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    Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
    Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
    Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
    Audiobook21 hours

    Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France

    Written by Leonie Frieda

    Narrated by Sarah Le Fevre

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen, premiering September 11.

    “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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 16, 2018
    ISBN9780062905901
    Author

    Leonie Frieda

    Leonie Frieda is the author of a bestselling biography of Catherine de Medici and The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for Catherine de Medici

    4.5/5

    39 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I have been drawn to Catherine de Medici's story for some time. After reading Susan Carroll's fictional account of her in her Cheney Sisters books, I became even more interested in her. Catherine was a fascinating sixteenth century woman. She was the Italian-born Queen of France, wife of Henri II. Catherine Maria Romola di Lorenzo de Medici was born in Italy in 1519. She endured a lonely childhood, isolated in convents most of the time, exiled from her rightful place in her own country. Like many women of her time, she became a tool in the diplomacy of her two powerful uncles, who basically sold her off to marry the future king of France. Catherine de Medici was married to Henri II when she was just 14 years old. She endured the dominance of Henri's mistress, Dian de Poitiers, with patience and grace, for 16 years. She adored her husband, even though he obviously preferred the company of his much older mistress. She was able to maneuver her way through shifting family alliances, and learned self-possession, deception, and strategy. The twists and turns of life at the French court led her to form brilliant political skills which held her in stead for the rest of her life. 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 sudden death of Henri in 1552 at a jousting event, launched Catherine into three decades as regent and chief advisor to three sons who ruled France in succession. Her sons were weak kings, and she became the power behind the throne for many years. She was the all powerful Queen-Mother, the ruler of France in all but name. During this time, Catherine gained a reputation as the ultimate schemer, a woman without scruples or bounds. 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. Although her hands will be forever stained by the religious wars that sent France into frenzies during her watch, the author contends that Catherine attempted to reach compromise in the religious strife of her adopted country whenever possible. Poisoner, despot, necromancer -- the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. Catherine is widely seen as a talented, scheming and ruthless power-behind-the-throne figure, doing almost anything to promote and protect her children which included two Kings of France. In this biography, the author reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds -- from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henri, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. This biography is a persuasive rehabilitation of Catherine, not as a nice woman, but as a shrewd leader who did what she had to.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I was very disappointed by this book. Leonie Frieda's main shortcoming is that she isn't really telling te story of Catherine de Medici, she is writing a chronicle of her time. We see Catherine almost as a bystander here: most of th eprimary sources quoted are not by or about her but rather by or about her male relatives (husband, sons), so that it is difficult to build up a picture of the woman herself.Comapred to the works of great biographers such as Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser this book pales. I do hope that someone will one day write a better biography of Catherine de Medici - I'd certainly love to read it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Fascinating account of the life of Catherine de Medici of France who goes down in history as The Dark Queen. This balanced biography looks at her life and her motives - to save a nation being torn apart by religious wars and thus the inheritance of her weakly sons.Catherine de Medici tried to reconcile the two religious sides in the beginning, but to no avail. She did indeed order poisonings and assassinations including the ones of highborn French protestants resulting in the terrible St Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572) of innocent men, women and children. Not until the French revolution, would such a heinous wholesale slaughter be equalled. Catherine de Medici earned her reputation as the Dark Queen.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the true and honest tell of a mother and queen. Narrorator worked will for this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a lively, readable biography of Catherine de Medici. Catherine was queen of France following her marriage to Henri II. When he died, she had five small children (five others having died in childbirth or early childhood). She struggled to keep the throne for her children, becoming an expert in political manoeurvings and intrigue. Catherine has been criticized by many as evil and power-hungry. She has also been praised for her courage and cunning. I think she did an amazing job as Queen Mother. She was blinded to her children's faults like so many mothers, and she was unable to deal effectively with religous conflicts, waffling between accommodation and conflict. Yet she was also extremely astute and focussed on the needs of her family, and her country. Like politicians of today, she had both strengths and weaknesses.Leoni Frieda maintains a good sense of perspective and neutrality. Her research is well documented and provides a lot of information not only about Catherine, but about the times she lived in.
    • 5/5
      A great read that demonstrates that real history can have the kind of characters and bizarre situations that, were a novelist to have created them, would be deemed too far-fetched. This is a well researched and readable biography, though it perhaps goes too far in trying to exculpate Catherine for masterminding the notorious St Bartholomew Eve's massacre for which she is most (in)famous today. The chapters were rather overlong as well.
    • 4/5
      she certainly had bad luck with her husband and her sons but as a result prior to Elizabeth the First of England she was the most impressive woman ruler of the middle ages.
    • 3/5
      A strong French ruler.I have graded this book according to my enjoyment of it, but I do feel that under different circumstances I might have been giving it a higher rating. There were two problems; firstly my complete lack of knowledge of French history, which meant that all the names were new to me and I had nothing to relate the events to, other than English history of the time. Secondly, I was listening to the abridged audiobook which, I would assume, includes all the dry facts, without the background detail that makes history so fascinating. In addition, I notice other reviewers referring to the fabulous colour photographs and, of course, these would have been absent. In spite of the issues with the abridged audiobook, I did come away with a distinct image of Catherine de Medici and that era of French History. It has also made me aware of the problems caused by disease, namely syphilis and tuberculosis, which killed and disabled several important members of the French ruling family. Catherine de Medici was a ruthless queen, who only attained power due to the death of her husband, Henry. She was determined to hand the reigns on to her sons, but they were too young and/or sickly to take full control and so she retained power, by default, for many years.This was a quite sympathetic picture of a lady who has been dubbed ruthless by historians over the years. I'd now be interested to read a slightly harsher version of her life, or possibly an historical fiction version.
    • 5/5
      Fantstic, funny and entertaining. Easy to understand and to follow
    • 4/5
      3.75 starsIn the 16th century, Catherine de Medici came to France from Italy to marry the future king of France, Henri II. She loved him, but had to share him with a mistress, the woman he loved, Diane de Poitiers. Over the years, Catherine and Henri had ten children and Catherine outlived all except two of them. Three of her sons became kings of France, and Catherine was always there to help them rule. There were a number of religious wars in France over the years she ruled. I?ve only read a little bit of fiction about Catherine (this is nonfiction). It was good. Being nonfiction, though, there were dry parts to it, but there were plenty of interesting things going on, as well. It?s funny, from the fiction I read, I remember the rivalry between Catherine and Diane more than anything else, yet she is apparently best remembered for her part in a massacre pitting Protestants against Catholics (which I don?t recall from the fiction at all, though it must have been there!). I did feel particularly bad for her when Henri was alive and she had Diane de Poitiers to contend with, but she did have a ruthless side, particularly when it came to protecting the crown for her sons.
    • 5/5
      A book with fascinating details if you like reading about the period and the characters.
    • 2/5
      This narrator has zero knowledge of the French language. One would think the publishers would want their book to be read by someone who at least can pronounce some French words and names. Instead, we are saddled with someone who thinks 'duchesse' should sound like DOOSHAY. Very frustrating.
    • 4/5
      I admit I am fascinated by this woman ever since I read Jean Plaidy's series of historical fiction books about her life when I was in high school. Seems to be historically accurate from what I know, but I am by no means an expert. I still want to know more about her childhood, which did not seem to be covered in much detail here though. The book focuses on her life after leaving Italy.
    • 3/5
      This is a very readable, fairly scholarly evaluation of Catherine De Medici. The book is well documented with plenty of notes and an extensive bibliography. Leonie manages to maintain an objective stance; she does not fall into hero worship or disparagement.
    • 4/5
      This was an important book in my understanding of French history. Or rather, it filled in a missing gap.