A controversial figure

Catherine de Medici is one of the most controversial figures of the early modern period. Her name has come to symbolize her age and both have long retained an exceptionally powerful emotive force. Consequently they have attracted many writers primarily seeking to apportion blame for the sombre events of the sixteenth century. This has resulted in a bewildering multiplicity of judgements upon Catherine, ranging from the scurrilous to the fulsome. Much of what has been written about her appeared, in any case, before the publication in nine volumes between 1880 and 1905 of her vast correspondence, which has still been very little used.

A formidable amount of research remains to be done before any study of Catherine can even approach the definitive.

The central events of the history of France in the second half of the sixteenth century have yet to be clearly established and we are largely ignorant of many factors with a bearing upon Catherine's life and work.

The purpose of this essay is necessarily limited. Apart from making certain factual material readily available, I gave tried to escape from the old clichés - often deriving from the polemics of the pamphleteers - from which this period has suffered, and to stimulate some fresh lines of thought and inquiry into the nature of Catherine's problems by seeking to place her career and policy in a wider historical perspective.