CANR
WORK TITLE: THE BORGIAS
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 10/6/1940
WEBSITE:
CITY: London
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: CANR 310
http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/book-review-the-venetians/ http://www.thevenicetimes.com/the-venetians-a-new-history-163/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 6, 1940, in London, England; children: Oona Horx-Strathern.
EDUCATION:Attended Trinity College, Dublin.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Kingston University, London, England, occasional lecturer in mathematics and philosophy at Kingston University, 1970s and 1990s; then full-time writer.
MIILITARY:British Merchant Navy, served for two years.
AWARDS:Somerset Maugham Award, 1973, for A Season in Abyssinia.
WRITINGS
Contributor to newspapers and journals, including London Observer, Wall Street Journal, History Today, and Irish Times.
SIDELIGHTS
Paul Strathern’s first published works were five novels written in the 1960s and 1970s. After The Adventures of Spiro, the last of these novels, was published in 1979, Strathern took a fourteen-year break from published writing. However, when he returned, it was with a vengeance: since 1993 Strathern has published dozens of nonfiction works, including travel guides and numerous introductions to science and philosophy.
The books in the “Philosophers in 90 Minutes” series deal with one major philosopher at a time. The full range of philosophy is covered, from the ancient Greek to the postmodern. Every book begins with a biography of the philosopher, includes a simplified but not simplistic explanation of his school of thought, and concludes with quotations from his work and a chronology of the person’s life, showing how his work fits into the larger history of philosophy. The books are written to hold the interest of non-philosophers; the prose is brisk and readable, and the books include interesting personal details, such as the fact that on at least one occasion Marx pawned his pants to buy cigars. In 2004, Strathern launched a similar series, “Great Writers in 90 Minutes,” which is expected to grow to forty or more titles.
The “Big Ideas” books, Strathern’s other major series, is similar to “Philosophers in 90 Minutes”: both series seek to introduce important concepts to a lay audience, and both do so in part by humanizing the important men involved. “Big Ideas” titles cover many of the major scientists and scientific discoveries of the Western world, starting with Pythagoras and his theorem and continuing with Stephen Hawking and his research on black holes. Simon Singh, writing in the London Telegraph, called the books “witty, fast-paced, and lucid.”
Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements, follows the model of the “Big Ideas” series. A major scientific discovery—in this case the discovery of the concept of elements—is chronicled in simple, understandable terms, with a focus on the personal histories of the scientists who brought this discovery about. “Strathern is at his best when describing particular scientists and their times,” said Julia Uppenbrink, writing in Science. As described in Mendeleyev’s Dream, for example, Henry Cavendish was known for judging the strength of electric currents by the amount of pain the shock caused him. Cavendish was also misogynistic to the point of refusing to allow any woman, even his housekeeper, ever to say a word to him.
In a review in American Scientist, Anthony R. Butler praised Strathern as a “gifted writer with a scholarly but light touch,” and dubbed Mendeleyev’s Dream an “entertaining guide to the emergence of the most important of all the chemical principles.”
Strathern’s interests also include historical topics. Napoleon in Egypt: “The Greatest Glory,” is the story of Napoleon’s dream of empire. His ambition reached a peak in 1798, when he launched a massive invasion of Egypt. It was intended to be a stepping stone toward vanquishing the British from India on his way to world domination. The venture was also intended to be an expedition into the interior of a country that had been largely hidden from the world of his day. Napoleon’s dream of glory was buried in a spectacular defeat by the British commander Horatio Nelson, but the expedition, which included a large coterie of scientists, naturalists, artists, architects, and other scholars, opened the world’s eyes to the treasures of an exotic and hitherto unexplored land.
Another of Strathern’s histories, The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, offers a look at one of the prominent families of Renaissance Italy. He explores the paths that led this ambitious and determined family to the height of power. The contributions of the Medici spread from their city-state of Florence throughout Europe and beyond their time to the present day, through their patronage of the arts and artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The Medici also left their mark on the medieval economy, the art of warfare, and other elements of a successful society. The scope of the Medici accomplishments, like the grandiose ambitions of Napoleon, come to life in Strathern’s books in the same light but informative vein that reviewers have found in his previous books.
In 2009 Strathern published The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Leonardo, Machiavelli, and Borgia: A Fateful Collusion, which was also published in the United States under the title The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped. The account shows how Leonardo da Vinci, Cesare Borgia, and Niccoloe Machiavelli interacted with one another, collaborated on common goals, and even influenced some of their most famous (or infamous) works and actions. Strathern opens up the psychological realm between these men and how their mutual admiration and/or disgust led them to greatness.
London Times contributor Edward King summarized: “This is a portrait of a fascinating trio, and an insight into the apparent paradox of why such turbulent times produced an outpouring of humanist sentiment almost unparalleled in the history of the West.” Writing on the Bookbag Web site, John Van der Kiste worried “that anyone who does not have a thorough background grounding in the period might find it heavy going.” Van der Kiste commented that “while Strathern paints a vivid picture of the age and the characters, a little less of this would have resulted in a more taut and almost certainly more readable volume by keeping the narrative flowing better.”
In a review in the London Observer, Sam Taylor lamented that the author “could have produced a truly wonderful book, but at the crucial moments he seems to lack the belief to bridge convincingly the gaps in his story.” Taylor thought that “this is a shame because the story he has to tell is exciting and revealing; the characters are in some ways antithetical and in others oddly similar.” Finding the book “accessible and impressive in scope,” a contributor to Kirkus Reviews described the account as being a “rigorous and scholarly yet readable study of the confluence of three major Renaissance figures.” Booklist reviewer Bryce Christensen observed that “Strathern conjures the dominant personalities of the past with exceptional power.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly suggested that “readers will reel at this meticulous popular account of Renaissance tyranny, corruption, injustice and atrocities.”
In 2011 Strathern published Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City. The account looks into the lives and activities of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, Lorenzo de Medici, Piero de Medici, Charles VIII, and many others who shaped the city of Florence into a cultural capital of Renaissance Europe. A contributor to Loyalty Binds Me stated: “Superbly written and engaging, I don’t want to go into too much detail as you really need to read this book to understand that it really is a masterpiece. … Strathern is one of my favourite Renaissance historians (next to Christopher Hibbert) and he’s just fantastic.”
Strathern published The Spirit of Venice: From Marco Polo to Casanova in 2012, which in 2014 was published in the United States under the title The Venetians: A New History: From Marco Polo to Casanova. The account chronicles the lives of many notable—if not widely recognizable—figures throughout Venetian history, from trade consul Francesco Lupazzoli to Cypriot Queen Caterina. In a review in the Scotsman, David Rosenthal lamented that “ The Spirit of Venice feels rushed. Nobody expects a popular history writer to be a specialist; that’s not the point. But it’s not unreasonable to want them to take in more of what the specialists produce.” In a review in Open Letters Monthly, Steve Donoghue claimed that “Strathern dutifully invokes that brigadier of Venetian historical studies, John Julius Norwich—but in his The Venetians, he’s produced something far more quicksilver than anything Norwich wrote on the subject—a quicksilver, flashing poinard of a book. A very Venetian book.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked that “Strathern weaves an engrossing tale replete with intriguing sub-plots, emphasizing the human aspect with great feeling.”
In 2016 Strathern published The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance. The account offers a history of the Medici family. It starts with Giovanni di Bicci and how he made his fortune as a banker in the fourteenth century. He avoided claims of usury by charging a percentage for risk in lending. He focused largely on accumulating wealth and stayed out of the political arena. His son, Cosimo, on the other hand, pushed the promotion of ancient Greek and Roman writings at a time when Constantinople had fallen and refugees to the Italian Peninsula were numerous. Cosimo then made forays into politics, coming to hold nearly full power from behind the scenes in Florence. Strathern goes on to delineate the various influential members of the Medici clan and how they managed to maintain economic stability, political control, and a general acceptance by Florentine society. The book also notes the many writers and artists who had come under the sponsorship of the Medici.
Booklist contributor Christensen stated: “Rich in incident and character, this engrossing narrative offers impressive portraits of dynastic figures.” In a review in Library Journal, Linda Frederiksen “highly recommended” this “page-turning popular history of an ambitious and influential family.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called The Medici “a fantastically comprehensive history covering the breadth of the great learning, art, politics, and religion of the period.”
Strathern published The Borgias: Power and Fortune in 2019. The account looks into the lives of many of the notable members from the Borgia family during the Italian Renaissance. The book begins with Callixtus III, the first Borgia to be Pope before moving on to Alexander VI, who was elevated to the position in 1492. Strathern allots a good section of the book for Alexander VI’s great-nephew, Cesare Borgia, who served as the inspiration for Machiavelli’s The Prince. Throughout, Strathern notes the combination of money, power, and sin in the lives of the members of the Borgia family that he chronicles and their influence on society at the time.
A contributor to the Economist found it to be an “even-handed book.” The same reviewer admitted that “this is a book rich in … telling details–if sometimes also in less compelling ones. Characters and aristocratic titles proliferate, to such a degree that readers may struggle to keep up. But it is worth persisting.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor claimed that “one of the author’s great strengths has always been his ability to keep the many assorted players from confusing readers, and that holds true in his latest.” The same critic also praised the book’s “smooth narrative.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly concluded that “Strathern makes a tangled and thorny history readable in this solid, workmanlike book.” Writing in the London Daily Mail, Constance Craig Smith called The Borgias “a fascinating new book.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
American Scientist, September 1, 2001, Anthony R. Butler, “Chemistry’s Coming of Age,” p. 473.
Booklist, October 15, 1996, Gilbert Taylor, reviews of six volumes in the “Philosophers in 90 Minutes” series, p. 381; May 1, 1999, Vanessa Bush, review of Einstein and Relativity and Turing and the Computer, p. 1567; April 1, 2000, Mary Carroll, review of Berkeley in 90 Minutes and Foucault in 90 Minutes, p. 1414; February 15, 2001, Bryce Christensen, review of Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements, p. 1095; May 1, 2001, Gilbert Taylor, review of Marx in 90 Minutes and Bertrand Russell in 90 Minutes, p. 1644; October 15, 2002, Gilbert Taylor, review of Dewey in 90 Minutes and J.S. Mill in 90 Minutes, p. 365; June 1, 2009, Bryce Christensen, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped, p. 20; November 15, 2013, Jay Freeman, review of The Venetians: A New History: From Marco Polo to Casanova, p. 11; January 1, 2016, Bryce Christensen, review of The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance, p. 30.
Bookwatch, April 1, 2005, review of Kafka in 90 Minutes, Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes, and García Márquez in 90 Minutes.
Contemporary Review, May 1, 2004, review of The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, p. 315; March 22, 2008, review of Napoleon in Egypt: “The Greatest Glory,” p. 133; December 1, 2012, review of The Spirit of Venice: From Marco Polo to Casanova, p. 517.
Daily Mail (London, England), June 13, 2019, Constance Craig Smith, review of The Borgias: Power and Fortune.
Economist, June 29, 2019, review of The Borgias, p. 81.
Financial Times, June 17, 2000, Jerome Burne, “Nature Tortured in the Name of Science,” p. 4.
Guardian (London, England), May 27, 2000, Jon Turney, “The Stuff of the World,” p. 9; May 31, 2008, Ian Pindar, review of Napoleon in Egypt, p. 22.
Independent (London, England), September 1, 1996, Steven Poole, review of Aristotle in 90 Minutes, p. 37.
Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2009, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior; November 1, 2013, review of The Venetians; December 1, 2015, review of The Medici; June 15, 2019, review of The Borgias.
Kliatt, January 1, 2005, Mary Snodgrass, review of Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes, p. 27; November 1, 2005, Anthony Pucci, review of Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes, Hemingway in 90 Minutes, Virginia Woolf in 90 Minutes, and James Joyce in 90 Minutes, p. 27; January 1, 2007, Peter Neissa, review of Borges in 90 Minutes, p. 35.
Library Bookwatch, November 1, 2005, review of “Great Writers in 90 Minutes” series.
Library Journal, November 1, 1996, Francisca Goldsmith, review of five volumes in the “Philosophers in 90 Minutes” series, p. 70; August, 1998, Jack W. Weigel, review of Hawking and Black Holes and Newton and Gravity, p. 126; November 1, 2013, David Keymer, review of The Venetians, p. 100; January 1, 2016, Linda Frederiksen, review of The Medici, p. 117.
MBR Bookwatch, June 1, 2005, Diane C. Donovan, review of Beckett in 90 Minutes, Nabokov in 90 Minutes, and D.H. Lawrence in 90 Minutes.
Observer (London, England), June 18, 2000, Robin McKie, review of Mendeleyev’s Dream, p. 12; March 15, 2009, Sam Taylor, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior.
Publishers Weekly, June 29, 2009, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior, p. 119; October 7, 2013, review of The Venetians, p. 43; June 3, 2019, review of The Borgias, p. 52.
Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 2009, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior.
Science, September 8, 2000, Julia Uppenbrink, review of Mendeleyev’s Dream, p. 1696.
Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), June 16, 2012, David Rosenthal, review of The Spirit of Venice.
Telegraph (London, England), June 4, 2000, Simon Singh, “Base Metals and Real Gold.”
Times (London, England), May 21, 2000, John Cornwell, “Science with a Bang,” p. 40; March 22, 2009, Edward King, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior, p. 41.
Times Literary Supplement, April 24, 2009, Lauro Martines, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior, p. 25.
Venice Times, January 30, 2014, Phyllis Méras, review of The Venetians.
ONLINE
Bookbag, http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/ (April 10, 2011), John Van der Kiste, review of The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior.
Loyalty Binds Me, http://www.loyaltybindsme.org/ (November 22, 2012), review of Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City.
Open Letters Monthly, http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/ (March 28, 2014), Steve Donoghue, review of The Venetians.
Paul Strathern is a Somerset Maugham Award–winning novelist, and his nonfiction works include The Venetians, Death in Florence, and The Medici, all available from Pegasus Books. He lives in England.
Paul Strathern has lectured in philosophy and mathematics and is a Somerset Maugham Prize–winning novelist. He is the author of two series—Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World—Napoleon in Egypt, and the Sunday Times bestseller The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. He lives in London.
Paul Strathern
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Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a Scots-Irish writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.
Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics. He is the author of two successful series of short introductory books: Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World. His book on the history of chemistry entitled Mendeleyev's Dream (2000) was short-listed for the Aventis Prize, and his works have been translated into over two dozen languages. He is the author of the best-selling The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, Napoleon in Egypt, and The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior: Leonardo, Machiavelli and Borgia - a fateful collusion (2009) and The Spirit of Venice: from Marco Polo to Casanova (2012). His recent works include The Periodic Table (2015), "Quacks, Rogues and Charlatans" (2015) and The Borgias. His work on economic history 'Dr Strangelove's Game' (2001) was chosen as a Google business book of the year.
Strathern was a lecturer at Kingston University, where he taught philosophy and mathematics. He has one daughter, Oona, who is a writer and journalist. She lives in Vienna with her husband the German futurist and writer Matthias Horx [de], and their three grandsons.[citation needed]
Contents
1
List of books
1.1
Novels
1.2
Academic
1.3
Travel
2
References
3
External links
List of books[edit]
Novels[edit]
Pass by the Sea: A Novel (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968)
A Season in Abyssinia: An Impersonation of Arthur Rimbaud (London: Macmillan, 1972; reissued London: Faber and Faber, 2014)
One Man's War (London: Quartet Books, 1973; reprinted 1974)
Vaslav: An Impersonation of Nijinsky (London: Quartet Books, 1975)
The Adventures of Spiro (Brighton: Harvester Press, 1979)
Academic[edit]
Exploration by Land (Silk and Spices Routes Series; London: Belitha Press for UNESCO, 1993); published in Irish as Bóthar an tSíoda: taiscéalaíocht thar tír (Baile Átha Cliath [i.e. Dublin]: An Gúm, 2000)
Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000; US edn. New York: St. Martins Press, 2001; reissued London: Penguin, 2001)
Dr Strangelove's Game: A Brief History of Economic Genius (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2001; reissued London: Penguin, 2002); also published as A Brief History of Economic Genius (New York; London: Texere, 2002)
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (London: Jonathan Cape, 2003; reissued London: Vintage Books, 2007); also published as The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance (New York: Pegasus Books, 2016); published in Italian as I Medici: potere, denaro e ambizione (I volti della storia, no. 427; Pisa: Newton Compton, 2017)
A Brief History of Medicine from Hippocrates to Gene Therapy (London: Robinson, 2005)
Napoleon in Egypt: The Greatest Glory (London: Jonathan Cape, 2007; reissued London: Vintage, 2008)
The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior: Leonardo, Machiavelli and Borgia. A Fateful Collusion (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009; reissued London: Vintage, 2010)
Death in Florence: the Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of the Renaissance City (London: Jonathan Cape, 2011; reissued London: Vintage, 2012)
The Spirit of Venice: from Marco Polo to Casanova (London: Jonathan Cape, 2012; reissued London: Pimlico, 2013; digital edn. London: Vintage Digital, 2012)
The Periodic Table (The Knowledge Series, no. 3; London: Quadrille, 2015)
Quacks, Rogues and Charlatans of the R[oyal] C[ollege of] P[hysicians]: 50 Books from the College Collection (500 Reflections on the R[oyal] C[ollege of] P[hysicians], 1518-2018; London: Little, Brown, 2016)
Philosophers in 90 Minutes/Virgin Philosophers
Wittgenstein (1889-1951) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Wittgenstein (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Hume (1711-76) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Hume (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002); published in French as Hume, je connais! (Air de savoir. Série Les philosophes, je connais; Paris: Mallard Editions, 1998)
Kant (1724-1804) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Kant (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Locke (1632-1704) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996)
Descartes in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: I.R. Dee, 1996); reissued as The Essential Descartes (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Plato (428-348 BC) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Plato (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Aristotle (384-322 BC) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Aristotle (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Nietzsche (1844-1900) in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; London: Constable, 1996); reissued as The Essential Nietzsche (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Sartre in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1998); reissued as The Essential Sartre (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Machiavelli in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1998); reissued as The Essential Machiavelli (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Confucius in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999); reissued as The Essential Confucius (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Foucault in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000); reissued as The Essential Foucault (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
Marx in 90 Minutes Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series; Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2001); reissued as The Essential Marx (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2002)
The Essential Derrida (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2003)
The Essential Socrates (Virgin Philosophers Series; London: Virgin, 2003)
The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World
Pythagoras & His Theorem (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Turing & the Computer (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Hawking & Black Holes (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Newton & Gravity (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Crick, Watson & DNA (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Einstein & Relativity (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1997)
Galileo & the Solar System (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Bohr & Quantum Theory (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Oppenheimer & the Bomb (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Curie & Radioactivity (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Archimedes & the Fulcrum (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Darwin & Evolution (Big Idea Series; London: Arrow, 1998)
Travel[edit]
Greece and the Greek Islands: The Versatile Guide (London: Duncan Petersen, 1994; 2nd edn. 1996)
Florida: Travel Planner & Guide (London: Duncan Petersen, 1996)
Australia : Travel Planner & Guide (London: Duncan Peterson, 1997)
Family affairs; Papal history
The Economist. 431.9149 (June 29, 2019): p81(US).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Economist Intelligence Unit N.A. Incorporated
http://store.eiu.com/
Full Text:
Alexander the not so great
THE BORGIAS achieved many remarkable things. They reformed and rebuilt Rome; they were patrons of geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci; and they influenced the course of world events for centuries. It is, for example, thanks to a single Borgia ruling in 1494 that Brazil now speaks Portuguese, whereas most of South America uses Spanish. But perhaps the most noteworthy accomplishment of this noble Aragonese dynasty, which during the Renaissance produced two popes and many legends, is that it managed to bring disgrace upon the Catholic church. Then, as now, this was no mean feat; after all, previous bishops of Rome had rarely been as infallible as later dogma insisted.
Take Pope Formosus. In the ninth century he was exhumed, dressed in full papal regalia, put on trial as a corpse--and found guilty of perjury and violating the laws of the church. Or consider the exuberant Pope Paul II, who in 1471 expired from apoplexy apparently brought on by "immoderate feasting on melons", followed by "the excessive effect of being sodomised by one of his favourite boys". Or Pope Innocent VIII, who in 1492 is said to have spent his final days drinking blood drawn from three ten-year-old boys (who all died), and supping milk from a young woman's breast. For health reasons, naturally.
Long before the rise of the Borgias, therefore, this was an institution well-acquainted with embarrassment. Yet as Paul Strathern shows in his new book, the family eclipsed them all. As a result, the 11-year reign of Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) is still, to many, "the most notorious in papal history". Although not everyone agreed. When, some decades later, Sixtus V was asked to name his greatest predecessors, he offered St Peter--and Borgia.
Mr Strathern's even-handed book shows how this rosy judgment was possible--if not, now, entirely plausible. The Borgias, he writes, "were often better than they appeared". The first Borgia pope, Callixtus III, did the job for only three years, from 1455 to 1458. When his nephew, Alexander VI, came to power in 1492 the Eternal City was suffering from the eternal problems of banditry, corruption and violence. Punctilious in his work, Alexander expelled mercenaries, created an armed watch and overhauled the justice system.
Few readers will pick up a book on the Borgias hoping for details of city administration, however--and Mr Strathern does not stint on the depravity. Alexander had what Mr Strathern discreetly calls an "evident enjoyment of life". Take a party that Cesare, his illegitimate son (and a sometime cardinal), held in the Vatican. It was attended by the pope and 50 courtesans, who after dinner danced "fully dressed and then naked". Chestnuts were thrown onto the floor which the courtesans "had to pick up [with their vaginas]". Cesare, somewhat unsurprisingly, caught syphilis.
This is a book rich in such telling details--if sometimes also in less compelling ones. Characters and aristocratic titles proliferate, to such a degree that readers may struggle to keep up. But it is worth persisting. The Borgias, Mr Strathern explains, did not merely acquire their reputation through roistering and making the bureaucracy run on time. They also earned it through the ruthless elimination of their enemies--and friends. Cesare's own brother turned up in the Tiber, brutally stabbed. A disliked brother-in-law was also dispatched. A trusted ally was cut in two.
The Borgias' ambition was boundless; their legacy proved to be enormous. Not without reason did Machiavelli make Cesare the hero of his masterpiece of sinister machination, "The Prince". That book in turn became the companion of some of the world's most overweening leaders. Napoleon travelled with it; Mussolini quoted from it; Saddam Hussein kept it by his bedside. Few pontiffs before or since can claim to have had such influence.
The Borgias.
By Paul Strathern.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Family affairs; Papal history." The Economist, 29 June 2019, p. 81(US). General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A591086210/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=87bcd2f6. Accessed 12 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A591086210
Strathern, Paul: THE BORGIAS
Kirkus Reviews. (June 15, 2019):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Strathern, Paul THE BORGIAS Pegasus (Adult Nonfiction) $28.95 8, 6 ISBN: 978-1-64313-083-5
Strathern's (The Medici: Power, Money and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance, 2016, etc.) latest venture into Renaissance Italy proves just as exciting as his previous histories.
Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503), his son, Cesare, and daughter, Lucretia, are the central characters, following in the footsteps of Rodrigo's uncle, Pope Callixtus III. Rodrigo was by all accounts rich, charming, and an excellent administrator, but he was also impious, avaricious, and cruel. Callixtus appointed him Vice Chancellor, giving him the power of the purse in the Vatican. He held that post through multiple papacies until he became Pope Alexander VI in 1492. He had one ambition: to unify Italy under a Borgia hereditary papacy centered in Rome. Cesare was groomed to take his place, first as a cardinal and then as head of the Papal Forces. Alexander's diplomatic machinations and Cesare's brash but effective soldiering made that a possibility. Alexander's diplomacy came down to being friendly to both Spanish and French forces as they fought over Naples and supporting Venetian, Florentine, and Siennese governments while undermining everyone else. Rodrigo even married Cesare to a woman raised at the French court of Louis XII. With Louis' help and the Papal Forces, Cesare managed to take almost all the Romagna under his protection. Strathern points to an "inappropriate closeness" in the family. Rodrigo trusted Lucretia above everyone; he not only put her in charge of a province, but also let her administer the papacy in his absence. Cesare's manic jealousy of Lucretia was powerful, and rumors of his siring of her child and murders of her lover and husband complete that picture of a dangerous man. One of the author's great strengths has always been his ability to keep the many assorted players from confusing readers, and that holds true in his latest.
Strathern's smooth narrative and comprehensive insight bring the Borgias to life for scholars and amateurs alike.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Strathern, Paul: THE BORGIAS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2019. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A588726716/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=67835802. Accessed 12 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A588726716
The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy
Publishers Weekly. 266.22 (June 3, 2019): p52.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy
Paul Strathern. Pegasus, $28.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-64313-083-5
In this accessible look behind the curtain, novelist and historian Strathern (The Medici: Power. Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance) lays out the history of the infamous Italian clan, whose members included popes and political leaders during the Renaissance. Strathern follows the family line, beginning with the first Borgia pope, Callixtus III, Alfons de Borja (1378-1458); through his nephew Roderigo's appointment as Pope Alexander VI in 1492; to the 1507 death of his great-nephew Cesare Borgia, who inspired Machiavelli's The Prince. While Strathern acknowledges it's difficult to separate truth "from the exaggerations of rumor and gossip," depravity and power are linked inextricably with this family's history--the seven cardinal sins appear in abundance. Financial shenanigans multiply, from "the first time that the papacy had simply been bought outright" and transactions that resemble today's off-shore banking to Alexander VI's confiscation of all Jewish property. The Borgia reputation for prolific, promiscuous, and sometimes incestuous sexual misconduct is amply delineated. Alliances with city-states (Florence, Genoa, Naples, Venice) and nations (France) come and go, as do battles, and passages on the intrigues of papal conclaves and diplomatic machinations are lucidly rendered. Strathern makes a tangled and thorny history readable in this solid, workmanlike book. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy." Publishers Weekly, 3 June 2019, p. 52. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A588990737/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e1a2e645. Accessed 12 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A588990737
The Pope (sleeping with his daughter), his son (sleeping with his sister)... and his mistress (a 14-year- old girl): With incest, orgies and murder rife, the Borgias were a most unholy mob
Paul Strathern recalls The Borgias who inspired a steamy 2011 TV series
Pope Alexander VI was thought to be sleeping with his daughter Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia and her brother, Cesare, were also believed to be lovers
The family who enjoyed sharing partners, were savage to their enemies
The Pope's successor Julius II, ordered that no one should speak of Borgia again
By Constance Craig Smith For The Daily Mail
Published: 22:02 BST, 13 June 2019 | Updated: 06:25 BST, 14 June 2019
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BOOK OF THE WEEK
THE BORGIAS: POWER AND FORTUNE
by Paul Strathern (Atlantic £25, 400 pp)
Just 17 and already married, in 1497 Lucrezia Borgia began a dalliance with Pedro Calderon, a papal chamberlain. The couple were indiscreet and, while Lucrezia was punished by being banished to a convent, the unfortunate Pedro ended up floating in Rome’s River Tiber, his body bound and stabbed.
The finger of suspicion pointed at Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare. His motive for the murder, it was widely rumoured, wasn’t a desire to defend his sister’s honour, but rather incestuous jealousy.
Even more scandalously, it was said that Calderon was killed while clinging desperately to the robes of Pope Alexander VI — who just happened to be Cesare and Lucrezia’s father.
Naturally, the crime was never solved.
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Paul Strathern recalls the Borgias family who inspired a steamy 2011 TV series starring Jeremy Irons (pictured) in a fascinating new book
Five hundred years after their deaths, the Borgias remain a byword for depravity and corruption, even inspiring a notably steamy 2011 TV series starring Jeremy Irons. As Paul Strathern points out in this account of the Borgias’ rise and fall, at the same time as art and culture were flourishing in Renaissance Italy, thanks to Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Raphael, the Borgias were inflicting new levels of savagery on the country.
Their pater familias, Spanish-born Rodrigo Borgia, was a long-serving cardinal with a burning ambition to become Pope. On the death of Innocent VIII in 1492, Rodrigo left nothing to chance, sending mule-loads of silver to bribe the cardinals whose votes he needed to secure his election as Alexander VI.
Renaissance cardinals lived as lavishly as kings — hunting, gambling, giving sumptuous banquets and accruing vast wealth. They also flagrantly ignored their vows of chastity and, by the time he became Pope, 60-year-old Rodrigo had already fathered numerous children by different women.
Amazingly, he openly moved his family into the Vatican, including his teenage mistress Giulia Farnese and his four favourite children, Cesare, Juan, Lucrezia and Jofre.
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Lucrezia, the apple of her father’s eye, was married off at 13 to widower Giovanni Sforza. She was a striking beauty, with tumbling red hair and a creamy complexion, but, four years into the marriage, her husband suddenly abandoned her and fled Rome, apparently fearing for his life. What had happened between them? One clue is that, when the Pope sought an annulment for his daughter on the grounds of non-consummation, Sforza protested that he ‘had known his wife an infinity of times, but that the Pope had taken her from him for no other purpose than to sleep with her himself’.
Many people believed Rodrigo was indeed sleeping with his daughter, and that Lucrezia and her brother Cesare were also lovers. Strathern says there is no way of being sure, but comments that ‘the Borgias seem to have enjoyed sex as a spectator sport’ and were frequently seen fondling each other in public.
They certainly had a penchant for orgies and sharing each other’s partners: both Cesare and his brother Juan had an affair with Sancia of Aragon, the wife of their brother Jofre. When Juan was stabbed and dumped in the Tiber, Cesare was again one of the main suspects.
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The author believes the main driving power behind the Borgias family (portrayed in TV series) was ambition, they wouldn't allow morality or loyalty to stand in their way
Cesare, his contemporaries said, was ‘the handsomest man in Italy’. Though he revelled in clothes, parties and women, his father appointed him Bishop of Pamplona at 15 and made him a cardinal at 18 — all part of his plan to turn the papacy into a Borgia dynasty and unify Italy with the Borgias as rulers.
Strathern writes: ‘The main driving power behind the family was ambition. No considerations of morality or loyalty would be allowed to stand in their way.’
Cesare could hardly have been less suited to the Church — cruel, vindictive and bloodthirsty, his idea of a fun afternoon was to stand with Lucrezia on a balcony above a prison courtyard and use the inmates below as target practice with his crossbow. He was savage to his enemies, too — when a satirist made fun of him, Cesare had the man’s tongue cut out and nailed to his severed hand.
After five years, he resigned as a cardinal (the first ever to do so) and turned his attention to soldiering.
Rather too much of The Borgias is taken up with detailed accounts of the endless battles between various Italian dukes and princes, but it’s clear that Cesare was a formidable fighter and a clever tactician. He cannily formed an alliance with King Louis XII of France and carved out a state in central Italy to rule over, much to his father’s delight.
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Cesare’s empire-building didn't survive the death of his father Pope Alexander VI (portrayed by Jeremy Irons in the TV series with Holliday Grainger as Lucrezia Borgia)
He kept fit by bull-fighting and liked to dress in black, even wearing a black mask at times — though whether this was to hide the marks of syphilis or to intimidate those around him isn’t clear.
One of his most notorious exploits was the siege of the city of Forli, ruled over by the beautiful and formidable Caterina Sforza, Italy’s only female ruler and a relative of Lucrezia’s first husband.
Caterina refused to surrender and, while Cesare’s French allies were reluctant to shell a city controlled by a woman, he had no such qualms.
After ten days, Caterina was captured and imprisoned in Cesare’s bedroom. When he returned to Rome, he took his fiery prisoner with him, dressing her in black velvet to match his outfit.
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THE BORGIAS: POWER AND FORTUNE by Paul Strathern (Atlantic £25, 400 pp)
Put under house arrest, Caterina tried to escape and was thrown into prison. She was eventually released, but she never revealed what had happened between her and Cesare Borgia. When she was dying, she told a Dominican friar: ‘If I could write anything, I would stupefy the world.’
However many women he slept with, it was always Lucrezia with whom Cesare seemed to be obsessed. In 1500, he despatched her second husband, whom she adored, by getting the commander of his armed guard to burst into the pair’s bedroom and strangle him.
Brazenly arranging the assassination of his brother-in-law not only got rid of a rival for Lucrezia’s affection, it also served to terrify Cesare’s many enemies.
As the Venetian ambassador wrote after the murder: ‘All Rome trembles at this duke, that he may not have them killed.’
It’s a sign of their very strange relationship that, though Lucrezia truly mourned her husband, she quickly forgave her brother.
Lucrezia ended her days as Duchess of Ferrara, a respected patron of the arts. Despite the rumours that swirl around her, there seems little evidence that she ever poisoned anyone.
Cesare’s empire-building did not survive his father’s death. Without the Pope’s support, he was captured by his enemies, and escaped, but died on the battlefield in 1507, stabbed by three knights who had no idea who he was.
Rodrigo’s successor, Pope Julius II, ordered on pain of excommunication that no one should ‘speak or think of Borgia again’.