Jessica Wärnberg

Left-right: Pius XI, Gregory III, Pius IX,cGregory VII, Clement VII, and Pius VI.. Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images, Rijksmuseum, Fototeca Gilardi/Bridgeman Images, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and Photo Josse/Bridgeman Images.

Curbing the Power of the Popes

The survival of the papacy has always been dependent on a precarious balancing act between the pope’s religious and secular powers.

Portrait of the widowed Catherine de’ Medici, by François Clouet,c. 1565. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

‘Catherine de’ Medici’ by Mary Hollingsworth review

In Catherine de’ Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen, Mary Hollingsworth helps the pragmatic queen escape her ‘black legend’.