Filippa Duci

Filippa Duci (French - Philippa Desducs; 1520, Moncalieri, Piedmont - before October 1586, near Tours), dame de Couy, was a Piedmontese courtesan.

Life

Her father was Gian Antonio Duci and during the Italian Wars the French dauphin Henry (later Henry II of France) stayed with a squire, Filippa's brother. Henry was seduced by Filippa on first sight and she became his mistress, giving birth to their daughter Diane de France in Paris in 1538 and thus proving Henry was not sterile (he had been married to Catherine de Médicis yet still not produced an heir). Francis I of France granted her 400 'livres tournois' a year for life in an Ordinaire de Touraine in 1541. She married the Italian gentleman and privy councillor Jean Bernardin de Saint-Severin and after Diane was legitimised Filippa was known as dame de Bléré en Touraine. In 1582 she became a lady in waiting to Catherine de Médicis.