- Charlotte de Sauve
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Charlotte de Sauve 
Portrait of Charlotte de Sauve, painted by an unknown artistBorn Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay
c.1551
FranceDied 30 September 1617
FranceNationality French Known for Courtesan, and mistress of King Henry of Navarre Title suo jure Viscountess of Tours
suo jure Baroness Semblançay
Baroness de Sauve
Marquise de NoirmoutierReligion Roman Catholic Spouse Simon de Fizes, Baron de Sauve (m. 1569–1579)
Francois de La Tremoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier (m. 1584–1608)Children Louis de La Tremoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier (1586- 1613) Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay, Viscountess of Tours, Baroness de Sauve, Marquise de Noirmoutier (c. 1551 – 30 September 1617)[1] was a French noblewoman and a mistress of King Henry of Navarre, who later ruled as King Henry IV of France. She was a member of Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici's notorious Flying Squadron (Escadron Volant in French), a group of beautiful female spies and informants recruited to seduce important men at Court, and thereby extract information to pass on to the Queen Mother.[2]
Contents
Biography
Charlotte was born in France on an unknown date in about 1551, the daughter and only child of Jacques de Beaune, Baron Semblançay, Viscount of Tours, and Gabrielle de Sade. The family seat was in the former province of Touraine. Her great-grandfather, Jacques de Beaune was a superindendent of finance to King Francis I who ordered his execution in 1527 at the instigation of his mother, Louise of Savoy. Charlotte later succeeded her father to the barony of Semblançay and the viscounty of Tours.
Charlotte was sent to court where she was educated in the household of Catherine de' Medici. Described as having been "beautiful, intelligent, and immoral", she was married to Simon de Fizes, Baron de Sauve, secretary of state first to King Charles IX and afterwards King Henry III, in 1569 when she was eighteen years old. In the words of historian Jean Heritier, her background meant that "at twenty-one, she knew all there was to be known about politics".[3]
She was appointed maid-of-honour to Marguerite de Valois. She is recorded as taking part in some of the pageants and ballets which Catherine de' Medici produced.[4] She helped Catherine mount a lavish show depicting the Apotheosis of Woman on 9 June 1577 at the château of Chenonceau.[5] On 27 November 1579 her husband died. Charlotte married secondly on 18 October 1584, Francois de La Tremoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier, by whom she had a son, Louis de La Tremoille, in 1586. In 1608, Louis would succeed his father as Marquis de Noirmoutier. On 13 March 1610, he married Lucrèce Bouhier, by whom he had a son, Louis de La Tremoille, 1st Duke of Noirmoutier (25 December 1612- 12 October 1666). A notable descendant of Charlotte was Marie-Anne de la Trémoille, Princesse des Ursins.
Catherine de' Medici formed the notorious group of female informants known as the Flying Squadron, of which Charlotte de Suave was a member
Flying squadron
Shortly after Henry of Navarre's marriage to Catherine's daughter Marguerite de Valois, in 1572, Catherine recruited Charlotte to her squadron, her purpose being that Charlotte was to seduce Navarre, become his confidante as well as mistress, and thus extract information which she would duly pass on to Catherine. The squadron had a male counterpart in "Les Mignons". Charlotte quickly became Navarre's mistress and exerted a strong influence over him. His wife Marguerite recorded in her memoirs: "Mme de Sauve so completely ensnared my husband that we no longer slept together, not even conversed".[4] She accused de Sauve ("that Circe") of persuading Henry that she was jealous of de Sauve, with the result that Henry, whose affairs Marguerite had allowed, stopped confiding in her.[6]
Charlotte de Sauve has been credited as a source of the information that led to the execution of Marguerite de Valois's lover Joseph Boniface de La Môle and Annibal de Coconnas for conspiracy in 1574.[7] In 1575, Catherine de' Medici, abetted by her son Henry III, instructed Charlotte to seduce the king's brother, her youngest son, François, Duke of Alençon, with the aim of provoking hostility between the two young men, so that they would not conspire together in the future.[8] Charlotte subsequently became the duke's mistress, creating a rift between the former close friends, as Navarre and Alençon became rivals over Charlotte.[4] According to Marguerite's memoirs: "Charlotte de Sauve treated both of them [Navarre and Alençon] in such a way that they became extremely jealous of each other, to such a point that they forgot their ambitions, their duties and their plans and thought of nothing but chasing after this woman". Henry of Navarre wrote to a friend: "The court is the strangest I have ever known. We are nearly always ready to cut each other's throat ... All the band you know wants my death on account of my love for Monsieur [Alençon] and they have forbidden for the third time my mistress [Charlotte de Sauve] to speak to me. They have such a hold on her that she does not dare look at me. I am waiting for a minor battle, for they say they will kill me, and I want to be one jump ahead of them".[9] On one occasion, Henry III had Alençon's papers searched for evidence of political plotting but turned up only a declaration of love from Madame de Sauve.[10]
Charlotte de Sauve later became the mistress of Henry I, Duke of Guise, with whom she spent the evening at Blois on 22/23 December 1588, before his assassination by King Henry III of France the following morning.[11] She had other lovers, including the Duc d'Épernon and the Seigneur d'Avrilly.
Charlotte de Sauve died on 30 September 1617 at about sixty-six years of age.
In film
The role of Charlotte de Sauve was played by Italian actress Asia Argento in the 1994 film La Reine Margot starring Isabelle Adjani in the title role. In the film the character dies while unknowingly trying to poison Henry of Navarre.
See also
References
- ^ 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica
- ^ Mark Strage, Women of Power: The Life and Times of Catherine de Medici, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and London, 1976, ISBN 0151983704, p. 185.
- ^ Jean Heritier, Catherine de' Medici, translated by Charlotte Haldane, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1963, OCLC 1678642, p. 306.
- ^ a b c Strage, p. 185.
- ^ Heritier, 362.
- ^ Charlotte Haldane, Queen of Hearts: Marguerite of Valois, 1553–1615, London: Constable, 1968, OCLC 460242, pp. 80–81; (French) Mémoires de Marguerite de Valois, edited by Yves Cazaux, Paris: Mercure de France, 1986, ISBN 2715224711, p. 79.
- ^ Haldane, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Leonie Frieda, Catherine de Medici, London: Phoenix, 2005, ISBN 0753820390, p. 379.
- ^ R. J. Knecht, Catherine de' Medici, London: Longman, 1998, ISBN 0582082412, p. 181.
- ^ Frieda, p. 395.
- ^ Frieda, p. 439.
Categories:- Mistresses of Henry IV of France
- French nobility
- 1551 births
- 1617 deaths
- 16th-century French people
- 17th-century French people
- 16th-century women
- 17th-century women
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