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'''Quote from Civilopedia:''' It is well cut; now you must sow. (C'est bien taillé mon fils; maintenant, il faut recoudre. - lit. "It is well cut my son; now, you must resow.")<br /> |
'''Quote from Civilopedia:''' It is well cut; now you must sow. (C'est bien taillé mon fils; maintenant, il faut recoudre. - lit. "It is well cut my son; now, you must resow.")<br /> |
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| − | [Note: Those were the words of Catherine to her son Henri III after the assassination of the Duke of Guise, who |
+ | [Note: Those were the words of Catherine to her son Henri III after the assassination of the Duke of Guise, who led the Catholic League in France against the centralization of the state, fearing the upcoming of Henri of Navarra on the French throne since the latter was a Protestant. Henri III got sick of him and assassinated him, but that move led to his death, as the king was assassinated by the ultra-Catholic monk Jacques Clément.] |
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Revision as of 15:55, 28 May 2020
- "It is well cut; now you must sow."
Catherine de Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen of France from 1547 until 1559. She leads the French in Civilization VI.
Although nominally a cultural player, France is a dangerous opponent. Catherine will be aware of what you are up to, and will be able to use Spies and her potent Industrial era army to protect her interests.
Intro
It falls to you, Catherine de Medici, to use your gifts of knowledge and of the arts to unite your people. Steer carefully through these troubled times, Queen Mother of France. You will build great wonders, drawing visitors from all corners of the earth. With your keen awareness of all things, both those seen and those hidden in the shadows, your empire will certainly stand the test of time.
In-Game
Catherine de Medici's unique agenda is called Black Queen. She wishes to gain as many Spies and as much diplomatic access as she can, and dislikes leaders who ignore their espionage.
Her leader ability, Catherine's Flying Squadron, allows her to have 1 level of 
Diplomatic Visibility greater than normal with every civilization she has met. She also gains an extra Spy capacity and an extra Spy after researching Castles, and all her Spies start with a free promotion.
Detailed Approach
Like Cleopatra and Qin Shi Huang, France wants to be a major player in the wonder game. Success there should make them major contenders for a Culture Victory. With Catherine at the helm, they should have information on all their rivals, allowing them to focus on just those wonders they can be sure to build first. Second in priority to wonders are well-placed Châteaux, also helpful for Culture Victories. All this 
Culture should help them move through the Civics Tree quickly, getting to Corps and Armies before many of their rivals. If they have them at the same time as the Garde Impériale, watch out!
Lines
Catherine de Medici is voiced by Lara Parmiani. She speaks French with an Italian accent, sometimes switching to Italian with her native Florentine dialectal cadence when she speaks negatively towards the player.
Voiced
Agenda-based Approval: I see you are also practiced in the subtler arts of statecraft. I've always rather enjoyed a bit of espionage, myself. (Impressionnant, il semble que vos espions soient partout! Mes dames de compagnie seraient ravies de les entretenir pendant la fête. - lit. "Impressive, it seems your spies are everywhere! My companion ladies would be delighted to speak with them during the festival.")
Agenda-based Disapproval: You should start paying attention to what's happening around you. Believe me, there are way too many games being played. (Dovreste prestare attenzione a ciò che v'accade d'intorno. Credetemi, vi sono fin troppi giochini che stanno avendo luogo.)
Attacked: You dare attack my sovereign realm? I don't believe even Nostradamus could have predicted this! (Vous osez attaquer mon royaume? Je ne crois point que Nostradamus lui même aurait su le prédire!)
Declares War: Ahahah, don't be surprised. In truth, you'd be a fool if you didn't know what was going to happen. (Ahahah, non siate sorpreso. Se non v'accorgeste di quanto stava per accadere, siete invero un folle.)
Defeated: I have lived long enough to know when I am defeated. Carry on. (J'ai vécu assez longtemps pour savoir reconnaître ma défaite. Poursuivez votre chemin.)
Greeting: I am Catherine, the Queen Mother of France, and I welcome you to the realm. I do so look forward to learning all there is to know about you. (Je suis Catherine, Reine Mère de France. Je vous souhaite la bienvenue en mon royaume. J'ai grand désir et envie de découvrir tous vos secrets.)
Quote from Civilopedia: It is well cut; now you must sow. (C'est bien taillé mon fils; maintenant, il faut recoudre. - lit. "It is well cut my son; now, you must resow.")
[Note: Those were the words of Catherine to her son Henri III after the assassination of the Duke of Guise, who led the Catholic League in France against the centralization of the state, fearing the upcoming of Henri of Navarra on the French throne since the latter was a Protestant. Henri III got sick of him and assassinated him, but that move led to his death, as the king was assassinated by the ultra-Catholic monk Jacques Clément.]
Unvoiced
Delegation: I have sent you a trade delegation with all of the customary gifts: herbs, olives, various cheeses, and baguettes to eat them with, of course.
Denounced by Player: The glory and might of France will not be tarnished by such obvious lies.
Denounces Player: I don't like the look of what you've been up to. What would your friends think of this information?
Invitation to City: You have not lived until you have had our delicacies of food and drink. And I can show you how to use a fork, if you wish.
Invitation to Capital: I am enamored with architecture. Tell me, does your capital have any triumphant arches, or large metal towers?
Civilopedia entry
Catherine de Medici (Gallicized from the Italian “Caterina”) has gotten a bad rap from historians, due in part from her de Medici family ties and in part from her own ruthlessness in keeping the Valois (a distaff branch of the Capetian bloodline) on the throne at all costs. Despite what may be said about her however, without Catherine it is unlikely that the House of Valois would have survived its challenges, nor France weathered its trials and tribulations of the time.
Catherine was borne into the nigh unbelievably wealthy and powerful de Medici family, de facto rulers of Florence, bankers to kings, and pope-makers (her great-uncle was at the time Pope Leo X). By all accounts, her father Lorenzo, made Duke of Urbino by Leo, was “as pleased as if it had been a boy” by her birth. Besides being bright and gifted (“for a girl”), the dukedom meant she could claim noble birth, opening all sorts of opportunities for her. Not the least a number of royal suitors; having spurned James V of Scotland and others, in October 1533 AD – at the tender age of 14 – she wed the second son of the king of France in an arranged marriage engineered by the de Medici pope Clement VII.
The young bride saw little of her husband, Prince Henri, as he was busy with his many mistresses. But in 1536, Henri’s older brother Francis caught a chill and died, making Henri the Dauphin... and Catherine the Dauphine of France. Not only that, but suddenly Catherine proved to be extraordinarily fertile – and resilient. After eight years bearing no children despite trying mightily, she gave birth to a son in 1544. Following the advice of the famed physician Jean Fernel, who had noticed some anatomical “irregularities” in the couple, the next year she bore a daughter for Henri. Whatever Fernel’s advice had been, it surely worked, for Catherine gave Henri a further eight children (an amazing feat given the incidence of death in childbirth at the time).
When Henri’s father died in March 1547, Catherine became Queen of France. Although Henri, much enamoured of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, treated Catherine with stiff respect, he allowed her no political influence – even giving a château she had sorely wanted to Diane. In 1556, Catherine nearly died giving birth to twins; she was to endure no more pregnancies. She was devoted to her brood, and used the wealth of her family as well as her status as Queen Consort to ensure that they had the best education, wanted for nothing, and were sheltered from their father, who took little interest in his children, save his eldest son. Catherine, who had a bit of a reputation as a dabbler in the “black arts” herself, even sent for the famed Nostradamus in August 1556 to come to court and cast the horoscopes of her seven children.
In June 1559, as part of the proxy wedding of his 13-year-old daughter Elizabeth to King Philip II of Spain, Henri insisted in joining the jousting tournament. Not the best of decisions, since he was badly injured and died a fortnight later. Francis II, already king of Scotland by his marriage to Mary (Queen of Scots), became king of France at the age of 15. In what amounted to a coup, the Guise brothers and the Cardinal of Lorraine moved into the Louvre Palace and effectively seized power. Catherine, using all the political acumen and guile she had inherited as a de Medici, elected to work with the Guise faction.
As de facto regent, although Catherine had no claim to that position, she set about consolidating her own power and influence. Using her “new-found authority,” she forced Diane de Poitiers to return the crown jewels (which besmitten Henri had given her) along with the château Catherine had once desired; Catherine effectively put the ex-king’s mistress out to pasture. The Queen Mother managed to keep herself out of the Guise’s bloody persecution of the Protestants, as well as the failed plot to overthrow them by the Bourbons. She also made common cause with the new chancellor Michel de l’Hopital in defending the law against attempts to circumvent it by the Guises, notably with regard to their dead-Protestant fixation. But she could also be ruthless in defending her son’s position as king; when the Prince of Condé raised an army and attacked Catholic towns, she ordered him to court and then imprisoned him as soon as he arrived. He was only saved from execution by the sudden death of Francis.
But it wasn’t all fun and games for Catherine; she also hosted lavish court festivals – the so-called joyeuse magnificences – at the slightest provocation: weddings, anniversaries, christenings, feast days, and just about any other occasion imaginable. It was at such fetes that Catherine’s notorious L’Escadron Volant (“Flying Squadron”) plied their wiles, ladies such as Lady Isabelle de la Tour and Baroness Charlotte de Beaune Semblancay. The “squadron” was a group of fetching young noblewomen Catherine used for the purpose of forming relationships with powerful men of the court, thereby extracting “insider” information of use to Catherine in her schemes. Along with the assassinations and blackmail, such insights helped her fend off threats to both France and her position within it.
Catherine barely missed a step as she became regent to her ten-year-old, Charles IX. If anything, she grew even more powerful. The boy, moody and sickly, cried at his coronation; Catherine kept close tabs on him, and even went so far as to sleep in his bedchamber. In effect, Catherine ruled France, but the nation faced some serious problems. She set about to take care of these in typical de Medici fashion. She called the religious leaders of France, both Catholic and Huguenot, to settle doctrinal differences; when that failed she issued the Edict of Saint-Germain to promote religious tolerance. (Unfortunately, the Duke of Guise attacked and massacred a Huguenot service, thus setting off the 30-year French Wars of Religion.)
When Protestant nobles raised an army in response to the massacre in 1562, after failed negotiations Catherine threw the royal army at them. When Protestant Antoine de Bourbon died from wounds, and the volatile Catholic Duke of Guise was assassinated, she issued the Edict of Amboise (the “Edict of Pacification”) in 1563 to end the unrest. Then she rallied both Huguenot and Catholics lords to retake Le Havre from the English, who were meddling again in French affairs. Except for the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, ordered by King Charles IX, things were fairly stable for the “Italian queen.” Then Charles died at the age of 23. Another son, her favorite, was crowned King of Poland in 1573 (which didn't last long) and then King Henri III of France in 1574 AD.
But Henri, already an adult and in good health both mental and physical, proved not as pliable as his brothers. Although he depended on Catherine to oversee much of the minutia of ruling for a decade, in 1588 at Blois he suddenly dismissed all her appointed ministers to the crown, effectively ending her influence over the government. Henry also moved against the still powerful Guise family, allies of his mother, having the Duke assassinated and eight other members murdered. Catherine, bedridden at the age of 69, was stoic at the news. Within the month, in January 1589, she died.
Trivia
- Catherine de Medici's appearance in the final version of the game is different from her appearance in the early builds and promotional materials, which depicted her with larger earrings and with a glass of wine, instead of the glass of champagne she currently holds.
- Catherine de Medici's diplomacy screen shows a château alongside a river with a black swan swimming in it.
- Catherine de Medici's leader ability references the name given to her ladies-in-waiting, who seduced courtiers for political ends on her orders, while her leader agenda references her alleged links with witchcraft and the occult.
Gallery
Videos
Related achievements
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Blackest Queen
As France, build an Intelligence Agency
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Loire Valley
Create 5 Châteaux in one city with the Wine resource.
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Valois Dynasty
Win a regular game as Catherine De Medici
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