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The Borgias : the hidden history / G.J. Meyer

Author
Meyer, G. J., 1940-
Published
New York : Bantam Books, [2013]
Edition
First Edition.
Physical Description
xxx, 478 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

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Contents
Prologue: One Whom All Did Fear -- Part One. Alonso, From Out of Nowhere -- A Most Improbable Pope -- Background: The Road to Rome -- Surprises, Disappointments, Hope -- Background: Il Regno-The Kingdom -- Pope and King, Friends No More -- Background: Amazing Italy -- Family Matters -- Background: The Men in the Red Hats -- The End of the Beginning -- Part Two. Rodrigo, A Long Apprenticeship -- Surviving -- Background: The Eternal City, Eternally Reborn -- Pius II : Troubles Rumored and Real -- Background: Il Papa -- Paul II : The Poisoned Chalice -- Background: The Inextinguishable Evil-Heads -- Sixtus IV : Disturbing the Peace -- Background: War, Italian Style -- Innocent VIII : Plumbing the Depths -- Part Three. Alexander, Pope At Last -- The Best Man for the Job -- Background: Madness and Milan -- The Coming of the French -- Background: The Paternity Question : An "Apology" -- The French Depart -- Background: Florence : An Anti-Renaissance -- A Shattering Loss -- Background: The Young Ones -- Valentino -- Part Four. Cesare, Caesar or Nothing -- The Landscape Changes -- Background: Venice, Serene No More -- Conqueror -- Background: The Angel's Castle -- "Longing for Greatness and Renown" -- Background: The Newest Profession -- Settling Scores -- Background: The Great Discoveries -- Man of Destiny -- Background: Superstitions : Another Side of the Renaissance -- Alone -- Aftermath -- Examining Old Assumptions.
Summary
Sweeping aside the gossip, slander, and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu. They burst out of obscurity in Spain to capture the great prize of the papacy, not once but twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century--as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and breathtakingly ambitious political adventurers--they held center stage in the glorious and blood-drenched pageant known to us as the Italian Renaissance. Five centuries after their fall--a fall even more sudden than their rise to the heights of power--they remain symbols of the depths to which humanity can descend: Rodrigo, who bought the papal crown and prostituted the Roman Church; Cesare, who became the most treacherous cutthroat of a violent time; Lucrezia, as immoral as she was beautiful. But did these Borgias of legend actually exist? Grounding his narrative in exhaustive research and drawing from rarely examined key sources, Meyer brings fascinating new insight to the real people within the age-encrusted myth. Equally illuminating is the light he shines on the brilliant circles in which the Borgias moved and the thrilling era they helped to shape.--From publisher description.
Subject(s)
ISBN
9780345526915 (acid-free paper)
0345526910 (acid-free paper)
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 451-455) and index.
View MARC record | catkey: 9615424