Lucrezia Borgia : Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy

The very name Lucrezia Borgia conjures up everything that was sinister and corrupt about the Renaissance—incest, political assassination, papal sexual abuse, poisonous intrigue, unscrupulous power grabs. Yet, as bestselling biographer Sarah Bradford reveals in this breathtaking new portrait, the truth is far more fascinating than the myth. Neither a vicious monster nor a seductive pawn, Lucrezia Borgia was a shrewd, determined woman who used her beauty and intelligence to secure a key role in the political struggles of her day. Drawing from a trove of contemporary documents and fascinating firsthand accounts, Bradford brings to life the art, the pageantry, and the dangerous politics of the Renaissance world Lucrezia Borgia helped to create. Sarah Bradford's Lucrezia Bogia: Life, Love and Death in Renaissance Italy is the first biography of Lucrezia Borgia for over sixty years .Lucrezia Borgia - an infamous murderess or simply the victim of bad press? Lucrezia Borgia's name has echoed through history as a byword for evil - a poisoner who committed incest with her natural father, Pope Alexander VI, and with her brother, Cesare Borgia. Long considered the most ruthless of Italian Renaissance noblewomen, her tarnished reputation has prevailed long since her own lifetime. In this definitive biography, a work of huge scholarship and erudition, Sarah Bradford gives a fascinating account of Lucrezia's life in all its colourful controversy. Daughter, sister, wife and mother, Lucrezia Borgia was surrounded by wealth, privilege and intrigue. But what was the truth behind her extraordinary existence - was she a monster of cruelty and deceit, or simply the pawn of her power-hungry father and brother? 'Sarah Bradford writes with cool authority and her research in Italian archives is exemplary. No other biography is likely to bring us closer to Lucrezia' Spectator 'Bradford's forte, ever since she was a history-mad girl, is thinking herself into other lives' Daily Telegraph Sarah Bradford is a historian and biographer. Her books include Cesare Borgia (1976), Disraeli (1982), winner of the New York Times Book of the Year, Princess Grace (1984), Sacherevell Sitwell (1993), Elizabeth: A Biography of Her Majesty the Queen (1996), America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (2000), Lucrezia Borgia (2005) and Diana (2007). She frequently appears on television as an authority on her biographical subjects and as a commentator on notable royal events. She is currently working on a full scale biography of Queen Victoria. She lives in London.

the Very Name Lucrezia Borgia Conjures Up Everything That Was Sinister And Corrupt About The Renaissance—incest, Political Assassination, Papal Sexual Abuse, Poisonous Intrigue, Unscrupulous Power Grabs. Yet, As Bestselling Biographer Sarah Bradford Reveals In This Breathtaking New Portrait, The Truth Is Far More Fascinating Than The Myth. Neither A Vicious Monster Nor A Seductive Pawn, Lucrezia Borgia Was A Shrewd, Determined Woman Who Used Her Beauty And Intelligence To Secure A Key Role In The Political Struggles Of Her Day.

Drawing From A Trove Of Contemporary Documents And Fascinating Firsthand Accounts, Bradford Brings To Life The Art, The Pageantry, And The Dangerous Politics Of The Renaissance World Lucrezia Borgia Helped To Create.

the New Yorker

historians Who Have Attempted To Rescue Lucrezia Borgia From Her Legend As A Poisoner Who Slept With Both Her Father, Pope Alexander Vi, And Her Brother, Cesare Borgia, Have Mostly Described Her As A Pawn. Indeed, Before She Was Twenty-one She Was Twice Married Off To Men Who Were Disposed Of Once Their Political Usefulness Expired. (the First Had To Declare Himself Impotent And Grant Her A Divorce; The Second Was Strangled In His Bed.) Bradford Sees Lucrezia Neither As A Helpless Victim Nor A Femme Fatale But As A Resourceful Individual—an Able Administrator, A Genuinely Religious Woman, And The Equal In Political Skill, If Not In Brutality, Of Her Notorious Male Relatives. When The Family Of Her Third Husband Balked At Alliance With A Woman Described As The “greatest Whore There Ever Was In Rome,” She Used All Her Craft And Charm To Win Them Over—by, Among Other Things, Making Her Pious Prospective Father-in-law A Gift Of Several Nuns.

A sympathetic portrait of the infamous Renaissance woman discusses her origins as the illegitimate child of Pope Alexander VI, forced first marriage at the age of thirteen, increasing power over the course of two subsequent marriages, and shrewd choices in the face of the era's political struggles Discusses the infamous Renaissance woman's origins as the illegitimate child of Pope Alexander VI, forced first marriage at the age of thirteen, increasing power during two subsequent marriages, and role in the era's political struggles. At the time of Lucrezia Borgia's birth in 1480, Italy was famously a geographical expression rather than a country, a peninsula divided into independent states bound by the weakest sense of common nationality.