I’ve written four books at this point about the French Renaissance, and Catherine de Medici is a major supporting character in all of them. You cannot get away from studying 16th Century France without a thorough understanding of Catherine’s life as Duchess, Dauphine, Queen Consort, and finally, Queen Mother of France. Free sources about Catherine
Tag huguenot
You may be familiar with the story of Gabrielle d’Estrees, the woman who Henry IV loved so much that he eventually agreed to her despite the fact that she had little political clout outside of France and she was already his Baby Mama thrice over. If Gabrielle is an unknown figure to you, there’s quite
Meet the Cleves sisters and the people who made their lives. If you’ve read the Three Graces Trilogy, you’ll find several familiar names Youngest sister, Marie, is the Princess de Conde. While the title may sound impressive, the marriage (and the husband who came with it) was not. Marie tries valiantly to keep her arraigned
France’s miserable relations with Protestant dissenters wasn’t limited to those who followed John Calvin. In the 1540s, another sect of Protestants known as the Vaudois started to become a thorn in Francis I’s side. The Vaudois were concentrated in the south, mostly in Provence and Piedmont. The group was composed mostly of peasants, as opposed
Unless you’ve done research on your own Huguenot ancestors, the term may be completely foreign to you. Don’t worry, today I’ve collected some video links that will get you caught up on who these people were and why they were so dead set against opposing the Catholic church. Granted, the Catholic characters in my novels
If you are looking for more information on the scandals surrounding Louis, Prince de Conde and his son, Henry, I have a two volume set to recommend. History of the Princes de Conde in the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries is from the nineteenth century, and below you’ll find the links to the English translations. A
[During the interview, the king repeatedly interrupted the interview questions to make passes at the female journalist conducting the interview] Q: Your Majesty, your flight from the French court [in 1575] caused quite the stir. Can you give us details on how you evade the royal guards. [Laughing heartily] Ah, it was quite a bit
Q: You grew up with your first wife (Marie of Cleves) yet your relationship was not a close one. Why do you think that was the case? I still wonder how we could both grow up under the care of a remarkable woman like Aunt Jeanne and still turn out so different. I took my