SPOTLIGHT ON. ..
Catherine was born on 13 April 1519 to Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence, and his wife Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne, and within three weeks she was an orphan. Her mother died from a violent fever, while her father, who was also the Duke of Urbino, sustained injuries defending the region from attack and died of his wounds, amid other disease complications.
Catherine’s next guardian, her paternal grandmother Alfonsina Orsini, died in 1520, leaving the infant Catherine with her aunt Clarice de Medici. By 1527, the ruling Medicis had been overthrown by a faction opposed to Giulio de Medici (elected as Pope Clement VII in 1523), and Catherine was raised in several convents until a peace could be reached. At that point, Clement summoned her to live with him in Rome and cared for her until he could arrange her marriage to Henry, Duke of Orléans, the second son of King Francis I of France.