Biography: Second only to her fellow countrywoman, Lucrezia Borgia, in the annals of execrated females, Catherine de Medici has been forever reviled for the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) in 1572, writes Ethna Viney.
Leonie Frieda sets out the steps that led to that horrific slaughter, on the principle that hindsight is all very well, but history should be written as it was lived. She concludes, as others have before her, that one botched assassination (an accepted political expedient in the 16th century) planned by Catherine and one of her sons got out of hand, with appalling results.
Catherine de Medici, of Florence, was married at the age of 14 to Henry, Duke of Orleans, the second son of the King of France, in an arrangement contrived by her uncle, the Pope. Unhappily, Catherine found, like Princess Diana, that there was a third person in her marriage, her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She had difficulty conceiving and 10 years passed before she produced her first child. However, she went on to give birth to 10 children, six of them boys, ensuring succession for the dynasty.
Henry succeeded to the throne of France when Catherine was 28, and her position in the court improved. The king respected her abilities and made her regent on three occasions while he was absent on military excursions. When Henry was accidentally killed, her 15-year-old eldest son became Francis II, King of France.
Catherine may have been eventually prolific, and of robust constitution, but her sons were delicate and sickly. Three of them succeeded to the throne and died heir-less and young. They were a useless lot, yet for 30 years until her death she protected them fanatically and directed the affairs of state either as regent or in the privy council.
It was not an easy task - nepotism, intrigue and betrayal marked the ebb and flow of politics in much of Europe. The children of royal and aristocratic families were traded in marriage to create or seal alliances, and Catherine, to the point of farce, indulged in this political match-making to shore up the dynasty's hold on the throne. Italy was a network of statelets coveted by the larger states, and the papacy was as corrupt as any of the royal courts. Reaction came from Calvinism, and the new religion, creating more unrest, spread throughout the continent.
At home, surrounded by powerful and ambitious princes and dukes, Catherine ducked and dived between them, bribed them with office, seduced them with lavish court entertainments, and strove to limit the military adventures of her sons. Some nobles converted to Protestantism, either from conviction or expediency, and launched France into a series of religious wars throughout the 16th century in which dreadful atrocities were carried out by both sides.
Contrary to the impression left by the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the author insists, Catherine made "enlightened and often frequent attempts at conciliation between Protestants and Catholics". Above all, she wanted to keep France from a war with Spain, urged on the king by Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Huguenots, that would "leave the monarchy at the mercy of the Protestants".
With Paris full of Huguenots and Catholics for the wedding of her daughter, Margot, to the Huguenot Henri of Navarre, a plot was hatched, to which Catherine was a party, to assassinate Coligny. It was a botched job and lit the tinder that became the massacre.
Leonie Frieda has written a biography of scrupulous detail, with pages of family trees without which it would be impossible to keep track of the bewildering number of characters.
Ethna Viney is a writer and critic
Catherine de Medici: A Biography. By Leonie Frieda, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 440pp. £20