Showing results for "The Renaissance" in Politics & Activism

This magnificent biography of Henry VIII is set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most spectacular court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. An entertaining narrative packed with colourful description and a wealth of anecdotal evidence, but also a comprehensive analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history.

The inspiration for the STARZ original series, The Serpent Queen—second season premiering July 12th! “A beautifully written portrait of a ruthless, subtle and fearless woman fighting for survival and power in a world of gangsterish brutality, routine assassination and religious mania...

Bloomsbury presents Tigress of Forli by Elizabeth Lev, read by Daphne Kouma. If I were to write the story of my life it would shock the world', Caterina Sforza, 1463-1509. As action packed as as a Game of Thrones novel, the complete life of one of Italy's most fearless women. Between her birth...

SOON TO BE THE TV SERIES 'THE SERPENT QUEEN', STARRING SAMANTHA MORTON The bestselling revisionist biography of one of the great women of the 16th century Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at fourteen to the future...

Bloomsbury presents Catherine de' Medici by Mary Hollingsworth, read by Sophie Hunter and Rachel Bavidge. A new biography of Catherine de' Medici, the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe, whose author uses neglected primary sources to recreate the life and times of a remarkable –...

Bloomsbury presents The Graces by Breeze Barrington, read by Phyllida Nash and with the prologue read by Breeze Barrington 'Sparkling ... Britain’s only Italian queen is brought vividly to life' LINDA PORTER A spellbinding work of history that uncovers the inner lives and work of Maria of...

In 1474, a 23-year-old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Ahead of her lay the considerable challenge not only of being a young female ruler in an overwhelmingly male-dominated world but also of reforming a major European kingdom that was riddled with crime, corruption, and violent political factionism. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and setting the stage for its golden era of global dominance.

Born in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort became the greatest heiress of her time. She survived a turbulent life, marrying four times and enduring imprisonment before passing her claim to the crown of England to her son, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs.

Mary Boleyn, ‘the infamous other Boleyn girl’, began her court career as the mistress of the king of France. François I of France would later call her ‘The Great Prostitute’ and the slur stuck. Mary would emerge the sole survivor of a family torn apart by lust and ambition, and it is in Mary and her progeny that the Boleyn legacy rests.