The Borgias and Their Enemies, 1431-1519 - by Christopher Hibbert (Paperback)

About the Book

The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. This is the absorbing tale of the family's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to the highest position in Italian society.

Book Synopsis

This colorful history of a powerful family brings the world they lived in--the glittering Rome of the Italian Renaissance--to life and is "simply unputdownable" (New York Times Book Review).

The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame--Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince.

Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale.

Erudite, witty, and always insightful, Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family and creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character and place.

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR CHRISTOPHER HIBBERT "[A] superbly scrupulous and sympathetic interpreter."--The Boston Globe "Simply unputdown-able."--The New York Times Book Review --

About the Author

Christopher Hibbert (1924 - 2008) wrote more than fifty acclaimed books, including The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici and Rome: The Biography of a City. A leading popular historian whose works reflected meticulous scholarship, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.