Bøger af Leonie Frieda

Francis I was inconstant, amorous, hotheaded, and flawed. Yet he was also arguably the most significant king ever to rule France. This is his story.Leonie Frieda, the author of the bestselling Catherine de Medici, tells the extraordinary tale of King Francis of France, Catherine's father-in-law and the man who turned France into a great nation. Francis saw himself as the first Renaissance king. A man who was the exemplar of courtly and civilized behavior throughout France and Europe, he was also a courageous and heroic warrior, a keen aesthete, an accomplished diplomat, and an energetic ruler who transformed his country to be a force to be reckoned with.But he was also capricious, vain, and arrogant, taking hugely unnecessary risks, at least one of which nearly resulted in the end of his kingdom. His great feud with his nemesis Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, defined European diplomacy and sovereignty, but his notorious alliance with the great Ottoman ruler Suleiman threatened to destroy everything. With access to never-before-seen private archives, Leonie Frieda delivers a comprehensive and sympathetic account that explores the life of the man who was the most human of all the Renaissance monarchs?and the most enigmatic.

In this epic drama of love, death, and betrayal, Leonie Frieda charts the rise and fall of the Italian Renaissance through the lives of the princesses who helped shape it.

The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen, streaming now!?A beautifully written portrait of a ruthless, subtle and fearless woman fighting for survival and power in a world of gangsterish brutality, routine assassination and religious mania. . . . Frieda has brought a largely forgotten heroine-villainess and a whole sumptuously vicious era back to life. . . . This is The Godfather meets Elizabeth.? ?Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red TsarPoisoner, besotted mother, despot, necromancer, engineer of a massacre: the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen of France to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds.Based on comprehensive research including thousands of Catherine's own letters, Frieda unfurls Catherine's story from her troubled childhood in Florence to her tumultuous marriage to Henry II of France; her transformation of French culture to her reign as a queen who would use brutality to ensure her children's royal birthright. Brilliantly executed, this enthralling biography goes beyond myth to paint a very human portrait of this remarkable figure.

The bestselling author of Catherine de Medici turns to Francis I, the king who transformed France into a great nation.

The women who wielded the real power behind the throne in Renaissance Italy, from a bestselling historian.