Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France

Poisoner, despot, necromancer -- the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds -- from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women ever to wear a crown.

• Mary Queen of Scots
• Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens
• The Rival Queens: Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom
• Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart
• Marie Antoinette: The Journey
• Francis I: The Maker of Modern France
• The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall
• The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici
• Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King
• The Life of Elizabeth I