Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power

4.5 | 115 ratings

Price: 22.57

Last update: 08-27-2024

About this item

Orphaned from infancy, Catherine de’ Medici endured a tumultuous childhood. Married to the French king, she was widowed by forty, only to become the power behind the French throne during a period of intense civil strife. In 1546, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Elisabeth de Valois, who would become Queen of Spain. Two years later, Catherine welcomed to her nursery the beguiling young Mary Queen of Scots, who would later become her daughter-in-law.

Together, Catherine, Elisabeth, and Mary lived through the sea changes that transformed sixteenth-century Europe, a time of expanding empires, religious discord, and populist revolt, as concepts of nationhood began to emerge and ideas of sovereignty inched closer to absolutism. They would learn that to rule as a queen was to wage a constant war against the deeply entrenched misogyny of their time.

Following the intertwined stories of the three women from girlhood through young adulthood, Leah Redmond Chang's Young Queens paints a picture of a world in which a woman could wield power at the highest level yet remain at the mercy of the state, her body serving as the currency of empire and dynasty, sacrificed to the will of husband, family, kingdom.

Paula Vestermark

A woman writes history.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2023

There is more detail in the three women’s physical and psychological responses to their life demands as royalty than is usually included. A woman’s touch as a historian shows up. Good history.

Cactus Wren

Royal history non-fiction that reads like a novel

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2023

As a former associate professor of French literature and culture, Chang knows her stuff, especially when it comes to European/British royalty in the 16th century. She is very adept at taking a plethora of information and using it to humanize her subjects. Her research, done in archives and rare book libraries, forms the foundation of a very readable biography of the three Young Queens. Catherine de’ Medici is the matriarch of this group (queen consort of France married to Henry II), mentoring both her biological daughter, Elisabeth de Valois (queen consort of Spain married to Phillip II), and Mary, Queen of Scots, her eventual daughter-in-law (queen consort of France married to King Francis II). Elizabeth I, Queen of England, plays a secondary role here to Catherine, Elisabeth and Mary. So much of what these women confronted in their personal and professional lives was fraught with peril generated by the constant religious warring factions of Catholics versus Protestants. Their first duty as queens, however, was to produce an heir to the throne, preferably male. Nevertheless, Catherine emerges as the “power behind the throne” for both her sons Francis II and Charles IX.

Beautifully and engagingly written and filled with insight

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2023

Truly a triumph and a tour de force. Exceptionally detailed but even more readable, Chang weaves together a fascinating and illuminating work that will stand the test of time. A must read.

Teresa Jacobson

A great book that can be enjoyed on any level.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2023

Young Queens is about history but reads so easily that you don't think of it as an academic book. It is very enjoyable.

BookishNYC

Fantastic Audiobook!

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024

Move over SIX - this could be the source material for Broadway’s next royal hit Young Queens!

Starring:
Catherine, Queen of France (née Caterina de’ Medici)
Mary, Queen of Scots (née Marie Stuart)
Isabel de Valois, Queen Consort of Spain (née Elisabeth of Valois)

Author Leah Redmond Chang’s third book, Young Queens, is ambitious and well-researched but above all else it’s engaging. Her books are “biography and literary non-fiction, with a focus on women’s history” as stated on her website.

Excellent audiobook narration by voice artist Olivia Dowd. She has a lovely, English accent that warmly delivers scholarly information clearly and confidently including the occasional French pronunciations. The nearly 18 hour audiobook moved along quickly, as the author’s passion for the subject matter is palpable within the narrator’s voice.

Redmond Chang renders this coterie of women vividly with a full register of emotions. A former tenured professor of French Literature and Culture as well as a literature scholar she expertly mines nearly five hundred year old archival material and brings forth literary gold that feels contemporary and urgent.

In pondering the emotional lives and gender expectations of these women alongside the realities of the 1500s the author gives us access to these distinct, female voices. The pawns of Popes, Kings and sometimes Queens, groomed to be noble girls, are revealed to be multi-dimensional women.

I particularly enjoyed the verbal descriptions of royal portraits commissioned from Catherine of her children by artist Francois Clouet. I was delighted to find visual examples of this artist’s works on the Royal Collection Trust’s website.

#netgalley ARC Audiobook

Amazon Customer

Not a boring read

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024

For history … it’s a page turner

Good Book

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2023

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang is a great nonfiction that weaves together the lives of three formidable and fascinating women.

This book takes three epic, fascinating, and intricate women and combines them appropriately to bring us the wonderful historical accounts of three queens: Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots. Each are unique in their own right, but similar nevertheless. All wielded power and position, yet had to navigate (some better than others), the obstacles, constraints, duties, and expectations (personally and professionally) that were thrown their way.

The author did an amazing job presenting each and also creating a context that helped bring them all together for the reader. The sixteenth century never looked so good.

4/5 stars

Kathryn H

Covered that I personally didn't know before

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2023

Leah Redmond Chang does a wonderful job showing us the interwoven lives of three young queens who held the highest position of power in their time, and yet, were still so constricted in how they could really wield that power, even though they weren't willing to go so gently. Told in snippets from all three ladies and moving forward in time, it really shows just how much they were involved in each others lives, especially since Catherine becomes queen of France first, giving birth to daughter Elisabeth who marries the King of Spain, and Mary then becomes Catherine's daughter-in-law by marrying Catherine's son. Fascinating and some material was presented and covered that I personally didn't know before.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Olivia Dowd and really appreciated her tone and pacing as she brought you deep into the history of these three key figures. Also well done!
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

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