Princes of the Renaissance cover art

Princes of the Renaissance

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Princes of the Renaissance

By: Mary Hollingsworth
Narrated by: Karen Cass
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.77

Buy Now for £15.77

About this listen

A history of the Renaissance told through the lives of its most influential patrons. 

From the late Middle Ages, the independent Italian city states were taken over by powerful families who installed themselves as dynastic rulers. Inspired by the humanists, the princes of 15th- and 16th-century Italy immersed themselves in the culture of antiquity, commissioning palaces, villas and churches inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome, and offering patronage to artists and writers. 

Many of these princes were related by blood or marriage, creating a web of alliances that held society together but whose tensions sometimes threatened to tear it apart: thus were their lives dominated as much by the waging of war as the nurture of the artistic talent. 

In a narrative that is as rigorous and closely researched as it is accessible and informative, Mary Hollingsworth sets the princes' aesthetic achievements in the context of the volatile, ever-shifting politics of a tumultuous period of history.

©2021 Mary Hollingsworth (P)2021 W F Howes Consciousness & Thought Europe History Movements Philosophy Renaissance Royalty Middle Ages Italy Ancient History Renaissance History
All stars
Most relevant
Great subject matter. Found the writing and (perhaps because of this), the narration stilted. Disappointing.

So so

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
it was interesting. I recommend for those who are interested in history of Italy

pleased

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration was for me heavy going. A fascinating history presented in a matter of fact way

Well written tremendously interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.