Legends of the Renaissance

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." – Leonardo A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? When historians are asked to pick a point in history when Western civilization was transformed and guided down the path to modernity, most of them point to the Renaissance. Indeed, the Renaissance revolutionized art, philosophy, religion, sciences and math, with individuals like Galileo, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dante, and Petrarch bridging the past and modern society. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Renaissance, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important men and women of the Renaissance in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. The Renaissance also spawned the use of the label "Renaissance Man" to describe a person who is extremely talented in multiple fields, and no discussion of the Renaissance is complete without the original "Renaissance Man", Leonardo da Vinci. Indeed, if 100 people are asked to describe Leonardo in one word, they might give 100 answers. As the world's most famous polymath and genius, Leonardo found time to be a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. It would be hard to determine which field Leonardo had the greatest influence in. His "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" are among the most famous paintings of all time, standing up against even Michelangelo's work. But even if he was not the age's greatest artist, Leonardo may have conducted his most influential work was done in other fields. His emphasis on the importance of Nature would influence Enlightened philosophers centuries later, and he sketched speculative designs for gadgets like helicopters that would take another 4 centuries to create. Leonardo's vision and philosophy were made possible by his astounding work as a mathematician, engineer and scientist. At a time when much of science was dictated by Church teachings, Leonardo studied geology and anatomy long before they truly even became scientific fields, and he used his incredible artistic abilities to sketch the famous Vitruvian Man, linking art and science together. Leonardo also conducted scientific experiments using empirical methods nearly 150 years before Rene Descartes' "Discourse on Method." As Leonardo explained in his writings, "Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress." Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Leonardo da Vinci chronicles Leonardo's amazing life and work, analyzing the lasting legacy he left across the arts and sciences. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Leonardo like you never have before, in no time at all.

"Cesare Borgia was considered cruel; nonetheless, that cruelty united Romagna and brought it peace and stability. On careful reflection, he was more merciful than the Florentines, who, in order to avoid being seen as cruel, allowed Pistoia to be destroyed. Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies." – Machiavelli, The Prince A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? When historians are asked to pick a point in history when Western civilization was transformed and guided down the path to modernity, most of them point to the Renaissance. Indeed, the Renaissance revolutionized art, philosophy, religion, sciences and math, with individuals like Galileo, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dante, and Petrarch bridging the past and modern society. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Renaissance, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important men and women of the Renaissance in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. In one of the most famous political treatises in history, Niccolo Machiavelli famously advises those who hold power that it is better to be feared than loved. Though he uses Cesare as a cautionary tale about acquiring power through the good-will and powers of another person (his father, Pope Alexander VI), it is clear in The Prince that Machiavelli holds out Cesare as a skillful, effective ruler and administrator. In many ways, Cesare has been characterized as the "prince" Machiavelli tells his readers to be. As one translator of The Prince put it, Cesare is "cited as a type of the man who rises on the fortune of others, and falls with them; who takes every course that might be expected from a prudent man but the course which will save him; who is prepared for all eventualities but the one which happens; and who, when all his abilities fail to carry him through, exclaims that it was not his fault, but an extraordinary and unforeseen fatality." 500 years after Cesare's death, he and his family have come to be associated more with crime, specifically murder and state-sponsored violence. While 21st century TV series have cast the Borgias as the first organized crime family, the rumors spread by the family's political opponents in the late 15th century have taken hold among a fascinated public. Did Cesare really have an incestuous relationship with sister Lucrezia? Did he really kill his own brother Giovanni (Juan)? While Cesare may not have been as colorful or criminal as the enduring legends, there is no question he was manipulative, ruthless and, for a short time at least, effective. He helped make his father's papacy a success, but his rise was as dramatic as his fall. To the extent that the Borgias are still associated with murder and mayhem, Cesare's actions can be credited with the lion's share of the perception. Not surprisingly, almost everything about Cesare's life is still up for debate, even one long-held assertion by the likes of Alexandre Dumas that Cesare's likeness was used by Renaissance artists to paint images of Jesus Christ during and after his life. Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Cesare Borgia chronicles Cesare's life and discusses the legends and myths about his life in an attempt to separate fact from fiction. Along with pictures of important people in his life, you will learn about Cesare like you never have before, in no time at all.

"I had determined to go as far as declaring in abstruse and puzzling utterances the future causes of the "common advent", even those truly cogent ones that I have foreseen. Yet lest whatever human changes may be to come should scandalise delicate ears, the whole thing is written in nebulous form, rather than as a clear prophecy of any kind." – Nostradamus A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? When historians are asked to pick a point in history when Western civilization was transformed and guided down the path to modernity, most of them point to the Renaissance. Indeed, the Renaissance revolutionized art, philosophy, religion, sciences and math, with individuals like Galileo, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dante, and Petrarch bridging the past and modern society. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Renaissance, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important men and women of the Renaissance in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. It's safe to say that there have been countless prophets and seers throughout history, but only one Nostradamus (1503-1566). Nostradamus has become a pop culture fixture even among those who find nothing of note in his work, and he is a cult figure among those who pore through his prophecies to look for proof that he foresaw major world events centuries ahead of time. Nostradamus spent most of his life as an apothecary at the height of the Renaissance taking hold across Europe, but by 1550 he was heavily involved in the occult and began to stop practicing medicine. That year he published an almanac that was successful enough to encourage him to keep putting out more almanacs annually. In the process he collected thousands of prophecies. In 1555, Nostradamus published his famous Prophecies, which was to be 1,000 quatrains that created undated prophecies, writing them in Greek, Italian, Latin, and French in the hopes of making his writing obscure enough to avoid religious persecution. Ineed, many considered Nostradamus a fraud or worse, but he found favor among the French Royal family, who found them spiritually inspired, sentiments encouraged by Nostradamus himself naturally. Over time, his other works faded into relative obscurity, but people continued to see what they wanted to see in his Prophecies, which Nostradamus had touted as the work of judicial astrology despite the fact professional astrologers of the time considered his work junk science. And while the Prophecies became wildly popular across the world and had thousands of different commentaries and editions published, modern scholars closely analyzing his writing have found that it is a mixture of Biblical prophecies, ancient end-of-the-world scenarios, and historically inspired events involving Ancient Romans like Sulla and Nero. Nostradamus took pains to claim that he was not truly a prophet, but his vague style has succeeded in making him a legend of history instantly recognizable by one name. Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Nostradamus looks at Nostradamus' life and analyzes his Prophecies, the context within which they were authored, and the different interpretations that have arisen. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Nostradamus like you never have before, in no time at all.

"Lucrezia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse? The question has never been answered…We possess the history of Alexander VI and Cesare, but of Lucrezia Borgia we have little more than a legend, according to which she is a fury, the poison in one hand, the poignard in the other; and yet this baneful personality possessed all the charms and graces." – Ferdinand Gregorovius A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? When historians are asked to pick a point in history when Western civilization was transformed and guided down the path to modernity, most of them point to the Renaissance. Indeed, the Renaissance revolutionized art, philosophy, religion, sciences and math, with individuals like Galileo, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dante, and Petrarch bridging the past and modern society. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Renaissance, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important men and women of the Renaissance in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. History remembers Lucrezia Borgia in unflattering terms. She has been portrayed as an incestuous adulteress and a murderer, but her contemporaries thought of her in very different terms. Lucrezia was a political pawn in her father and brother's plots and a political power in her own right. She was well-educated and well-respected during her lifetime. While she was, in all certainty, a part of multiple political plots, she was also considered to be pious, thoughtful, and mannerly. While these facts reveal a very contradictory nature, it may very well have been impossible for Lucrezia to have lived any other way given her gender and position within the Borgia family. But as the German historian Ferdinand Gregorovius so aptly notes in the introduction of his biography of Lucrezia, the positive characteristics attributed to Lucrezia by her contemporaries have gone largely forgotten. The world has always had a fascination with femme fatales, and few historical women have ever been portrayed as one quite like Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia is a baseless, immoral villain in Victor Hugo's Lucrezia Borgia, and she continues to be depicted as a schemer and manipulator on par with her famous brother and father in film and critically acclaimed television series. Indeed, it would be hard to find another woman in the historical record who is remembered in any way comparable to the legacy of Lucrezia that remains nearly 500 years after her death. The great irony is that Lucrezia's reputation seems to be wildly at odds with the actual woman herself. Though political opponents of the Borgias successfully portrayed Lucrezia as an incestuous schemer, Lucrezia was unusually moral for a powerful woman during the Renaissance. Aside from adultery, hardly unusual in that era, Lucrezia proved to be both an efficient and benevolent ruler when her husband was away from Ferrara, and the two of them had an unusually close and loving relationship in an era where political marriages were made out of convenience, not love.

"How beautiful is youth that is always slipping away." – Lorenzo de' Medici A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? When historians are asked to pick a point in history when Western civilization was transformed and guided down the path to modernity, most of them point to the Renaissance. Indeed, the Renaissance revolutionized art, philosophy, religion, sciences and math, with individuals like Galileo, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dante, and Petrarch bridging the past and modern society. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Renaissance, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important men and women of the Renaissance in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Most historians credit the city-state of Florence as the place that started and developed the Italian Renaissance, a process carried out through the patronage and commission of artists during the late 12th century. If Florence is receiving its due credit, much of it belongs to the Medicis, the family dynasty of Florence that ruled at the height of the Renaissance. The dynasty held such influence that some of its family members even became Pope. Among all of the Medicis, its most famous member ruled during the Golden Age of Florence at the apex of the Renaissance's artistic achievements. Lorenzo de Medici, commonly referred to as Lorenzo the Magnificent, was groomed both intellectually and politically to rule Venice, and he took the reins of power at just 20 years old. Of all the fields that were advanced during the Renaissance, the period's most famous works were art, with iconic paintings like Leonardo's Mona Lisa and timeless sculptures like Michelangelo's David. Thus it is fitting that both Leonardo and Michelangelo were at times members of Lorenzo's court, and the Florentian ruler, who also considered himself an artist and poet, became known for securing commissions for the most famous artists of the age, including the aforementioned legends, Piero and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio. When Lorenzo died in April 1492, he was buried in a chapel designed by Michelangelo. Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Lorenzo de' Medici chronicles the life and reign of Lorenzo the Magnificent, examines the relationships he had with other Renaissance legends, and analyzes his enduring legacy. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Lorenzo de' Medici like you never have before, in no time at all.