This is a list of the women who were queens or empresses as wives of French monarchs from the 843 Treaty of Verdun, which gave rise to West Francia, until 1870, when the French Third Republic was declared.
Living wives of reigning monarchs technically became queen consorts, including Margaret of Burgundy and Blanche of Burgundy who were kept in prison during their whole queenships.
Françoise d'Aubigné (27 November 1635 – 15 April 1719), known first as Madame Scarron and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon (French: [madam də mɛ̃t(ə)nɔ̃] ), was a French noblewoman and the second wife of Louis XIV of France from 1683 until his death in 1715. Although she was never considered queen of France, as the marriage was carried out in secret, Madame de Maintenon had considerable political influence as one of the King's closest advisers and the governess of the royal children.
Born into an impoverished Huguenot noble family, Françoise married the poet Paul Scarron in 1652, which allowed her access to the Parisian high society. She was widowed in 1660, but later saw her fortunes improve through her friendship with Louis XIV's mistress, Madame de Montespan, who tasked her with the upbringing of the king's extramarital children. She was made royal governess when the children were legitimised, and in 1675 Louis XIV granted her the title Marquise de Maintenon. By the late 1670s, she had essentially supplanted Montespan as the king's maîtresse-en-titre.
Eleanor of Aquitaine (French: Aliénor d'Aquitaine or Éléonore d'Aquitaine; Occitan: Alienòr d'Aquitània [aljeˈnɔɾ dakiˈtanjɔ]; Latin: Helienordis, Alienorde or Alianor; c. 1124 – 1 April 1204) was duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As the reigning duchess of Aquitaine, she ruled jointly with her husbands and two of her sons, Kings Richard I and John of England. As the heiress of the House of Poitiers, which controlled much of southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The eldest child of Duke William X of Aquitaine and Aénor de Châtellerault, Eleanor became duchess upon her father's death in 1137. Later that year, she married Louis, son of King Louis VI of France. Shortly afterwards, Eleanor's father-in-law died and her husband became king, making her queen consort. Louis VII and Eleanor had two daughters, Marie and Alix. During the Second Crusade, Eleanor accompanied Louis to the Holy Land. Pope Eugene III rejected an initial request in 1149 for an annulment of the marriage on grounds of consanguinity. In 1152, after fifteen years of marriage, Eleanor had not borne a male heir, and the annulment was granted. Their daughters were declared legitimate, custody was awarded to Louis, and Eleanor's lands were restored to her.
Blanche of Castile (Spanish: Blanca de Castilla; French: Blanche de Castille; 4 March 1188 – 27 November 1252) was Queen of France by marriage to Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX: during his minority from 1226 until 1234, and during his absence from 1248 until 1252.
Adela of Champagne (French: Adèle; c. 1140 – 4 June 1206), also known as Adelaide, Alix and Adela of Blois, was Queen of France as the third wife of Louis VII. She was regent of France from 1190 to 1191 while her son Philip II participated in the Third Crusade.
Mary Tudor (/ˈtjuːdər/ TEW-dər; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy.
Following Louis's death, Mary married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Performed secretly in France, the marriage occurred without the consent of Mary's brother Henry VIII. The marriage necessitated the intervention of Thomas Wolsey; Henry eventually pardoned the couple after they paid a large fine. Mary had four children with Suffolk. Through her older daughter, Frances, she was the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, the disputed queen of England for nine days in July 1553.
Catherine de' Medici (Italian: Caterina de' Medici, pronounced [kateˈriːna de ˈmɛːditʃi]; French: Catherine de Médicis, pronounced [katʁin də medisis]; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and a cousin to Pope Clement VII. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France.
Catherine was born in Florence to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife, Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France, who would become Dauphin of France (heir to the throne) upon the death of his elder brother Francis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by Clement VII. Henry largely excluded Catherine from state affairs during his reign, instead showering favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded significant influence in the court. Henry's sudden accidental death in 1559 thrust Catherine into the political arena as mother of the frail 15-year-old Francis II. When Francis II died the next year, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son Charles IX and thus gained sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months.
Bertrade of Montfort (c. 1070 – 14 February 1117), also known by other names, was a Norman noble from the House of Montfort. She was countess of Anjou (1089–1092) through her first marriage to Fulk the Rude and then queen consort of France (1092–1108) through her initially bigamous marriage to Philip I. Condemned in her era's ecclesiastical histories, she played a role in the popularization of pigache footwear and founded a daughter house of Fontevraud Abbey at Hautes-Bruyeres.
The maîtresse-en-titre (French: [mɛtʁɛs ɑ̃ titʁ]) was the official royal mistress of the King of France. The title was vaguely defined and used in the Middle Ages but finally became an acknowledged, if informal, position during the reign of Henry IV (r. 1589–1610), and continued through the reign of Louis XV (r. 1715–1774). It was a semi-official position which came with its own apartments, estates and a title if the woman did not have any.
Some individuals having this position acquired significant power and more influence than the Queen of France, as some mistresses were known to advise the King of France in state affairs if he was so infatuated, broker favors for clients, elevate others in social mobility, forge alliances and negotiate with foreign diplomats.