Claude de Clermont-Tonnerre

## Claude Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre

Gabrielle de Gondi

Hyppolite de Gondi

Henri de Gondi

Louise de Gondi

Madeleine de Gondi

Philippe-Emmanuel de Gondi

Jean-François de Gondi

**Claude Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre**, Duchesse de Retz (born December 22 1543) was a Grandelumièrian noblewoman of the House of Clermont and Gondi The only child of **Jeanne de Vivonne,** and **Claude de Clermont-Tonnerre.**

**Claude Catherine** grew and was raised in Paris but slowly found herself into the court of Grandelumière when her family decided to move their for a better proposal of court life, amongst this they had a well thought out plan and decided to build a Place of living for themselves to be closer to court and most importantly Join in on attending His majesty and Her majesty, Catherine Noticed that her children was to be raised up in an strict yet, respectable manner she did everything in her power to make her future generations succeed and uphold the houses values on where it started years before.

## **Biography**

### **Birth**

On a Brisk Winters Evening December The 22nd 1543 Claude Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre was born the Only child of **Jeanne de Vivonne** her parents were overjoyed with finally the birth of their only child, although Catherine's birth was a struggle for her parents they made an effort to bring her up and most importantly Cherish her although she was not a male which was of importance of the family, it was her duty to marry in her later years to secure her at court and be in favor to keep her and her future family safe.

### **Education**

Catherine had a very strict yet respected tutoring when she was younger, her mother Jeanne Felt as she was the only child, she would be brought up in the right way so they quickly handed her over various tutors to establish her education at a young age preparing her for court life early on so that she would know what is best to educate her own family if she were to have one. One day Catherine was approached and Told by her Mere that she was to be Educated properly up in An Abbaye Not far from where they resided They thought this appropriate so that Catherine could Prepare for court life when she grew older and most importantly have a great understanding of the Customs of the Grandelumierian Court and most importantly Catherine spoke Several different Living languages some examples of this is Latin and Greek.

she was well-versed in poetry, oratory, philosophy, mathematics, history and other sciences, Not much of her poetry survived, but those that did, her great granddaughter Louise de gondi sought to get a hold of and rewrite it all up so that it could survive throughout many generations.

### **Marriages & Children**

Catherine's First marriage was a Troubled one, Jean d'Annebaut died quite early, which troubled the Young nature of Catherine which she admired his mannerisms and his charming behaviour that he gave to her throughout her youth Jean d'Annebaut died in **1562**. As she got older her parents decided that she was to be Remarried as soon as possible, in **1565** Catherine Married again But to the Duc de Retz Albert de Gondi, Their marriage proved to be a strong one through the years as they had many children and proved to be a willful couple no matter what the times they may face Although Catherine had trouble with her Births she managed to push through with her Willful attitude to her livelyhood that she had long before on her first marriage which gained her much more experience in what was needed to be done For her future Generations to her House.

During the absence of her spouse, she assembled troops at his expense to drive off robbers threatening his lands, led them herself and forced the robbers to take flight.

### **The Court of Grandelumiere**

Claude-Catherine when she first arrived at court was beautiful and courteous, during her stay at court she got to know the courtiers of that time, the emperor, the empress and soon to be Imperatrice-Douairière She was also a woman of understanding of those who struggle she did her best in her charital work and her court role as later to be Governess of the Imperial children Claude always knew how to look into others perspectives on things and eventually became known for this, giving her many rewards as she continued to do so her kind nature helped with this such as being granted the Peeress robes and a secure position for her family to obtain, she would also always be remembered for her youthful looks some may of faded in her later years but she retained most of her natural figures, apart from all this she took it upon herself to secure her families positions as best as she could giving advice for her Daughter in law the future Duchesse de Retz and current Marquise de Belle-ile on how to run the household until she was to step down and give that position onto her son and Daughter in law, she did this well for the amount of years that she has been in court she also showed her great wisdom as best as she could, until her departure in the 18th of April 1609.

She acquired a great reputation as an intellectual, becoming known as the "10th Muse" and the "4th Grace".

### **Death of the Duc de Retz**

On the death of the Duc de Retz, Catherine spent the rest of her life mourning the death of her husband, on the word of his death she had a deep affection for him and didn't want to see him go, she then took her trips to various monasteries, priorees and places of prayer, to think and regain her composure and on the return of court she rejoined her family and restablished her composure to support the new Duc and Duchesse de Retz to the best of her abilities.

### **Departure From the World**

At the age of 65 Sa Grâce, Claude Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Douairière de Retz, suo jure Dame de Dampierre, Gouvernante des Enfants Impériale, affectionately nicknamed the "10th Muse" and the "4th Grace," died at 12:29 am on 18 April 1609 from consumption.

## Relations with her Family

The relations that Claude felt to her family was that she showed a deep affection for them, but on the other hand strict teachings and Confrontations with them if she was to hear of any missdirections in behaviour or mannerisms, she was to strike down firmly upon them enforcing an appropriate way of wisdom and structure on topics that were unfit to be talked about in publicity, apart from this she got along well with her family doing her best to keep them together, Claude was a very Intellectual woman always putting her family first above all else, she managed to start her dynasty with her husband producing 9 children in total, thus began the start of the Gondi households, success and rise to power, her great granddaughters the Duchesse de Joyeuse, and the Duchesse de Bouillon would be introduced to court, once they became of age, This pleased claude very well, however it never came to pass that she could see her great grandchildren grow up into responsible, and intellectual courtiers as Madame D. de Retz would die on the 18th of April 1609.

## Wars of Religion

During the Wars of Religion, at her husbands expense attended the court of grandelumiere as per usual, infront of the guise, Isabelle d'Autriche and the rest of the court, she watched as many drew up their factions and left with the Empress D. while remaining with the guise, she outlived many of the court who went with the rebellious Dowager in their own supersticious motives, many in whom resulted in imprisonment after the Dowager Empress's arrest in according to rebellion of the crown, many protestants including the Duc de Bouillon Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne in which he was later executed.

The departure of most senior family members, including her own daughter the Marquise D. de pienne truly struck Claude, she later prayed for her safe return to the court along with all her other family members who had left. In turn to this Claude visited many nearby monasteries, abbeys and place of prayer and made several donations to them in Hope for solace and the smiles of those who couldn't afford as much.

Claude on the expense of her husband rallied troops driving out any Huguenot foe that entered his lands, with sabre in hand some would call out. Claude was very well known in taking up arms in defending her own lands back at home, she did this with a normal sense of strategy and charismatic negotiation, thus she won every single battle and war, after which claude took it upon herself to search and identify any Huguenot in her lands in order to later report back to the Guise on updates, she did this very effictively due to her high sense of diplomacy and intrigue.

## Titles, Styles, and Honours

### **Titles & Styles**

**22nd December 1543 - 29th June 1561** *Mademoiselle de Dampierre*

**29th June 1561 - 19th December 1562** *Madame la Dame d'Annebaut*

**19th December 1562 - 4th September 1565** *Madame la Dame d'Annebaut*

**4th September 1565 - 14th August 1573** *Madame la Comtesse du Perron*

**14th August 1573 - 28th May 1581** *Madame la Marquise de Belle-Île*

**28th May 1581 - present** *Sa Grâce, Madame la Duchesse de Retz*