HUGUENOTS-WALLOONS-EUROPE-L Archives

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Subject: Huguenot history - book recommendation
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:30:36 EST

For a quality account of French and related international history at one of
the key periods for Huguenots/Protestants/Reformers in France , there is a new
biography of Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda which is an absolute "must
buy" ( and Christmas is coming folks <grin>). The book seems to be very well
researched , uses masses of recent professional academic historical studies
but is an incredibly lucid presentation which can take a novice in the subject
to a level of insight which is seldom achieved in a biography , but is in
this one . It's also compulsively readable - you want to know what happened next.

Catherine de Medici's role in Huguenot history was a pivotal one and
Frieda's account of the pressures , plots , counterplots , jealousies ,
misunderstandings , vendettas , diplomacy and international meddling will make one
realise that in these Catholic/Huguenot events both sides acted terribly ,
stupidly , deserved what they got , got what they didn't deserve and mostly
completely failed to act as followers of Jesus Christ . It's also , with hindsight ,
easy to make out an inevitability to the whole process , although the
individual events , including the St . Bartholomew's Day Massacre , could easily have
turned out very differently . ( And the St . Bartholomew's Day Massacre seems
yet another example of history as a series of "cockups" rather than finely
honed conspiracies . Catherine seems to have intended a much smaller , homelier
massacre instead . ) Frieda does not portray Catherine , or anyone else , as
hero or villain - everyone seems to get the analysis they deserve . It's hard
to find many decent human beings in this story - it's also hard to find anyone
wholly wicked either , but Frieda pulls no punches in opening up motives and
grimy personalities , as well as probing the forces which pushed them along .

The book is " Catherine de Medici " by Leonie Frieda , published in Great
Britain by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 2003 , ISBN 1 84212 725 X . It's 440 pages
including a good index , list of main characters , maps , illustrations ,
sources and bibliography .

Usual disclaimer ......

Enjoy.
Robert Hillier,
Poole,
Dorset,
England

PS There's yet another origin given for the designation Huguenot <grin>

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