107 of 110 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A story of family conflicts, furious politics and a mystery, May 22, 2008
This review is from: Murder of a Medici Princess (Hardcover)
At first, I scoffed at the title, thinking that this might be a work of fiction, and a real potboiler at that. And to be honest, despite my fondness for historical novels, nearly every other novel set in the sixteenth century seemed lately to be centered on either Tudor England or Renaissance Italy -- and both of them done to death.
But in spite of my misgivings, this turned out to be a stunning read. Caroline Murphy, author of a previous book on women and politics, has continued her stories of women who played an influental role in the backgrounds of Italian history. This time, the focus is on the city of Florence and the powerful Medici family.
Begining with the fall of the Medici, the book focuses on a member of the junior branch of the family who brought the glory back to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was a consummate politican and manipulator, but also a fervid patron of the arts and architecture. With his wife, the beautiful Eleonora di Toledo (who was known as La Fecundissima) they had eleven children, many of them sons, but Cosimo's favourite was his daughter Isabella.
A middle child in a huge brood of offspring, she was closest to her brother, Giovanni, and they could be found together constantly, playing games and partnering each other in dancing lessons. Several paintings survive of the princess, a lovely dark haired child with expressive eyes and nearly a smirk on her lips as she surveys the world before her. Clearly she is her father's darling, and knows it. When it came time for her to marry, her father brokered a deal with the Orsini family, based in Rome, and a wedding to Paolo Giordano d'Orsini, a young man with an itch for power and money, and seemingly in love and adoration with Isabella to judge from his letters.
But Cosimo slipped a small clause into the wedding contract -- Isabella would only accompany her husband to his home in Rome if she wanted to. It was a curious condition to the marriage, especially in a time where women were considered to be not much more than two legged birthing machines and subject to abuse and violence from their spouses. For a time, all went well between the couple -- Paolo was off working for advanage of both the Medici and the Orsini, with Cosimo supplying plenty of money for his spendthrift son, and keeping his daughter by his side. He indulged her as best he could, supplying her with the trappings of the high life in the artistic capital of the world.
Isabella created a world of poets and music, sending a steady supply of letters to her husband, letters that were filled with assurances of her love and devotion. But read between the lines, and something else emerges. There's a sly quality to the letters, something that bothers the reader, and if read carefully enough, it becomes clear that Isabella doesn't care very much for her absent husband, and is determined to live her life as she chooses. Even if that means having a lover or two.
The story takes on a much darker tone as it progresses. Her beloved brother, Giovanni, dies of malaria along with another brother and their mother, word comes of Paolo's affairs with various prostitutes in Rome, and Isabella's own growing irritation of her husband. And when Cosimo dies, Isabella tries to keep her glittering fantasy of a life going, but it might already be too late...
This is a tale that is not for the squeamish, as Murphy doesn't hold back on the lives, and especially the deaths, of various members of the Medici family, and also of more ordinary folks. The book is filled with details about daily living, clothing, food, the art of spectacle, and the role of servants and those unseen. What I found very interesting was that the book shifts the focus to women, who usually get shoved to the background of most history. And the subject of the book, Isabella de' Medici, I had never heard of before.
I happily recommend this book for anyone interested in Renaissance Florence, especially for life after the heyday of Lorenzo di Medici. Caroline Murphy has created a story full of life here, creating a woman that is very vivid and aware. The use of family letters is very effective, giving insights into how their minds works, their hopes and moving them beyond the surviving images that have come down through the centuries.
Along with the story, the book is full of black and white drawings taken from the time, which give little snapshots of the world that the Medici moved in. A map of Florence at the time give a sense of place. A genealogical chart sorts out the many branches of the Medici family, and helps to keep everyone straight. Along with the illustrations in the text, there is a gorgeous collection of colour plates, with several paintings of Isabella along with the other players in the story. An extensive bibliography gives enticing suggestions for further research, along with footnotes and an index.
I suspect that this is a book that is going to hit one of my top-ten book lists for 2008. It is a stunning story that breathes new life into what I had thought was a stale topic, and has renewed my interest in Renaissance life and culture.
Caroline Murphy has also written The Pope's Daughter, which does have a tie-in to this story, as Paolo is the grandson of Felice della Rovere, another woman of the Renaissance who was able to hold her own and more in what was very much a man's world.
Five stars overall.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Renaissance woman's tragic fate, March 31, 2008
This review is from: Murder of a Medici Princess (Hardcover)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe a little over-hyped on the cover and description, June 15, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
When I picked this book up, I was expecting a historical blockbuster, the kind that is better than historical fiction because it is all true. I was hoping for
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, instead I got a painfully researched, academic book that was a bit painful to read. The fact that it is meticulously researched was fabulous, the subject matter - extremely interesting. The book , eh. I kept thinking I will fall in love with Isabella and be crying when she is murdered. But it didn't happen. When she is bumped off - I felt relief, thank goodness the book is over, yet it continued for three more chapters. Seriously.
I love History, I love historical fiction, I don't know what was missing from this - perhaps it is the Midwife's Tale of Florence, but I kept finding myself wondering who cared about this person and why was this book written? The point? The time period is a fascinating one, the contrivances of court and how things got done in royal society was so intriguing but Isabella never came into her own. I never heard her voice through Caroline P. Murphy. However, I do not regret reading it. It was a good book. But it was also a book I could put down easily and fell asleep reading it more than once. I loved the details but got lost once in awhile with the names, everyone seemed to be named the same thing. Isabella, the Medici Princess seemed so vibrant and full of life but the book never captures that as well as I kept hoping it would. Does anyone know is there a good historical fiction book out there about Isabella?
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
