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Although upon becoming regent Maria de’ Medici saw an opportunity to authorize the
reforms, her tenuous hold on power prevented her from forcing loyal Frenchmen to submit to
Catholic control. Instead, at the Estates General of 1614, which included a heated debate
between the reform-minded bishops and pro-Gallican state servants over the issue, the queen
suggested that in the spirit of the council the members of the clergy introduce the articles of
reform into their dioceses. 37 By proposing the conciliatory option that the priests take it upon
themselves to bring reform to the French Church, Maria de’ Medici avoided the pro-Gallican
backlash that was sure to threaten her authority had she officially sanctioned the decrees. At the
same time, by her actions she implicitly endorsed the Catholic reforms and demonstrated her
preference for greater papal authority.
Even prior to the Estates General, the queen’s approval of the Tridentine decrees was
already evident in her willingness to found numerous reform orders in the French capital, a
process that attracted those groups most capable of disseminating Catholic reforms to the people
of France. By 1610 the establishment of these reformed religious orders was, however, in direct
contrast to the desires of Henri IV. In his efforts to rebuild the city of Paris following the Wars
of Religion, the king had initially welcomed the religious houses, which typically constructed
monasteries and helped to revive neighborhoods. Later in his reign, Henri IV felt that the same
institutions were taking up too much valuable land and, with their frequent exemption from
taxation, burdening the economy. 38 In 1610 the king was especially opposed to welcoming any
order with strong ties to Spain, a country he was planning to take military action against at the
time of his assassination.
By granting the Discalced Carmelite Order, which had originated in Spain, the right to
settle in Paris a mere two months after the death of Henri IV, Maria de’ Medici confirmed that
one of her priorities as regent would be the promotion of the Catholic faith. The action not only
went against Henri IV’s opposition to the establishment of reformed orders, but it also countered
his resistance to ratifying the decrees of the Council of Trent. I argue that Maria de’ Medici,
fully aware that her actions might aggravate those factions seeking to remove her from the
regency, purposefully limited images or other indications of her support of reformed order
churches. The lack of visual cues connecting the queen to the churches’ role in promoting
Catholic ideology would lead people to believe that the reforming efforts came directly from the
religious orders, not from the crown.
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