Leonie Frieda and Paul Strathern

Strathern's The Medici: Godfathers of The Renaissance charts the rise and fall of the family who ran Florence, The Vatican and the throne of France. Frieda's biography of Catherine de Medici, widow of Henri II of France, seeks to rehabilitate the woman who served 30 years as regent to her three sons and instigated the St.Bartholomew's Day Massacre.