Portraits of the Queen Mother

By Catherine de Medicis, Leah L. Chang (translator), Katherine Kong (translator)

Book cover of Portraits of the Queen Mother: Polemics, Panegyrics, Letters

Book description

Catherine de Medicis was portrayed in her day as foreign usurper, loving queen and queen mother, patron of the arts, and Machiavellian murderer of Protestants. Leah L. Chang and Katherine Kong assemble a diverse array of scathing polemic and lofty praise, diplomatic reports, and Catherine's own letters, which together show…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Portraits of the Queen Mother as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

From her arrival as a fourteen-year-old bride to her death as queen mother fifty-five years later, Catherine de Medici was praised as a devoted wife and mother and able ruler but also condemned as a foreigner, a poisoner, and murderer of Protestants. This rare collection of primary sources translated into English allows readers to become familiar with the sources of such positive and negative assessments of this controversial queen. The letters included here, selected from her many volumes of correspondence, reveal her concerns as a mother and as a political figure.

Excerpts from Venetian ambassadors' gossipy reports bring to light…

From Kathleen's list on women in early modern France.

Want books like Portraits of the Queen Mother?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Portraits of the Queen Mother.

Browse books like Portraits of the Queen Mother

Book cover of Sex in an Old Regime City: Young Workers and Intimacy in France, 1660-1789
Book cover of Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France
Book cover of Marie Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,188

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in France, queens, and 16th century?

France 941 books
Queens 84 books
16th Century 89 books