Dr. Estelle Paranque
speaker
144 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Feb 2025
last heard Feb 2025
Dr. Estelle Paranque’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk about Catherine.
I don't think I can do shabby. I love your work, but I don't think I can be as funny as you. I'm sorry.
So the Medici family, or the Medici family, were bankers and they rose to power and prominence.
Morally sound. They became, you know, very wealthy, as you said, and they were given titles. So then it created lots of problems and, you know, rivalries. And Catherine de' Medici is going to born into that very important family, but also very scheming family.
Florence is their home. And they're going to become Dukes of Florence and Grand Dukes of Tuscany. But they also love the arts. They become very famous patron of the art. And to say that, I would like to say that Cafe Medici is actually one of the greatest patrons of the art of the second half of the 16th century. It's like the Kardashians. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry, Estelle. Oh, you hurt me.
Estelle, do you want to lie down? I'm so sorry.
Yeah, she was born Caterina, Caterina de' Medici. Her father is Lorenzo II de' Medici. And he was given the title of Duke of Urbino by his uncle, the Pope. But he didn't have the land. He had to fight the Romans. Actual Duke there. It's, you know, like... So sorry. So his uncle, the Pope... Is giving him a title.
But you have to put it into context of Italian wars. So when I say, like, let's be fair to him and the Pope, it was contested.
Yes, she's royal, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. So she is from... Can you say that again, slowly? Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. I love her name. Such a beautiful language. It's like I've said je t'aime to you right now. Greg, you must learn it.
But Madeleine is from French blood, so she's a very important royal woman. It was all arranged, obviously, by the French, especially Francis I of France. Because I just discussed about the Italian wars. French thought they had some claims on Italian territories and having an alliance between the Medici, who were not, as you said, raw, very important, to a very raw French person.
They really thought that here they would lock the Pope on their side. They would lock territories, Italian territories, on their side. And obviously their heir was going to be Caterina, Catherine, to unite in many ways France. And Italy.
So it was a very strong political alliance.
Not the case at all. Unfortunately for Katerina, she lost both her parents. Her mother died. Honestly, we say fever. It's after giving birth. So she died of childbirth. She died 10 days later. And her father, who had to fight this Duke of Urbino... died of his wounds from the battle. So at three weeks old, she was an orphan, but also the heir of a very massive fortune and wealth.
But what's tragic, I think, for Katerina is the fact that then she's going to be taken by her grandmother, but her grandmother is going to die the year after.
And more people are going too, right? Because then she's going to be with her aunt. And again, she's going to die as well. And the Pope.
The great uncle is going to make sure that she is protected and well-educated. What was his name?
Uncle Pope. Uncle Pope. Uncle Ken. It's a life of turmoil and of great heartbreaks. What I want people to understand, just for a minute, how lonely Katerina was. Because she's got no brothers and sisters.
No, and it's very important to remember because then when we're going to go through her life and we're going to discuss her later, I want you to remember that she lost everyone she loved or could have loved and she was massively a political pawn.
I would like to say, please hire me.
No, don't wish you were wrong. Because I don't think it's a sad story. I'm sorry. Maybe I'm the only one feeling that.
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