paris
Date of death	2 April 1578
Place of death	Hôtel d’Anjou, Paris