Claude, Duchess of Brittany

Infobox French Royalty|majesty|consort
name =Claude
title =Queen consort of France
Duchess of Brittany, Countess of Nantes, Montfort and Richmont, Viscountess of Limoges


caption =
succession =Duchess of Brittany
predecessor =Anne
successor =Francis III
reign =9 January 1514 - 20 July 1524
1 January, 1515 - 20 July, 1524
reign-type =Reign
Consort
spouse =Francis I of France
issue =Charlotte of Valois
Francis III, Duke of Brittany Henry II of France
Madeleine, Queen of Scots
Charles, Duke of Orléans
Margaret, Duchess of Savoy
royal house =Valois-Orléans
titles ="HM" The Queen of France
The Duchess of Brittany
father =Louis XII of France
mother =Anne, Duchess of Brittany
date of birth =birth date|1499|10|14|mf=y
place of birth =
date of death =death date and age|1524|7|20|1499|10|14|mf=y
place of death =|

Claude of France (14 October 1499 – 20 July 1524), Queen Consort of France and Duchess of Brittany in her own right, was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany.

As the first wife of Francis I of France, she was the mother of Henry II, and thus grandmother of the last three kings of the Valois line and also of Elisabeth, Queen consort of Spain; Claude, Duchess consort of Lorraine; and Marguerite, the Queen consort of Henry IV of France. She is also the maternal grandmother of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.

Betrothals and marriage

Because her mother, Anne of Brittany, had no surviving sons, Claude became heiress to the Duchy of Brittany. The crown of France, however, could pass only to and through male heirs, according to Salic Law. In 1504, Anne, eager to keep Brittany separate from the French crown, effected the Treaty of Blois, which promised Claude's hand in marriage to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the promise of Brittany and the Duchy of Burgundy. The prospect of a reduced France surrounded on several sides was unacceptable to the Valois, and so the betrothal was soon canceled.

The French nobles argued against a betrothal to a foreigner, urging Louis XII to marry Claude to her cousin François, Duke of Angoulême, "who is at least all French," and was also the heir-presumptive to the French crown. In 1506, the child was betrothed to François. In 1514, when her mother died, Claude became Duchess of Brittany; and on 18 May 1514, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she married François.

Court life

Claude, the pawn of so much dynastic maneuvering, was short in stature and afflicted with scoliosis, which gave her a hunched back. She was eclipsed at court by her mother-in-law, Louise of Savoy, and her sister-in-law, the literary Marguerite, Queen Consort of Navarre.

When François became King in 1515, two of Claude's ladies-in-waiting were the English sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn. Mary became the king's mistress before returning home in about 1519. Anne served as Claude's official translator whenever there were English visitors, such as in 1520. Anne was also a temporary companion to Claude's younger sister, Renée. Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1521, where she eventually became the Queen Consort of Henry VIII.

Claude's life was spent in an endless round of annual pregnancies. Her husband had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. Claude imposed a strict moral code on her own household, which only a few like Mary Boleyn chose to flout.

Death and later events

Claude died in 1524, when she was only twenty-four. She was initially succeeded as ruler of Brittany by her eldest son, the Dauphin François, who became Duke François III, with Claude's widower King François I as guardian. After the Dauphin's untimely death in 1536, Claude's second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans, became Dauphin and Duke of Brittany. He later became King of France as Henry II.

Claude's widowed husband himself remarried several years after Claude's death, to Eleanor of Habsburg, the sister of Emperor Charles V. The atmosphere at court became considerably more debauched, and there were rumours that King François's death in 1547 was due to syphilis.

Children

Claude and Francis I had seven children:
* Louise, Princess of France (August 19, 1515 - September 21, 1517) - died young.
* Charlotte, Princess of France (October 23, 1516 - September 8, 1524) - died young.
* Francis, Dauphin of France (February 28, 1518 - August 10, 1536) - died young.
* Henry II, King of France (March 31, 1519 - July 10, 1559) - married Catherine de' Medici. Had issue.
* Madeleine, Princess of France (August 10, 1520 - July 2, 1537) - married James V of Scotland. No issue
* Charles of Valois, Duke of Orleans (January 22, 1522 - September 9, 1545) - Died young. Had no issue.
* Marguerite of France (June 5, 1523 - September 14, 1574) - married Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy in 1559. Had issue.

Ancestors

"Reine Claude" plum

Claude is remembered in a classic small plum, the size of a walnut, pale green with a glaucous bloom. It is still called "Reine Claude" (literally, "Queen Claude,") in France and is known in England as a "greengage."