#kathleen wilson chevalier

[histoireettralala]

Claude de France

Claude de France (1499-1524) Queen of France, duchess of Brittany, countess of Blois, first consort of King Francis I

The "good queen" Claude- today overshadowed by her husband King Francis I- was born in 1499 to Queen Anne de Bretagne and her second husband Louis XII. Bonfires signaled rejoicing throughout the realm for, with the help of Saint Claude, a viable child had been born. The princess, although not the desired son, was fashioned in her mother's pious image to become both sovereign duchess of Brittany and empress (she was engaged to the future Charles V at age two) or queen (of France, as her father, before her first birthday, had secretly declared). A decade later, her sole sibling, Renée de France, the remarkable future Protestant Duchess of Ferrara, would again owe her name to another saintly protector of women in search of a child. Thus if Queen Claude inherited Queen Anne's limp, her ability to bear relatively healthy offspring was entirely her own. Her engagement in 1506 and her marriage in 1514 consolidated the first prince of the blood's claim to the throne, but after seven debilitating pregnancies in ten years (Louise, Charlotte, François, Henri, Madeleine, Charles, Marguerite), the tired body of this honored "daughter, wife and mother" of kings collapsed at the tender age of 24.

The canonization of Francis of Paola (1519) promoted by Claude and her mother-in-law Louise de Savoie in gratitude for protection from illness and the births of namesake male heirs, betrays the inextricable intertwining of the two sides of the royal family, programmed from 1498. Claude's parents willfully empowered their female progeny; thus when King Francis I descended into Italy the first year of their respective reigns, the pageantry in Lyon depicted him entering Milan to "defend the rights of the two daughters of France." Although a princess raised to be queen, Claude learned to share her husband with other women, and her power and its public expression with strong female kin, especially Louise de Savoie, named regent in her stead, and her sister-in-law Marguerite de Navarre. Legend and neglect have imposed the image of an ever-with-child, sweet, and submissive queen. Yet this eloquent and cultivated bearer of legitimacy commanded respect and carved out a space of her own in the cities of the realm (the townspeople cast her as Justice and Wise Counsel), in her duchy of Brittany and in her Loire Valley territories, especially at the castle of Blois. Shortly after his accession, her husband flaunted his monogram "F" and his emblem, the salamander, on the spectacular new façades of the castle of Blois's "wing of Francis I"; but on the cornice and ceremonial staircase and over the fireplaces, these cohabitated with his consort's at what was in fact her regal home. Here and elsewhere, her emblems- the ermine, occasionally on a leash with the motto A ma vie (To my life), her knotted rope, her swan pierced by an arrow, and her full moon with the device Candida candidis (candid for the candid)- called attention to the queen.

A primer made for this daughter of privilege stages her with her sister Renée, as children tutored by Saint Anne and under the protection of Saint Claude, while learning to read and write; and learning came to be a feature at the heart of the queen's persona. Following her accession in 1515, Claude became mistress of the castle of Blois with its royal library, her mother's manuscripts probably among its precious volumes, to which the king, in an incident of 1516, did not have a key. Her Book of Prayers, by the "Master of Queen Claude", returns to the then commonly depicted theme of Saint Anne as educator, but its pages are uncommonly packed with illuminations in which books form an insistent leitmotiv [..] Tapestries depicting scenes from Christine de Pizan's City of Ladies, these too inherited from her mother, hung into the rooms of the castles of Amboise and/or Blois, frequented by her twelve ladies-in-waiting (including Anne Boleyn and Diane de Poitiers). The writer Anne de Graville commissioned a picture of herself offering her mistress Claude one of the works she dedicated to her, thereby providing us with a rare inside vision of the city of ladies surrounding Claude.

In a final act of independence, the queen bequeathed Brittany not to her husband but to her son, the dauphin. Rather than willfulness, though, sensitivity to the plight of her subjects had colored numerous episodes of her life. During her entry into Nantes in 1518, when the town offered her a costly heart of gold flanked with ermine, she promptly gave it back. Shortly before her death she endowed the building of a cemetary in a suburb of Blois for those who had succumbed to the plague. Such symbolic gestures, combining strength and humility, help us to comprehend why the memory of the short-lived Claude lingered on. Miracles were said to occur around her body, laid to rest in her parents' chapel of Saint Calais in 1524. Subsequently, her second son, King Henri II (of the seven siblings, only he and his sister Marguerite, future duchesse de Savoie, outlived their father) immortalized her on a monumental tomb at Saint-Denis. And in her Book of Hours, Catherine de Médicis inserted Claude's portrait near that of Eleonora of Austria, Francis I's second wife, forging an unexpected double embodiment of a powerful queenly ideal.

Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier- Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance

[rjdavies]

Celebrating Black History Month: Oscar Peterson

Born: in Montreal, Quebec on August 15, 1925

Died: in Mississauga, Ontario December 23, 2007

Oscar Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist, composer and educator who is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. 

He was raised in the poor St. Henri neighbourhood of Montreal, also known as Little Burgundy. Oscar Peterson has 4 siblings. His parents hailed from the British Virgin Islands and St. Kitts. His mother, Kathleen, was a domestic worker. His father, Daniel, was a boatswain in the Merchant Marines and then a porter with the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Oscar began playing trumpet and piano at age 5. He focused solely on piano at age 8 following a year-long battle with tuberculosis. Oscar’s first instructor was his sister, Daisy.

Peterson's early influences included jazz pianists such as Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, and Teddy Wilson. He began his professional career in the 1940s, playing with jazz bands in Canada and the United States. His first big break came in 1949, when he was invited to play with the Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic tour.

In the 1950s, Peterson formed his own trio, which included bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. The trio became one of the most successful and influential jazz groups of the era, performing and recording together until 1957. Peterson then formed a new trio with bassist Sam Jones and drummer Bobby Durham, which also gained great success.

He was renowned for his remarkable speed and dexterity, meticulous and ornate technique and dazzling, swinging style. He earned the nicknames “the brown bomber of boogie-woogie” and “master of swing.” By virtue of his many world tours he has become Canada's musical ambassador. He is a staunch champion of the equality of ethnic minorities.

Peterson recorded more than 200 albums and received numerous awards, including eight Grammy Awards. He collaborated with many other jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald. Peterson is among the handful of jazz greats who resided outside the United States throughout his career.

He was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1972, and promoted to Companion, its highest rank, in 1984. He was also a member of the Order of Ontario, a Chevalier of the National Order of Quebec, and an officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He also received numerous other honors from around the world.

Noteworthy figures - Canada.ca

R. J. Davies

A Riveting Jacked-In Dreamy Mind-Bender

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