--- product_id: 104312105 title: "Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France" price: "2534894₫" currency: VND in_stock: true reviews_count: 12 url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/104312105-catherine-de-medici-renaissance-queen-of-france store_origin: VN region: Vietnam --- # Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France **Price:** 2534894₫ **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France - **How much does it cost?** 2534894₫ with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/104312105-catherine-de-medici-renaissance-queen-of-france) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France (Audible Audio Edition): Leonie Frieda, Sarah Le Fevre, Harper Perennial: Books Review: Completely Captivating and Highly Informative - A Great Historical Biography - 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). Review: Great Biography of a Maligned and Misunderstood Renaissance Queen - 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. ## Images ![Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81GhCOZO64L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Completely Captivating and Highly Informative - A Great Historical Biography *by A***Y on July 28, 2024* 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). ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Biography of a Maligned and Misunderstood Renaissance Queen *by A***O on April 20, 2010* 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. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent, Six Stars, A Very Detailed and Factually Dense Read *by F***Y on July 25, 2019* 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. 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