Man, this whole Catherine de’ Medici rabbit hole started way later than I planned last Friday. Grabbed a cold one after dinner, thinking I’d just skim some quick history facts before bed. Big mistake. Ended up glued to my laptop screen until like 2 AM, notebooks and scribbles everywhere. Total mess on the desk.
How I Stumbled Down This Path
It kicked off kinda simple. Pulled up this weird old book scan online – think it was called “Court Secrets of Old France” or something like that. Dry title, right? But inside? Pure drama. Started reading bits about Catherine arriving from Italy all young, married off to that French prince. Poor girl probably had no clue what she was walking into.
Then boom – found myself digging through my own book pile for anything about her. Pulled out that heavy college textbook about Renaissance Italy I swore I’d never touch again. Dusty thing felt like a brick. Started cross-checking dates against this blog post I found ages ago on Italian politics back then. Screen glare was killing my eyes.
The “Serpent Queen” Stuff Got Wild
Okay, the “Serpent Queen” nickname hooked me hard. Who calls their queen a snake? Had to know why. Started finding these wild old letters, French nobles whining about her in letters. Said she ran rings around everyone with spies? Maybe that’s why people whispered she knew poison recipes? Found myself digging into seriously creepy stuff:
- Rumors about “Flying Squadron” – basically her ladies-in-waiting supposedly spying on dudes in bed? (Hard to believe honestly)
- All these old pamphlets blaming her for every bad harvest or royal death? Felt like reading conspiracy theories.
- And yeah, saw those ugly accusations about the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Heavy stuff.
Honestly, half this reads like bad gossip. How much was real hatred of a powerful foreign woman, and how much was just dudes blaming her because the king sucked? Makes you think. Spent way too long on forums arguing with history nerds about this.
What My Notes Looked Like
My journal pages were chaos. Seriously. Tried making a timeline on one page. Failed miserably. Ended up just writing messy bullet points:
- Brought Italian cooking/fashion? (Cool)
- Saved King’s butt multiple times? (Smart)
- Accused of poisoning Jeanne d’Albret? (Yikes!)
- Kid’s wives dying young… coincidence or… ? (Spooky)
Found some dumb sketch I did trying to figure out Italian vs French power players around her. Looked like tangled yarn. Useless.
My Big Takeaway After Wasted Sleep
Staggered to bed super late, mind spinning. Here’s the thing slapped me in the face: how much of the “evil Queen” thing is just propaganda? She lived in a brutal time playing the hardest political game imaginable. Did some rough stuff? No doubt. But they called her a “serpent” mainly ‘cause she was smarter than them, an outsider, and a woman running the show. If she’d been a man, they’d probably just called him a “shrewd strategist”. Easy to bury history under gossip.
Woke up late Saturday feeling groggy, but honestly kinda satisfied. Peeling back the layers on someone labeled pure evil for centuries? Makes you question all the stories they teach you. Even found myself doodling some Italian herbs later – you know, just in case. (Kidding… mostly).
