Catherine De Medici

Who was Catherine de Medici? The answer to this question depends largely on one's religion and politics. Catherine de Medici: Five Portraits examines historically this great queen from the standpoint of her contemporaries and later writers. The primary focus is Catherine as seen in five works of French literature: Madame de La Fayette's La Princesse de Clèves , Honoré de Balzac's Sur Catherine de Médicis , Alexandre Dumas père's La Reine Margot, Henri III et sa cour , and Prosper Mérimée's Chronique du règne de Charles IX . The famous queen and queen-mother are viewed from a multiplicity of perspectives, including that of victim and victimizer.