Who was Catherine de Medici? The answer to this question depends largely on one’s religion and politics. Catherine de Medici: Five Portraits examines historically this great queen from the standpoint of her contemporaries and later writers. The primary focus is Catherine as seen in five works of French literature: Madame de La Fayette’s La Princesse de Cleves, Honore de Balzac’s Sur Catherine de Medicis, Alexandre Dumas pere’s La Reine Margot, Henri III et sa cour, and Prosper Merimee’s Chronique du regne de Charles IX. The famous queen and queen-mother are viewed from a multiplicity of perspectives, including that of victim and victimizer.