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Caterina Sforza Part 6 - The Siege of Forli
Gina Mckee as Caterina Sforza at the Siege of ForliMy last entry on Caterina Sforza was a while ago, and for that I apologise. The Renaissance in general has just taken over my life recently, and in...
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The Marriage of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso of Aragon
Holliday Grainger and Sebastian De Souza as Lucrezia and Alfonso in Showtime's The BorgiasThink of Lucrezia Borgia, and the majority of people will say that she was a seductress who had a ring filled...
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The Donkey At Bracciano
The Donkey in Juan's tent, from Canal+'s "Borgia"Juan Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia, was never really cut out to be a soldier. He was arrogant and self centred, and failed more than succeeding at...
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My Top Ten Historical Books of 2012
It's getting to that time of year again. You know what I mean I'm sure. That time when I go through all of the books I've read this year and pick out my top ten. Now, considering as how this is a...
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Rome: A History of the Eternal City
I started watching this a couple of weeks ago after seeing a conversation on twitter. I watched the first couple of episodes of Rome: A History of the Eternal City and loved them from the outset. The...
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A Little Christmas Message
I just wanted to drop in amongst the Christmas madness and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Thank you all for joining me on the incredible journey that this blog has been through and I hope you'll...
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The Election and Coronation of Pope Leo X
Leo X by Peter Paul RubensIn 1513, Pope Julius II died. Julius is probably better known as Giuliano della Roverre, the arch nemesis of Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia - yet he really was a...
View ArticleHappy New Year
Just a little something from me to say both Happy New Year, and thank you for all of your support. With a special guest appearance from Cesare the stretching chinchilla.
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Cesare Borgia and the Great Pox
Cesare Borgia by Altobello MeloneOne of the most well known facts about Cesare Borgia, aside from the fact that he was a bit (a lot) of a sociopath who seemed to enjoy having people killed, is that he...
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Clarice Orsini and Lorenzo de Medici
In the spring of 1467 Lorenzo de Medici's mother, Lucrezia Tournabuoni, went to Rome. Using the pretext of an incognito visit to her brother, managers of the Rome branch of the Medici bank, she was...
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Cesare Borgia's Spanish Imprisonment
The castle of Chinchilla, SpainTowards the end of 1503, after the death of his father and a particularly virulent illness, Cesare Borgia found himself faced with the election of one of his family's...
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100,000 page views giveaway extravaganza!
I'm getting rather excited by the fact that we're inching ever closer to hitting 100,000 page views. And so, I thought I would announce a bit of a giveaway! I'm not only giving away one thing, oh no....
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The Borgia Apartments In The Vatican
The Disputation of St Catherine - PinturicchioAfter Rodrigo Borgia became Pope in 1492, he planned a whole new set of rooms for his personal use. These rooms still exist today, and in them survive a...
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Giveaway winner!
So last night, as many of you will have seen on facebook and twitter, we surpassed the 100,000 page view mark!As promised, now we've reached that mark, I shall announce the winner of the...
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The Coronation of Charles I - A Guest Post by Jennie Gillions
Today's post comes courtesy of Jennie Gillions, author of the fabulous blog "Ink Under Skin" which is all about tattoos and skin art in history. Now, I adore tattoos; heck I'm even planning on getting...
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The Phantom of the Opera - 1st February 2013
This isn't something I'd normally post on here but I thought I'd break away from tradition and post a little review of the Phantom of the Opera, which I saw on the 1st February at the Mayflower in...
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It Really Is Richard III then.
I'm sure you've all heard the news...This morning, the archaeological team at Leicester University announced the results from their testing of human remains found at the Greyfriars archaeological...
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Looking back: 7th February 1497 - The Bonfire of the Vanities
Today, in 1497: Girolamo Savonarola organised one of the most infamous moments in Renaissance history - the Bonfire of the Vanities. Here's an old post I wrote on the subject...***Savanarola by Fra...
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The Pope Resigned? He's Not The First!
A few days ago it was announced that our current Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, will be retiring at the end of this month. As I'm sure you're all aware, I have a huge interest in the history of the Roman...
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Review: The Borgias - The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer
They burst out of obscurity in Spain not only to capture the great prize of the papacy, but to do so twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century—as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and...
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