This week I am featuring two articles about powerful Renaissance women, focusing on Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France.
This week’s articles (yes, two of them!) focus on women who ruled during the Renaissance. Since Elizabeth I doesn’t fall into my Western European category (oh, how I curse geography sometimes!) I will have to settle for writing about Catherine de Medici for my first article.
Catherine de Medici, in my humble opinion, was the most powerful woman in Europe, next to Glorianna herself (Queen Elizabeth I of England). The niece of a pope, the wife a king, mother to three kings, Catherine played an intricate part in French politics for over thirty years. Because of her numerous accomplishments, both good and bad, Catherine gets her own article. Besides, if I didn’t glorify her on her own page, she might try to poison the other notable Renaissance women.
The first subject I wrote about here at Suite101 was Marie de Guise, mom to Mary Queen of Scots. Therefore, I am including her in the who’s who of Renaissance women. However, not because she was terrible influential during the Renaissance- outside of Scotland she is barely a scratch in the history books. No, Marie de Guise (pronounced geeze, by the way) gets her own page because I have a keen interest (okay, obsession) with all things related to the wonderfully tragic, Mary, Queen of Scots.
I must also mention the inspiration for these articles, as well as a huge amount of resources comes from the wonderfully informative book Women Who Ruled by Guida M. Jackson. I picked up this little gem of a book for a mere five dollars at Barnes & Noble (don’t you just love their bargain section?) and it has provided me with endless hours of fascinating historical facts, many of which are often left out of more popular history books.
Jackson lists every woman who ever ruled, in alphabetical order. She leaves no one out, listing everyone from Eleanor of Aquitaine, to Gold Mier, to the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg. Women Who Ruled is a great reference for anyone with an interest in history and/or women’s studies.
Other Books I recommend:
Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman
Sex With The Queen by Eleanor Herman
