This purports to be a history of a single family, but it’s really a history of the entire Italian renaissance. The Medici just happened to dominate that time period.
It’s interesting to see how the Medici crossed paths with so many other legendary people of that period. Da Vinci and Michelangelo and Machiavelli all make appearances.
I was also surprised at the bloodshed. I had notions of the beauty of thought and reason in that era, but the Italians of that period were absolutely horrific to one another. There’s a lot of … murdering. And some of the ways in which they killed each other were incredibly barbaric. There’s an extended passage where a man is tortured to death, then finally – mercifully – killed and buried, only to be dug up, dragged around town, and his corpse hung from a tree until it slow fell to pieces as it rotted.
The church dominated the period. Everyone seemed to be angling to become Pope or a bishop or something. For a while, the church seemed to simply be an extension of family power.
In the end, the book gets tedious. There’s a lot of people to keep track of, and it’s easy to get lost. There are times when it almost descends into just a parade of Italian names, and I was having trouble figuring out who was who.
I’m glad I read it. But prepare yourself. Maybe take notes.
Book Info
Author
Paul Strathern
Year
Pages
464
Acquired
I have read this book. According to my records, I completed it on .
A hardcover copy of this book is currently in my home library.
Here are some notes I took on the acquisition of this book:
This depends on the context, but it normally means a person who rules or reigns. More specifically, it can mean: Someone who rules in the absence of the actual ruler. If a king dies and the royal line leads to a child, for example, then a “regent” was often appointed to govern until the child comes...
This is a vague word, generally meaning the studies of things centered around human beings, their culture and condition. The opposing field is science, including social sciences like law and economics. A review of several sources produced this list of fields of studies that can fall under the...
This is a term most closely aligned with the Catholic church of the Italian renaissance. A legate was a representative of the church with decision-making powers, since geography and transportation at the time prevented easy communication with a central authority. Several definitions compared it to...
This is and outdated term for a stroke. It was used to refer to someone dying spontaneously, usually due to some internal bleeding, often cerebral. As an adjective, to be “apoplectic,” is to be angry to the (figurative) verge of having a stroke. I don’t think anyone was every literally apoplectic....
When considering ages or eras of history, framing is very important. The first thing you need to understand is that these time periods are wildly imprecise, for a couple reasons: (1) they naturally overlap, and (2) you need to decide the “altitude” from which you’re going to consider them. At the...
