Catherine de'Medici

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 as Regent and Queen Mother a key figure in the French Wars of Religion. Praised as a peacemaker she has also been blamed for the Massacre of St Bartholomew (24 August 1572): Professor Knecht goes behind the familiar Black Legend to assess the real Catherine; and while no attempt is made to whitewash her he reveals a more sympathetic and in her pragmatism more modern figure than most of her leading contemporaries. This study the first recent biography of her in English by a leading scholar of Renaissance France is a major event.