Blood, Fire and Gold: The story of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici

Product Information

At its heart are the fascinating figures of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, whose tense and fascinating relationship is expertly told. I found the author's writing style to be easy to get into, although me being interested in this dynamic also very much helps in plowing through. 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. But politics, religion and a bitter personal rivalry set them on a collision course that would dominate Anglo-French relations for three decades. Using many different sources, Estelle has brought Queens Elizabeth I of England and Catherine de Medici of France to life and done them more than justice.

More importantly, readers will leave with a sense that they know and understand the person behind the power. I cannot stress how much I loved this book and how Paranque was able to weave the stories of the two most powerful women in 16th-century Europe.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.

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. Paranque seems to find a calmer flow/style and leans more toward a scholarly style (although this doesn’t mean a complete absence of the previous complaints – just slightly less in number). 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. Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures, and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. She deals with wars, on global and personal scales, as well as how families (or would-be families) interact when they operate on an international stage.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. Although it is understandable that Paranque desired to weave an illustrative tapestry and make the history come alive; this literary device discredits the text for staunch history lovers and confuses novice readers to assume these are factual.

She then peppers the pages with dialogue narratives a la historical fiction (this point will be addressed again later in this review).

For example, I didn’t realize Marie didn’t care all that much for Mary, Queen of Scots, her daughter-in-law for a short time. Overall though, extremely informative and it’s hard to find good history book authors that actually know how to tell a story. I was excited to win a copy of this on the author's Instagram page as it had been on my wishlist for ages. I'm not usually a non-fiction reader, but I do have an interest in royal history and I found this to be fascinating indeed!