The life and times of Catherine de' Medici, by renowned scholar of the Italian Renaissance Mary Hollingsworth. Catherine de' Medici lived her life at the storm centre of European and French politics in an age of religious conflict. Born to Lorenzo II, the Medici ruler of Florence, and married to a French prince by papal connivance at the age of fourteen, Catherine was successively queen consort of France and mother to three French kings (Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III) who reigned in an era of almost continuous civil and religious strife. A spendthrift promoter of the arts, Catherine patronised poets, painters and sculptors, lavished ruinous sums on the building and embellishment of monuments and palaces, and masterminded spectacular entertainments and tournaments that prefigure the splendour and ritual of the court of Versailles. Posterity has anathematised her as the epitome of the scheming royal matriarch, her reputation tainted forever by her role in instigating the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Protestants. Legend has it that Catherine maintained eighty ladies-in-waiting at court, whom she used as bait to seduce courtiers for political ends; while her admiration for the reputed seer Nostradamus fuelled claims of an interest in the occult and the dark arts. The Medici Queen is Mary Hollingsworth's well-balanced account of the life of Catherine de' Medici – perhaps the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, and certainly the most extraordinary and influential.

A beautifully illustrated history of the Renaissance told through the lives of its most important and influential patrons. 'Exceptionally sumptuous... This vivid history brings to life the vices and virtues of the feuding ruling families of Italy.' Michael Prodger, The Times 'Full of treasures to be uncovered... A chance to visit a glittering, at times rather gory, world that is different and yet dreamily familiar to our own.' BBC History Revealed From the late Middle Ages, the independent Italian city-states were taken over by powerful families who installed themselves as dynastic rulers. Inspired by the humanists, the princes of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy immersed themselves in the culture of antiquity, commissioning palaces, villas and churches inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome, and offering patronage to artists and writers. Many of these princes were related by blood or marriage, creating a web of alliances that held society together but whose tensions sometimes threatened to tear it apart; thus were their lives dominated as much by the waging of war as the nurture of artistic talent. In a narrative that is as rigorous and closely researched as it is accessible and informative, Mary Hollingsworth sets the princes' aesthetic achievements in the context of the volatile, ever-shifting politics of a tumultuous period of history.

Fireside Stories contains real life accounts of faith, hope and love. Let these entertaining stories challenge and inspire you.

Real-life stories often inspire those who listen; serving as timeless models of truth. With "Fireside Stories," author Mary Hollingsworth has compiled such anecdotes-heartwarming stories that share the personal experiences of both classic and contemporary Christian authors, as well as those of everyday people. Humorous and challenging, these stories will instruct and encourage readers for years to come.

'This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy - and brutality' Telegraph 'Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence' TLS 'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history' The Times Wealthy bankers, wise politicians, patrons of the arts, glittering dukes... so runs the traditional telling of the story of the Medici, the family that ruled Florence for two hundred years and inspired the birth of the Italian Renaissance. In this definitive account of their rise and fall, Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were wise rulers and enlightened fathers of the Renaissance is a fiction. In truth, she says, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias - tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own and which they beggared in their lust for power.

Intrigue, double-dealing and conspiracy in the Eternal City. 'A fascinating narrative of the intermingling of secular and religious power' New Statesman 'A highly enjoyable and thrilling read... Hollingsworth has peeled back the veil of secrecy surrounding papal conclaves' History Today 'Full of lively detail and colour' Literary Review August 1559. As the long hot Italian summer draws to its close, so does the life of a rigidly orthodox and profoundly unpopular pope. The papacy of Paul IV has seen the establishing of the Roman Inquisition and the Index of Prohibited Books, an unbending refusal to open dialogue with Protestants, and the ghettoization of Rome's Jews. On 5 September 1559, as the great doors of the Vatican's Sala Regia are ceremonially locked, the future of the Catholic Church hangs in the balance. Mary Hollingsworth offers a compelling and sedulously crafted reconstruction of the longest and most taxing of sixteenth-century papal elections. Its crisscrossing fault lines divided not only moderates from conservatives, but also the adherents of three national 'factions' with mutually incompatible interests. France and Spain were both looking to extend their power in Italy and beyond and had very different ideas of who the new pope should be - as did the Italian cardinals. Drawing on the detailed account books left by Ippolito d'Este, one of the participating cardinals, Conclave 1559 provides remarkable insights into the daily lives and concerns of the forty-seven men locked up for some four months in the Vatican.

Conspiracy, intrigue and faction fighting as the future of Europe hangs in the balance: Mary Hollingsworth tells the extraordinary story of the papal conclave in 1559 - the longest and bitterest of the sixteenth century. Tasked with choosing a pontiff to replace a previous incumbent (Paul IV) whose reign was marked by repression and brutality, and faced with the growing challenge of the Protestant Reformation, the conclave faced a critically important decision for the future of the Roman Catholic Church, and was faction-ridden even by the standards of such polarised gatherings. France and Spain, both looking to extend their power in Italy and beyond, had very different ideas of who the new pope should be, as did the Italian cardinals. Making meticulous use of the detailed accounts left by Ippolito d'Este, one of the participating cardinals (and the son of Lucrezia Borgia), Mary Hollingsworth relates the intrigue and double-dealing of the different parties trying to secure the required number of votes over the four months of this lengthiest of sixteenth-century papal elections. Praise for The Medici: 'An excellent study of the Medici ... A careful, understated book ... It is never short on drama' Helen Castor, Telegraph Book of the Year 'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history. In Hollingsworth's surefooted telling, this ruthless but enlightened family were at their best when they were true to the Florentine motto of 'profit and honour'' Times book of the week 'A beautifully illustrated and scholarly survey of five centuries of the Medici family' Literary Review on The Medici

The Borgias have become a byword for pride, lust, cruelty, avarice, splendour, and venomous intrigue. An inspiration for many works of fiction, most famously Mario Puzo's 'The Godfather', they have aroused abomination and fascination in almost equal measure, while their patronage of the arts created some of the great masterpieces of the Renaissance. From the powerful, merciless Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Pope Alexander VI, to the beautiful Lucrezia and the debauched and murderous Cesare, Mary Hollingsworth's account of the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to the heights of Renaissance society forms a compelling tale of brutality, incest, unparalleled corruption and extortionate greed.