Beatriz
“The most marvelous woman who ever lived.”
Francis on Beatriz)
“I certainly intend to be the most magnificent jewel in his crown”
(Beatriz on Francis)
Despite his grief at Claude’s death, Francis knows he must remarry. It is what she would have wanted, for her children to have a mother, Francis declares to his advisors. The more cynical note that this is the first time the King had ever cared for what Claude would have wanted.
He resolves to secure his hold on Milan, mend relations with Emperor Charles V, and secure a large dowery by wedding one of the daughters of King Manuel of Portugal. At first, he requested the hand of the eldest girl Isabella. But she refused, stating that she would either wed Emperor Charles V or go to a convent. And so the King of Portugal dispatched his youngest sister, Beatriz to be the King's new bride.
In 1521, the year of her marriage, Beatriz was a beautiful, spirited, and proud girl of just seventeen years. Francis was taken with her at first sight. Though it was her beauty that immediately drew the King’s attention it was her fire, her spirit, her wit, so much unlike meek and kind Claude, that kept his affections firmly fixed on his new Queen.
Beatriz for her part was transfixed by her husband, a handsome powerful man who would indulge her insatiable need for attention. To the surprise of everyone, Francis sent away his mistresses, having eyes for no other but his Queen.
While Louise of Savoy was happy that her son was ending his embarrassing debaucheries, and no longer putting himself at near-constant risk of syphilis, she soon found herself missing her son’s petite amours. For Beatriz proved herself unlike Claude in another way, she was unwilling to allow herself to be upstaged by Louise and her daughter Marguerite. With Beatriz in the midst, the famed trio was broken up, with the King relying more on his wife than his mother and sister.
"The poor Queen Mother now weeps for my sister almost as much as her son", Renee observed drily to a friend.
Marguerite for her part found herself respecting the new Queen, though Beatriz’s pride and Marguerite’s loyalty to her mother ensured they would never be friends. "We did not appreciate Claude when we had her", she admitted to a confidant.
Queen Claude’s children by contrast adored their new stepmother, and she in turn loved them. Amongst many areas of competition, Beatriz competed with Louise and Marguerite for influence over the late Queen’s brood.
The young Queen fell pregnant within the first three months of her marriage. This was not a surprise to Beatriz. “The King calls me his Portuguese mare, for he so enjoys mounting me”, the Queen confided in a rather vulgar letter to her sister Isabella, where she all but gloated about her illustrious station, for once elevated above her older sister who pinned seemingly in vain for the hand of Charles V. Evidently the Queen had no idea a similar epithet had been applied to the King’s mistress Mary Boleyn. Perhaps if she had known she would have been less thrilled to receive the title.
The end of 1521 saw the new Queen deliver a son, named Charles. Francis was utterly besotted with his third son. Beatriz for her part immediately took to spoiling the boy, as she would do all of her children, both natural and those from her husband’s first marriage. The King in turn continued to spoil his Queen, weighing her down with gold and gems.
Beatriz loved the power and perks of being Queen of France and lorded them over the other ladies of the court, making many enemies, but because she always possessed the favor of the King nobody could touch her. On the rare occasions when Francis challenged her a good pout could always bring him back under control.
Some of her enemies may have hoped that the deterioration of relations between Francis and Charles would have brought the Queen low, but once again she retained royal favor. Indeed Francis seemed drawn even closer to his wife, perhaps viewing her as a sort of trophy to lord over the Emperor, a role Beatriz was more than happy to fill.
In 1522 she bore the King another daughter, named Margaret after his sister. Once again the King lavished his favorite with gifts of gold and jewels, which she gleefully flaunted about the court. The gifts he gave Beatriz for bearing a mere girl were more than poor Claude had been given for a son, Renee noted bitterly.
In 1523 the Italian wars continued to escalate and Beatriz once again found herself pregnant. Despite her condition, the lively Queen continued to host raucous balls and dances. It was during one of these arguments that the Queen went into labor. The birth proved difficult and though the Queen was delivered of a healthy girl, who was named Beatriz after her mother, she was greatly weekend. For weeks she fought for life, as gossip swirled that Beatiz had been poisoned by Louise of Savoy, or one of her many other enemies at court. Throughout her illness, the King remained by her bedside. Despite his love and the treatments of his doctors, Beatriz perished. Francis was beside himself with grief, as were his children, the younger ones especially having no memory of Claude, remembered her as the only mother they had ever known. The rest of the court by contrast did their best to hide their obvious relief that this arrogant foreigner no longer had the King’s ear.
In her journal Louise of Savoy simply wrote that what had happened had been “God’s will”, and left it at that.
Despite his grief Francis soon returned to the affairs of state. He had a war to win. In 1524 he departed for Italy, for a fateful confrontation with the forces of Charles V at Pavia.
