The Confessions Of Catherine De Medici, BY C.W. GORTNER, HODDER & STOUGHTON, $32.99.
A riveting first person account of the extraordinary life of Florentine-born Caterina (Catherine) de Medici, 14-year-old bride of the 14-year-old Duke of Orleans, later crowned King Henry II of France, to whom she bore three kings among her seven children.
In spite of Henry’s long affair with “older woman” Diane de Poitiers, proud Catherine is undeterred by her sacrificial marital fate and, when Henry dies after a jousting accident, she plays powerful roles as adviser to her son-kings, including as regent until her third son, 10-year-old King Charles IX, is old enough to govern. Set against a backdrop of raging sectarian war between Catholics and Protestants (known as Huguenots in France), Gortner weaves a little of his own fictional storytelling into a true historical tale, which includes “characters” such as Henry Tudor, Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I of England.
Catherine’s own belief in the power of portents (she was pivotal in seer Nostradamus’ 16th century celebrity) casts aspersions over this ruthless and ambitious monarch. Rich in colour – the stench of the battlefield, the pomp and ceremony of royal weddings and teenage royal deflowering – this book romps through a complex and mysterious Renaissance royal period.
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