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Catherine de'Medici

Catherine de'Medici

R.J. Knecht

Dec 1997, Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN13: 9780582082410
ISBN10: 0582082412
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£29.99
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Catherine de' Medici (1518-89) is one of the most controversial of all historical figures. Wife of one French King and mother of three others she was a key figure Renaissance France and ineradicably associated with the St Bartholomew Massacre. Professor Knecht goes behind the familiar Black Legend to assess the real Catherine and reveals a more sympathetic figure than most of her contemporaries. This study - the first recent biography of her in English - by a leading scholar, is a major event.


1. Daughter of Florence (1519-33).
2. Dauphine (1533-47).
3. Queen of France (1547-59).
4. Queen Mother (1559-62).
5. War and peace (1562-66).
6. The End of Compromise (1567-70).
7. The Phoney Peace (1570-72).
8. The Favourite Son (1573-77).
9. Peacemaker (1578-84).
10. The New Artemisia.
11. Apocalypse (1584-89).
Conclusion.
Biographical Essay.
List of dates.
Map of sixteenth-century France.
Genealogies.
Index.

  • Offers a lucid exposition of the immensely complex events of the French Wars of Religion with their profound imact on the future of France.
  • Her name is ineradicably associated the Massacre of St Bartholomew (24 August 1572): Professor Knecht goes behind the familiar Black Legend to assess her actual role in events.
  • While no attempt is made to whitewash her, this study reveals that Catherine was a more sympathetic - and, in her pragmatism, more modern - figure than most of her leading contemporaries.

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