Isabelle de Limeuil

Isabelle de la Tour, Lady of Limeuil (c. 1535 – 25 March 1609) was a French noblewoman and a Maid of Honour to the Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici. She also formed part of Catherine's notorious "flying squadron" (L'escadron volant), a group of beautiful female spies she used for the purpose of forming sexual liaisons with various powerful men at the French court thereby extracting information which would then be passed on to her. In about 1562 at Catherine's instigation, she became the mistress of Louis, Prince of Condé, brother of King Antoine of Navarre and one of the leading Huguenots in France. Two years later when Isabelle created a scandal by giving birth to his son whilst the court was on a royal progress, she was banished to a convent. She later married wealthy Tuscan banker Scipion Sardini, a favoured protégé of Catherine de' Medici. Family Isabelle was born in Limeuil, France in about 1535, a daughter of Gilles de la Tour, Viscount of Turenne, Baron of Limeuil and Marguerite de la Cropte, Lady of Lanquais. She went to live at the court of King Charles IX where she became one of queen mother Catherine de' Medici's Maids of Honour. Isabelle was distantly related to Catherine through the latter's French mother, Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. Flying Squadron Described as beautiful with blonde hair, blue eyes, rose-pink complexion and possessed of a "vivacious wit", she was immortalised in verse by the poet Pierre de Ronsard. He wrote that he "would like to give her as many kisses as there were leaves on the trees of the forest". Her outstanding good looks caught the attention of the Queen Mother who invited her to join her elite "flying squadron" (L'escadron volant), a group of attractive and talented female spies who were recruited to seduce powerful men at Court, thereby extracting information which would then be passed on to Catherine and used as political leverage by the latter. Catherine was keenly aware of the power and influence women were able to wield over men – knowledge she had acquired from observing her late husband, King Henry II, fall completely under the sway of his cultured mistress Diane de Poitiers. She set out establishing this select group of about eighty beautiful ladies-in-waiting whom she had dressed at all times "like goddesses in silk and gold cloth". They took active roles in Catherine's fantastic spectacles and magnificent entertainments which were regularly put on for the benefit of the court.