Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France

The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen — second season premiering July 12th!

“A beautifully written portrait of a ruthless, subtle and fearless woman fighting for survival and power in a world of gangsterish brutality, routine assassination and religious mania. . . . Frieda has brought a largely forgotten heroine-villainess and a whole sumptuously vicious era back to life. . . . This is The Godfather meets Elizabeth.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

Poisoner, besotted mother, despot, necromancer, engineer of a massacre: the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed royal biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen of France to reveal a skilled ruler and master of Renaissance statecraft battling extraordinary political and personal odds.

Based on comprehensive research including thousands of Catherine’s own letters, Frieda unfurls Catherine’s story from her troubled childhood in Florence to her tumultuous marriage to Henry II of France; her transformation of French culture to her reign as a queen who would use brutality to ensure her children’s royal birthright. Brilliantly executed, this enthralling historical biography goes beyond myth to paint a very human portrait of this remarkable figure.

How did a Florentine merchant’s daughter become the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century France?

• Political Intrigue: Uncover the intricate web of alliances and betrayals Catherine navigated, using her intelligence to survive a court where assassination was commonplace.
• A Woman in Power: Explore the story of a queen who, denied power for years, ultimately seized control to protect her children’s legacy and transform French culture forever.
• Primary Source Research: Draws on thousands of Catherine’s own letters, revealing her personal thoughts and strategies in her own words.
• The Woman Behind the Myth: Separates fact from the dark legend of the poisoner and necromancer to present a human portrait of a complex and formidable ruler.

Leonie Frieda is the author of a bestselling biography of Catherine de Medici and The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance. She lives in London.