The Borgia chronicles
By: Mary Hollingsworth
Publisher: Metro Books
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9781435134379
Subjects: Nobility; Biography; History; Histoire
Other titles: Borgia chronicles: 1414-1572
Description: The Borgia family of Renaissance Italy has become a byword for pride, lust, cruelty, avarice, splendour and venomous intrigue. They have inspired abomination and fascination in almost equal measure, comparable to the Corleone clan depicted in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. Indeed, Puzo himself featured the Borgias in his last novel, The Family, and the Borgias have inspired many other works of fiction together with plays, films, and even an opera - Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia. Of Spanish origin, the Borgias came to prominence in the Italy of the 15th century, at a time when the spiritual values of the medieval Church were being swept aside by the worldly secularism of the Renaissance. They also became notorious for licentiousness, venality and indeed all forms of immorality, while at the same time their patronage of the arts helped to bring about some of the greatest artistic masterpieces of the Renaissance.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Alonso de Borja: from royal secretary to servant of Rome, 1414-1455; title: Calixtus III: the first Borgia pope, 1455-1458; title: The Borgia nephews: cardinals and captain-generals, 1458-1471; title: Rodrigo Borgia: new titles, new relationships, new wealth, 1471-1484; title: Rodrigo Borgia: from eminence to pre-eminence, 1484-1492; title: Alexander VI: the second Borgia pope and his family, 1493-1497; title: Alexander VI, Cesare and Lucrezia: a pope, a warrior, and a widow, 1498-1500; title: Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia: conquests in battle and in love, 1501-1503; title: Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia: the duke and the duchess, 1503-1519; title: The Borgia descendants: dukes, cardinals, and saints, 1520 and after.