A Financial Times Book of the Year
-Thoroughly researched.-Sunday Times
-To be devoured.- Philip Mansel
''This book is a treat for fans of well-told history.''Washington Post
History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de- Medici.
In this new biography of the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, Mary Hollingsworth uses neglected primary sources to recreate the life and times of a remarkable - and remarkably traduced - woman.
Mary Hollingsworth delves into the archives to discover deeper truths behind the persistent myths of sectarian cruelty and ruinous extravagance, and to reveal a cultured and politically astute woman who worked tirelessly to find a way for Catholics and Protestants to coexist peacefully.
