The beauty and the terror : the Italian renaissance and the rise of the west
Catherine Fletcher (Author)
"The period between 1492--resonant for a number of reasons--and 1571, when the Ottoman navy was defeated in the Battle of Lepanto, embraces what we know as the Renaissance, one of the most dynamic and creatively explosive epochs in world history. Here is the period that gave rise to so many great artists and figures, and which by its connection to its classical heritage enabled a redefinition, even reinvention, of human potential. It was a moment both of violent struggle and great achievement, of Michelangelo and da Vinci as well as the Borgias and Machiavelli. At the hub of this cultural and intellectual ferment was Italy. The Beauty and the Terror offers a vibrant history of Renaissance Italy and its crucial role in the emergence of the Western world. Drawing on a rich range of sources--letters, interrogation records, maps, artworks, and inventories--Catherine Fletcher explores both the explosion of artistic expression and years of bloody conflict between Spain and France, between Catholic and Protestant, between Christian and Muslim; in doing so, she presents a new way of witnessing the birth of the West."--Provided by published
History
419 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), map ; 25 cm
9780190908492, 0190908491
1121083036
1492
The fifteenth century
Beyond the Alps
1494: The French descent
The Borgias vs Savonarola
The art of war
Soldiers and society
Wars for the New World
Popes, princes and republics
The run-up to the Reformation
The League of Cambrai
Women and power
The ghetto and the politics of Venice
The battle for the Church
The High Renaissance
From Pavia to Moha̹cs
Wars of Words
The invention of pornography
The sack of Rome
Courtiers and the art of power in Italy and beyond
The empire at war
Weapons of war
The Council of Trent
Art, science and reform
The peace of Cateau-Cambre̹sis
The index and the Inquisition
The Battle of Lepanto
From hard power to soft
"First published in the UK by The Bodley Head in 2020"--Title page verso