Catherine de Medici in Lego Brickheadz form (MOC)

[Scaramanga]

Brickhead Catherine de Medici scoffs at your weak espionage.

 

[WillowBrook]

Very nice!

 

[Ondolindë]

Bravo!

 

[Morningcalm]

Brickhead Catherine de Medici scoffs at your weak espionage.

I love this, and I love your choice of Catherine de' Medici! She is one of my favorite leaders in Civ VI now that I know her story!

While infamous for poison, the Italian-born Catherine de' Medici almost certainly never poisoned anyone, and while also infamous for the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, she previously issued edicts encouraging tolerance of Protestants, and hosted "magnificences" and balls to try and distract Catholics and Protestants from killing each other.

She scoffed at advisors who told her to stay off the battlefield, saying "My courage is as great as yours", and rallied Catholics and Protestants alike to defeat Elizabeth I's English forces at Le Havre. She maintained the French monarchy's power even as Catholic and Protestant factions tried to undermine it by (among other things) trying to kidnap her children (many of them married to famous rulers or who became rulers in their own right).

She prevented war with Spain by marrying her daughter Elisabeth to Philip II, maintained the Flying Squadron of female spies to keep an eye on the warring Catholic and Protestant factions, and kept the throne somehow away from the worst peril in a most chaotic time, so that Henri IV (Henry the Good) could take the throne and become one of France's most beloved kings (Macron is a fan of Henri IV, but more importantly, Henri IV countered criticism of Catherine by pointing out the trials she underwent).

Catherine also loved to eat, loved to ride on horseback (often with a crossbow), had a retinue of dwarves, and was deemed charming even by people who previously scorned her. Ballet's origins can be traced to her, and she was a great lover of chateaus. The black she wore was in regal mourning for her husband, who died in a joust, thus hoisting the remarkable woman into politics despite not being groomed for it.

Not bad for a Medici as far as legacies go, even if she wasn't flawless.

I'm glad this Brickhead is of her, and not of someone whose reputation has survived history untarnished. Much more can be learned about scorned women in history by simply reading rather than judging by one's ethnicity or accent or by what propagandists have said. (Heed well, Catherine-hating YouTubers)

 

[Zaarin]

I'm sensing she has a great desire to uncover all my secrets.

 

[Ondolindë]

I'm sensing she has a great desire to uncover all my secrets.

Well, she uses that glass of hers to get you drunk and get you to talk. I would have been safe though as I don’t drink, but then she would have put something in my other beverage.

 

[Zaarin]

Well, she uses that glass of hers to get you drunk and get you to talk. I would have been safe though as I don’t drink, but then she would have put something in my other beverage.

I don't drink either. And thanks to the ESRB, neither does Catherine. She looked so sinister with that red wine in the First Look...

 

[mondetactica]

Nice work!