The House of Borgia [Hardcover]

The raison d'etre of this book is to illustrate the lives and times of the members of the Borgia family, and that it does quite vividly.
However, it has its flaws. The book places its reader in the uneasy position in which one is either flooded with needless information (to take one example: a description, in minute detail, of the clothing worn by a servant of a protagonist on some occasion or other), or one is left wanting for it- perhaps a motive or a context.
But that aside, you will, as a reader, find yourself not only understanding the characters, but also empathising with them. If that's not a sign of a good biography, I don't know what is.

I was somewhat surprised to see Christopher Hibbert's name on this book, associating him much more with his works on military leaders (such as his excellent Wellington: A Personal History). However the subject is not such a mismatch as I had thought, since Hibbert had also written a well reviewed book on Rome Rome: The Biography of a City, so there is an obvious cross-over.
For all that this, his last book, does not really bid fair to be remembered as one of his best. Nothing can remove his great skill as a writer, and this, combined with his obvious deep knowledge of the history of Rome make this a very pleasant read, with pictures of the city well evoked and an excellent narrative pull. However there is no real depth to the book when it comes to the subject. The Borgias have attracted a good deal of scholarship and passion in a variety of other writers. Hibbert seems to lack the passion for the subject which one would really expect, and it is not made up for by any in depth analysis of the work of other historians. I found it an enjoyable canter through the Borgias, but I had no sense that it added anything to my (rather small) store of knowledge on the subject. I agree with a previous reviewer that it is best suited as an introductory work. However for this purpose it has one absolutely appalling lack (the reason why I can't in conscience go higher than three stars): it has no pictures! Now in my view this kind of light history (particularly about a family who were surrounded by the cream of the rennaissance) imperatively requires pictures. As a result I suspect that there are better choices out there for anyone looking to read about the Borgias: if you know anythng much already, this won't be detailed enough for you, and if you dont, you will be annoyed by the necessity of looking elsewhere to put a face to the names ...

THE HOUSE OF BORGIA

by Christopher Hibbert

This, Hibbert's last project - an overview of the notorious Borgias, who ruled the Papal states and other Italian territories at the end of the fifteenth century - is a descriptive, but slightly unfocused and old fashioned history.

It gives equal time to the three most infamous Borgias - Rodrigo (who became Pope Alexander VI in 1492), his indomitable son Cesare, and his popular but frequently scandalised daughter Lucrezia.
The first pages establish the milieu of the Papacy from the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries; the rivalries, corruption, and overt politicizing of the office. It is through this instability that a character such as Rodrigo Borgia, a Cardinal since 1456, can rise to become Pope. Alexander VI was a shrewd schemer; he knew how to get what he wanted and when to push for it. His son Cesare outshined him with his penchant for military maneuvers to consolidate as much Italian territory as he could manage. Cesare was relentless in his pursuit of power and his brazen arrogance led to many a kidnapping and murder, usually denied by him when challenged. Lucrezia was born, and for most of her life lived, in luxury with a smattering of servants at her whim. Her early years are usually remembered as that of sexual scandal and licentious behaviour. Yet she endeared herself to anybody she came into company with, not only taking adoring lovers but winning over people who were at some stage or another wary of the Duchess of Ferrera (as she became in 1502, from her third marriage).

The House of Borgia is a facts-only overview of the family which involved a plethora of individuals - rivals, alliances, royals - were at some point or another entangled in the Borgia web. The story is not short of murder, sacking, pillaging, and sexual affairs. What's often believed to a scandalous aspect of the Borgias, the alleged incestous relationships of Rodrigo, Cesare, and Lucrezia, is somewhat underplayed but still acknowledged by Hibbert as he mentions a jilted partner of Lucrezia possibly concocting such scandal as an act of revenge. Whatever of the veracity of the stories, they stuck in the minds of Italians (an distinctly Catholic fascination with all things prurient). The Borgia men were fond of sexual bravura and certainly Cesare suffered for much of his adult life as a result of his seemingly limitless sexual proclivities (often bed-ridden by the effects of syphillus, skin-falling-from-his-face-requiring-him-to-wear-a-mask bad).

Hibbert however sticks strictly to descriptions of events and offers very little in the way of opinion. This can be admirable in a strict historical fact sense but for historical reading it gets tiresome. There's no summarising at any point of the book, most noticeably at the conclusion (maybe the most anti-climatic conclusion of a history book I've read). Hibbert certainly seems to be have been smitten with Lucrezia; he went to lengths to construct a forgiving, even loving portrait of her (no surprises she adorns the cover). While he seems to want to punish Cesare by mentioning his 1507 death in a passing reference. You could miss it and find yourself at the end wondering: "What happened to Cesare?" His account of Pope Alexander VI's death is more skillful, illustrating the ignominous nature of his disposal. At times Hibbert goes on too long in repetitive if not pointless descriptions of certain events, especially ones where ducats are involved. Apart from the start of the book, there is no contextualising and no character evaluation (with mild exception of Lucrezia). For a descriptive overview of the Borgias that is fine but for readers who want something more, you need to look elsewhere.

5.5