The Tudor Society

  • October 13 – Queen Claude of France

    6 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
    1 Comment
    A bust of Queen Claude from the Queen's Gallery at the Royal Château of Blois

    On this day in Tudor history, 13th October 1499, Queen Claude of France, wife of King Francis I of France and mother of King Henry II of France, was born in Romorantin-Lanthenay, in the Loire Valley in France.

    Claude was the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, but salic law prevented her from acceding to the throne of France on the death of her father in January 1515. Her husband and cousin, Francis, Duke of Angoulême, inherited the throne and so Claude became queen consort instead.

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  • 20 July – Queen Claude of France

    3 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
    1 Comment

    On this day in history, 20th July 1524, Queen Claude of France, consort of Francis I, died at the age of just twenty-four at the Royal Chateau of Blois. She was temporarily laid to rest there and then later moved to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis just outside Paris.

    Brantôme declared that Claude’s husband, Francis I, gave her “the pox, which shortened her days”, meaning syphilis, but the cause of her death is not known for certain.

    In today’s talk, I give an overview of Queen Claude’s life, as well as sharing the theories regarding her death.

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