Waterstones Blood, Fire and Gold
89 ratings
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Price: £20.00
Brand: Waterstones
Description: A story told with verve and passion' The Times, Book of the Week' An alternative and engaging biography.accessible and unpretentious' The Telegraph'A stunning portrayal of two of the most powerful women in European history' Tracy Borman' Exciting and compelling, packed full of tantalising details of diplomacy and court life, Paranque succeeds both in bringing history to life, but also in putting flesh on the bones of these two extraordinary women and rival queens' Kate Mosse'A smart and stylish portrait of two of Europe's most remarkable rulers, a compelling profile of female power and - that rarest of things - a truly original book about the Tudor period' Jessie Childs In sixteenth-century Europe, two women came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. One a Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these iconic women. But nothing has been said of their complicated relationship: thirty years of friendship, competition and conflict that changed the face of Europe. This is a story of two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom - and of female power in a male world. Shining new light on their legendary kingdoms Blood, Fire and Gold provides a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women, and how they shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history. Drawing on their letters and brand new research, Estelle Paranque writes an entirely new chapter in the well-worn story of the sixteenth century.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9781529109221
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9781529109221
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Author: zippy
Rating: 5
Review: I'm not someone whose drawn to the Tudors or Elizabeth I as this period often feels repetitive in UK historical discourse. However, Blood Fire and Gold piqued my interest as the French angle and the comparison with Catherine de Medici felt new and exciting. The book is really well written. It's easy to read but also dense enough with facts, analysis and opinion that you come away feeling informed as well as entertained. The fact that Estelle Paranque is a native French speaker means that she seems to have analysed a lot of letters from the French side that have perhaps been over-looked by other, more British focussed, historians and means this work is full of insight rather than just a rehashing of the two women's lives. Definitely a history book that I'd recommend to non-historian friends, it's certainly not overloaded with academia, but also one that isn't too lightweight and strays into historical fiction. Paranque threads the needle perfectly and I'm certainly going to pick up whatever she writes next. Thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in the period, and even those, like me, who thought they were bored for Elizabethan England. I mean, if the writer can get a Scot interested in an English monarch, they've certainly done a good job!
Author: Ralph Blumenau
Rating: 4
Review: This book, about the complex up-and-down relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Catherine de Medici, is very detailed; but in places we quite lose sight of that relationship. Paranque describes at length the lives of the two women before they interacted; and, even after that time; she will describe in great detail events such as, for example, the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. The sources of some of the speeches and letters are footnoted, but most are not, and in those cases it seems to me that the author has invented dialogue, pauses, and facial gestures like smiles; and then the book reads like a novel. Elizabeth and Catherine began to interact when Elizabeth became Queen in 1559. Her predecessor and half-sister, Mary Tudor, had been at war with France and had lost Calais. On her accession, Elizabeth wanted Calais to be returned to England. A compromise was reached: by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, the French were to keep the town for eight years, after which they would either return it or pay England 500,000 crowns. During the tournament to celebrate this treaty, Catherine’s husband, Henri II, was killed; and Catherine was now the mother of four young brothers, one of whom, Francis II, now became king; two of his brothers, Charles IX and Henri III would succeed him. The youngest brother was Francis, Duke of Alençon. Francis II was married to Mary, Queen of Scots, who had a claim on the English throne, and the young couple sported the arms of England. Mary’s mother, Marie de Guise, was her regent in Scotland, and was much hated by the protestant lords there whom Elizabeth supported and with whom she signed the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560 which Mary Stuart refused to ratify. Francis II died of an ear infection at the end of that year, and Mary left France for Scotland in 1561. The new king, Charles IX, was just nine years old, and Catherine formally became Regent. She was determined to be on good terms with Elizabeth, and wanted to cement their relationship by proposing, in turn, Charles, Henry and Francis as husbands for her. Elizabeth, determined not to marry, would turn them all down, all the while protesting her friendship with Catherine. But she supported the Huguenots in the eight religious civil wars in France between 1562 and 1593, which of course put a strain on the relationship between the two women. So did Catherine’s protests to Elizabeth about the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots when she fled to England from an uprising of her Scottish subjects. The eventual execution of Mary, Catherine’s former daughter-in-law, in 1587, was another low point. However, it was in both their interests to oppose the ambitions of Spain, and they had made the Treaty of Blois in 1572, agreeing to send help to the Netherlands in their revolt against Spain which began that year. Elizabeth was horrified by the St Bartholomew massacre of the Huguenots which took place later that year during the celebrations of the wedding Catherine had arranged between her daughter Margaret and the Huguenot Henry of Navarre; but the French ambassador assured her that Catherine and Charles IX had had nothing to do with the massacre, and she maintained the alliance she had just made with France. (Most historians have said that Catherine had ordered the massacre; but Paranque argues that she would not possibly have done this, given that she had herself arranged the wedding. Paranque blames blames the fanatically Catholic Guise family.) In 1585 relations between Elizabeth and Catherine and King Henry III took a sharp dip: an English Catholic plotter against Elizabeth’s life had escaped to France, and Elizabeth demanded he be returned to England. Henry III could not afford to do that: the eighth and longest and bloodiest of the civil wars was raging, and the Guise family was lording it over the King. Henry III was trying to debar the Protestant Henry of Navarre, the next heir to the throne, from the succession. Elizabeth supported Henry of Navarre. She did not stop Drake and his privateers from attacking and plundering, not only Spanish, but also French’s ships. Catherine now saw Elizabeth as her enemy; but Henry III, irked by the power of the Guises, tried to mend fences: they were after all both threatened by Spain. Catherine could do nothing about this: she was severely ill and died in 1589.
