1528, the year The Courtier was published, and died in
Toledo.
Further reading: Robert W. Hanning and David
Rosand (eds), Castiglione: The Ideal and the Real in Renais-
sance Culture (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
1983); Christine Raffini, Marsilio Ficino, Pietro Bembo,
Baldassare Castiglione: Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Politi-
cal Approaches in Renaissance Platonism (New York: Peter
Lang, 1998).
Catalan Atlas A set of manuscript charts created in 1375
in Majorca by Abraham Cresques for Charles V of France.
The collection of beautifully decorated charts is in the
PORTOLANstyle and contains the first major portolan of an
area outside Europe. The Catalan Atlas is distinguished by
the first fairly accurate maps of China, India, and Africa,
and contains a large quantity of information about inland
Europe and its navigable waterways.
Cateau-Cambrésis, Peace of (April 3, 1559) A treaty
principally between HENRY IIof France and PHILIP IIof
Spain, ending more than 60 years of conflict between
France and Spain. France restored Savoy-Piedmont to
Emanuel Philibert of Savoy and Corsica to Genoa. Henry
II renounced his claim to Milan and accepted Spanish
domination of Italy. France gained some fortresses and the
bishoprics of Toul, Metz, and Verdun. England had to ac-
cept the French reconquest of Calais. The treaty marked
the end of dynastic struggles and paved the way for reli-
gious wars.
Catena, Vincenzo di Biagio (c. 1470–1531) Italian
painter
Catena was born into a patrician Venetian family and was
influenced by fellow-members of the VENETIAN SCHOOL, at
first CIMA DA CONEGLIANOand Giovanni BELLINIand later
TITIANand GIORGIONE. Many of Catena’s paintings are
sacre conversazioni. He was a friend of Giorgione, whose
influence can particularly be seen in the delightful Holy
Family with a Kneeling Knight (National Gallery, London)
and The Vision of St. Christina (1520; Sta. Maria Mater Do-
mini, Venice). Among the eminent people who sat to him
for a portrait was the poet Giangiorgio Trissino.
Catherine de’ Medici (Catherine de Médicis)
(1519–1589) Queen consort of France
The daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici (died 1519), duke of
Urbino, she married the future HENRY IIin 1533. Artistic
and energetic, Catherine designed the TUILERIESin Paris
and the Château de CHENONCEAUX; she made a great im-
pression on the French court, despite Henry’s attachment
to DIANE DE POITIERS. After the death of her son Francis II
(king 1559–60), she triumphed over the extremist GUISE
faction, obtaining the regency of her next son, Charles IX
(king 1560–74). The failure of initial attempts to reach a
religious compromise increasingly involved Catherine in
the Wars of RELIGION. Alarmed at the Huguenot threat to
Church and State, she approved the murder of leading
Huguenots in the MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW(1572).
The reign of her third son, HENRY III(1574–89), brought
increasing disorder to France, but Catherine’s efforts
helped hold France together until the accession of HENRY
IV(1589).
Further reading: Robert J. Knecht, Catherine de’
Medici (London: Longman, 1998).Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) First wife of Henry
VIII of England, patron of the arts and scholarship
As the daughter of FERDINAND II AND ISABELLA Iof Spain
she received an exceptional education, studying Latin and
also being tutored by ERASMUS. In 1501 she came to Eng-
land as the bride of Henry’s elder brother, Arthur, but he
died of consumption a year later. When he became king
(1509), Henry married Catherine by papal dispensation.
During the first, happy years of her marriage, Catherine
was a notable patron of the arts at court. Her first six ba-
bies, including two sons, all died soon after birth; it was
not until 1516 that she gave birth to the future Queen
MARY. Henry viewed Catherine’s failure to produce a son as
divine vengeance for marrying his brother’s widow, and
cast her aside in 1527 for Anne BOLEYN, seeking an annul-
ment from the pope. After his final separation from
Catherine in 1531, she was forced to live out the rest of
her life in poverty and seclusion and denied access to her
daughter.
See also: HENRY VIIICatherine of Bologna, St. (Caterina de’ Vigri)
(1413–1463) Italian nun
As a child Catherine received a humanistic education at
the Este court at Ferrara. She then joined the Franciscan
tertiaries (later Poor Clare nuns), becoming abbess of
their convent in her native Bologna (1456), where she was
famed for her visionary experiences and, after her death,
for her uncorrupted corpse. A breviary copied out by her
attests her skills in calligraphy and miniature painting.
She also wrote a devotional treatise and other composi-
tions in prose and verse.Catherine of Genoa, St. (Caterina Fieschi) (1447–
1510) Italian mystic
Born in Genoa, at 16 she was married to Giuliano Adorno,
who was rich, dissipated, and unfaithful. She found no
consolation in a frivolous social life, and in 1473 experi-
enced a religious conversion; some years later, she influ-
enced her husband to change his way of life. They devoted
themselves to nursing, and she became matron of a hospi-
tal in Genoa. Her prayer life was intense, she fasted rigor-
ously, and received communion daily; the quality of her9944 CCaattaallaann AAttllaass