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Rise and Fall of the Borgias
- Narrated by: William Landon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
Since its rise to the highest ranks of power in Renaissance Europe, the Borgia family has developed a scandalous reputation. While they were indeed ostentatious, calculating, worldly, cruel—and even, occasionally, murderous—listeners may be surprised to find that the Borgias were not terribly different from other powerful and ambitious families of their day. So why has history set them apart as one of the most corrupt and reviled families in history?
In the Rise and Fall of the Borgias, listeners will spend 10 revealing lectures untangling the web of rumors, speculation, and historical embellishment from what is actually known about the infamous Roman family. With Dr. William Landon, listeners will explore the historical context that helped the Borgias make their fortune and better understand how they could be both magnanimous and ruthless, pious and morally suspect.
The story of the Borgias is rich with intrigue, even without the fictional enhancement it has received from the numerous films, novels, and television shows that have been created based on the family’s notoriety. Dr. Landon introduces listeners to the major players and lays bare their machinations to reach the highest offices of church and state. Were their exploits as salacious as listeners have been led to believe? Did they manipulate the papacy for their own gain? Are the rumors of incest, bribery, political assassinations, and other morally questionable behaviors true or the stuff of historical gossip?
As listeners explore these and other rumors surrounding the Borgias, they will pull back the curtain on the historian’s craft and see how the story of this Renaissance dynasty has been shaped over time and how new research and a healthy dose of skepticism has allowed us to get a little closer to the truth—without losing any of the drama.
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Our favorite moments from Rise and Fall of the Borgias
The history of a single family says a lot about the Renaissance!
Facts we all know about the Borgias: They had power. They had Popes. Everything in the Showtime series couldn’t be true. Professor Landon probes why this particular family acquired a reputation for incest, poison, and assassination. Did Rodrigo Borgia (aka Pope Alexander VI) hold orgies in the Vatican, or was he a better-than-average Renaissance pontiff? Was Lucrezia, his daughter—yes, you read that right—a murderous temptress, or merely a woman whose value was to ally her family to other powerful clans through marriage? One overarching question runs through the lectures like silk through brocade: what made the Borgias infamous?
About the Professor
Dr. William Landon is Professor of European History at Northern Kentucky University. He received his MSc and PhD in History, with an emphasis on the life and works of Niccolò Machiavelli, from the University of Edinburgh.
An international authority in the fields of Machiavelli studies, the Renaissance, and the history of ideas, Dr. Landon is also a 2017 recipient of a National Science Foundation Grant. He has published two books: Politics, Patriotism and Language: Niccolò Machiavelli’s "Secular Patria" and the Creation of an Italian National Identity; and Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi and Niccolò Machiavelli: Patron, Client, and the Pistola fatta per la peste/An Epistle Written Concerning the Plague. He is also the presenter of a 24-lecture series on Machiavelli’s The Prince, produced by The Great Courses. Alongside his professional life as a historian, Dr. Landon is a classically trained painter, sculptor, a pianist, a lover of literature and music, and the co-owner/operator of a small organic farm.
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How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
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Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
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What listeners say about Rise and Fall of the Borgias
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brian K. Cutshall
- 05-05-23
A brief history of the Borgias
A very compelling history of the Borgia family. It was a great listen and highly recommend it.
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 11-02-21
Excellent!
One of the most well researched biographies I've read on the Borgias. Well done!
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- JL
- 02-18-22
Fascinating historical portrait
This really made me think about the roll of gossip and backbiting in history and today. History is always more complicated than it appears on the surface. These lectures on the Borgias were wonderful and entertaining, neither glossing over, nor glorifying this powerful family. Time and credit well spent.
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- Bessie Mae
- 01-24-22
Informative
I certainly didn't know the first thing about the Borgia family before listening to these lectures. I learned a great deal about the history, religion, and culture of their lives.
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- Justin
- 01-27-22
Not too shaggy, I meant shabby.
Good take on this family. I’m craving more information after completing this, which is fitting for a 5 hour course. Now I’ll have to purchase another audible experience…
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- CManz
- 02-17-20
Ripping Renaissance History
I loved every bit of this course. It's real, sink-your-teeth-in history with all the tension and drama of a PBS or STARZ series, delivered by an actual scholar with a perfect voice, and who tells you when he agrees or disagrees with traditional scholarship. Ideal course and well worth my time and credit.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Will Meza
- 06-07-20
suprisingly good.
I have heard several great course books but this one is one of my favorite. very well done and executed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Chad
- 09-12-21
Pope-pourri
Wow. The Catholic church in the Renaissance was REALLY messed up. Popes of the era were essentially caligulas currying and sharing political favor and giving in (sometimes publicly) to carnal debauchery. And that's without even considering the Inquisition. It's a wonder the churh has followers.
Oh, right, the Borgias. This goes over the history of the family members, what they were accused of, and what they actually did. The key takeaway is that they are far from angels, but also far from the extremes they have been historically accused of. They weren't great people, but they acted quite similarly to their peers.
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- Roman
- 11-13-21
Excellent
Highly recommended for history lovers. This professor also lectures on Machiavelli and Medici, he is excellent.
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- Alicia Castro
- 01-30-24
Revealing
The author sorts out the sources used by historians, and traces much of the stories about the Borgias to disinformation spread by their enemies and from those who disliked their Spanish roots. He shows us the Borgias' licentiousness and ruthlessness, but recognizes these things as common in the culture of Italian power at that time - they just did everything more openly and with more enjoyment.
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