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Splendeurs Et Ténèbres Du Moyen Age
Le Moyen Age est une source constante d'inspiration pour Juliette Benzoni. Elle y a trouvé le cadre de drames et de passions, où les destins personnels côtoient la grande Histoire. Splendeurs et ténèbres du Moyen Age est une somme de romans et récits qui offrent l'occasion de traverser plusieurs siècles marqués par l'ambition, la foi, la haine et l'amour. Un aussi long chemin ouvre ce recueil. Ce roman nous plonge dans l'univers du pèlerinage de Compostelle. Paris, le matin de Pâques 1143, une femme étrange s'est glissée dans le cortège. On dit qu'elle entreprend ce long et périlleux voyage pour sauver la vie et l'âme d'un innocent. Elle a dix-huit ans. Un baron batailleur et débauché tombe amoureux fou d'elle et quitte femme, château et fortune pour se rendre au grand pèlerinage à sa suite. L'action de De deux roses l'une se déroule au XVe siècle cette fois, en Angleterre, au cours d'une terrible guerre civile, appelée la guerre des Roses, qui oppose deux familles : les York (rose blanche) et les Lancastre (rose rouge). Marguerite d'Anjou, princesse française et épouse d'Henri VI d'Angleterre, se retrouve malgré elle au cœur de ce conflit fratricide. D'autres histoires complètent la fresque avec des personnages historiques hauts en couleurs, parmi lesquels Frédégonde, Brunehaut, Aliénor d'Aquitaine, Isabelle d'Angoulême, Marguerite, Blanche et Jeanne de Bourgogne, Isabelle, Blanche de Bourbon, Mabile, Bertrade, Jeanne de Lisson, Arnaud l'Archiprêtre, Pierre de Giac, Gilles de Rais...
661 pages, Hardcover
Published November 22, 2007
6 people want to read
About the author
Juliette Benzoni
304 books153 followersJuliette Benzoni, (Andrée-Marguerite-Juliette) was a French author and international bestseller in several genres, including historical romance, historical fiction, mystery and screenwriting. Named by the Media as the « Queen of History Novels » and « Daughter of Alexander Dumas».
Born 1920 in Paris and growing up in an upper-middle-class family. At the age of nine, she discovered her passion for history while looking at a photo of ‘Joan of Arc’. Benzoni studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris’, philosophy, law and literature. At the age of fifteen, her parents moved to Saint-Mandé where she lived until her death.
In 1941, she married a doctor from Dijon, and was soon mother of two children. During that period, she studied at the libraries of Dijon the History of the Dukes of Burgundy, where she stumbled on the Legend of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which would later inspire her for her Catherine series.
In 1950, her husband died and she went to Morocco, visiting relatives of her late husband and joined the editorial staff at a radio station and met her future husband, Colonel Count André Benzoni di Conza. They married in 1953, but because of the unstable political situation, she returned to Paris, while her husband was to join the 6th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis in Hué.
Back in Paris, she launched into journalism and worked for various Newspapers, Magazines and wrote for ‘Confidences’ historical articles and interviewed celebrities such as Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Erich von Stroheim and Maurice Chevalier.
In 1959, Gérald Gauthier, director of the Press Agency at Opéra Mundi, watched her in a popular television Quiz show and impressed by her historical knowledge about the Italian Renaissance asked her if she were able to write a historical romance series
in the style of Anne Golon's ‘Angélique’.
Benzoni affirmed, remembering her fascination for the ‘Order of the Golden Fleece’. Her research for that soon-to-become Bestseller took up three years and in 1963, 'Catherine, Il suffit d’un amour’ was published. The success was enormous and there followed in 1965, a Song called ‘Catherine, ma mie’ composed by Paul Amar, text by Juliette Benzoni.
The Catherine series was translated into 26 languages. Benzoni's Works includes: 3 Single Novels, 17 series, 18 self-contained short stories; 55 million Readers and 300 million books sold Worldwide. She was a huge fan of the books by Agatha Christie, Anne Perry and Ken Follet. In 1978 she received from the White House a letter by President ‘Ronald Reagan’ for the way she described in her Novel ‘The Lure of the Falcon’ the Independence War!
Four of her Bestsellers the ‘Catherine, Marianne, Le Gerfaut and La Florentine’ series were filmed for French television, for which she wrote the Screenplay, together with Jean Chatenet. Although her later works were not widely translated, in 1984, she was one of the top ten female French writers whose works were translated into English. Two weeks before her death in 2016, her last book ‘Le Vol du Sancy: Des carats pour Ava’? was published. It was the 15th adventure of her favourite hero Prince Aldo Morosini, a mystery series.
Her Awards and Honours:
1973 the Alexandre Dumas Prix, for the Catherine and Marianne series.
1988, the Prix Littéraire « Louis Barthou » Silver Medal from the Académie Française for Felicia au soleil couchant.
1998, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit Medal, by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
Born 1920 in Paris and growing up in an upper-middle-class family. At the age of nine, she discovered her passion for history while looking at a photo of ‘Joan of Arc’. Benzoni studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris’, philosophy, law and literature. At the age of fifteen, her parents moved to Saint-Mandé where she lived until her death.
In 1941, she married a doctor from Dijon, and was soon mother of two children. During that period, she studied at the libraries of Dijon the History of the Dukes of Burgundy, where she stumbled on the Legend of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which would later inspire her for her Catherine series.
In 1950, her husband died and she went to Morocco, visiting relatives of her late husband and joined the editorial staff at a radio station and met her future husband, Colonel Count André Benzoni di Conza. They married in 1953, but because of the unstable political situation, she returned to Paris, while her husband was to join the 6th Regiment of Moroccan Spahis in Hué.
Back in Paris, she launched into journalism and worked for various Newspapers, Magazines and wrote for ‘Confidences’ historical articles and interviewed celebrities such as Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Erich von Stroheim and Maurice Chevalier.
In 1959, Gérald Gauthier, director of the Press Agency at Opéra Mundi, watched her in a popular television Quiz show and impressed by her historical knowledge about the Italian Renaissance asked her if she were able to write a historical romance series
in the style of Anne Golon's ‘Angélique’.
Benzoni affirmed, remembering her fascination for the ‘Order of the Golden Fleece’. Her research for that soon-to-become Bestseller took up three years and in 1963, 'Catherine, Il suffit d’un amour’ was published. The success was enormous and there followed in 1965, a Song called ‘Catherine, ma mie’ composed by Paul Amar, text by Juliette Benzoni.
The Catherine series was translated into 26 languages. Benzoni's Works includes: 3 Single Novels, 17 series, 18 self-contained short stories; 55 million Readers and 300 million books sold Worldwide. She was a huge fan of the books by Agatha Christie, Anne Perry and Ken Follet. In 1978 she received from the White House a letter by President ‘Ronald Reagan’ for the way she described in her Novel ‘The Lure of the Falcon’ the Independence War!
Four of her Bestsellers the ‘Catherine, Marianne, Le Gerfaut and La Florentine’ series were filmed for French television, for which she wrote the Screenplay, together with Jean Chatenet. Although her later works were not widely translated, in 1984, she was one of the top ten female French writers whose works were translated into English. Two weeks before her death in 2016, her last book ‘Le Vol du Sancy: Des carats pour Ava’? was published. It was the 15th adventure of her favourite hero Prince Aldo Morosini, a mystery series.
Her Awards and Honours:
1973 the Alexandre Dumas Prix, for the Catherine and Marianne series.
1988, the Prix Littéraire « Louis Barthou » Silver Medal from the Académie Française for Felicia au soleil couchant.
1998, the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit Medal, by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
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July 22, 2022
Même si certains détails sont ajoutés pour romancer l'Histoire, ce livre permet de réviser agréablement une partie de l'Histoire européenne durant le Moyen Âge.
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