When Women Ruled The World: Making The Renaissance in Europe
By Maureen Quilligan
⚡️ I was provided an audio-ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
🌟: 3 / 5
📚: A look at the overlapping lives and rules of four female rulers in Renaissance Europe
💭: As much of a fan as I am of court politics in fiction, this book made the complex and cunning of the reigns of Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici seem objectively dry. There is so much meat to this book, but not much creativity lent to the telling, to the point where many of the downright dramatic moves basically went in one ear and out the other for me.

And although the bulk of this book centers on the women who lorded over several decades of Renaissance Europe, most of what I retained from reading this book were focused on the traditional roles of women of the time and how these rulers still held true to them. Their “inalienable gifts,” their belongings and handiwork that passed along generations rather than belonging to the state and position, their marital status, and their ability to produce heirs still remained at the center of their stories, as opposed to the politicking that would have likely been centered were this book about kings of the Renaissance. While this is definitely an interesting take and would have doubtlessly been the focus of many of the male historians at the time who would document their rules, the way that these stories are told lacks the drama inherent in saying that these women filled both the role of woman and ruler that I expected to find in this book.

From a historical standpoint, the content within this book is relevant and accurate in its writing, but from a storytelling perspective, the writing makes court intrigue and moves that can only be described as dramatic into clinical and bland blocks of text. If I recommended this book, it would be more of a textbook recommendation than something for creative nonfiction entertainment purposes. I think that the history captured within When Women Ruled The World is fascinating and would translate well into a tv show or film plot line, but the way it’s written didn’t capture me like I wished it would.

<i>When Women Ruled the World</i> tells the history of 16th-century Europe, when Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici ruled England, Scotland, and France. To me, the British queens were more heavily focused on, and Catherine de Medici was occasionally brought into the story as she interacted with the three other women, before finally, her life was summed up at the end. The title seems a bit of a misnomer since the majority of the book speaks of Britain, extending at times to Europe but certainly not the world.

It was intriguing to see how the women ruled, and they worked more toward peace and religious freedom than the men in their time. The book talks about the gifts they gave each other and the significance of each gift. Suzanne Toren did a nice job narrating the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Format: audiobook
Author: Maureen Quilligan ~ Title: When Women Ruled the World ~ Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Content: 4 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

A deep dive into the world of four sixteenth-century women: Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici. This audiobook has four parts: The Tudors, The Stuarts, The Medici, and The Hapsburgs.

When Women Ruled the World is a very well-researched work. I read before about the Tudors. But here I learned some details that I didn’t know before. As stated above, this is a deep dive into this world, and therefore not so much a lightweight read. But it will be rewarding for scholars and those who are very interested in the subject and the time of the Renaissance.

I liked the narration by Suzanne Toren. Her voice perfect to narrate the story of powerful women.

Thanks to HighBridge Audio for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

Good satisfying read which took me back to my high school days. Makes me want to learn more about Mary Tudor, Mary Stuart, Elizabeth the 1st, Catherine de Medici and the Queen Margot. The audio version is pleasant but since the book is sprinkled with so much info, I would have enjoyed a hard copy better.

Thank you for the audio ARC in exchange for my opinion.

I don’t know why pop culture dramatizes an already dramatic history.

These four women,Mary Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Stuart and Catherine de Medici, lived incredible lives.

I didn’t realize just how entwined they all were. I appreciated the author’s notice of ‘womanly’ interactions that have often gone unattended by other historians.

Never dry!

***I received this audiobook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

This book held a lot of promise for my feminist heart. It had so much thorough research and you can tell that the author deeply cares about this topic. The book was just a tad bit dry. If you are looking for an intelligent book with a lot of facts and sources, I would 10/10 recommend. If you are looking for an amusing audiobook to entertain and educate, you are better off looking elsewhere.