In a remote mountain kingdom on a dark December night, a prince is born. At the time of his birth, nine royal princes stand between him and the throne of France.....
He is born Henry of Navarre, and even in his youth he seems destined for greatness. His kingdom and country are torn by dynastic tensions in a Europe dominated at one end by Elizabeth I of England and at the other by Philip II, builder of the great Spanish Armada. In Paris, Queen Mother Catherine de' Medici manipulates a series of ineffectual French kings, using lies, threats, beguilement, and treachery to achieve her ends. Henry's countrymen have taken arms against each other, and a tide of violence engulfs the land.
For a while, the prince is pawn in the power struggles at the French capital. His rustic ways and his Protestantism are alien—and threatening—to the sophisticated Catholic Court. By the time he fights his way to the throne, he has survived a long captivity at the royal palace, where men armed with daggers have watched his every move; he has broken free and in brilliant battle won the loyalty of Catholics and Protestants alike.
Henry is a wonderfully human hero, full of manliness, compassion, and wit. Here is his splendid story, etched in swift prose emblazoned with the dazzling personages and mighty events of history. It is the story of a dramatic fight for power—of a man who knew how to win it and how to use it: the first great modern king of France.
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