Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France

by Leonie Frieda

Book Overview

The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen, streaming now

"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."...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060744928
• ISBN13: 9780060744922
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

perfect

great copy hope the book is great!

Catherine Medici is one of my favorite queens that l like to read.

The history was well documented. I like the real pictures that were depicted of the original people. This would be a great book to read on Catherine Medici and her life.

Brilliant biography of a controversial Queen.

Catherine de Medici has been called many things over the centuries: Madame La Serpente, The Black Queen, The Maggot from Italy's Tomb, but one thing she hasn't been called is boring. Leonie Frieda has crafted an engrossing biography of a much maligned Queen. Catherine de Medici came to France at the age of fourteen to marry Henri, Duke of Orleans, later known as King Henri II. She was not a princess, in fact she not of royal blood at all. Instead, Catherine was the daughter of wealthy Italian merchants. Her father was Lorenzo II de Medici and her mother was named Madeleine de la Tour d' Auvergne. Shortly after her birth, Catherine lost both her parents and became a pawn (and prisoner) of her powerful Medici relatives. Frieda's biography is intended to provide a sympathetic and diverse view of a woman that history has branded a poisoner and murderer. Far from straying from Catherine flaws, the author openly discusses the events that helped cast the Italian-French Queen as a villain. To better understand Catherine's later disasterous actions, one has to follow Catherine's history from her tragic childhood to her fortunate but unfulfilling (to Henri anyway) marriage to Henri II. The author does a superb job at identifying the key events that helped form this courageous and powerhouse Queen. The gist of the author's argument is that Catherine's greatest fault was loving her children to the extreme. She writes "No mother has done more to promote her children at whatever cost to herself, themselves, and their times." Even before conceiving a child, Catherine was going to the extreme for her unborn children. Barren for a decade, Catherine subjected herself to dangerous and bizarre treatments to increase fertility. Perhaps the most extreme action Catherine took to increase her chances of conceiving was watching her husband and his mistress, Diane de Poitier make love. It is said Catherine ordered holes drilled in her floor where she might watch her husband and his mistress. Since Diane had bore her husband a child, Catherine figured she might pick up clues why her and her husband's lovemaking was not resulting in a pregnancy. Catherine did conceive, in fact, she conceived ten children. Tragically, Catherine survived all but two, Margot and Henri III. Freida argues that the actions Catherine took to defend her children and their legacy resulted in the image of Catherine de Medici that survives today. After the death of her husband and the reign of her first born, Francis II, France became embroiled in a bitter religious war between Catholics and Protestants. Catherine's reluctance to put a forceful end to the Protestant movement, vilified her in the eyes of Catholics. Yet, Catherine's involvement in the Bartholomew's Massacre turned Catholics and Protestants against her. I disagree with the reviewers who claim Frieda's biography fails to provide a sympathetic view of Catherine. If you are judging by 21st century standards, the no, this book is in

A very interesting book

Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici was born in Italy in 1519, and in 1533 was married to King Henry II of France. When Henry died in 1552, Catherine moved from the shadows to become the all-powerful Queen-Mother, the ruler of France in all but name only. However, in an era of schemes and machinations, Catherine gained a reputation as the ultimate schemer, a woman without scruples or bounds. This is the story of Catherine de Medici from birth to death. Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. The author wanted to humanize Catherine, and to show her as an able power-politics player in an age when it was played by the best. In a way, she succeeded ably. Catherine is shown not to have been "the Maggot from Italy's Tomb" (as Jules Michelet termed her), but rather a mother seeking to help and protect her children in a very dangerous world. But, she only had so much to work with. In fact, the author shows that Catherine was unable to give affection to her children, something they had to go to their father for, and while she might have been forced into the role of schemer, she embraced the role without scruple. Was she "La Nouvelle Jezebel?" Reading this book, I think so. Yes, this is a very interesting book, one that goes a long way towards bringing Catherine to life, and making her understandable to the modern reader. I enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it!

An informative read for Renaissance history buffs

I highly recommend this book to people who want to know more about the Medici family and its illustrious member who became the Queen of France. Catherine de Medici had 10 children: three became French kings, one became Queen of Spain (as wife of Philip II). Her youngest son was a serious candidate to wed England's Queen Elizabeth. The Queen Mother was a lavish spender who insisted on mounting extravagant "magnificences" in total disregard for France's precarious financial state. She would even impose taxes on the ever-suffering populace to finance her exercises of excess. She formed her own company of scantily clad dancing girls ("the flying squadron") which proved quite popular. Catherine was not a hardcore religious type (like Spain's Philip II) but attended Mass regularly. She was not threatened by the rise of Protestantism and sought to meet their demands by peaceful means. She was superstitious: when a seer predicted the death of her husband King Henry II at a tournament, she begged him not to compete (he did anyway and was killed in an accident). She presided over eight Wars of Religion: civil wars between Protestants fighting for their right to worship freely, and Catholics trying to keep the country from splitting apart. The author discusses Catherine's many diplomatic efforts to resolve the difficulties peacefully. But treacherous behavior among hardcore Huguenots eventually hardened her attitude, culminating in the disastrous Massacre of St Bartholomew of 1572, which killed as many as 30,000 men, women, and children all over France. Catherine loved architecture, ate heartily (she was fat), and was an enthusiastic horseback rider. She adored her husband Henry II even though he preferred to spend his time with a mistress. She worshipped her son King Henri III, a transvestite who frequently ignored his royal duties to spend time with his young male companions ("mignons"). Catherine was not what contemporary thinkers would call a "good mother." While she worshipped Henri, she ignored her other children. At the outset of the Massacre of 1572, she put her daughter Margot in mortal danger by allowing her to stay at the Louvre, even though the building was about to be overrun by assassins. Years later, Catherine even proposed "eliminating" Margot in order to allow her husband Henri of Navarre to marry a woman who was more capable of bearing children. I would not call this a "sympathetic" biography. While the author emphasizes Catherine's diplomatic efforts, the Queen Mother clearly lived up to the Medicis' darker reputation by approving numerous political assassinations. This book is full of interesting information, and also contains several full-color illustrations.

Great and precise account of a decisive woman

When i picked up this book my expectations were not that high but from the moment i started reading i was captivated by the authors way of telling the story.The author does a very good job in describing Catherine and her struggles from an early childhood until she became the Queen of France. The author's style is flawless and goes straight to the point in describing all the plots and treaties that happened in that time and their importance towards Italy,France and Spain.This is a great book that not only highlights Catherine struggles to keep the dinasty afloat but also because she makes us undestand all the main characters and their problems.Excellent work!!

Hard new look at the queen known as Madame Le Serpent

This book will disappoint romantics and misogynists alike. For the rest of us, this well-written biography offers a look at Catherine de Medici as she might be judged in the 21st century rather than the 17th century. Catherine acquires human and political dimensions from the author's decision to view her from a much wider variety of sources than many previous histories. Such details pay off: while many biographies of Catherine describe her as spying on her husband as he made love to Diane de Poitiers, not many can document the filthy, stinking poultices prescribed by her physicians to improve her chances of getting pregnant--which would have discouraged any man. This puts a whole new twist on the equally widely-reported command by Diane to Henry that he should sleep more with his wife. When I know why a thing happened, my interpretation of motive changes. By steering clear of hostile judgments from her contemporaries and competitors, the author flirts with being a Catherine apologist at times, but the consistent presentation of Catherine as a woman with political problems related to her French marriage helped make the events leading to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre more understandable, and Catherine's responsibility for them much more fairly, yet still critically, assessed. After I had read the book, I was struck by some curious parallels between Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth of England. Catherine followed the more traditional methods of the day to build, retain, and keep her power; Elizabeth, choosing to flout tradition, was forced into some of the same machinations Catherine used, even though she never married. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in getting behind and beyond Catherine's standard presentation as "Madame le Serpent."