A review by eososray
The Borgias: The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer
4.0
This book has a completely different take on the Borgia family. Instead of agreeing with the accepted facts of this well known family, the author has dug a little deeper and come up with some believable theories. While even he admits that there will never be any way to prove his version or the universally believed version with definitiveness, he lays out his arguments in a very illuminating fashion.
While it has never been a surprise that many of the stories about the Borgia family were circulated by their enemies and had no basis in truth, even the ones we have supposed to be true could possibly also be rumours.
The author proposes that Cesare and Lucrezia were not his own children but his nephew and niece only. He makes convincing arguments against Lucrezia’s immoral and evil reputation and also submits that the Pope himself was not the depraved and sexual deviant that he was been portrayed as.
I found this a convincing story of the Borgia family, while still full of power hungry individuals and suspicious actions, it tries to weed out the impossible and stick to the reasonable at the same time as detailing the history and practices of the era to bring many of the supposed terrible actions of the family into a different light.
While it has never been a surprise that many of the stories about the Borgia family were circulated by their enemies and had no basis in truth, even the ones we have supposed to be true could possibly also be rumours.
The author proposes that Cesare and Lucrezia were not his own children but his nephew and niece only. He makes convincing arguments against Lucrezia’s immoral and evil reputation and also submits that the Pope himself was not the depraved and sexual deviant that he was been portrayed as.
I found this a convincing story of the Borgia family, while still full of power hungry individuals and suspicious actions, it tries to weed out the impossible and stick to the reasonable at the same time as detailing the history and practices of the era to bring many of the supposed terrible actions of the family into a different light.