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 enlarge | Author: Caroline P. Murphy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.97
You Save: $11.98 (48%)
New (34) Used (18) from $10.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 54127
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0195314395
Dewey Decimal Number: 945.51107092
EAN: 9780195314397
ASIN: 0195314395
Publication Date: April 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: All orders ship from Florida each day. We value your satisfaction and our feedback! Thanks ZI65
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-7 of 7 | | « PREV | | |
 Fascinating True Story May 8, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the fascinating true story of Isabella de Medici, the spunky socialite of Renaissance Florence. She seems like the type of girl you'd want as a friend--independent, interested in the arts, and quite a flirt. The writing is very fluid--you cheer as Isabella runs the show and gasp at her husband's bold violence.
 A Renaissance woman's tragic fate March 31, 2008
33 out of 35 found this review helpful
Isabella de' Medici (1542-1576) sparkled among the glittering ruling family of Florence, but she was tragically snuffed out in the prime of her life. In a further injustice, her brother Francesco, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, tried to erase her from memory, an injustice that Caroline Murphy has done an admirable job of rectifying in this fascinating biography of Isabella.
Isabella was the third child of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence (second cousin of Catherine de' Medici, the Queen of France) and Eleonora di Toledo (of Spanish nobility). The Duke and Duchess enjoyed a very happy marriage, and Isabella had a happy childhood and particularly an excellent education. In 1558 it was arranged for her to marry Paolo Giordano Orsini, a degenerate profligate from a prominent Roman family. He was created Duke of Bracciano on account of his Medici connections, but Isabella visited his castle only briefly. She opted instead to stay in her beloved Florence, where she lived a luxurious, celebrated life independent of her husband in Rome. (She had an affair, and he had many.) Her independence was possible because of her husband's indebtedness to her father and her father's influence--he was soon elevated to Grand Duke of Tuscany.
After Cosimo's death, his eldest son Francesco became the new Grand Duke and was much less sympathetic to Isabella. He reneged on Cosimo's promise to provide for Isabella's two children (Paolo was busy spending his children's inheritance in Rome), so Isabella stayed in Florence to negotiate the children's affairs. Paolo started asking her to join him in Rome, but she used the negotiations as well as her health as an excuse to refuse. Eventually matters came to a head when Francesco banished Isabella's lover and Paolo went to Florence ostensibly to take Isabella on a hunting trip. Instead, Isabella was cruelly murdered by her husband and a henchman, apparently with Francesco's approval. Her cousin/sister-in-law was similarly killed at this time for the same reason: the Medici family honor. Murphy points out that Francesco sanctioned these honor killings to punish female adultery even though he let much graver crimes go unpunished in Florence--and even though he humiliated his Habsburg wife by keeping his mistress as practically a rival duchess. This is all in sharp contrast to his father Cosimo's having upheld law and order in the city and allowed loose (but not humiliating) morals at court.
Like other powerful and independent Renaissance women--Veronica Franco and Mary Queen of Scots spring to mind--Isabella was both a product and a victim of her time. She enjoyed a degree of autonomy that was rare until the 20th century, and she perished under a medieval system that subjugated women. ("Honor" was an admitted legal defense in Italy until 1981!)
Murphy tells this compelling story well--her writing is fluid if occasionally choppy, and the main characters come to life in the context of local and European politics. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Medici family or the lives of Renaissance women.
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