“From sexual passion to mortal danger, the dramatic shift of real historical events will keep the reader turning the pages.”
– Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl

“Kalogridis puts a human face on one of the most reviled women in history.”
– Booklist

Catherine de Medici is one of the most maligned monarchs in history: blamed for the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in which hundreds of innocents died. What motivated this Renaissance woman who was born of Florence’s most powerful family, and one day came to rule France?

In her latest historical fiction bestseller, Jeanne Kalogridis tells the story of Caterina, a tender young girl, destined to be a pawn in Machiavellian games. Left a fabulously rich heiress, imprisoned and threatened by her family’s enemies, she was finally married off to a handsome prince of France.

Overshadowed by her husband’s mistress, the conniving Diane de Poitiers, and now consort to a King, Catherine resorted to sorcery to win his love, enhance her fertility and foil her enemies. Against the lavish and decadent backdrop of the French court, and Catherine’s visions induced by the black arts, Kalogoris reveals the great love and desire Catherine bore for her husband Henry, and her stark determination to keep her sons on the throne.

Q & A with author Jeanne Kalogridis

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about your background, and when you decided that you wanted to lead a literary life?

A: I was a shy, scrawny, unpopular kid with frizzy hair and thick glasses; since I had no social life, I read. I adored dark fantasy and science fiction, and I was writing my own stories as soon as I could hold a pencil. My mom and sisters were always dragging me to the mall on weekends, so while they shopped, I hung in the local bookstore. I think the defining moment for me came when I picked up a copy of Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man in a Waldenbooks. His writing was so beautiful, so lyrical… I decided then I wanted to write like that.

Q: Is there a book that most influenced your life? Or inspired you to become a writer?

A: The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. When I worked on my first novel, I bought new copies of those two books and consciously tried to imitate his style.

A: Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, and Dan Simmons (especially The Terror and Drood, both historical novels).

A: My namesake, Joan (in French, Jeanne) of Arc—yes, she was deluded, but she kicked butt and made a man a king. I read a lot of biographies of strong women when I was growing up; I admired Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell (first female M.D. in the U.S.), Elizabeth I, Boudicca (who gave the Imperial Roman army a run for its money), Jane Addams, and Susan B. Anthony.

There are, of course, fascinating men. I always adored Leonardo because he was passionately interested in everything and pursued knowledge without the encumbrance of a formal education. Vlad the Impaler is another favorite of mine, for much grislier reasons, as is Cesare Borgia.

Q: You have already authored two historical novels about Renaissance Italy, The Borgia Bride and I, Mona Lisa. What was the inspiration for ‘The Devil’s Queen’?

A: While writing I, Mona Lisa, I learned a lot about the Medici of Florence. The more I read about Lorenzo’s great-granddaughter, the notorious French queen Catherine de’ Medici, the more she fascinated me.

Q: Do you scrupulously adhere to historical fact in your novels, or do you take liberties if the story can benefit from the change? And to what extent did you stick to the facts in writing The Devil’s Queen? How did you conduct your research?

A: I’ll answer the last question first: I rely on documented on-line sources, books, and experts. (I scour the internet, dusty used bookstores and libraries for rare/out-of-print books.)

To answer the first and second questions: I do my utmost to adhere strictly to recorded fact, but in the case of Catherine’s long, eventful life, I realized that I would need to write four books instead of one to cover everything! Clearly, the story needed to be condensed—but I didn’t do so by changing any events. Instead, I chose to omit some facts—such as the fact that Catherine actually had ten children rather than the five who appear in the novel. I chose the children who actually had the most impact on history and their mother’s life…and thus, the story. Otherwise, the plot would have lost its pacing and dramatic focus.

Q: What is it about Catherine that you hoped to reveal to your readers?

A: Historians have accused her of being one of the most malevolent monarchs to sit on a throne—which was far from true. She was, in fact, one of the most insightful and intelligent rulers in history. I wanted to show how her horrific childhood and resulting need for security and love resulted, ultimately, in the circumstances that gave rise to the tragic St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

Q: Are you currently working on another book? And if so, what—or who—is your subject?

A: Always! I’m writing about another Italian Catherine. Caterina Sforza (1463-1509) was the daughter of the Duke of Milan. Although she was pampered and indulged as a child, she grew up to become one of the most famed Renaissance warriors of all time. She (almost) single-handedly managed to hold off Cesare Borgia’s massive army for months; her bravery and her refusal to behave “as a woman of her time ought” were amazing. She’s still famed in Italy for her daring exploits and lifestyle.

Q: Much of the plot of The Devil’s Queen revolves around astrology and Catherine de Medici’s birth chart or natal horoscope, as well as those of her family members. How much of this was historically accurate? How did you do your research?

A: I’ve collected books about Renaissance magic for twenty-five years, so this was an area already familiar to me. But to do Catherine and the novel justice, I brushed up on Renaissance astrological magic by taking a course in the subject and reading the same authors Catherine would have studied in her day. None of the spells, astrological charts, or references to stars came from my imagination; they were the result of careful research.

I hired two different astrologers to cast the charts of Catherine and her sons, so with luck, they’re completely accurate. (I also cast them myself using my computer—I’m definitely not the math whiz Catherine was!)

Q: It has been said that Catherine’s natal horoscope was one of the worst anyone could possibly have. Can you explain why?

A: When the first astrologer I visited cast Catherine’s chart, he actually gasped aloud in horror. Just for fun, I’d told him only that the subject was a long-dead queen who was the heroine of my novel. He told me she had a Grand Cross—four planets aligned at 90 degree intervals from each other, so if you connected them with a pencil line, you’d draw a square-armed cross.

Trust me, you don’t want a Grand Cross. You will be up against very, very difficult forces, and have conflict after conflict without being able to resolve them.

The astrologer explained that one planet (Jupiter) represented Catherine, and the others represented three powerful men who thwarted her at every turn. No matter what good she tried to achieve, these three forces undermined her efforts. Tragedy was the inevitable result.

Eerily enough, one of the planets happened to be her husband’s astrological “ruler”—and the two others were the rulers of her two malevolent sons, each of whom became king. Catherine was charming, diplomatic, and exceedingly intelligent—far more so than her husband or sons, whose mental and emotional deficiencies vexed her at every turn. I believe their failings, not Catherine’s, ultimately led to the massacre; Catherine struggled to right their wrongs and prevent civil war, but she was unable to control the situation.

The astrologer also – without knowing anything else about Catherine’s background—said that her chart revealed that she lost her parents in early childhood, and faced a massive catastrophe during her life, as a result of the Grand Cross.

Q: In your research of the astrological charts of Catherine and her family and the superstitions of the time period, what was the most interesting/surprising/shocking thing you learned?

A: Even though I enjoy reading about Renaissance magic and related matters, I’m a skeptic; I approach it the way an anthropologist would approach learning about the magical beliefs of an ancient culture. But I admit, I was shocked when I came across the link between the star Algol and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

Since ancient times, Algol has been associated with the violent shedding of blood on a mass scale; the Chinese called the star “the Heaped-Up Corpses,” and the Arabs called it al-ghul, “the demon” star. Renaissance magicians and modern-day astrologers believed it to be the most evil star in the heavens, predicting great catastrophe.

Algol rose and made an extremely bad aspect with the planet Mars (associated with war and bloodshed) less than an hour before the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre began. Catherine surely knew this—she made use of several astrologers, including her favorite, Ruggieri, and always checked their mathematical calculations against hers (which were always right).