Albert de Gondi, Duke de Retz (* 4 November 1522; † 12 April 1602) was a significant figure at the French court and a trusted confidant of Caterina de' Medici and her sons. His mother, Marie Catherine Gondi, was the wife of a Florentine banker settled in Lyon. There, after their marriage, she encountered Caterina de' Medici, who later invited her to court. Marie Catherine Gondi became one of Caterina’s closest confidants, contributing to the ascendancy of the House of Gondi in France. Albert de Gondi, her eldest son, distinguished himself as a soldier and influential courtier, serving under Charles IX and later Henri III. His 1565 marriage to Claude Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre de Vivonne granted him entry into the upper echelons of French aristocracy. He was involved in the deliberations preceding the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on 23 August 1572, and later, Huguenots regarded him as one of the primary instigators, though his direct involvement remains uncertain.1
- Holt (1995)↩︎