The bride wore black
King Louis XII decided to organise the marriage of his elder daughter Claude to François who was going to inherit the throne. François and Claude were married in May 1514. François was nineteen and Claude was 14. Claude’s mother Anne of Brittany had died four months earlier so her father Louis XII decreed the wedding would be a low key affair with everyone still dressed in mourning.
When François became King less than eight months later, the new Queen Claude was 15 and in the early stages of her first pregnancy. Over the next ten years Claude had seven children. Unlike her mother’s experience*, all the children survived at birth and she was predeceased by only her first daughter Louise, who had died at the age of three – her second daughter Charlotte died of measles two months after Claude.
Claude was physically the opposite of François. He was 1.98 meters tall (the tallest head of state in French history). She was short and stout to begin with, a situation which could only worsen with constant pregnancies. She did her best to keep up with François in his travels but the increasing weight and fatigue took its toll.
It had never been a love match but François was very protective of her. She knew he wasn’t faithful but she was proud to be married to the handsome young King. He slept with her every night when they were together and his dalliances were discreet while she was alive.
She always had a limp and in the end she was bed ridden with her face covered in a red rash. As well as suffering from exhaustion, probably due to the constant pregnancies, Claude had tuberculosis of the bone like her mother.
In 1524 François headed off to the south of France to defend Provence from an invasion. His mother Louise accompanied him. En route they received a message saying Claude was dying. Louise headed back to Blois to be with Claude. François, although genuinely upset, continued on to battle.
Claude died before Louise reached her. She was twenty four years old.
When François heard the news of her death, he said he would never have thought the bond of marriage would be so strong and so difficult to break. Claude had always been there, sweet and supportive and he realised he had loved her in a way.
It had started off strangely, with the bride wearing black because they were in mourning for her mother. At the end she slipped away quietly, leaving no major mark on history. In fact, these days If you were to ask the average French person about Queen Claude (la Reine Claude) they would think you were referring to a greengage plum. (The plum variety was actually named after her by a royal gardener at the time).
*Anne of Brittany had first been married to King Charles VIII. She had six children, none of whom survived. She married Charles’ successor Louis XII (that had been the deal if there was no heir to the throne). The first child of Louis XII and Anne was a daughter they named Claude. After that she had several miscarriages and births where the baby did not survive. Finally, more than ten years after Claude’s birth, Anne of Brittany gave birth to another daughter, Renée, who survived. Renée’s offspring, like Claude’s would play a significant role in French history.
