The Medici

Author: Mary Hollingsworth

Paperback

A fresh telling of the rise and fall of the House of Medici, the family that dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries.

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PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

A fresh telling of the rise and fall of the House of Medici, the family that dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries.

Description

A fresh telling of the rise and fall of the House of Medici, the family that dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries.

'This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality'Telegraph

'Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence'TLS

'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history'The Times

Wealthy bankers, wise politicians, patrons of the arts, glittering dukes... so runs the traditional telling of the story of the Medici, the family that ruled Florence for two hundred years and inspired the birth of the Italian Renaissance.

In this definitive account of their rise and fall, Mary Hollingsworth argues that the idea that the Medici were wise rulers and enlightened fathers of the Renaissance is a fiction. In truth, she says, the Medici were as devious and immoral as the Borgias – tyrants loathed in the city they illegally made their own and which they beggared in their lust for power.

Critic Reviews

“'A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history. In Hollingsworth's surefooted telling, this ruthless but enlightened family were at their best when they were true to the Florentine motto of "profit and honour"' The Times , Book of the Week.”

This forensic study of the Renaissance banking dynasty conjures up a world of art, literature, philosophy – and brutality Telegraph, Book of the Year
Likely to become the standard work of reference on the members of the family that dominated Florence TLS
A lucid and beautifully illustrated family history The Times, Book of the Week
A beautifully illustrated and scholarly survey of five centuries of the Medici family Literary Review
A vital acquisition for anyone who studies the Renaissance and seeks the true role of the Medici in the history of Florence Kirkus
An excellent study of the Medici... A careful, understated book... [It] is never short on drama' Telegraph
Drawing on impeccable documentary research [this] is a lively and accessible new account of the House of Medici Country Life
A well-illustrated history of the rise and fall of the House of Medici The Times
The Medici family dominated political and cultural life in Florence for three centuries, but the received wisdom, that they were beneficent, enlightened rulers, is challenged by Renaissance scholar Mary Hollingsworth in this engrossing, fully illustrated account Choice Magazine

About the Author

Mary Hollingsworth is a scholar of the Italian Renaissance, and author of The Cardinal's Hat, The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty and Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century.