Michael Edward Mallet (1932–2008)

It is difficult to think of a family as controversial as the Borgias. The libidinous life of pope Alexander VI and the ruthless actions of his son Cesare generated no shortage of enemies, who did much to define them as infamous characters. One of the strengths of Michael Mallett's book is his effort to sort out the truth from the many scandalous libels levied against them. His sober and reasoned judgments make for a welcome contrast from the many authors who indulge in the tales too entertaining to debunk.

Another great strength is Mallett's focus; though his book is centered around the life of Rodrigo Borja, the future Alexander VI, it encompasses the full range of Borjas and Borgias, from their beginnings as Spanish noblemen in the Middle Ages, through the first Borgia pope Calixtus III to St. Francis Borgia of the Jesuit order. In doing so, he highlights their leadership within the Catholic Church, as well as their prominence withing southern European politics and society during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is this combination of sober judgment and balanced perspective which make Mallett's book the best balanced overview of the Borgia family and their contribution to history.… (mais)

A book about the Venetian army (the fleet is not treated) in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The book is divided into two parts, one covering the period up to the battle of Agnadello in 1509, the other the succeeding period up the the War of Gradisca (also known as the Uskok War) 1615-1617. Internally each part is thematically rather than chronologically organized, but the chronological top level division makes a good deal of sense because where fifteenth century sees the creation of the Terraferma, or Venetian dominions on the Italian mainland, the sixteenth sees Venice basically on the defensive, trying to avoid war and maintain as much as possible of its possessions rather than acquire new ones.

While decidely on the dry side, I enjoyed it a lot.… (mais)

While the previous review of this book here is absolutely correct that this is more of a straight-forward narrative history of events in Italy for the time in question than the subtitle might suggest, I don't see that as a disappointment. I found it very useful to have a concise examination of how alliances and loyalties shifted over time, once Charles VIII decided that the time had come to assert what he saw as his rights in Italy, only for the ultimate end being for the French crown to mostly give up on seeking predominance in Italy, for the Italian city-states to be drawn into a larger international system where they were marginalized, and for the Austrian and Spanish monarchs to discover that, even if they did have predominance, they had to tread carefully when it came to Italian politics.

Actually, another thing that the authors do well is to explain how the art of war changed tactically from battles between noble men-at-arms on horseback that medieval military men would have understood to the system where infantry predominated (these were the glory days of the Swiss pikeman and German Landsknecht).… (mais)