Estelle Paranque is a Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University as well as an Honorary Research Fellow within the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance at the University of Warwick. She was an Associate Professor in History at Northeastern University London for 8 years. She earned a PhD in Early Modern European History from University College London in 2016. She has participated in international historical TV documentaries including BBC Two's The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family (2021) and Channel 4's The Queens Who Changed the World (2023). She appears regularly on podcasts and gives talks to prestigious history and literary festivals. She is the author and editor of six books.

Estelle Paranque

Welcome to ElleHistory : a unique history channel offering different segments all History related: - Once Upon a Woman (all about famous and lesser well known women) - History police (reviews historical fiction in all forms) - What the Elle (delves into and explores the most incredible mysteries in history) - What If (alternative history).

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Thorns Lusts and Glory

"A queen on the edge. Anne Boleyn has mesmerised the English public for centuries. Her tragic execution, orchestrated by her own husband, never ceases to intrigue. How did this courtier's daughter become the queen of England, and what was it that really tore apart this illustrious marriage, making her the whore of England, an abandoned woman executed on the scaffold? While many stories of Anne Boleyn's downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her tragic fate.

In Thorns, Lust and Glory, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England's most infamous queens. At the court of the French king as a resourceful teenage girl, Anne's journey to infamy began, and this landmark biography explores the world that shaped her, and how these loyalties would leave her vulnerable, leading to her ruin at the court of Henry VIII."

Blood, Fire and Gold

A beautifully thorough examination into the complicated relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe who shaped each other as well as the course of history.
Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures–and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. Much has been written about these shrewd and strategic sovereigns, but though their l legacies have been heavily scrutinized, nothing has been said of their complicated relationship—thirty years of camaraderie, competition, and conflict that forever changed the face of Europe.
In Blood, Fire, and Gold, historian Estelle Paranque offers a new way of looking at two of history's most powerful women: through the eyes of the other. Whether engaged in bloody battles or peaceful accords, Elizabeth and Catherine admired the force and resilience of the other, while never forgetting that they were, first and foremost, each other's true rival.
This is a story of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom, and—above all else—of the courage and sacrifice it takes to secure and sustain power as a woman in a male-dominated world.
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, "10 BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF 2022"
HISTORY TODAY, "BOOKS OF THE YEAR (2022)"

Sang Feu et Or

"En un temps façonné par François Ier, Charles Quint ou encore Soliman le Maginfique, deux reines ont marqué le XVIe siècle : Elisabeth Ier et Catherine de Médicis.
Elisabeth Ier était reine d'Angleterre. Fille du Roi Henri VIII, elle était le dernier membre de la dynastie des Tudor. Son règne fut marqué par la restauration de l'Eglise Protestante (au dépens de l'Eglise Catholique), l'épanouissement du théâtre (Shakespeare, Marlowe), un renouveau architectural, la permanence des colonies et la découverte d'un nouveau monde à travers les voyages de grands explorateurs.
Catherine de Médicis était reine de France. Originaire d'Italie, mariée au futur Henri II, elle règna de 1547 à 1559 (puis fut mère régente jusqu'en 1563). Durant son règne, elle pousuivit une politique culturelle ambitieuse destinée à soutenir la monarchie : mécénats artistiques et fêtes. Son nom demeure toutefois irrémadiablement attaché aux guerres de Religions qui opposèrent catholiques et protestants.
L'une était reine d'Angleterre et protestante, l'autre était reine de France et catholique en un temps où les guerres de Religions scindaient les territoires. Avec cette biographie croisée, Estelle Paranque jette un regard neuf sur deux femmes emblématiques de l'Histoire et tisse le fil de leur relation, entre amitié et rivalité. Une histoire de trente ans qui a marqué l'Europe de la deuxième partie du XVIe siècle."

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