Catherine De Medici: And Her Stable of Whores, Flying Female Spies.

Who was Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) was born an Italian commoner but became the Queen Consort of France's Henry II. She was a remarkable woman but vilified by many as an evil one. She was Queen mother of kings Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III from 1559 to 1589. Catherine married Henry II, in 1533, at the age of fourteen.

Diane de Poitiers, chief mistress of King Henry II

Diane de Poitiers was Henry II's Mistress but she was his life long companion.King Henry II excluded Catherine from participating in state affairs and instead showered favors on his chief mistress.

King Henry II

Diane de Poitiers was first assigned by Henry's father, King Francis to "tame" the 19 year old. She did much more than that. She commanded all his love, shared his confidences - in short became everything a wife should be - for the rest of his life.

Diane de Poitiers was nearly 20 years older than Henry, yet looked much younger. Some of her beauty secrets included plenty of cold water, no late nights and light exercise. Diane was dismissed by Catherine from court when Henry died.

Peepholes into the roof of Diane de Poitiers’s bed chamber

By some accounts, Catherine, simply drilled a hole above their fuck room to pick up a few tips on how to service her husband correctly. By others, she asked de Poitiers straight up to help her get pregnant.

Diane de Poitiers, totally unthreatened, was completely down to become a kind of sexual midwife for the couple, offering tips on positions like doggy style to better route the royal seed.

'A Stable of Whores'?: The 'Flying Squadron' of Catherine de Medici

From half-naked banquets to thwarting plots against the throne, Catherine and her "Flying Squadron" knew how to use sex appeal in their favor.

It was rumored that at this time Catherine formed a “flying squadron” of female spies, a “stable of whores” of about 80 beautiful ladies whom she would deploy to the beds of various courtiers for sexual espionage and information networking.

She kept a court of women entertainers. These women, about 80 in total, were called The Flying Squadron, and were notorious for doing the bidding of the queen.

Historical records state that many suspected the queen of asking members of the Flying Squadron seduce prominent European political leaders to unearth their secrets.

It wasn’t easy being a woman in power during the 16th century. Catherine de Medici learned this at a very young age when she was brought over from her native Italy to marry the future king of France, Henry II.

Disliked by the people as a suspicious foreigner and ignored by her husband in favor of his French mistress, Catherine had to use any means available to her to preserve her power as queen.

The “flying squadron” would become as much a part of Catherine’s legend as poison and intrigue. This band of beautiful women loyal to their queen engaged in antics that would make Caligula blush, all with the aim of helping her retain power.

Women during this period had to use the few means available to them to wield power, and the squadron found that many powerful men were defenseless against beautiful women.Catherine may have learned the power of sex in court by observing her husband’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers.

ladies served guests “half-naked”

The name “flying squadron” has its roots in dance, when Catherine introduced ballet to the French court and her own ladies gave the first performance and danced as though they were flying.

Perhaps the best-known and most often retold story about the squadron is the 1577 banquet Catherine organized to celebrate one of her son’s victories.

The queen was known for her elaborate feasts and during this particular one, her ladies served guests “half-naked” (although the original source for this saucy tale was not even present at the party described).

Since much of the propaganda was contemporary to Catherine’s rule, as the centuries passed the satire became passed down as reality, and the flying squadron was accepted as fact well into the 21st century.

Note:--This blog”Catherine De Medici:A Stable of Whores’Her “Flying Squadron” Of Female Spies,has been edited from various sources and photos available on net ,with thanks.

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