ABSTRACT
The diplomacy of Jean de Monluc, the marvellously intelligent and able collaborator of the Queen Mother, enabled her to bring to a successful issue the very delicate negotiations as the result of which the Due d’Anjou was elected King of Poland on May 9, 1573. This affair, in which she was delighted to be able to combine politics and maternal love, was Catherine’s own work. The Queen Mother’s policy was hindered by her sons’ mutual enmity. The principle of dividing in order to rule could not be applied to her own family, since as their mother she was obliged constantly to intervene in order to restore peace, a fragile peace indeed, which she was forever having to waste her time in making up again. Catherine was finding out that being a mother does not favour Machiavellism.
