The Medici Popes: Leo X and Clement VII

by Herbert Millingchamp Vaughan

This classic book contains the biographies of the well-known Medici Popes, Leo X. and Clement VII., and will make an excellent addition to the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the subject. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Genres: History

359 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2014

About the author

Welsh author, historian, and bibliographer

Reviews

[Adam McPhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of stilted turn of the century prose, but who else is out there writing about the Medici popes? There's an episode in the life of Leo X that I was looking for more information on and this provided an explanation and gave me some names to google to find out more. Can't ask for better than that.

[Jo Walton]

Did you know Lorenzo de Medici had a giraffe? It was the first giraffe seen in Europe since Julius Caesar. Lorenzo got it from the Sultan of Egypt, in return for a favour. He let it wander around Florence delighting the people, and it can be seen in the background of a bunch of Renaissance paintings.

I've read a lot about Lorenzo, but I had no idea of this fascinating piece of information before reading this book, which is full of similar gossip, along with speculation about Cardinal Bibbiena's bathroom.

This is lively, well-written, and has all the virtues and flaws of a book written in 1908 -- and beware of some genuinely shocking and utterly unnecessary antiSemitism. (There's not much, but what's there is bad.)

Vaughan is great on primary sources and gossip. There have been discoveries since the book was written, but he can't help that. Nobody else is out there writing me a biography of Leo X -- and that's what this really is. He's not very interested in Clement really, and he very much takes the somewhat bizarre position that you couldn't expect much, given his illegitimacy. But considered as a biography of Leo, and taking Vaughan's prejudices with a huge hunk of salt, this is full of detail and pretty solid -- it checks well against other information. But you'd want to read it for information, not really for fun, though it is fun.

If you're a biographer looking for a subject, Leo X is fascinating, you know, I'd be really interested in a modern biography, and this would make a really useful source.

[Asia Palladino · Rating 4 out of 5]

letto per motivi accademici, l'ho trovato utile, ben scritto, a tratti anche divertente