Christine Shaw

Julius II was one of the most remarkable and colourful men ever to sit on the papal throne. His vigour, determination, ambition, passion for action, and notorious temper were more suited to the soldier he probably would have preferred to be than to the ecclesiastical potentate he became under the patronage of his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV. As a cardinal...

Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539), is one of the most studied figures of Renaissance Italy, known as an epitome of Renaissance court culture and as a woman having an unusually prominent role in the politics of her day. This biography provides a well-rounded account of the full range of her activities and interests from her childhood to her final...