Catherine De' Medici
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Born into the most powerful dynasty in Renaissance Italy and thrust onto the treacherous stage of the French court at just fourteen years old, Catherine de' Medici would become one of the most formidable — and most misunderstood — women in European history. Hugh Ross Williamson's biography chronicles the remarkable life of this Italian-born queen consort who, as regent of France, wielded extraordinary political influence over three of her own sons during France's catastrophic Wars of Religion, navigating a court riddled with factionalism, assassination, and the relentless struggle for dynastic survival. Williamson presents Catherine not as the scheming Black Queen of popular legend, but as a pragmatic stateswoman whose Machiavellian reputation was as much a product of misogyny and propaganda as it was of her own calculated actions. With elegant, authoritative prose, the author situates her life within the sweeping grandeur of sixteenth-century European politics, the tumultuous clash between Catholic and Huguenot factions, and the glittering cultural world of the Valois court. A Studio Book from The Viking Press, this work is richly illustrated and presented with the care befitting its extraordinary subject — leaving the reader to wonder whether history has ever truly done justice to the woman who held France together by sheer force of will.
Author: Hugh Ross Williamson
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, The Viking Press
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Born into the most powerful dynasty in Renaissance Italy and thrust onto the treacherous stage of the French court at just fourteen years old, Catherine de' Medici would become one of the most formidable — and most misunderstood — women in European history. Hugh Ross Williamson's biography chronicles the remarkable life of this Italian-born queen consort who, as regent of France, wielded extraordinary political influence over three of her own sons during France's catastrophic Wars of Religion, navigating a court riddled with factionalism, assassination, and the relentless struggle for dynastic survival. Williamson presents Catherine not as the scheming Black Queen of popular legend, but as a pragmatic stateswoman whose Machiavellian reputation was as much a product of misogyny and propaganda as it was of her own calculated actions. With elegant, authoritative prose, the author situates her life within the sweeping grandeur of sixteenth-century European politics, the tumultuous clash between Catholic and Huguenot factions, and the glittering cultural world of the Valois court. A Studio Book from The Viking Press, this work is richly illustrated and presented with the care befitting its extraordinary subject — leaving the reader to wonder whether history has ever truly done justice to the woman who held France together by sheer force of will.