Trudy Gold
Catherine de’ Medici: A Case Study

Trudy Gold - Catherine de’ Medici: A Case Study

- [Trudy] Are you ready for me to start?

• Absolutely, whenever you’re ready. Thank you.

• Lovely, lovely. Right. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you, Judi. And, of course, today we continue the extraordinary story of the Medici. And this is all building up to the exhibition on Wednesday. And you will see from that handwritten chart, I do apologise, I should’ve typed it up, but unfortunately, let’s go there. This is a very, very abridged family tree, just so that you can see the line of descent. And we will be referring back to these characters as we go through the next few weeks. Because in many ways, if you think about the kind of leadership we have at the moment throughout the world, and I’m not making a political statement, when we look at families like the Medici, even the Borgia, the Della Roveres, and then you look at the kings, as we move into the 1500s, you’re going to see monarch such as Henry VIII, Francis I of France, Charles V. I’ll be talking about them all. And in the Ottoman Empire, Selim, Bayezid, and of course Suleiman the Magnificent. So you have characters who really do walk the world, love them or hate them, they’re extraordinary. And I think what’s so fascinating about the Medici, which is of course what William began to talk about yesterday, is that really they were a merchant family, who within four generations really made it into the aristocracy, most of whom still regarded them as parvenus. Family, honour, and survival was absolutely at the core of the Medici. And they, along with their extraordinary zest for life, is this wonderful, wonderful patronage of the arts. All these things come together. This is really the beginning of modernity.

David on Saturday talked about the inventing of the printing press. You’ve had the fall of Constantinople, the knowledge of the East, and a rediscovery or a concentration on the learning of Greece and Rome. And also, really the beginnings of secularisation. Study for the sake of study, and moving away from the church. And it’s going to be interesting, because this incredibly secular, ambitious family are going to produce four popes. And tomorrow, I’m going to be talking about two of them. And please remember, these popes are secular princes. And this is one of the reasons that we’re going to see the rise of Great Schisms in the church, the rise of Protestantism. Now, what has this got to do with the Jews? Well, it’s got a lot to do with the Jews, because the Jews live in this world that’s being created. And they wend, and they weave, and they attempt to survive in this world, and they’re going to be buffered between the forces of Catholicism and the forces of the emerging Protestantism. But what is fascinating is how comparatively, the majority of the Medici are very good to the Jews. They realised their usefulness. And who are the Jews we’re talking about?

We’re talking in the main about those Jews who are forced to leave Spain and Portugal because they are expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella. And I’ll also be talking about that in the next couple of weeks. So Wendy was saying to me, we’re going too fast. Wendy, you’re totally right. But what we’re going to try and do now is, as it were, create a mosaic. I know some of you know a lot about this period. And may I also say that Patrick is going to be giving you at least seven sessions on the actual art, the architecture of the Renaissance. So when I talk about patronage, this is going to be really illustrated through the work of Patrick Bade. Now, the chart that you have in front of you, that simplistic chart, Cosimo Medici, whose dates are 1360 to 1429, he is the second generation. It’s his father who creates the bank. And then his son, Piero, now, his son Piero, he had many children, but two of them were incredibly, absolutely extraordinary people. And one of course is Lorenzo the Magnificent, who we will be concentrating on. Lorenzo had a younger brother, Giuliano. And these two characters are going to be incredibly important in the story. And you’re going to see, if you go down to the next generation, because, remember, today I’m concentrating on Catherine, Lorenzo the Magnificent had many children. Piero was his eldest son. You see his dates, 1471 to 1503. His second son, Giovanni, goes to the papacy. Now, this is interesting, because the Medici were mainly the papal bankers. But if there was a rival pope, a pope from another important Italian family, they lost the account. So the brilliant Lorenzo realised that one of his sons should go to the papacy. Remember, these are secular princes. Now, if you turn to Giuliano, Giuliano, the extraordinary younger brother, who was murdered in 1478 in a conspiracy known as the Pazzi conspiracy, which I’m going to talk about in a lot of detail tomorrow, he had an illegitimate son called Giulio.

The boy was born posthumously, but he was brought up with Lorenzo’s children. And he is later going to become Pope Clement VII. So in that generation, you’re going to see two popes. Now, going back to our family tree to find Catherine, go to Piero, who had a very unfortunate time, kicked out of Florence, troubles, et cetera, he had a son, Lorenzo. Pope Leo X, his uncle, spent a fortune of the papal revenues creating him the Duke of Urbino. And he had a daughter, Catherine. Catherine de Medici is our character. And she is the one who married into the French royal family. So she’s the niece, just a recap, she is the niece of Pope Clement VII, and also Pope Leo X. She was the daughter of the Duke of Urbino. And the Duke of Urbino had married a French princess. Both parents died within weeks of her birth. There was an epidemic of plague. And they left her an incredibly wealthy orphan. Her parents’ marriage was about the cementing of an alliance between King Francis I of France and the papacy against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Now, a few words on politics. Who were the big powers? The Habsburgs, the Holy Roman emperors, were emerging as the most powerful family in Europe. They were often at war with the French.

So France and the German lands are going to be opposed to each other. The Habsburg situation is going to become even more complicated, why? Because Ferdinand and Isabella, who I’ll be talking about later, the monarchs of Spain, one of their daughters marries the Habsburg prince, and their son, Charles V, becomes the Holy Roman emperor. He controls much of the low countries, Austria, but he also controls Spain through his mother. He becomes the heir. So he’s the most powerful man in the world. Even more powerful, why? Because his family, what happens in the reign of, think of what happens in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. 1492 is one of the most important dates in European history. It’s not just the expulsion of the Jews. It’s when Columbus sets sail for the new world, not intending to find a new world. He’s intending to find a sea route to India. But he bumps into America. And consequently, all this land is claimed in the name of the emperor. So Charles V, they called him a stupor mundi. The son never set on his empire. So you have the power of France, which Catherine is married into. You have Charles V, the most powerful man in the world. And it’s going to also be matched by the rise of England, particularly under Henry VIII, who also is married to a daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand. So you see how complicated it is. There are these rival dynastic families, and it’s all about this. And the other important power is the Ottoman Empire. And Francis I of France, the so-called Christian Prince, was prepared to make alliances with the Ottomans. So this is the world that Catherine is born into. And can we start having a look at some of the pictures, please, if you don’t mind, Judi. Now, this is a very famous portrait of Lorenzo de Medici, of course, her great-grandfather, more about him later on. And can we see the second one, please? And there you see her father, the Duke of Urbino, who unfortunately had died of the plague, yes.

Let’s have a look at Catherine herself. Yes, this is Catherine as a young girl. Catherine has such a bad press. And if you think of her, in many of the books, she is considered to be the Italian poisoner. She was the girl whose family made it in trade, who had the temerity to marry into the French aristocracy. Why? Because Francis wanted an alliance with the papacy. So this is Catherine as a very young girl. Before she came to France, there was huge instability in Florence. And she was first cared for by her aunt Clarice de Medici. And then when her uncle becomes pope, she transfers to Rome, and he housed her in a wonderful palace in Rome. So she’s brought up in the heart of the Italian Renaissance. She’s very well educated, she has languages, she has a huge love of the arts, of music. And later on, we’re going to see, she does wonders with the French court. Now, this is a period, as I’ve said, of huge unrest. And also let’s talk about the gossip. The Venetian ambassador described her. He was a real gossip, this particular ambassador. He said she’s small of stature and thin without delicate features, but having the protruding eyes, very peculiar to the Medici family. However, look, she’s an incredibly wealthy orphan, and suitors absolutely line up for her hand. And it’s Francis I who wins, because the papacy wants an alliance.

And she is engaged to Francis I’s second son, Henry. Now, should we have a look at Francis I, please, Judi. This is the marriage of Catherine and Henry. It’s going to be an incredibly elaborate affair. The wedding is held in Marseilles. No expenses were spared. The wedding party lasted for days. The food, 45 courses. The elaborate, the absolute opulence paid for by the pope, really ordering, opulence really spilling over into decadence. Now, can we see some of the family she married into? That’s Francis I. He was an extraordinary man. You can see from that face, quite a cruel character. Tragically, he had syphilis. Both of Catherine’s children’s grandparents had suffered from syphilis, which is going to lead to terrible catastrophe for the French royal family. So he has married, this wily fox has married his second son into the papacy. So she comes to France with the promise of a huge fortune. And can we now see a picture of her husband? Yeah, because what happens is, his eldest son dies unexpectedly, and the throne then passes to Henry II. He becomes Henry II of France. He’s a bit of a tragic figure, you know? In the wars that his father become involved in against the Habsburgs, the boys were ransomed, and he was locked up in a castle for years. And he had a very, very troubled psychology. So this is a man she marries. We know that the marriage was consummated, because certain officials of the court would actually watch through the consummation, but it was a very desperately unhappy marriage, because in a way, she didn’t have a chance. And why didn’t she have a chance? Let’s have a look at the next phrase, because of a woman called Diane de Poitiers. Now, I’m sure many of you will have heard or read of Diane de Poitiers. She was one of those extraordinary characters. You know, if you think about it, how on earth did women survive in power? And one of the only ways women could actually take power is through the bedchamber. Now, Diane de Poitiers ironically was a relation of Catherine and was not against the marriage, but she completely controlled Henry.

And I’m going to tell you a little bit about her. She was famous for being a great beauty. And you’ll see how she’s painted. It’s fascinating, gives you a notion of the liberality of the court. She was an aristocrat. She always dressed in black and white. That was her trademark. And she was placed in the retinue of Charles VIII who held the regency in France’s minority. So she’s used to life at court, she’s an experienced courtier, and she herself was very well versed in the humanism of the Renaissance. And what would she study? You see, to be a woman of the court, you had to be bright, you had to be witty, you had to be attractive, and you had to be able to make good conversation. So she knew Greek, she knew Latin. She was versed in rhetoric, because women had to learn how to participate in a dialogue. Etiquette was very, very important at the French court. Not yet at the stage it’s later going to reach under Louis XIV, but it’s very, very important, the etiquette of the court. She also was very good at finance and very, very good at law. At 15, she was married to Louis de Breze, who was the grandson of Charlotte of Normandy. He was 39 years her senior. Marriages were arranged. She had a dynastic marriage, and he was a courtier of Francis I. So she was obviously at court, and she had two daughters by him, Francoise and Louise.

And shortly after the marriage, she became lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude. And this is where she gets a very important position. When her husband died, her morning colours were black and white. But as lady-in-waiting, she becomes close to Francis’ sons, including the young Henry. And when the boys were taken off as sort of ransom, she is the last woman to kiss him goodbye. Because what had happened in the Battle of Pavia, Charles V had captured King Francis. And so his sons, Henry and Francis who had just died, were sent to Spain as hostages. Now, so he had this affection of this woman who kissed him goodbye. And he comes back to France. And at the age of 15, his father actually more or less gives him to Diane de Poitiers. So she is much older than him. She’s 41, he’s 15, and he falls madly, passionately in love with her. Now, obviously, there are love affairs, but she becomes the most powerful woman in France during the reign of Henry II. So poor Catherine, who is not a great beauty, comes to the court. She’s clever, she’s well versed in all sorts of arts, but she has to play second fiddle to the mistress of the king.

And in fact, the Venetian ambassador also talks about how Henry would sit on Diane de Poitiers’s lap quite openly and caress her breasts while his wife was present. So Henry obviously had huge psychological problems. But he’s the king, the divine right of kings, and she is his mistress. It took a long time for Catherine to conceive. Already the reputation of the Italian poisoner, and there were those who said that she really had poisoned the elder brother so that she could inherit the throne. So she already has a very, very bad reputation. There’s no truth in any of this, by the way. Yes, she was an operator, there’s no question of that. But on the other hand, can you imagine the humiliation? And because she was childless, Francis, before he died, before Henry became King, Francis said, “I’ve been sent nothing. Where is all the money?” This is after the Sack of Rome. So basically you have a situation, she’s not wanted. But Diane de Poitiers believed it was in her interest to keep Catherine at the court, that she shouldn’t be repudiated. And it was she who encouraged Henry to go to the bedchamber. And in the end, she did produce nine children. Can we see the next slide, please? Yeah, there you see Catherine de Medici and her children. Nine were born, five survived. And including three boys, each of whom became kings of France.

Her eldest daughter married the king of Spain. And her other daughter, Margot, is going to marry the man who became Henry IV of France. So this is Catherine. She was a devoted mother. Not that she was allowed to spend much time with her children. Because of the the power of Diane, Diane was the one who organised the tutorials. So you have this woman who it appears did love Henry even though he treated her absolutely abysmally. She has the children now, and then there is a terrible accident. Can we see the next slide? This is a jousting competition. And the king rather foolishly entered into the competition. And you can see his opponent, a very, very unfortunate nobleman. The lance goes into Henry II’s eye, and he is wounded. He’s taken to the bed chamber, where it takes him eight days to die. He has a terrible, terrible death. And that is the end of Henry II of France. Now, it’s very, very interesting, because when Henry was critically wounded, Catherine restricted, now she has the power, and she restricts the access to Henry. So Catherine stops Diane de Poitiers saying goodbye to her lover. And she also, after his death, she takes back Diane’s favourite chateau, the Chateau de Chenonceau, absolutely beautiful chateau.

She wants it for herself. And Diane, who had incredible taste that was incredibly profligate, she spent a fortune on this. Exquisite gardens laid out incredibly beautifully copied throughout France. But the end of Diane, Catherine was much more charitable than most women would’ve been, I think, at that period. And she went into comfortable exile in another chateau and died when she was 64 years from a fall. And her tomb was built near the castle. Her daughters, who were also important noblewomen, they had an incredible tomb built for their mother. Ironically, the tomb was opened up during the revolution and her remains were thrown into a mass grave in the reign of terror, which followed the revolution. Many of the bodies of the aristocrats and few kings and queens of France were desecrated. In May, 2010, it’s fascinating how history kind of comes in circles, she’s reburied in the original tomb. So Catherine is now in control. Can we go on, please? Can we go on to the next slide? Yeah. Catherine, remember, we are now in an incredibly difficult period in history. Not only have you these incredibly powerful monarchs on the throne, Charles V is not going to abdicate until 1556.

And of course he’s going to be succeeded in Spain by his son Philip II. You will know of him from English history, because he was the king who drove the Armada against England. So you have Catholic France, you have Catholic Spain, the Holy Roman emperor, Habsburg lands, Catholic. But Catherine is forced to deal with situations, which are, to put it mildly, times of terrible crisis, because of the birth and the work of a man called Martin Luther. The Catholic church is an extraordinary institution. If you think about it, built in Rome in that line in the gospels where Jesus is meant to have said to Peter, “Thou art Peter, Petros, the rock, and upon this rock will I build my church.” The Catholic church is established in Rome, very much in a model of the Roman Empire. And really right up to about the 1200s, it’s monolithic. It brooks absolutely no opposition. But then beginning in the 1190s, you do begin to see opposition to Catholicism. And it begins with the Albigensian Crusade. Those of you who know South West France will know Albi, the period of the Cathars. All sorts of heresies grow up, because all you have to do is visit Rome and see the incredible wealth, and you wonder what is God’s word. And it’s really exacerbated over the next century and a half. A

nd it blows because of the invention of the printing press, the rediscovery of the knowledge of Greece and Rome. Many, many other factors that bring it all together. But think about this. Think about the impact of the printing press. Do you know how many priests could not read or write, and now all of a sudden the Bible can be printed? And by the time you get to the 1500s, my goodness, you have some extraordinary popes on the throne. I’ve already mentioned the two Borgia popes who I’m going to look at in more detail tomorrow. But what about Alexander Borgia with his nine children, including of course the famous Cesare. The Della Rovere Pope, Julius II, the great Renaissance prince, with the incredible buildings employing some of the greatest artists the world has ever known. Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, all this is going to be covered by Patrick. But what has this got to do with the austerity and the poverty that is preached in to the people every week? And it comes to a head really because of the sale of indulgences. The papacy was selling indulgences really for all sorts of reasons. An indulgence is giving of money to the church, and the popes used it mainly for their lavish Renaissance buildings. But it’s money given to the church, what for? It’s given to the church in return for salvation. The Christian belief of the afterlife.

And you see the Renaissance is also incredibly important, because it’s really, I’ve mentioned this with the Medici family. This is about merchanting, this is about the discovery of the new world. It’s about the serious development of the beginnings of mercantilism and also the growth of interest in secular subjects. And the popes are just Renaissance princes. So what happens is you see a backlash. You see a backlash which exacerbates through the spreading of the printing press. And of course the most famous figure is Martin Luther, who I’m going to talk about tomorrow. Martin Luther, who was a German theologian, he realises the corruption of the church and he nails on a church door in Wittenberg 95 thesis listing all of the indulgences. Sorry, I should have explained. An indulgence is a way by giving money to the church, or you could go on a pilgrimage or a crusade, and in return, you would move further to heaven. Just think Dante’s “Inferno.” The belief was that when you died, you went to purgatory. And if you were wicked, you went into the pit of demons. If you were a good person, you would go immediately to hell. And the greatest thing that could happen to anyone was to become a saint.

If you become a saint, then you rest on God’s right hand, on Jesus’s right hand. So you can see the corruption here. All of a sudden, monks, nuns, priests begin to read and write more. They are witnessing what is going on. And what is happening is they see the corruption and it’s going to become an absolute thorn in the flesh of the monarchs of Europe. Now, Lutherism is going to spread like wildfire, not just for theological reasons, because a lot of princes wants to break away from the power of the Catholic church and the Habsburgs. Catherine has a serious problem on her hands, because when her husband dies, she really becomes, she’s the queen regent, she becomes the real power behind the throne. How is she going to keep her weak, effete, ill children on the throne with the backlash of what becomes known as the reformation? In France, those professing it were known as Huguenots. And it spreads even amongst the French aristocracy, against the political problems of dealing with the Holy Roman Empire, of dealing with England, that is going to become more and more of an issue. She is queen of France, the queen mother, acting for her three sons. And let’s have a look at those three sons. That, I should have mentioned, Catherine was not just, when she now has power as the queen mother, she’s not just going to be involved in politics.

She also has the most lavish balls. She invents the ballet. She brings into play some of the discoveries of the New World. She begins smoking. Of course, tobacco is brought back from the New World. Think of her dates. This is the 1540s, 1550s. If you think about it, it’s not just the gold and the silver of South America, it’s different food stuffs. It’s of course the tobacco leaf, which is going to become so very popular. But her court balls were extraordinary. She was a great lover of music. She was wonderful at the set piece and staging incredible pageants. And I think Patrick will be talking about this when he talks about the Renaissance. But as I said, she actually invented the first ballet. Now, can we go on please? Oh, sorry, I need to go back one to Catherine and her flying squadron. Can you go back one? Yes. One of the ways Catherine ruled, and the way she kept all her lords and all the ambassadors happy is she employed a group of beautiful French noblewomen. And according to the stories, I find this terribly difficult to believe, they had to have waists that were no more than 15 inches. Now, I think that’s probably a rib removal job. I know that the empress, Elizabeth, the wife of Franz Joseph, had an 18-inch waist, and they did that with incredible corsets, but a 15-inch waist, but that was considered beautiful. So she employed all these gorgeous women to spy, they were her spies, they were her flying squadron. So you can understand how men more and more began to regard her as the evil Italian poisoner.

She uses these women to gain information. How do you rule when you’ve got three incredibly ineffectual young princes to deal with? Well, you have to have information. You have to be wily. You have to use your brains. You give the courtiers incredible pageants. She’s trying to keep the forces of Protestantism and Catholicism really to stop interrupting. The most powerful nobleman in the country was a man called the Duke of Guise. He was Catholic. There was Montmorency who was a Huguenot. So at the court, she had Catholics, she had Huguenots. She’s having to deal with this all the time against the backdrop of her sons. So let’s have a look at her sons, please. Now, this is Francis II of France. She’s trying to create dynastic marriages. He is married to Mary, the Queen of Scotland, who of course is, now, let’s get this absolutely right, her mother was the sister of Henry VIII, okay? He is going to die very young according to the stories. And remember, how do we know about the lives of the great? You know, history’s fascinating. Today, I would say to you, we have far too many sources. When you are back at this period of history, we don’t really know very much about the lives of ordinary folk, but we know a lot about the lives of the kings and queens. And who are the chroniclers? If the court chroniclers would’ve been incredibly loyal, they had no choice, they’d be executed otherwise, to the monarch.

But her enemies, the enemies of France, you get a very dark picture. And was Mary, Queen of Scots, the sweet little girl? Was Catherine de Medici the mother-in-law from hell? But tragically, Francis died when he was very young. And Mary, of course, then goes back to Scotland and embarks on her very turbulent career, which is going to culminate in her being finally executed by Queen Elizabeth I, who cannot trust her. And that is going to lead to the Spanish Armada being sent against the heretic Protestant Elizabeth. You’ve got to understand that these are the forces shaping Europe. Those of you who know a lot of history, I’m sure this is easy for you, but those of you who it isn’t your discipline, I will be referring back time and time again, just a recap, the forces of the Renaissances, the beginnings of humanism, the beginnings of a more secular education against the fracturing of Christendom, the papacy, and the Habsburgs trying to hold it all together. Philip II is a Habsburg. Mary is a Catholic. She goes to Scotland as queen after her husband dies. And what happens, the lords of Scotland are Calvinists Protestants. She is a Catholic. Later on, she’s executed for treason by her Protestant cousin. And it’s in this situation, it’s the queen mother who’s making all the political decisions. Can we see the next of her sons, please? Charles, Charles had a very, very short reign.

He was consumptive. He was very, very ill. And now we come to her favourite son, Henry, Henry of Anjou. Can we see the next one? Can we see the next, thank you, Henry III of France. He had a slightly longer life. He actually outlived his mother. Whilst his brother was king, he’d actually been given the crown of Poland. The way Poland was run was very different to Europe. And the parliament, the Polish parliament of nobles would elect kings, and they had elected him king of Poland. But immediately, of course, his brother dies. He rushes back to France, and he’s very, very wayward. He would be called a decadent. He was a cross-dresser. He had all sorts of lovers, of all sorts of sexes. And he was, yeah, he was a complete profligate. And his mother tries to hold it all together. And the point is that it’s her as regent that has to try and deal with it. And it’s during this reign that you have one of the most terrible, it’s actually, sorry, it’s in the reign of his brother, that you have one of the most terrible incidents in French history. The Bartholomew Day’s massacre, where because of the political infighting, a decision is made by Catherine to give her daughter Margot to Henry of Navarre. If all her sons die childless, the throne will pass to Henry of Navarre, who’s a Bo bok.

He is also a Protestant. In order to secure her sons, hoping of course that one of them would produce an heir, she marries Margot, also Margot of France, those of you who love opera of course, or film, “La Reine Margot,” there’s so much about this woman. So basically, they marry. And in the wedding celebrations, there is a terrible massacre in Paris. It’s called Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which lasts for days, led by the Duke of Guise. There is a carnage of Protestants, which really blights the rain. So the other point about Catherine, she is trying to hold it all together, and she actually dies before Henry. So Catherine leaves Henry on the throne, he dies childless, and the throne passes to whom? It passes to Henry of Navarre, who becomes, he becomes a Catholic. He is the man who says Paris is worth a mass. And what is also interesting about him is that he is the man that said that every peasant in France should have a chicken in his pot on a Sabbath. So he is one of the great heroes of France. So that is the end of Catherine’s dynasty. But I want to talk a little bit more about her life, because she’s had such a bad press. She was very interested in all sorts of arts, including alchemy, astronomy. And into her life came a man called Michel de Nostredame, whose dates, can we see his picture? There you see Nostradamus.

I’m sure everyone has heard of Nostradamus. His dates are 1503 to 1566. He was a converso. His family were of Jewish descent. And they had converted to Catholicism to avoid the Inquisition. I’m going to say this very, very carefully. Most of you know this. The Inquisition was a device that had been set up by the Catholic church to ward off heresy. The popes even allowed torture. There’s a special papal bull which allows the inquisitors, most of whom were the Dominican order or the Franciscan order. And the Inquisition had no power over Jews, but it had power over converts. It had power over Muslim converts, known as the Moriscos. It had power over heretics. And you would torture to save the soul. And Nostradamus’s family is one such family who had converted to Catholicism. He was an incredibly bright man. He studied medicine at the University of Avignon, and he had to leave. He married, he had a couple of children. There was a plague epidemic, which forced him to flee. And he worked as an apothecary for many years. He was fascinated by medicine. Don’t forget, there’s a huge tradition of medicine amongst Jews. Most popes, by the way, had Jewish doctors, and many of the kings of Europe employed Jewish doctors. If you want to go back into history, King Richard I, when he was wounded at the Siege of Acre, Saladin, the great courtly Muslim leader, sent his doctor Maimonides to try and cure Richard. So basically, medicine was a shared knowledge between Jews and Muslims.

In the Christian world, it was much, much more primitive. We know how dangerous childbirth was right up until the 19th century in the West. You know, people didn’t even wash their hands. And I think this is where Judaism and its ritual cleansing is very, very important. So Muslim doctors, Jewish doctors are much more, were much more advanced. And also with the renaissance and the rediscovery of much of the learning of Greece and Rome, medical books. So knowledge was coming back, but it was frowned on. Knowledge was seen as something very scary by the Catholic church. The Catholic church is going to fight back with the Counter-Reformation. They’re going to try and clean their act up. But he’s a doctor, he’s an apothecary, so he’s already under suspicion. We know that he travels a lot, he visits various courts, which are humanistic courts, because there are, throughout Europe now, pockets of Renaissance’s thought. He remarries, he has six children.

He reentered the university. He goes this time to the University of Montpellier. He was expelled, because he had been an apothecary. And the very snobby university said that, you know, this is trade. And consequently, he continues working as an apothecary, and he becomes very famous. He creates a rose pill that purportedly protected people from the plague. He gets very involved in helping to fight the plague. He’s a humanitarian. He is obviously drawn towards the occult, but many of them were. I mean, Queen Elizabeth, whose reign is very parallel to Catherine de Medici, she also consulted astronomers, alchemists. Just think how the world had changed. You know, this is a time of huge change. It’s also the discovery of the new world, the discovery of new civilizations. What does it all mean? The rediscovery of the knowledge of Greece and Rome. What does this all mean? So people would consult soothsayers, alchemists. They are looking for answers. And he begins to write. He begins to write an almanack. He begins it in 1550. He latinizes his name to Nostradamus, and it becomes so successful, it’s taken up like wildfire. And not only that, he’s invited to the court, and he becomes a tutor to the children of Catherine de Medici. She’s very close to him, and she asks him to draw up horoscopes for her children. And by the time of his death in 1556, he was actually the doctor to her son, Charles IX.

Now, I don’t have to tell you the importance of Nostradamus amongst, I don’t know, amongst certain characters who really believe that he prophesied the future. I’m going to make absolutely no comment on that. I’m just going to say that this fascinating converso who people still read today looking for his verses as though some sort of sign of prediction of the future. He and Catherine were fascinated by the occult, fascinated by soothsayers. He was close to her, she protected him. So also that gives you a notion of Catherine. As I said, she died just before the death of her son. So she never lived to see the end of her dynasty. And, you know, to assess her, she was a very clever woman. What mattered her more than anything was keeping in power and keeping her sons in power. She used any method possible to do that. It’s fascinating how ruthlessness in a queen is seen as pejorative, whereas in a king, it’s seen as manly. So I think in many ways, how on earth can you assess a character today? She was queen of France, divinely appointed to rule for her sons. How much of that did she, this very wily, pragmatic daughter or great-granddaughter of merchants who became queen of France, how much did she really believe all this? And what were the odds against her? Can you imagine what it must have been like to come to a court where her husband, she realises that her husband is entranced by a woman over 20 years older than him?

Who in fact, more than that, he was 15, she was 41. And he stayed with her till she died by the time she was in her 60s, that’s when he died. So you can imagine the humiliation of Catherine. And yet she put up with it. She developed the balls at court. She becomes, you know, very much an important figure in the artistic life of France. She pushes it forward in terms of Renaissance ideas and beauty. So is it possible to assess her? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I think this exhibition on the Medici is giving us a lot of opportunity to go into the byways of history. And I will of course be bringing more Jewish history in, because in the main, the Medici were very favourable towards the Jews. The fortunes of the Jews of Florence rose and fell with the early Medici. When the Medici were expelled, the Jews were expelled. And both the Medici popes went out of their way to be helpful to the Jews, because they saw them as useful. Who are the Jews we’re talking about? We’re talking about Sephardi merchants.

We’re talking about those Jews who had been forced to leave Spain in 1492, or the converso who gradually get their money out of Spain. Many of them get involved in trade in the New World later on in Holland and England. And many of them are going to come to Italy. In fact, at the time of the conversion, I beg your pardon, the Inquisition, what happens to these conversos? Well, Alexander Borgia, the pope invites 10,000 of them into Rome. Just as the sultan of Turkey has galleys waiting to take more of them into the Ottoman Empire. The pragmatic Rodrigo Borgia, although a rival of the Medici, another pragmatic princes, he understood the need for these merchants and money lenders, how useful they can be to the Italian state and to the papal states. So the Medici certainly in the early period is going to change towards the end. In the early period, they were very favourable towards the Jews. They stopped agitation against the Jews as well, which is absolutely fascinating. So a merchant family who walked the world. Anyway, I think I will stop there, and let’s have a look at the questions. Yes.

Q&A and Comments:

Q: Wasn’t Columbus sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella?

A: Yes, of course he was, Steven. He was going to look for the spice route to the Indies, remember? What is fascinating is the first person to jump off the boat was his converso navigator. And much of the money was actually put up by conversos.

Yes, Peter, the two paintings of Diane looked so different. They are the same lady.

Yes. Yes, Chenonceau is much cherished.

Q: In what chateau did Catherine die?

A: Catherine died in Paris.

Yes, it’s very beautiful. And isn’t it interesting, Robin, that Catherine had wanted it for herself, but it was given by Henry to Diane. And it’s the first thing that’s taken back. And I hope that I’m going, those of you who haven’t studied this period, it’s not that my, thank you for the compliments. It’s not that, you’ve got to remember, I’ve studied history for 40 years, and I can’t work slides, you know? So if I am going too fast, just tell me, because Wendy said we’ve got to be very careful of this, because one of the things we have to do, and tomorrow, before the Medici exhibition, which Wendy is an incredible coup, I’m so grateful, I’m going to be talking about two of the early Renaissances popes who of course were Medici. So I’ll be bringing these threads in again.

Yes, Graham, that really is Mary Queen of Scots and Francis, yes.

Now, I thought Philip II sent the Armada because he claimed the English throne due to his marriage to Mary. Yes, of course he did. But the reason, you see, he went with the pope’s blessing. That’s the point. The Armada was a crusade, because the heretic Elizabeth had stolen the throne, but it’s a crusade blessed by the pope. It wasn’t a war, it was a holy war. And that’s the point. So yes, of course there’s dynastic region, but because she executed an anointed Catholic queen, I’m sure many of you know the story of Mary Queen of Scots. She comes back from France to Calvinist Scotland. She makes an incredibly unwise marriage to a first cousin of Elizabeth who’s a complete degenerate. She has a child by him. She then has an affair with Bothwell, one of the lords. She is hated by the Protestant princes and her half-brother. And in the end, she is kicked out of Scotland. She comes to England for sucker. And Elizabeth is terrified, because as far as the Catholics are concerned, Elizabeth is illegitimate. Henry VIII, I’ll be talking about him tomorrow.

Henry VIII, remember, he had three children. He had a daughter, Mary, by his Catholic wife, Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. He tries to divorce her, because she can’t give him a son. In those days, it was believed that sons came from, the sets of children determined by women, what a world. And he divorces her, but he can’t really get a Catholic divorce, why? Because, do you really think the pope, the pope is not going to divorce the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. So he can’t get a divorce. So a Protestant minister, he was very much Catholic, Henry VIII. In 1521, he wrote a book called “Fidei Defensor,” “Defender of the Faith.” He’s desperate for a son. Forget the marriage, forget all the romance. He came from an insecure dynasty. His father had usurped the throne. He needs that heir. What happens is this. She’s pregnant, he divorces the church. That’s how England goes its own way. So Elizabeth is regarded as illegitimate. And after of course Henry’s death, he finally has a son who dies young. The throne then does go to Mary. She dies without children. It then passes to Elizabeth. And Elizabeth is quote unquote, according to the Catholics, “the bastard.” She’s the bastard daughter of Henry and a heretic. That’s why you have the Armada. It’s sent against the heretic who has had the gall to execute a God’s anointed queen. Now, a holy war is interesting.

The church went on having holy wars for a long time, particularly against the Muslims. You know, the last crusade, there were seven crusades to try and take back the Holy Land. I don’t think so. I hope I’m wrong. If I’m wrong, I’m stupid, but we will have to look that up. I love that quote from a high school English teacher.

“Mary was too young, too French, and too Catholic.”

She wasn’t very wily, was she? Elizabeth, of course, was an extraordinary operator who understood the nature of power. There are letters between her and Catherine de Medici, by the way. It’s fascinating. Do you know what?

Thank you for your comment, Jennifer. But what I’m saying is, look, whether you like the characters I’m talking about or not, don’t they walk the world? When you think of the kind of leadership, and I’m not making any political statements here, this is all beyond political statements. But if you think of the leadership today, is there anyone who can walk the world as these characters could? And don’t forget also there were people who ethically walked the world as well.

Yes, even Isaac Newton studied alchemy and numerology. And you see, there was fascination with the Kabbalah, quite often a very distorted view of the Kabbalah.

Q: And what was the name of Elizabeth’s man?

A: It was Dee, wasn’t it, John, I have to check that.

Q: What was the real name of Nostradamus?

A: It was, let me, I don’t know what his name was before his conversion. Let me just find it for you so I don’t give you wrong information. I’m quite capable of doing. Michel de Nostredame, that was the place he came from. He latinized it to Nostradamus. I have no evidence whatsoever, Pam.

Q: Pamela asked, the word Medici means doctor. Is there any chance that somewhere way back the Jewish connection.

A: I’ve seen no evidence of that whatsoever. The Borgias, on the other hand, who get even a worse press than the Medici, they are accused of being a converso family. And Cesare, you know, the extraordinary Cesare Borgia, who was really the Renaissance prince, a very ruthless man. You know, if you think about it, Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli writes “The Prince” for him. And by the way, Phil Rubenstein’s going to give a whole session on Machiavelli. He’s such an interesting character. So I don’t know of any evidence that, and as far as I know, the Medici made their money in trade. Is the Netflix series recommended, Talia. If you want a great wallow, if you want to suspend belief, if you want to prop yourself up on a nasty dark night with a takeaway and maybe a glass of wine. And there’s also a very, the same sort of series on the Borgias. Look, it’s fun. You know, you don’t want to be reading, well, I cannot read sort of detailed, obscured textbooks all my life. Sometimes I even listen to Leonard Cohen and watch bad films. I love bad films by the way. Sometimes they’re so bad, they’re good. But I’m not saying “The Borgias” or the “Medici” series are bad. In fact, Dustin Hoffman’s in one, Jeremy Irons is in another. They’re fun. Don’t take them too seriously. They are not, you know, I’m going to say that they’re not the truth. What is the truth? You know, I’ve just put myself in a knot, because is there such a thing when you’re looking at a period of history? You know, I’m trying to be as balanced as possible, but I’m going to go one way or the other. You know, there’s no such thing as balanced history. But if you want a wonderful wallow under a lovely fluffy blanket, I really advise it.

The Medici, first trade, and then banking, and then the discovery of aluminium, the exploiting of the mines. And then they became the pope’s bankers. That’s one of the reasons Lorenzo de Medici wanted his sons in the papacy, because sometimes the papal account was taken away. Dona Garcia, I’m going to be lecturing on Dona Gracia, Lynn. Yes, she came from a converso family, one of the richest women in Europe. She went to Italy, finished up in the Ottoman Empire. There’s some fascinating women around at this time. Yes, Judith, this is fabulous. Catherine brought the art of cooking to France.

Yes, yes, I should have spent more detail on that. It’s a fascinating story, because of course, back in the Medici court, they spent, you know, you could have 45 courses at any one sitting. How they survived, I never will know. But she knew how to live a good life in terms of the kind of food, the kind of clothes, you know? It was a life of luxury, but also a life of great culture. Catherine and Elizabeth did communicate with each other. I don’t think they met. Salade nicoise started out as salada nissarda.

Oh, thank you for that. I must say, Robin, there’s another woman who is involved in all of this, and that’s Roxelana. And that’s a story that will have to be told. Roxelana was the concubine of Suleiman the Magnificent, who also is part of this period. You know, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Suleiman the Magnificent. She’s a character. She was a Ukrainian peasant girl who was captured by the Tatars and sold in the slave market of Constantinople. And she went into the harem. She was a red-haired beauty and must have been the seductress of all time because she completely entranced Suleiman, so much so that he married her, and she was involved in all sorts of negotiations. Not only did he marry her, he altered the succession for her, because traditionally, the eldest son of the sultan became the new sultan. And what Roxelana wanted was her sons to rule. And it led really to the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Because to stop children murdering each other after the death of the father, half-brothers, the appointed successor was put in what they call the golden cage. And really the only people they had any contact with were the eunuchs and the slaves. So they are put away from the rest of society and then only emerge when their fathers die. And, you know, you can actually mark, Suleiman the Magnificent, you can mark this crazy falling in love with a slave girl into the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

Read “Lords of the Golden Horn.” It’s wonderful.

Q: Can I suggest further reading?

A: Oh, dear. I’m looking at about 30 books. One of the things I do promise, what I do promise is that when the website is up and running, we will be putting up bibliography. There are so many different bibliographies I can give you. There’s history, from Patrick, you’re going to need the history of the Renaissance, in terms of the arts, the architecture, the music. I mean, it is a whole library to think about. Can I recommend one book on the Renaissance? Honestly, no, I can’t off the top of my head. I’m recommending the “Lords of the Golden Horn” because it’s a very easy read. There’s lots of biographies of these characters as well. Biographies of the Medici, the Borgia. So what I will do, I will get a book list together, because obviously, I think we’ll be moving into the Medici for, not next week, because we have a special week of presentations. But certainly, we’ll be dealing with the Renaissance for the next fortnight after that. And we will be going to England. So there’s all sorts of interesting things, because we decided, as I said, because Wendy managed to secure, bless her, this incredible exhibition. And because it’s such a fascinating period of history, and also because it touches Jewish history. We spent so much time in the modern period, but you remember what I said to you, the outside world acts, all the Jews could ever do is react. And it’s fascinating, is it not, the Borgias and Medici, of course they’re not going to have problems with Jews. Jews, particularly the kind of Jews who have come out of Spain and Portugal, because they are the merchant princes. And because they were reasonably tolerant, they did allow Jews, they allowed ordinary folk to settle in their domains. So ordinary Jews, but it’s always for the merchant princes, the court Jews as it were.

Dr. Dee, thank you, Jackie. Elizabeth’s doctor was Dr. Dee. Thank you. He was an alchemist. He was an astrologer. Walsingham, who of course was her brilliant advisor, was very cross with her relying on him very much, yes.

Oh dear, Mike, yes, thank you for the compliment. Yes, Nostradamus had a Jewish forebear. In fact, Nostradamus had two Jewish parents. Well, they were converso, as they’d converted to Catholicism. And that was another suspicion, you see, if you were a converso. And isn’t it fascinating that the Catholic church can actually issue a papal bull allowing torture? It’s fascinating. Evilly fascinating.

I love it, Joan. They ruled the world without indoor plumbing and little bathing. Yes. Now, isn’t it interesting, maybe it was easier to walk the world when we didn’t have the internet, when we didn’t have instant everything. I wonder.

Q: How important was Jewish finance to the French court?

A: Not as important as it was to the Italian courts. Remember, Italy is various princely states. You have the d'Este family in Ferrara, that’s going to be a great centre of the Jews. You have Naples, you have the Medici in Florence, you have the papacy in Rome, you have the Della Rovere family. And you’ve got to remember, they’re breaking Christian commandments by money lending. But think where Italy is, think of all the ports. The ports of the Medici were of course Piza, and later on, Livorno. Livorno is going to become a very important Jewish centre. And families that came to England, this will interest those of you who come from England.

Q: Where do you think Benjamin Disraeli’s family originally came from?

A: Livorno, Leghorn.

Q: Where did Sir Moses Montefiore’s family come from?

A: He was born in Livorno. It was a Medici port.

Oh, and Karen, they used lots of perfume and potpourri. Oh, boy, yes. Hygiene was not a big thing. It’s fascinating how the excrement was thrown into the streets and they worried about plague. You know, this is another interesting story, because if you think about Judaism, and you think about ritual bathing, quite often Jews managed to escape plague, but they were blamed.

Q: How come they’re not dying?

A: You know, one of the things that I think, everyone seems so surprised by the rise of anti-Semitism again. Look, I want to be very careful what I’m saying here. I really don’t think you’re ever expunged in the West. Whatever we do about it, what we have to do is minimise it and have it at a level that it doesn’t upset the way we live. But the more I’ve studied, the more I’ve come to the conclusion, it is so deep in the Western world, and latterly, tragically in the world of Islam because of monotheism. So I think, you know, this is one of the problems. The Jews were in the end regarded as devilish. Now, I want to be very careful. I am not completely balmy. I do not believe the majority of people go around thinking Jews are devils. Of course not. But this is the negative stereotype that transfers into the secular age. And of course now, that is why I think the state of Israel gets such terrible, terrible press. And I’m not making any political judgements here. I refuse to, I am not a politician, and I’m not going to either criticise or the opposite the state of Israel. All I’m pointing out is, I’m taking Jonathan Sacks’s line. First they hated our religion, then our race, now our nation. And I think it really does come from this legacy. And what is marvellous about characters like the Medici is they’re not really interested in any of this. You know, they have a world to conquer. And what mattered to them was the security of their family. In fact, Cosimo I, whose exhibition, you know, this is what is going to be gloried tomorrow night, one of his closest companions was a man called Abravanel, the son of the great Isaac Abravanel. And his wife’s tutor was a Jewish woman. So I’m going to be talking about her.

There are some interesting women in the, what series am I talking about? Miriam, I’m talking about somebody online mentioned the series of the “Medici” on Netflix, or is it Prime? I think it’s Netflix. There is a series, a long series, loads and loads of episodes about the Medici, earlier than our period. They’re dealing with Lorenzo really, and the forerunners, and also the Borgias. I’ve always felt that, particularly Lucrezia Borgia gets such a terrible press, and she wasn’t the evil woman that she’s made out to be. It depends who’s doing the writing of the chronicles.

Q: “Le Ballet Comique de la Reine,” that’s a very important question, Robin. I cannot answer. The question is, did Catherine dance in this ballet herself or in any other?

A: Not by the time she’s commissioning these, I wouldn’t have thought. When she was young, she certainly would dance and take part in balls. I don’t know, but I will check that out for you. But as you said, she developed the ballet.

Yes, the Medici exhibition at the Met. It’s wonderful. Wendy has secured it for us online tomorrow night. I’m lecturing on the Medici popes at 5:30, and at 7:30, we have the wonderful Medici exhibition. So Miriam, we’re actually going to have it.

Yes, Marjorie says, “I have a Baghdadi ancestry, and my Haggadah was printed in Livorno. Yes, and actually, one of the Italian pope, one of the Medici popes has volumes of the Talmud dedicated to him. He allowed the printing of the Talmud in Rome.

Q: Where do you find a recording of this lecture?

A: Victoria, once the website is up. Judi is typing an answer.

It’s interesting to wonder what the world would’ve been like if there was never a Catholic church. Oh, dear. This is the contra-history. Let me give you an interesting one. Gore Vidal wrote a brilliant book called "Julian,” and it’s about a Roman emperor who tried to take the Roman Empire from Christianity back to Paganism. What would the world have been like if it had remained Pagan? It’s an interesting question. Contra-history. We got to be careful. I’m looking at Christianity and Catholicism from a particularly Jewish angle. It’s also done an incredible amount for the world. I mean, think of the art and the music that came as, even if you’re anti, you know, the religion, look what it did for art, for music. It’s sublime. And it also preached the moral law. It took on board the note, Jesus, even as recorded in the Gospels, well, everything I can say about sources, nevertheless, it’s a gospel of the, you know, of a wonder rabbi who preached decency, love thy neighbours thyself, which appears twice in the Torah. If you just read the first synoptic, three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it doesn’t say anything that isn’t in the Hebrew Bible. So Christianity is a religion of love, but it became a power religion. Rome is power. And that’s the problem.

You know, we ought to be very, very careful, and I am going to be controversial here. It was very easy for Jews to be righteous when they had no power. The rabbis now have a huge amount of power. Let’s see how that wears out. Don’t forget, I’m thinking also in history of the excommunication of Spinoza. It’s a terrible document. So maybe when you are completely swallowed by an ideology, even a religious ideology, you know, I prefer the rationality of the enlightenment. When Moses Mendelssohn said, when he was challenged, “Why don’t you convert? How can you be a Jew?” And he said this, he said, “There are many paths to the truth, and mine is the Jewish path.” That’s what I believe. I believe there are many paths to the truth. And if you come from one path, that’s your path. But I really, I suppose if I have any bugbear in the world, it’s people who try and make me believe what they want me to believe. I hate, yeah, I’m speaking personally. I hate closed systems. I like flexibility of thought. It’s one of the things that I’m very worried about, it’s going, but that’s just me rambling on.

Q: Let’s go back. And you got me going on that, Gay, what would it have been like without a Catholic church?

A: There are quite a few books on contra-history, interesting essays by really good historians.

Maurice Abravanel, this is from Eleanor, was founding director of the Salt Lake City Orchestra. And the Salt Lake City Orchestra Hall is named Abravanel Hall. Yes, they’re an incredibly important famous family. Salt Lake City, isn’t that the central of the Mormons? That’s an interesting about of history. Yes, Raff is saying it’s on Netflix, the “Medici” series, and it’s quite good. It’s very well acted. As I said, you’ve got Dustin Hoffman in it.

Q: Are there books written about the historical women you refer to?

A: Yes. I’m going to do something absolutely naughty. If you want a sort of, there’s individual biographies of all these women. My daughter, I’m just going to go and get her book. I’m being a Jewish mother. My daughter Claudia wrote a book called “Women Who Ruled: History’s 50 Most Remarkable Women.” Claudia Gold, she writes under. So that’s an easy one, because it’s chapters on interesting women, rather than recommending about 50 biographies. Catherine de Medici, you will need to read a proper biography of her. Diane de Poitiers, I find a fascinating woman. Claudia’s included her actually. I remember when she wrote the book, we had fabulous family discussions, ‘cause both my daughters are historians, as to who we should include and who we shouldn’t include. Of course, she had the final say. Golda Meir was included, of course.

So anyway, Barbara, my family went to Livorno, this is from Liliana, went to Livorno from Spain and settled in Italy until World War II. It’d be interesting to know when they went to Livorno.

Q: Were they a converso family?

A: I presume they were.

This is from Jackie, my husband’s goddaughter who is very religious, says that being religious is like a fire. If it gets too close, it will burn you. But if you’re careful and keep your distance, it would warm and comfort you. That’s lovely. Look, I’m not knocking religion. Let’s be careful here. Because it’s religion that can, you know, a belief in the Almighty. That is faith. All I’m saying is that I would like to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs.

Q: Is there a good book on the conversos?

A: Yes, many good books on the conversos. Hold on a minute. There’s Cecil Roth, there is Astor, Baer, there’s lots and lots of books on the conversos. I will be talking, when I talk about Abravanel, which hopefully will be on Thursday, I’ll be talking about conversos. Oh, this is interesting.

Yes, Rochelle, I’m friends on Facebook with Yossi Abravanel, the descendant of Isaac, yeah.

Q: How can we in the USA see the Medici exhibition tomorrow evening?

A: It’s at 7:30 hour, 7:30 English time, which means, what would that be in New York? Judi, can you help me-

• [Judi] Trudy, it’s going to be on the 2:30 slot.

• It’s 2:30 New York.

• New York. And if Judith, if you’re on our mailing list, you’ll get the reminder tomorrow. And all the details were on the schedule that were sent out on Sunday. So if you’re not on our mailing list, drop us an email at info@lockdownuniversity.org and we’ll put you onto the mailing list.

• Thank you very much, Judi. What would I do without you? Oh, this is lovely. Thank you. There’s somebody mentioning, thank you, why I was friendly with , thank you very much for that.

Oh, Rochelle, he’s just reserved Claudia’s book with Toronto Public Library. Thank you. Oh, Claudia’s paperback is out of stock on Amazon. Oh, dear. The name of the book is “Women Who Ruled.” Do I know Judi Chicago’s “Dinner Party” about famous women in history? No, but it sounds very interesting. Judi Chicago’s “Dinner Party,” famous women in history. it’s a whole study, the study of women in history. Exhibition closes after Monday.

Thanks for that, Joan. So if you’re not in New York, this is going to be the chance to see it. So anyway, I think that’s everything, Judi.

• That is, Trudy.

• Yep. So thank you all. I hope you’re going to enjoy the Medici series, because myself and my colleagues were having great fun preparing it and trying to weave it all together. And you’ll be getting it from every angle. As I said, with Patrick, you’re going to get the art, the architecture. He’s going to look at the great figures. I think Dennis is actually going to look at films that touch it. I know he’s going to do “A Man for All Seasons.”

And David is going to look at the Jew of Malta, and of course he will look at merchant. So everybody’s turning their expertise to this thing. And so again, brilliant, Wendy, for pulling the exhibition off. So thank you all very much. And we start a new course tomorrow, don’t we, Judi, with Jeremy Rosen, don’t we?

• Yes, that’s going to be at 3:00 p.m. UK, 10:00 a.m. New York. And it’s study the Bible, know what is in it, and what is not. All the details were also on the schedule and will be sent out tomorrow morning as a reminder to all of our participants.

• And thanks, Judi, as ever, for keeping me sane.

• You’re welcome, Trudy.

• God bless, everyone, bye.

• Thank you, take care, everybody. Bye-bye.

• Bye.