Biography
Charlotte was born in France on 26 October 1551, the daughter and only child of Jacques de Beaune, Baron Semblançay, Viscount of Tours, and Gabrielle de Sade, a descendant of Provençal nobility. The family seat was in the former province of Touraine. Her great-grandfather, Jacques de Beaune was a superindendent of finance to King Francis I who ordered his execution in 1527 at the instigation of his mother, Louise of Savoy. Charlotte later succeeded her father to the barony of Semblançay and the viscounty of Tours.
Charlotte was sent to court where she was educated in the household of the Queen Mother, Catherine de' Medici. Blonde-haired, and described as having been "beautiful, intelligent, and immoral", she was married to Simon de Fizes, Baron de Sauve, secretary of state first to King Charles IX and afterwards King Henry III, in 1569 when she was eighteen years old. Her marriage was arranged by the powerful Guise family. In the words of historian Jean Heritier, her background meant that "at twenty-one, she knew all there was to be known about politics". Charlotte's alleged beauty has been contradicted by author Mark Strage who instead described Charlotte as having had a face that was "more agreeable and animated than sensuous".
She was appointed maid-of-honour to Marguerite de Valois. She is recorded as taking part in some of the extravagant pageants and ballets which Catherine de' Medici produced in abundance. She helped Catherine mount an outdoor banquet and lavish show depicting the Apotheosis of Woman on 9 June 1577 at the château of Chenonceau. During the banquet the male guests were served by Catherine's most beautiful ladies-in-waiting who wore topless gowns and their hair flowing loose as was the custom of brides on their wedding night.
On 27 November 1579 her husband died. Charlotte married secondly on 18 October 1584, Francois de La Tremoille, Marquis de Noirmoutier and gave birth to a son, Louis de La Tremoille in 1586. In 1608, Louis would succeed his father as Marquis de Noirmoutier. On 13 March 1610, he married Lucrèce Bouhier, by whom he had a son, Louis de La Tremoille, 1st Duke of Noirmoutier (25 December 1612- 12 October 1666). A notable descendant of Charlotte was Marie-Anne de la Trémoille, Princesse des Ursins.
Read more about this topic: Charlotte De Sauve
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