SSNS Seminar – Reconsidering Catherine de’ Medici’s Wedding Negotiations: The Scottish Dimension

The SSNS Seminar Series continues on Tuesday 21st April 2026 with Pauline Van Thienen for her talk on ‘Reconsidering Catherine de’ Medici’s Wedding Negotiations: The Scottish Dimension.’

This is a free, ticketed event; please register below.

Abstract:
The rival policies of the European powers regarding supremacy over Italy were embodied in the negotiations that led to the marriage of Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Orléans, the future Henry II. John Stuart, Duke of Albany and former Regent of Scotland (1482–1536), played a fundamental role in these negotiations, both as the representative of the kings of France and Scotland and as the bride’s uncle. He himself represented a political line stretching from the British Isles to Italy, by way of Auvergne, where he administered the estate that the Medici heiress had inherited from her mother, Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne.
From the siege of Florence to the meeting in Marseille, we will endeavour to shed new light on these negotiations, demonstrating that French intervention in Italy was closely linked to the policies of Francis I toward the Holy Roman Empire and, above all, toward the British Isles. The Duke of Albany participated in this diplomatic ferment, first as ambassador to the Holy See and then as the architect of the meeting between the Pope and the King of France. This study will also provide an opportunity to examine the possibility of reconciling multiple loyalties at the dawn of the 16th century, whether it was the Duke of Albany’s faithful representation of both James V of Scotland and Francis I, or the latter’s commitment to the Pope and the King of England.

Bio:
Pauline Van Thienen is an archivist-palaeographer, heritage curator, and early modern historian, who graduated from the Sorbonne (2023), the École nationale des Chartes (2024) and the Institut National du Patrimoine (2026). As a scholar, her main interest lies in early modern diplomatic relationships between France, Italy and the British Islands, as she endeavours to include northern areas in the history of Renaissance diplomacy. Her attention to the evolution of the Franco-Scottish alliance allowed her to be invited as a visitor scholar by the Institute of Scottish Historical Research (University of St Andrews – 2023).
A member of the Royal Studies Network and Deputy Chief Copyeditor for the Royal Studies Journal, she is currently affiliated to the French Ministry of Culture as a heritage curator and to the Warburg Institute (University of London) as a Research Assistant on the project ‘Greek manuscripts in Renaissance Venice: The library of Guillaume Pellicier’ exploring its contribution to Europe’s intellectual heritage.

Registration below. Details for the Zoom meeting will be emailed in advance of the seminar.