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Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
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Original price was: $19.99.$15.99Current price is: $15.99.
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The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen — second season premiering July 12th!
“A beautifully written portrait of a ruthless, subtle and fearless woman fighting for survival and power in a world of gangsterish brutality, routine assassination and religious mania. . . . Frieda has brought a largely forgotten heroine-villainess and a whole sumptuously vicious era back to life. . . . This is The Godfather meets Elizabeth.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
Poisoner, besotted mother, despot, necromancer, engineer of a massacre: the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen of France to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds.
Based on comprehensive research including thousands of Catherine’s own letters, Frieda unfurls Catherine’s story from her troubled childhood in Florence to her tumultuous marriage to Henry II of France; her transformation of French culture to her reign as a queen who would use brutality to ensure her children’s royal birthright. Brilliantly executed, this enthralling biography goes beyond myth to paint a very human portrait of this remarkable figure.
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Categories: Women Writers
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Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
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Original price was: $19.99.$15.99Current price is: $15.99.
Irina Go. –
Excelente libro y condiciones del libro! Llegó en perfecto estado!
sandro perez –
Great book
Leonard Relling –
Very factual..!
Andy –
A deeply fascinating, highly readable, and truly outrageous non-fiction account of the remarkable life of Catherine de Medici. Clearly draws a portrait of her unstable wartime environment and incredible political rise to become one of the most notorious and powerful figures in European history. I bought this book after watching the entertaining The Serpent Queen- which uses this book as it’s source, but while the show shapes the material into a very edgy and hip black comedy, Leonie Frieda’s writing is much more traditional and erudite, brilliantly displaying the scheming, horror, tragedy, and absurdity of the royal courtly life in Renaissance France. There are also a few maps, a very useful list of the historic houses and family trees, and several color illustrations and paintings included in this book. Highly recommended to fans of European history and biographies. Also recommended the exciting, bloody, costume drama and award winning French film, Queen Margot (1994).
Frank Donnelly –
It would be hard for me to exaggerate how much I appreciated and enjoyed this biography of Catherine de Medici. This book is packed with information about the various political sub divisions of France, Italy, Spain, England, the Holy Roman Empire and so forth. The book is also is filled with information on the many royal families. I feel that this book could be used as a core text for study of this entire period of Western European History.
This is not a light read. There were times I need a proverbial “score card” to keep track of all of the individuals and the shifting alliances and intrigue. In that context, this is in no way a light read and I really had to concentrate. As usual I did parallel reading and took my time to try to get as much as possible from this book. It took me a lot longer to read this book than its length would suggest.
I purchased a hard copy of this really excellent book and also listened to an audiobook. While the audiobook is excellent, I would not have gotten nearly as much out of this work while only listening due to the names of people and places, etc. The actual book had maps, family trees, notes and bibliography, that really added so much to an individual such as myself who does not have sufficient prior knowledge of various names and locations.
In summary, I am so glad that I purchased and studied this excellent book. I learned so much. I am saving the book for further reference and am completely satisfied with this fine work. Thank You…
Júpiter 25 –
Una mujer no para el gusto de todos, pero que supo hacer de su vida una religión y llevarla asta su muerte. Maravillosa Catalina de Médicis. Es curioso como en estos siglos XV Y XVI el nombre de Catalina debía de estar muy de moda. “ENRIQUE VIII se casó con tres CATALINAS, dos ANAS y una JUANA.
Janeymac73 –
Really kept me fascinated. The intrigue, the plotting. What a fascinating character. So well written and researched. Highly recommended
Bobbie Bowles –
I really enjoyed reading this. It’s very informative about Catherine de Medici and her life and the times she lived in without being boring or so overfilled with minute facts that it gets bogged down.
There are enough footnotes and correspondence that you feel like you know facts, without feeling like you are going to be given a test at the end you are utterly unprepared for. It really reads more like narrative.
Aglio –
Leonie Frieda has written a tremendous biography of a much maligned Renaissance queen. Catherine De Medici has been blamed for many of the ills experienced by France after the death of her husband, Henry II. How much complicity she had in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre is still a subject of debate. Leonie Frieda states that she did have some culpability. However, she also makes it clear that Catherine made many efforts to make peace with the Huguenots before and after the event. Something that history seems to have neglected.
Catherine’s entire reign has been defined by that one event. There was much more to this remarkable renaissance queen. She was a woman of her times and ahead of her time. She received an education far beyond what was considered respectable for a woman. She cultivated the arts, poetry and architecture. And yet, she is considered the “Queen of poisons” because several of her enemies seemed to conveniently die (of poison ?). Above all, she was a mother to her children.
What is interesting about her is that while she was never affectionate with her children, she loved and protected them. She made sure all of them married well. That was important during the Renaissance. A woman was defined by her marriage. Catherine was no different. Most of her early life was defined by her marriage to Henry II. She didn’t come into her own until after his death when she became regent for her son, Francis. This is a period when she flourished. Up until that point, she remained the dutiful and submissive queen. She may well have owed that position to Diane De Poiters, Henry IIs mistress. Catherine remained childless for the first nine years of her marriage. That would have been a legitimate legal reason for an annulment. With Diane’s urging (?), Henry kept Catherine and they eventually went on to have ten children. Catherine’s relationship with her sons makes for absorbing reading. Three sons lived to become king of France and in Henry III’s case, Poland. Her daughters did not achieve the same success of their mother. Although, Margot achieved equal notoriety.
This is a wonderful biography as well as history of Renaissance France. I highly recommend it.
Polly *Girl –
What a great read! A non-noble Italian girl who probably inherited latent tuberculosis/syphilis from her dead parents makes good! She produces 10 offspring while married to Henry II who dies from a lance in his eye. She weathers this tragedy to became the de facto ruler of France. She deals with mistresses, and has her hands in the occult , the nobility, the Catholic Church, and the slaughter of the Huguenots., Mary Queen of Scots, King Philip of Spain, Queen Elizabeth of England–all have parts to play in this drama. She held her own by championing her sickly male heirs to the throne and tried placing her daughters in advantageous marriages. How it works out in the end? Like I said, a great read, you can’t make this stuff up. (Read the book about the two queens to learn more about Catherine and her daughter Margot.)