Fit for a king? The gendered emotional performances of Catherine de Medici as Dauphine of France, 1536-1547

This essay explores the early years of marriage of Catherine de Medici , queen consort of Henry II of France , at the French court. Henry’s unexpected rise to become heir to the French throne changed her political position and shaped a number of the significant new pressures upon her. This chapter analyzes Catherine’s action in word and deed at this period through the lens of performativity extended into scholarly considerations of emotions, to demonstrate how Catherine employed gendered affective display and emotional rhetoric to situate herself as a viable dauphine and potential queen consort for Henry, at a period in which her position at court and within the Valois dynasty was fundamentally at stake.