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The startling truth behind one of the most
notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a
remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The
Tudors and A World Undone. 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.
THE
BORGIAS
They burst out of
obscurity in Spain not only to capture the great prize
of the papacy, but to do so 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, standing at the epicenter of the power
games in which Europe’s kings and Italy’s warlords
gambled for life-and-death stakes.
Five
centuries after their fall—a fall even more sudden than
their rise to the heights of power—they remain immutable
symbols of the depths to which humanity can descend:
Rodrigo Borgia, who bought the papal crown and
prostituted the Roman Church; Cesare Borgia, who became
first a teenage cardinal and then the most treacherous
cutthroat of a violent time; Lucrezia Borgia, who was as
shockingly immoral as she was beautiful. These have long
been stock figures in the dark chronicle of European
villainy, their name synonymous with unspeakable
evil.
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, a time of wars and political convulsions that
reverberate to the present day, when Western
civilization simultaneously wallowed in appalling
brutality and soared to extraordinary heights.
Stunning in scope, rich in telling detail,
G. J. Meyer’s The Borgias is an indelible work
sure to become the new standard on a family and a world
that continue to enthrall.
Praise for The
Borgias
“A vivid and at times
startling reappraisal of one of the most notorious
dynasties in history . . . If you thought you knew the
Borgias, this book will surprise you.”—Tracy Borman,
author of Queen of the Conqueror and
Elizabeth’s Women
“The
Borgias is a fascinating look into the lives of the
notorious Italian Renaissance family and its reputation
for womanizing, murder and corruption. Meyer turns
centuries of accepted wisdom about the Borgias on its
head, probing deep into contemporary documents and
neglected histories to reveal some surprising truths. .
. . The Borgias: The Hidden History is a gripping
history of a tempestuous time and an infamous
family.”—Shelf Awareness
“The
mention of the Borgia family often conjures up images of
a ruthless drive for power via assassination, serpentine
plots, and sexual debauchery. This is partially owing to
propaganda spread by contemporary rivals of the Borgias,
nineteenth-century Renaissance historians, and even
films and television shows. . . . [Meyer] convincingly
looks past the mythology to present a more nuanced
portrait of some members and their achievements. . . .
[The] Borgias are treated with . . . evenhandedness in
this well-researched and surprising
study.”—Booklist
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