Happy Birthday: Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto.

Her family arranged several marriages for her that advanced their own political position, including to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro and Gradara, Count of Cotignola; Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno; and Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Alfonso of Aragon was an illegitimate son of the King of Naples, and tradition has it that Lucrezia's brother Cesare may have had him murdered after his political value waned.

Notorious tales about her family have cast Lucrezia as a femme fatale, a controversial role in which she has been portrayed in many artworks, novels, and films.

Lucrezia was described as having heavy blonde hair that fell past her knees, a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes that changed colour, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace that made her appear to "walk on air". In another description, the author wrote that "her mouth is rather large, the teeth brilliantly white, her neck is slender and fair, and the bust is admirably proportioned." These physical attributes were highly appreciated in Italy due to the similarity of her description with that of the Roman goddess of arts and war, Minerva.

Since her death, several rumours surrounding Lucrezia have persisted, primarily concerning the nature of the extravagant parties thrown by the Borgia family. One example is the legendary Banquet of Chestnuts. Many of these allegations concern accusations of Lucrezia's involvement in incest, poisoning, and murder. For example, it was rumoured that Lucrezia was in possession of a hollow ring that she used to poison drinks. However, no historical basis for these accusations exists, beyond the attacks of her enemies.

[I've been interested in Lucrezia since watching the 1981 BBC series The Borgias where she was played by Anne-Louise Lambert. With some luck I'll be reading about her and her notorious family later in the year.]

Happy Birthday: Lucrezia de' Medici (14 February 1545 – 21 April 1561).

[I was struggling to find a birthday person this week until I came across this tragic creature.]

She was a member of the House of Medici and by marriage Duchess consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1558 to 1561.

Married to the intended husband of her elder sister Maria, who died young, her marriage was short and unhappy. The Duchess died of pulmonary tuberculosis, but almost immediately after her death there were rumors that she had been poisoned on the orders of her husband. That suspicion inspired the English poet Robert Browning to create a dramatic monologue in verse "My Last Duchess" (1842).

Born in Florence on 14 February 1545, Lucrezia was the fifth child and third daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence (and from 1569 Grand Duke of Tuscany), and Eleanor of Toledo. Her paternal grandparents were the famous condottiere Giovanni delle Bande Nere and Maria Salviati (granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent). Her maternal grandparents were Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Viceroy of Naples, and Maria Osorio, 2nd Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo. Lucrezia was named after her great-grandmother Lucrezia de' Medici (1470–1553) (mother of Maria Salviati).

From childhood, Lucrezia's parents sought suitable marriage candidates for their daughters. From 1549 to 1550, it was planned that Lucrezia would be married to Don Pedro de Aragona y Cardona, 3rd Duke of Montalto. Then in 1552 she was betrothed to Fabio Dal Monte, a nephew of Pope Julius III, but the engagement was canceled after the death of the Pope in 1555.

In 1557, as a sign of reconciliation between Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (who held a pro-French position), and King Philip II of Spain, it was decided that Alfonso d'Este, Hereditary Prince of Ferrara, would marry Maria de' Medici, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I, an ally of Spain. However, Maria died shortly thereafter and Lucrezia took her place.

Once in Ferrara, the already frail Duchess spent almost all her time in her rooms. Less than a year after her arrival, on 21 April 1561, she died, after suffering a month of fever, severe weight loss, constant coughing and a permanently bleeding nose. According to Dr. Andrea Pascvali, sent from Florence to the Duchess by her father, Alfonso was concerned about Lucrezia's state of health during the entire period of her illness. An autopsy by the same doctor revealed that the Duchess had died of "putrid fever"; modern historians believe that her death was caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. Despite this, after her death, there were rumors that she had been poisoned.

Shocked at the death of the young Duchess, Bronzino dedicated a posthumous sonnet to her. Lucrezia is also the heroine of the dramatic monologue in verse, "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, first published under the title "Italy" in 1842, and under the more well-known title in 1845. She is also the subject of the 2022 novel The Marriage Portrait by award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell. Inspired by Browning's poem, her marriage to Alfonso is the subject of Gabrielle Kimm's 2010 novel His Last Duchess.

Happy Birthday: Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince (Il Principe), written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.

For many years he served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is also important to historians and scholars of Italian correspondence. He worked as secretary to the second chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power.

After his death Machiavelli's name came to evoke unscrupulous acts of the sort he advised most famously in his work, The Prince. He concerned himself with the ways a ruler could survive in politics, and knew those who flourished engaged in deception, treachery, and crime. He advised rulers to engage in evil when political necessity requires it, at one point stating that successful founders and reformers of governments should be excused for killing other leaders who would oppose them. Machiavelli's Prince has been surrounded by controversy since it was published. Some consider it to be a straightforward description of political reality. Many view The Prince as a manual, teaching would-be tyrants how they should seize and maintain power. Even into recent times, some scholars, such as Leo Strauss, have restated the traditional opinion that Machiavelli was a "teacher of evil".

Just Finished Reading: The Garments of Court and Palace – Machiavelli and the World that He Made by Philip Bobbit (FP: 2013)

Since his works – most especially The Prince – were published in the 16th Century the political theories of Niccolo Machiavelli have been in print ever since. Translated into a host of languages, taught in universities across the globe and treated both as valued assistant and the very spawn of Satan one thing cannot be argued – that this Renaissance figure has had a massive impact on the western world. This is all the more surprising, says the author, as not only have few people read his works but fewer still have understood them.

The Prince – his most recognised work – has, in particular, been misinterpreted and (I must admit) the author of this work makes a series of impressive arguments laying out why. His main thrust is that the book itself is not what it appears to be. It is not (as it is usually advertised) a work instructing a Prince on how to gain and hold power in the ever changing and highly dangerous world of 16th century Italian politics. Although it does contain elements of this it is most certainly not the main thrust. The treatise is aimed squarely at the ‘new Prince’. Not simply one who has recently come into power but the precursor to a completely new type of state – the constitutional republic. The ‘new’ Prince is one who thinks in the ‘new’ way and who has already, or is on the cusp of, turning away from his feudal roots. The book is for him – which is why it seemingly shocked the older-style Prince with its harsh pragmatism and the ability to look reality in the face rather than attempt to see things as they should be in an ideal world. But there is more. There is the historical context to be considered.
At the time he was writing the Italy of Machiavelli consisted of warring city states increasingly at the mercy of the great powers of the day – France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Individual cities, or even cities in temporary alliance, could not hope to stand against these regional superpowers. Only by allying themselves to the great and the good could they hope to survive – but Machiavelli wanted much more than survival: he wanted political independence and saw his advice to new Princes the way forward. Machiavelli, the author maintains, was a many simply ahead of his time. Not only did he foresee the constitutional republican state generations ahead of anyone else he saw such a state as the saviour of Italy. The many misunderstandings of his writings reflect the fact that he was, in effect, writing for future generations and for leaders of states than did not yet exist  but which he would (potentially at least) bring into existence. It’s an interesting idea and one that the author makes a very good case for. Italian political history of that period is both fascinating and deeply disturbing – full of intrigue and frankly alarming characters like Cesare Borgia. When I have the time to at least try to get my head around the twists and turns of that ages diplomatic wrangling’s I’ll give it a go. But that’ll have to wait post-retirement.

Overall I liked this book very much. The author knew his stuff and looked at things from some interesting angles which might actually answer some of the questions raised about Machiavelli and his ideas. From time to time a few faint alarm bells went off – essentially a vague whiff of right-wing thinking – but I just ignored them and read on….. until that is I read the Appendix entitled Machiavelli Today. Here the author made a rather strange observation. He said that Machiavelli stood at the crossroads of a transition between the Feudal State and the more modern Constitutional Republics we all know and love today. Meanwhile in our world we are, at least according to the author of this work, at another political crossroads – this time between the Nation State and the Market State. This Market State defines itself in terms of fostering market expansion to provide a wide range of public goods. Not simply that the Market should be used where it can work best but that the Market IS the system and that government (in its surviving form) has only one function: to ensure that nothing interferes with or disturbs the Market in its operation. So, no Social Security, no State Healthcare, no State education or anything else for that matter. Everything, and the author clearly says EVERYTHING is provided for by the Market. Naturally I disagreed – strongly. Not only would such a system be inhumane it would, necessarily I believe, be very short lived. A full no holds barred Market system would be so horrific that the citizens of any such State would rise up and destroy it before it destroyed them. Personally I would enjoy watching it burn. So, after enjoying this book very much I couldn’t help leaving it with a bad taste in my mouth. I had added a further book from the author to my Amazon Wish List but this has now been removed. But there are plenty more books on a whole host of subjects just waiting to be purchased never fear. Interesting in many ways – just skip the Appendix.           

Just Finished Reading: Machiavelli – A Man Misunderstood by Michael White

After reading his less than informative biography of Leonardo I wasn’t expecting much from this further foray into Renaissance Italian history. I was, however, rather surprised to find this a much superior work. Although I am interested in the period (as I am in other ‘Periods of Transition’) I admit that my knowledge of it is largely shallow and fleeting. I certainly know more now.

Dealing with the turbulent times from the end of the end of the 15th Century into beginning of the 16th White’s book follows Niccolo Machievelli’s life as he rose to prominence in the Florentine Government then crashed to Earth as his fate changed for the worse. Fortunately for the world – or not depending on your point of view – during this exile he penned his greatest works amongst which were The Prince and Discourses which both discussed politics in often graphic and uncompromising detail. Despite using examples from antiquity (or maybe because of that) as well as personal experience of diplomatic missions to some of the most infamous politicians and religious leaders in the medieval world, Machiavelli produced timeless classics that can still be read for insight 500 years later.

This volume didn’t change my opinion of Machiavelli (which was its clearly stated aim) for the reason that I had hardly formed an opinion of the man – except one of admiration of his unblushing acceptance of human nature – so the book ‘failed’ in that respect. However, I am now certainly more informed about the fascinating, if somewhat bizarre and chaotic, history of Renaissance Italy and its relationship with the rest of Europe. The Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance can, I think, teach us a great deal about the multi-polar world we are moving into and the works of Machiavelli deserve study for that reason. I actually have several copies of The Prince which I tried, and failed, to read in my youth. Maybe I’ll appreciate it now that I’m a bit more mature and a lot more cynical. I will, of course, review it here when I finally do get around to reading it.

Just Finished Reading: Leonardo – The First Scientist by Michael White

This was a biography of the great Renaissance genius and polymath Leonardo Da Vinci. Tracing his life from rather humble beginnings as an illegitimate son of a wealthy man to the heights of his powers the book concentrated more on his scientific and technological thoughts rather than on his more well known artistic achievements. It also gave a flavour of the chaotic times he lived though together with the other notables of Renaissance Italy he rubbed shoulders with.

As a fan of Leonardo and the Renaissance I was looking forward to reading this book. I was however rather disappointed by its lack of substance. White freely admits that little is known of Leonardo’s private life but does not let this restrict his speculations regarding it. He draws what I regarded as profound implications from sketchy information and pseudo-scientific psychoanalysis in an attempt to understand Leonardo’s often passionate motivations. I was also disappointed by the lack of analysis of Leonardo’s inventions – such as the parachute and (arguably) the helicopter – as well as the rather wide interpretation of what the profession of science is. Whilst it does indeed appear from Da Vinci’s writings that he had some idea of the scientific method he was also very much a man of his time and although his experimental work did prompt his questioning of received wisdom he often drew the wrong conclusions because of his medieval mind-set. Da Vinci may have been an early proto-scientist but White fails to make the case that he was the ‘first’ scientist. Interesting in parts, but ultimately a rather disappointing book.