A dramatic tale of assassination, spying and betrayal in the opulent, cut-throat world of Renaissance Italy.
Catherine Fletcher is a historian of Renaissance and early modern Europe. Her first book, The Divorce of Henry VIII, brought to life the world of the Papal court at the time of the Tudors. Subsequently, Catherine worked with the set team on the BBC's adaptation of Wolf Hall, advising the production on the historical detail of religious ceremony, dress and furnishings. She broadcasts frequently for BBC Radio 4 on Italian Renaissance history and is currently a BBC New Generation Thinker. Catherine now holds the position of Associate Professor in History and Heritage at Swansea University, has previously held fellowships at the British School at Rome and the European University Institute, and has taught at Royal Holloway, Durham and Sheffield universities.
"A spectacular, elegant, brilliant portrait of skulduggery, murder
and sex in Renaissance Florence"
*Evening Standard, Books of the Year*
"Nothing in sixteenth century history is more astonishing to our
era than the career of Alessandro de’ Medici. His story, told by an
exact and fluent historian, challenges our preconceptions.
Catherine Fletcher’s eye for the skewering detail makes the
citizens of renaissance Florence live again: courtesans and
cardinals, artists and assassins"
*Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall*
"Astonishing … gripping and original … a compelling portrait"
*Financial Times*
"Packed with intrigue … Fletcher describes with cool menace the
plotting and politicking that dominated Alessandro’s rule … brought
splendidly to life in this excellent book"
*Sunday Times*
"A scintillating book that glisters and gleams with stabbings,
poisonings, adultery and intrigue – and a startling reminder of how
visceral and dangerous Renaissance Florence was. The drama of
events is perfectly complemented by careful scholarship and lucid
writing. This is everything a historical biography should be"
*Ian Mortimer, author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval
England*
"In this brilliantly written and impeccably researched biography,
Catherine Fletcher brings Renaissance Florence vividly to life. The
story of Alessandro de' Medici's brief and bloody ascendancy
reveals the darker side of this most dazzling and cultured of
cities, beset by intrigue, violence and betrayal. A stunning
book."
*Tracy Borman, author of Thomas Cromwell: The untold story of Henry
VIII's most faithful servant*
"Bold, breathless and full of suspense"
*The Times*
"A seductive, shimmering and significant retelling of a man whose
rise to power was ... as unlikely as it was extraordinary"
*Guardian*
"Engrossing … bursts with stabbings, poisonings, duels,
eye-gougings, arquebus shootouts and people being run through with
swords. Fletcher’s approach is scholarly yet dramatic, immersed in
Renaissance glamour … a tremendous step forward in our knowledge of
this intriguing man"
*Spectator*
"More than just a forensic reconstruction of the period … Like a
detective, Fletcher interrogates her witnesses … But it is among
the detailed records of Alessandro’s wardrobe-keepers that she
finds her treasure … These lend her narrative a sensuous
vividity"
*Sunday Telegraph*
"Fletcher is entirely at ease amid the Renaissance world and its
archival resources, and her details, particularly those involving
dress, feasting and ceremonial, are generously deployed in the work
of recovering a neglected episode of Florentine history"
*Literary Review*
"An original, revelatory and gripping biography. Not only a vivid
evocation of the violence and glamour of sixteenth-century
Florence, but also a fresh perspective on the history of race and
the concept of the Renaissance man"
*Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors*
"Gripping … Fletcher describes in detail without losing
momentum"
*Economist*
"A fascinating and profound examination of one of the darkest
periods of Medici family history, filled with a wealth of period
detail"
*Paul Strathern, author of The Medici*
"An accomplished and original account of an extraordinary and much
misrepresented episode in Italian history. Catherine Fletcher
provides a newly sympathetic portrait of a monarch whose rule in
Florence was even more unlikely than Henry VII’s presence on the
English throne"
*Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of A History of
Christianity*
"An unexpected box of delights"
*Caroline Muprhy, author of Murder of a Medici Princess*
"Fletcher charts Alessandro’s meteoric rise and bloody fall while
bringing Renaissance Italy into sharp focus by deftly contrasting
its simultaneously sublime and visceral natures, drawing us into an
intriguing, believable Florence along the way"
*Catholic Herald*
"Terrific … maintains a standard that all history books should aim
for"
*BBC History Magazine*
"There are few periods in history as spectacular as the Italian
Renaissance, and this fascinating biography of the comparatively
obscure Florentine Duke Alessandro de’ Medici is a positive riot of
vivid incident and intrigue.’"
*Mail on Sunday*
"A creditable and enjoyable history of one of the lesser known
Medici… It is a story of nepotism, intrigue, murder, lust, spying,
double crossing and political and religious power grabbing… Well
researched; Fletcher has a good eye for detail and discerning
credible witness testimony from contemporary accounts…. lively and
entertaining and accessible to the casual reader, as much as the
student of the period."
*Nudge*
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