Anyone know of a translated book about Catherine de Medici?

Question

I need a book that contains original documents: letters, diary, memoires written BY Catherine de Medici? I've searched all over Amazon and can't seem to find one!

There have been many of these books published, however, all of the ones that I can find are in French. Unfortunately I don't speak french. I do have the book of memoires of Margaret De Valois, which are helpful, but I do know that Catherine wrote huge amounts of letters. There has to be an english translation somewhere, I just can't locate. I already have all the secondary sources, including Frida's book. I am anxious to discover these letters!

Answer 1

I can't help you with a book of primary sources for Catherine de Medici but I can tell you that there is some of her private corresponsence a the Bibliotheque National, France. There are many secondary sources which site original documents that you can trace also. Just pick up a good academic article and you'll be directed to the sources you need.

Answer 2

I wouldn't give up yet but I think why you can't find a book written by her or a diary or something is because they wouldn't be for sale. They'd probably be on display at a museum. What I suggest for you to do is search for history books or biographies describing her life. They usually have quotes or portraits or photos of personal items that she would have used. She was all about ballet so search for a book or video on Ballet Comique de la Reine (The Queen's Ballet Comedy). This was the elaborate ballet that she brought to Paris, France from Italy in 1581. It's considered to be the first ballet and was performed for her court. I'm sure that you could find some sort of information on her and maybe some Renaissance facts that would help you understand her better. Hope that helped.

Answer 3

I've been looking, and the nearest I can find is memoirs of Marguerite de Valois. However, I did come across this:

Memoirs and Historical Chronices of the Courts of Europe: MEMOIRS OF MARGUERITE DE VALOIS Queen of France, Wife of Henri IV, OF MADAME DE POMPADOUR Of the Court of Louis XV, and OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI Queen of France, Wife of Henri II

It's from the following site, which might be of use to you:
http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/french.html

Correspondence of Catherine de' Medici and of Henry IV. (in the Collection de documents inedits), and of the Venetian ambassadors, &c.; P. Matthieu, Histoire de France, vol. i.
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Henry_III_Of_France

There is one autograph letter by her here (picture of it):
http://www.americagallery.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?searchstring=World%20History&searchtype=exact

Apart from this, all that comes up (as well as the older books) is the book by Leonie Frieda, who has read a vast amount of the correspondence. Perhaps there are sources in there.

Considering that she left thousands of letters (preserved), and is credited with popularising a range of things like high heels and sorbet, I'm surprised at least some of these letters haven't been published, at least in a collection.

Answer 4

As a historian of the time period, it is extremely difficult to find and get access to primary source documents. Your best bet is to look for secondary source books on the subject. Then look at the bibliography in the back of the book. If it is a scholarly work, the author should have a place for primary source works or they have all the books they used thrown in together. Sift through this bibliography and you should come up with some sort of idea on where to look. Good luck and if you need any more help on this, please feel free to email me.