Madeleine of Valois
| Madeleine of Valois | |
|---|---|
Madeleine de Valois by Corneille de la Haye
|
|
| Queen consort of Scots | |
| Tenure | 1 January – 7 July 1537 |
| Born |
10 August 1520 St. Germain-en-Laye, Paris, Kingdom of France |
| Died | 7 July 1537 (aged 16) Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland |
| Burial | Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland |
| Spouse | James V of Scotland |
| House | Valois-Angoulême |
| Father | Francis I of France |
| Mother | Claude, Duchess of Brittany |
Madeleine of Valois (10 August 1520 – 7 July 1537) was a French princess who became Queen of Scots as the first spouse of King James V.
Madeleine was born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the fifth child and third daughter of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany (daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany). Very frail from birth, she grew up in the warm and temperate Loire Valley region of France, rather than at Paris, as her father feared that the cold would destroy her delicate health. Together with her sister Margaret, she was raised by her aunt, Marguerite de Navarre. This lasted until her father remarried and his new wife, Eleanor of Austria, took them into her own household. By her sixteenth birthday, she had contracted tuberculosis.
Three years before Madeleine's birth, the Franco-Scottish Treaty of Rouen was made to bolster the Auld Alliance after Scotland's defeat at the Battle of Flodden. A marriage to a French Princess for the Scottish King was one of its provisions. In April 1530, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, was appointed commissioner to finalise the royal marriage between James V and Madeleine. However, as Madeleine did not enjoy good health, another French bride, Mary of Bourbon, was proposed. Mary of Bourbon would be given a dowry as if she were the French king's daughter.
James V contracted to marry Mary of Bourbon, and travelled to France in 1536 to meet her, but smitten with the delicate Madeleine, asked Francis I for her hand in marriage. Citing her illness and the harsh climate of Scotland, which he feared would prove fatal to his daughter's already failing health, Francis I initially refused to permit the marriage.
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