Paul Strathern

The Borgias

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'A wickedly entertaining read' The Times
A Daily Mail Book of the Week

The sensational story of the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in history, by the author of The Medici.

The Borgias have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice and vicious cruelty — all have been associated with their name. But the story of this remarkable family is far more than a tale of sensational depravities, it also marks a decisive turning point in European history.
The rise and fall of the Borgias held centre stage during the golden age of the Italian Renaissance and they were the leading players at the very moment when our modern world was creating itself. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of this creation, or vice versa? Would one have been possible without the other?
From the family's Spanish roots and the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia, to the lives of his infamous offspring, Lucrezia and Cesare — the hero who dazzled Machiavelli, but also the man who befriended Leonardo da Vinci — Paul Strathern relates this influential family to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish, and tells the story of this great dynasty as never before.
This book is currently unavailable
529 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2019
Publication year
2019
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Quotes

  • Tarlan Asadlihas quoted4 years ago
    Borgia decided to take as his papal name Alexander VI. This was widely seen as an allusion to Alexander the Great, rather than St Alexander, the second-century martyr, for Borgia had already blatantly named his son Cesare after Julius Caesar
  • Tarlan Asadlihas quoted4 years ago
    These dishes consisted of frugal fare, in keeping with the oaths of poverty, chastity and obedience once taken by the clerical participants. However, this austere regime was not imposed to accord with priestly vows, but to encourage the conclave of wealthy cardinals unused to enduring such privation to reach a conclusion as hastily as possible
  • Tarlan Asadlihas quoted4 years ago
    At night the cardinals shared plain wooden cells, sleeping on simple uncomfortable palliasses

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