Product Description

Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at fourteen to the future Henri II of France, she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress Diane de Poitiers. When her husband died as a result of a duelling accident in Paris, Catherine was made queen regent during the short reign of her eldest son (married to Mary Queen of Scots and like many of her children he died young). When her second son became king she was the power behind the throne. She nursed dynastic ambitions, but was continually drawn into political and religious intrigues between catholics and protestants that plagued France for much of the later part of her life. It had always been said that she was implicated in the notorious Saint Barthlomew's Day Massacre, together with the king and her third son who succeeded to the throne in 1574, but was murdered. Her political influence waned, but she survived long enough to ensure the succession of her son-in-law who had married her daughter Margaret.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68680 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

WATERSTONE'S QUARTERLY
'a scholarly yet immensely readable biography.'

Review
'well-written and engaging.' (Sally Cousins THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'this dense often funny account...... it is full of choice details.' (Robbie Hudson THE SUNDAY TIMES )

'It's a tale of poisonings, duels, black magic and incest that Frieda does full justice to in this detailed by colourful study' (Simon Beckett THE OBSERVER )

'a scholarly yet immensely readable biography.' (WATERSTONE'S QUARTERLY )

'she's written a history book that has al the pace and excitement of a novel, a rare achievement indeed.' (CHOICE )

'it is skilfully written and on balance sympathetic to Catherine's stewardship.' (Owen Dawson THE IRISH TIMES )

Robbie Hudson, THE SUNDAY TIMES
'this dense often funny account...... it is full of choice details.'

Customer Reviews

Catherine De Medici
Leonie Frieda has written a truly fascinating account of the swirling maelstrom of murder, assassination, betrayal, religious schism and premeditated massacre that was politics in the Age of the Valois Kings of France. I was gripped from the first sentence when Catherine de Medici's husband King Henry II, was killed horribly in a freak jousting accident. Although it's very scholarly and well researched, this book reads like a thriller. I can't recommend it enough.

Unputdownable!
Witty, incisive and as exciting as any thriller, I found 'Catherine de Medici' impossible to put down. For half the book I admired the heroine for the way she fought for her three sons who became Kings of France after her husband died in a jousting accident, for the other half I despised the ruthless, manipulative monster she'd become after the King's gory death. Certainly it's brought the Renaissance alive for me better than any book I've read before, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a true story of assassination, betrayal, high politics and maternal love.

A good read, but does not rank among the top biographers
I was looking forward very much to reading this book as I had read several sparkling reviews praising the author's writing skills. I had also read about her personal struggle against drugs and was impressed by her honesty and courage. The story is indeed well written, but (and this is only a personal view) I do not believe that the author ranks up there with people like Barbara Tuchman or William Manchester. The content is interesting but sometimes the text reads like a news narrative, and there are a few places in which an introductory phrase would have made the text flow more smoothly.

Also, I am not utterly convinced that the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre can simply be dismissed by the author as "a surgical operation that went wrong". To be sure, Catholic and Protestant propaganda writers may have exaggerated her evilness, but the author's own obvious liking for this remarkable woman must also have coloured her interpretation.

I would still recommend this book highly to any prospective reader if merely for the immense amount of interesting detail about the period, which is based on scholarly and meticulous research. The book starts off with a very vivid account of the death of Henry II of France in a jousting accident and is worth purchasing for this chapter alone.