Summary of Nancy Goldstone's The Rival Queens

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Marguerite de Valois was the youngest daughter of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici. She was born in 1553. She had a light heart, a quick intelligence, and a cheerful temperament. She was one of her father’s favorites.
#2 Catherine de’ Medici, the woman who would dominate the French government for more than a quarter century, began her residence in the kingdom as an insecure foreigner and social pariah. She was eleven years old when she was thrown back on her own resources and began to accumulate allies.
#3 Catherine’s marriage to Henri, second son of the overweening French king François I, was a significant achievement for a girl of her lineage. Her parents had only recently become wealthy and powerful, but they were still considered parvenus by most of the crowned heads of Europe.
#4 Catherine’s youth was tumultuous, but she turned out to be the less damaged partner in her marriage. She was the more nurturing child than her new young husband, Henri, who had been born at his father’s favorite hunting lodge at Amboise in France in 1519.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• Regalía
• Biography
• Royalty
• Autobiography
• Redevance

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 18 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9798822544710
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Nancy Goldstone's The Rival Queens
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Marguerite de Valois was the youngest daughter of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici. She was born in 1553. She had a light heart, a quick intelligence, and a cheerful temperament. She was one of her father’s favorites.

#2

Catherine de’ Medici, the woman who would dominate the French government for more than a quarter century, began her residence in the kingdom as an insecure foreigner and social pariah. She was eleven years old when she was thrown back on her own resources and began to accumulate allies.

#3

Catherine’s marriage to Henri, second son of the overweening French king François I, was a significant achievement for a girl of her lineage. Her parents had only recently become wealthy and powerful, but they were still considered parvenus by most of the crowned heads of Europe.

#4

Catherine’s youth was tumultuous, but she turned out to be the less damaged partner in her marriage. She was the more nurturing child than her new young husband, Henri, who had been born at his father’s favorite hunting lodge at Amboise in France in 1519.

#5

The marriage between Catherine and François was not a happy one. Catherine was conditioned from birth to expect threats to her security, and she quickly realized that her position was precarious. She could be returned to Italy, where she would be disgraced, or she could be forced to live off the grudging hospitality of distant relatives.

#6

Catherine’s position at the French court was similar to the one the Florentine nuns had occupied. She was a devotee of Machiavelli, but she didn’t read him closely. She took instruction in the stratagems of power from her oversized father-in-law, François I.

#7

The death of the dauphin’s older brother, the king’s brother, in 1536, made Catherine the queen of France. She was promoted to this position, however, with a mixed blessing. The Italian who had brought the dauphin the fateful cup of water was arrested and executed, and suspicion fell on Catherine.

#8

After the dauphin’s death, Catherine was elevated to the position of queen of France, and she was unable to conceive. She tried everything to get pregnant, but nothing worked. The court began to believe that her husband had become involved in an ardent love affair with a woman named Diane de Poitiers.

#9

Catherine was Henri’s wife, but he spent most of his time with his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Catherine had to pretend to like Diane, and she eventually became her adviser.

#10

After the death of her main lover, art connoisseur and virile Renaissance gladiator François I, Catherine de’ Medici became queen of France. She lost her position of prominence when her husband made it clear that he preferred his mistress to his wife.

#11

The king showered his consort, Diane, with gifts and government positions, while he completely ignored his wife, Catherine. The children they had together were raised by Diane.

#12

The queen of France’s absence from her children’s lives was often interpreted as a sign of her neglect or indifference. But this did Catherine a disservice. She was not completely snubbed, as there were those among her French acquaintances who sympathized with her position.

#13

Catherine’s support network was no match for Diane’s political machine. The Guises, one of the most powerful families in France, were among her biggest supporters. They were arrogant and made no secret of their condescension towards the queen.

#14

After Henri’s death, Catherine made it clear that the courtesan Diane was not allowed in the room where the king was lying sick. Within a year, Catherine had legally appropriated the beautiful palace of Chenonceaux, forcing Diane to accept the inferior chateau at Chaumont in its place.

#15

The death of Henri II left the kingdom in chaos. The obvious solution was to appoint a regent to govern the country until Francis, the king’s 15-year-old son, became proficient enough to rule on his own. But this could not be done legally because Francis had already been declared of age.

#16

The Guise brothers acted swiftly because they had to. They had usurped power, and they knew it. They had the support of the Catholic Church, and they used it to push their agenda. They were usurpers, and they knew it.

#17

The French king, Francis II, was extremely unpopular. He had reduced wages and incomes during a period of challenging economic conditions, and this had made people grumpy. The cardinal was the most detested man in the kingdom.

#18

The Huguenot faction, led by the duke of Guise, attempted to take over the court by assassinating the king and his brothers. They were unsuccessful, and the entire court was witness to the execution of fifty-two men who were identified as the principal seditionists.

#19

Catherine, being a moderate, thought that the Huguenots were just looking for a way to get power. She began to lean toward the Protestants, and even suggested that a general council be formed to reconcile the Catholic and Protestant doctrines.

#20

Catherine had always been a passive figure at court, and it was taken for granted that she would remain so. She was extremely successful in winning over the Guises, at least in theory, to the idea of calling a national council to address the religious conflict.

#21

The queen mother had been busy overcoming objections to a general council, and the cardinal of Lorraine and his brother the duke of Guise had been busy furthering their own agenda. They had uncovered evidence linking the prince of Condé and Antoine de Bourbon to a new Huguenot plan for civil disobedience, and they could now be charged with treason.

#22

The Guises sprung their trap at the assembly at Fontainebleau, where they accused the king’s two key advisors of being conspirators in a new revolt planned for Lyon. The duke of Guise demanded that the king arrest the two brothers.

#23

The arrest of the prince of Condé was a triumph for the Guises. They were at their peak of power. Catherine had been present when the prince was arrested, but she showed little sympathy for the prisoner.

#24

Catherine de’ Medici was not affected by the death of her son, Francis II, king of France, because she had no guiding of him. She had spent months investigating and prodding for a peaceful settlement to the religious issue, and she had come close with the assembly at Fontainebleau.

#25

Following the coup d’état blueprint provided by the Guises at the time of her husband’s death, 41-year-old Catherine began plotting to take over the government as soon as Francis fell ill. She could outmaneuver the Guises and beat them at their own game.

#26

On December 2, 1560, while his eldest son was suffering the agonizing effects of his ear infection, Antoine was called into a meeting with the queen mother in her chamber. She demanded that he surrender his legal claim to the regency and step aside in her favor. He agreed almost immediately.

#27

Catherine de Medici, who had been the wife of the late king of France, Charles IX, was now the ruler of France. She had engineered a brilliant coup, which transformed her from a petty bourgeois woman into one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe.

#28

After the death of her father, Henri II, in 1559, and her eldest brother, Francis, in 1560, Margot was left with the loss of her sisters. The queen mother, Catherine de’ Medici, had disposed of each of them in the same unyielding step-by-step pattern she had used against Diane de Poitiers.

#29

The competition between Charles and his brother Henri, who was only a year younger, was a source of stress for the young king. Catherine, who was drawn to Henri, made no secret of her pride and affection for him.

#30

Margot was the only daughter of Catherine and François to show a passion for reading. She was also the only one who developed a deep, genuine spirituality.

#31

Catherine was unable to hold on to the regency, as she soon found out how difficult it was going to be to hold on to it. The country was completely bankrupt, and the Estates General, the kingdom’s representative assembly, refused to provide the money necessary to resolve the financial crisis.

#32

The Huguenot leadership was able to gain a lot of influence over the royal family, thanks in large part to the queen mother’s flirtation with Protestantism.

#33

The colloquy of Poissy began with a private meeting in Catherine’s chambers to which the chief spokesmen for each side were summoned. The Huguenot speaker, Theodore Beza, delivered the keynote address outlining the Huguenot agenda, which included the observance of Mass.

#34

The modern concept of tolerance did not exist in the sixteenth century. It was assumed by all that one religion would eventually dominate and the followers of the losing sect would be forced to hide their beliefs.

#35