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History Roadshow’s YouTube documentary about Catherine de Medici
Another video this week as I’m supposed to still be on the Pacific heading back from the islands to the mainland. This time it’s History Roadshow’s short documentary about Catherine de Medici. Enjoy! I’ll see you all when I get back.
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History Hit Network looks at Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth I of England
As I’m still on vacation (Aloha!), History Hit Network takes a look at Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth I of England, whose influences overlapped for a time during the Sixteenth Century.
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Weird History takes a look at the s**t show that was Marie de Medici’s regency
Marie de Medici may have assumed that her life was about to improve after her husband suddenly died. Unfortunately for her, becoming Regent of France was a disaster for her. Weird History takes a 13 minute amusing and informative look at Marie’s Regency.
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On this day: Catherine de Medici dies at Chateau de Blois
On a Frigid January day, Catherine de Medici, Queen Consort, Regent, and Queen Mother of France died at the age of sixty-nine. Historians believe that she most likely died of pleurisy. During the last months of her life, contemporary doctors diagnosed her with “dropsy” and “gout.” Catherine’s last days were no doubt miserable for her. The previous December, her favorite child, Henry III of France, killed his rival, the Duc de Guise and his younger brother, the Cardinal de Guise, in an assassination plot that horrified Catherine. Politically speaking, killing the elder Guise was disasterous for Henri III, and his mnother advised him against doing so several times. Too many…
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Examining the strange marriage of Marie de Medici
Marie de Medici might not receive the same amount of attention as her cousin Catherine from historians, but she deserves her own turn in the spotlight. I wish that modern historians would spend more time on her, but she’s fallen out of favor in academic circles since the Nineteenth Century. Speaking of the Nineteenth Century, few female writers have written more about the French Renaissance court than Martha Walker Freer. I’m not going to lie, in graduate school, they taught us to take Nineteenth-Century histories with a grain of salt because many of them were written without bothering to use any primary documents whatsoever. Still, I have a lot of…
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Starz casts actress to play Catherine de Medici in new series
The new Starz historical drama has finally found their lead, casting a Swiss actress to play Catherine de Medici. Morton has experience in the era, having played Mary Queen of Scots previously. The upcoming series is titled The Serpent Queen, which I initially assumed meant it was based on Jean Plaidy trilogy about Catherine. It’s instead based on Leonie Frieda’s 2004 biography of Catherine, Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France. Hopefully, with a biography as a basis, they’ll get some facts right about Catherine. Fingers crossed. Edited to Add: Based on the later castings, I’m going to go with a “No” in the historical accuracy. Oh well. I also…
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Get to know Catherine de Medici
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 de Medici Some books include Catherine in sketches of several royal women. Women of the Valois Court concentrates half of its contents on Catherine. A Girl’s Book of Famous Queens lumps Catherine in with several of her fellow queens. Noted court gossip, Brantome, lists her in his compilation of Illustrious Dames of the Court…
