YEAR 1563 The most powerful woman in 16th-century Europe

                                                   

Catherine de' Medici, newfangled, considered more advanced, ahead of others,

      [and therefor in conflict with traditional, established ideologies and every perception,
this year signed The Edict of Amboise, it is unknown whether she was the bearer
                          [of good or evil, but certainly a mind beyond conventionalised intellection.

She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 as the wife of King Henry II of France.

                          [At the age of 14, she married Henry, second son of King Francis the First

an unique case in the history, as she is the only woman who gave birth to three Kings

             [who died earlier than her and after their coronation, some said she was cursed. 

During his reign, Henry II was more concerned with his mistresses than with his wife,

                       [an activity which, of course, in the positive work of a king is not reckoned.

Henry II died in 1559 and Catherine entered the political arena

                      [as the mother of her ailing 15-year-old first son, King Francis the Second. 

A year later the young king died and Catherine de' Medici, his mother,
                         [took over the regency of her second son Charles the Ninth, a boy 10-year-old 

who also died and Catherine continued to play role in the exercise of power over Henry ΙΙΙ, 

           [her third son, nowadays IRS would find it difficult to locate the Head of Household.

Catherine's three sick sons reigned in a time of social and religious upheaval in France,

                                                                          [she initially tried to join the Protestant faction,

the well-known Huguenots, but she soon  changed tactics, turned against them

       [and persecuted them relentlessly, it was said that she personally guided every action.

According to Mark Strage one of her biographers, Catherine was the most powerful woman

                                          [in 16th-century Europe, woe to anyone who reacted to her demands,

she was a tough and determined person and is described with a large mouth,

                                              [puffy eyes, but at the same time cute and with well-shaped hands.

The birth of Catherine (April 13, 1519) brought great joy to her parents,

                      [as if a boy had been born into the family, according to a historian of the time.

She grew up in luxury, married a king and lived her whole life in wealth,

                                           [fully protected and in palaces magnificently, absolutely sublime! 

The death of Pope Leo XI in 1521 reduced the influence of the Medici family

                                                   [until another Medici, Clement VII, was elected pope in 1523.

Clement installed Catherine in the palace of the Medici in Florence, 

  [and she became known to Florence as the Little Duchess with eyes reminiscent of the sea.

 Her facial features were not  impressive, especially her puffy eyes, which were characteristic

                                [of the Medicis, on the contrary her body is praised by her contemporaries. 

There were several suitors, but a marriage was eventually arranged with Henry, 

            [son of King Francis I of France, it was met with great disappointment by dignitaries.

Catherine's first and last marriage to Henry was part of an allied treaty between

          [King Francis I of France and Pope Leo IX, who also to the Medici family belonged. 

The family turned against Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, 

                    [she lived an enviable life but with anxiety plus exhausting agony, prolonged.

                                                 

                                                              to be continued

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* ''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE in verse''

Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //

Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis -CHICAGO//

Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS //

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 ELEGHOS... at history  

1562, Emperors

                    

After long negotiations between Ferdinand I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
                                                                      [and the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent,
a peace recognizing the status quo in Hungary was signed, and they both surprised the world
                                        [by showing an admittedly new face, one that was completely different.

Suleiman I was the tenth Osmanli Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
                                                                     [and its longest-serving, reigning from 1520 to 1566. 

Under his leadership, the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith and became a world power,
        [and he was considered one of the pre-eminent rulers, always with wise ideas and picks.

Suleiman was renowned as a just and fair ruler, choosing his subordinates

                                                             [according to merit rather than social status or popularity.

British historian E.J.W. Gibb wrote that at no time was greater encouragement

   [given to poetry than during his reign, he was also distinguished by severity and peculiarity.

The author of the agreement of 1562 was Ferdinand Ι, Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, 

        [King of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatiα, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death. 

The key events during his reign were the contest with the Ottoman Empire,

                   [which began a great advance into Europe, and people anxiously held their breath.

Ferdinand managed to win some key victories on the imperial scene, 

                       [he opposed Albrecht of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and participated in his defeat. 

This made him more popular among Protestant princes and allowed him to play

        [a critical role in the settlement of the religious issue, a settlement admittedly made neat.

The approach of these two dominant and most powerful forces of that time,

                                                      [and the avoidance of a deadly destructive war between them,

came from the compromise of the division of Hungary into three spheres of influence,

              [both emperors wanted peace, and before the meeting they already knew the outcome.      

We must not forget that all wars are economic as to their motives,

               [all wars, no exceptions, small or large, long or short, a local war or a world war as well.

As for religious wars, out of ignorance I am not able to answer what the motivations are,

 [but I do know that they do not keep the commandment "love one another", to put it in a nutshell.

Apart from the fairy tale of Helen of Troy, why did the Trojan War happen? "Follow the money",

                                [Trojans were able to tax the Greek ships going into and out of the Black Sea.

Menelaus, king of Mycenae, led an expedition of Greek troops to Troy, besieged the city,

                                   [and after ten years of exhausting war, the Greeks acquired Black Sea's key.

Free access to this sea also meant free crossing of the 2,872-kilometer Danube River,

                                           [the most commercial road in the world at the time, a golden waterway,

ie. the Blue Danube praised by Johann Strauss, was the first European Union created by nature, 

         [as this river commercially unites the continent, and Trojans were an obstacle in every way. 

Danube has its sources in the Black Forest of Germany, flows southeast
                 [stretching through four Central European capitals before flowing into the Black Sea.
It does so via its Delta to Romania and Ukraine, οnce a long border of the Roman Empire,
             [the river crosses or touches the borders of ten countries, as on the map everyone can see.
Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, 

                                    [Ukraine, Moldova, Austria and its catchment area extends to nine more.

                         

The first fairy tale story about Troy was followed by a second one written by Virgil,

       [the famous Roman historian, and according to him after the Greeks won the Trojan War,

Trojans led by Aeneas escaped from Troy, wandered into the sea, arrived in Italy,

                        [where  the Roman Empire was the seeded, ie they opened History's biggest door.

The Romans and before them the Greeks followed the method of the primitive tribes

                        [to expand their hunting and finding of food supplies, they seized them  by force.

Plato explained in the Republic how the competition among states for land and wealth

                    [caused all the wars, and historically, all the leaders firmly hold this same course.

Unfortunately it's not just the ancient societies that did this, 

                                                         [rich companies do it today by taking lands to frack for oil

and in the process ruin lakes and streams, leaders who want more take, threateningly

              [or violently..... in the trench war, thousands died for every few feet of European soil. 

                                                     

                                                              to be continued

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* ''IT COULD BE OTHERWISE in verse''

Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //

Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis -CHICAGO//

Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS //

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 ELEGHOS... at history