A Financial Times Book of the Year‘Thoroughly researched.’ Sunday Times‘To be devoured.’ Philip Mansel'This book is a treat for fans of well-told history.' Washington PostHistory is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici. In this new biography of the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, Mary Hollingsworth uses neglected primary sources to recreate the life and times of a remarkable – and remarkably traduced – woman. Mary Hollingsworth delves into the archives to discover deeper truths behind the persistent myths of sectarian cruelty and ruinous extravagance, and to reveal a cultured and politically astute woman who worked tirelessly to find a way for Catholics and Protestants to coexist peacefully.