Catherine de' Medici

The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen

De: Mary Hollingsworth

Narrado por: Rachel Bavidge

Bloomsbury presents Catherine de' Medici by Mary Hollingsworth, read by Rachel Bavidge.

A new biography of Catherine de' Medici, the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, whose author uses neglected primary sources to recreate the life and times of a remarkable – and remarkably traduced – woman.

History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-born queen of France and influential mother of three successive French kings during that country’s long sequence of sectarian wars in the second half of the sixteenth century. Thanks to the malign efforts of propagandists motivated by religious hatred, history tends to remember Catherine as a schemer who used witchcraft and poison to eradicate her rivals, as a spendthrift dilettante who wasted ruinous sums of money on building and embellishment of monuments and palaces, and most sinister of all, as instigator of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, in which thousands of innocent Protestants were slaughtered by Catholic mobs.

Mary Hollingsworth delves into contemporary archives to discover deeper truths behind these persistent myths. The correspondence of diplomats and Catherine’s own letters reveal a woman who worked tirelessly to find a way for Catholics and Protestants to coexist in peace (a goal for which she continued to strive until the end of her life), who was well-informed on both literary and scientific matters, and whose patronage of the arts helped bring into being glorious châteaux and gardens, priceless work of art, and magnificent festivities combining theatre, music and ballet, which display the grandeur of the French court.

©2024 Mary Hollingsworth (P)2024 Head of Zeus

Thorough, well-researched

Beautifully written, an exciting story of a long and eventful life. The performance was choppy, with very obvious edits and additions made after the final recording, possibly by another reader, which was distracting.

Fascinating story of an amazing woman

I couldn't stop listening to this one. The narrator is excellent and the story of Catherine better than a novel. In terms of historical veracity, I suspect the book is quite good, but it is revisionist history absolving the queen from some of the horrors of the French wars of religion.

Uninspiring narration, detailed history.

Narration is somewhat stilted, monotonic, and dry.

Information is detailed and for scholars and history buffs probably of interest and useful.

For laypersons, however, the material is too dry and delivery mundane to capture sustained interest.

I was looking for something accurate but less meticulous about Catherine (a la SERPENT QUEEN). This did not satisfy my particular need.

Countering centuries of disinformation

Catherine is one of the most maligned women in European history and this work succeeds in putting to right many distortions perpetuated through centuries of propoganda and disinformation.

It is a reappraisal, not a hagiography nor disingenuous attempt at rehabilitation. It’s not a quick and easy read for those used to the calumnies of Plaidy and Gregory, but a well-considered, deep history of an extraordinary woman who lived in perilous times.

Most of the negative reviews I have seen online have criticized the minutiae of the work, or show an undisguised prejudice against Catholicism. As a Catholic who already admires the good qualities of Catherine, perhaps I am too biased in favor of the work, but I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter, so much that I ordered the book in hardcover.

When I read Leonie Frieda’s biography of Catherine some years ago, it left me with an abiding love of Valois history I enjoy to this day. I’ve particularly enjoyed researching in French and Italian Catherine’s all but forgotten sister in law Marguerite, who deserves a modern English language biography of her own.

Today is the 450th anniversary of Marguerite’s death. She was Catherine’s trusted friend and ally, and I imagine she would be pleased to see this work reveal the Catherine she knew and loved.

For all her faults, Catherine was a brilliant, learned, politically skillful, energetic woman worthy of respect for all she endured and navigated over a long and eventful life.

Excellent

This book filled in for me a history that I was not familiar with. It was methodical and easy to follow. The narrator was excellent.

Bad history

Not a fan of this work, at all. Couldn't even finish.

Points are not adequately supported, and some assertions are outright historically inaccurate. Many letters written by Catherine are not cited which could support the author's point, and the historical references used are barely used adequately for the intended purpose.

Book feels jumpy and incomplete, and sadly glosses over the many of the happier details - especially the topic of cuisine - and other admirable contributions C D'M made to French culture. Also fails to really go in-depth on her devotion to her children, as toxic as her method's were when viewed through a modern perspective.

I set out to find a more sympathetic and less tv-villain version of C D'M, and this could have been it, except for the poor execution.

Presenter did really well, all things considered. I'd have to say that it was her reading that kept me hanging in long past when I would normally have given up.

Don’t bother

All you need to know:

Catherine de' Medici, an Italian noblewoman, reigned as Queen of France from 1547 to 1559, by her marriage to King Henry II, and the mother of French kings, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France, when she served as Queen Mother and, at times, Regent.

Her policies can be summarized as measures to keep the House of Valois on the throne, on the one hand, and efforts to negotiate reconciliation and detente between the Catholic Church and adherents to the so-called new religion, Protestantism, on the other. She was largely successful on the first of these goals, at least during her lifetime, but utterly failed on the latter.