
Francis I
The Maker of Modern France
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Narrated by:
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Carole Boyd
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By:
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Leonie Frieda
About this listen
The best-selling author of Catherine de Medici returns to 16th-century Europe in this evocative and entertaining biography that re-creates a remarkable era of French history and brings to life a great monarch - Francis I - who turned France into a great nation.
Catherine de Medici's father-in-law, King Francis of France, was the perfect Renaissance knight, the movement's exemplar and its Gallic interpreter. An aesthete, diplomat par excellence, and contemporary of Machiavelli, Francis was the founder of modern France, whose sheer force of will and personality molded his kingdom into the first European superpower. Arguably the man who introduced the Renaissance to France, Francis was also the prototype Frenchman - a national identity was modeled on his character. So great was his stamp that few countries even now are quite so robustly patriotic as is France. Yet as Leonie Frieda reveals, Francis did not always live up to his ideal; a man of grand passions and vision, he was also a flawed husband, father, lover, and king.
With access to private archives that have never been used in a study of Francis I, Frieda explores the life of a man who was the most human of the monarchs of the period - and yet remains the most elusive.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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The Dark Queens
- The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World
- By: Shelley Puhak
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Brunhild was a foreign princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe.
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Fascinating & Long Overdue
- By Mary E Birdsong on 10-22-22
By: Shelley Puhak
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The Borgias
- The Hidden History
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The Tudors and A World Undone. Sweeping aside the gossip, slander, and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu.
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Marvelous !
- By Cinders on 08-02-13
By: G. J. Meyer
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
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Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer
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The Rival Queens
- Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom
- By: Nancy Goldstone
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.
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Definitely not a dull bio!
- By Nella on 07-04-15
By: Nancy Goldstone
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The Hundred Years War
- The English in France 1337-1453
- By: Desmond Seward
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From 1337 to 1453 England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Though it was a small, poor country, England for most of those "100 years" won the battles, sacked the towns and castles, and dominated the war. Desmond Seward's critically acclaimed account of the Hundred Years War brings to life all of the intrigue, beauty, and royal to-the-death-fighting of that legendary century-long conflict.
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Superb narrator and fascintating history
- By Julie Seavello on 05-30-21
By: Desmond Seward
Entertaining
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This is really an extremely interesting period in European History, frightening as it devolves into colonial theft and chattel slavery but interesting none the less.
So many colorful characters: Charles V of Spain & Hapsurg Austria/Netherlands+, Suleman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, Henry VIII of England and of course the multiple Popes during this time period.
fascinating and fast paced
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Questionably researched
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More than anybody needs to know
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I been reading books on the English and French history and this book had all neatly tied together.
A must read for all history aficionados.
4 years of history this book offers
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Frieda's research and erudition are impressive, but her writing is always lively and intriguing, never dull. There is so little available in English about the Valois monarchs, apart from the dreck that passes for historical fiction and is propogated through the preposterous miniseries adapted therefrom! If you're really interested in the times of the Valois, read both of Frieda's excellent books instead.
Frieda makes the time period come to life, as she did with Catherine, and illustrates just how complicated, contradictory, and sometimes exasperating, François was. Many of his decisions are no less than baffling, while others are brilliant. Coddled by his mother, Louise of Savoy, he would also be led by other women in his life, sometimes disastrously so. Both a biography and a portrait of France, the book illuminates a France unfamiliar to many. Truly his reign set the foundation for French modernity in countless ways.
May you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rekindling salamandrine fires...
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Very informative, interesting and easy to follow
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A chronology, not an analysis
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Excellent and well researched
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The narrative felt like a bold faced advertisement for the author’s previous book on Catherine de Medici. The facts do not support the authors claims that CdM was well liked in the french court, that she was beautiful or that Henri ll had any tender sentiments toward his wife whatsoever.
This book uses the final pages to abuse Diane De Poitiers. Where is that appropriate in an account of François I, I ask you? Wish I had saved my money.
Sadly, flat and boring account of Renaissance France
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