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Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Lorenzo de' Medici
- Narrated by: Christopher Hudspeth
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
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Publisher's summary
Discusses Lorenzo's relationships with other famous Renaissance legends, including Leonardo and Michelangelo. Includes a bibliography for further reading.
"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, listeners 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.
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- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 13th century, a time of chivalry and crusades, poetry, knights, and monarchs, comes the story of the four beautiful daughters of the count of Provence, whose brilliant marriages made them the queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily.
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Interesting, informative
- By Eunice on 12-06-07
By: Nancy Goldstone
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The Wars of the Roses: A Captivating Guide to the English Civil Wars That Brought down the Plantagenet Dynasty and Put the Tudors on the Throne
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Desmond Manny
- Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The Wars of the Roses were a complex set of battles, skirmishes, and kidnappings during the 15th century in England. They had their roots in the nearby Civil War of France, which greatly influenced English politics for years to come. Though there is no one universally-accepted start or end date for these wars, the major events throughout the wars occurred between 1455 and 1485.
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Atrocious narration, poor timing, not recommended
- By B. on 01-21-19
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Crown & Sceptre
- A New History of the British Monarchy, from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Tracy Borman
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England’s various kingdoms, 41 kings and queens have sat on Britain’s throne. “Shining examples of royal power and majesty alongside a rogue’s gallery of weak, lazy, or evil monarchs,” as Tracy Borman describes them in her sparkling chronicle, Crown & Sceptre.
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Great book for those new to the monarchy
- By Chris Corsini on 04-05-22
By: Tracy Borman
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The House of Medici
- Its Rise and Fall
- By: Christopher Hibbert
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic, and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence's slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.
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Laundry list of names
- By Elizabeth W on 01-02-17
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The Most Powerful Women in the Middle Ages
- Queens, Saints, and Viking Slayers, From Empress Theodora to Elizabeth of Tudor
- By: Melissa Rank, Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Anne Day-Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either docile queens, housewives, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages.
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Wonderfully empowering
- By Teresa Carter on 01-29-23
By: Melissa Rank, and others
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The Women of the Cousins' War
- The Duchess, the Queen and the King's Mother
- By: Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael Jones
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In her essay on Jacquetta, Philippa Gregory uses original documents, archaeology and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who was to survive two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, established author on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love, and Michael Jones, fellow of the Royal Historical Society, writes of Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor. The Women of the Cousins’ War will appeal to all.
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Great book
- By Stacey Wallace on 11-14-11
By: Philippa Gregory, and others
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Ottoman Empire: A Captivating Guide to the Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Fall of Constantinople, and the Life of Suleiman the Magnificent
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Desmond Manny, Duke Holm
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Incredible facts about this Ottoman Empire still surprise anyone who starts discovering those stories. You’ll find out that, for quite a while, this Islamic state was effectively ruled by women, and that’s just the beginning.
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Narrators do not know how to pronounce words
- By Cynthia Clough on 11-08-23
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Eminence
- Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France
- By: Jean-Vincent Blanchard
- Narrated by: Mary Kane
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the 17th century, and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Niccol Machiavelli. Truly larger than life, he has captured the imagination of generations, both through his own story and through his portrayal as a ruthless political mastermind in Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers.
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Great story boringly told
- By pete k on 09-19-16
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A Brief History of the Knights Templar
- Brief Histories
- By: Helen Nicholson
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Much has been written about the Knights Templar in recent years. A leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order now writes a full account of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full title, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. Putting many of the myths finally to rest, Nicholson recounts a new history of these storm troopers of the papacy, founded during the crusades but who got so rich and influential
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Digs Deep for a Brief History
- By Troy on 01-29-15
By: Helen Nicholson
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Edward III
- The Perfect King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.
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Great book about Edward III
- By Kiesha on 07-05-16
By: Ian Mortimer
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Francis I
- The Maker of Modern France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Catherine de Medici's father-in-law, King Francis of France, was the perfect Renaissance knight, the movement's exemplar and its Gallic interpreter. An aesthete, diplomat par excellence, and contemporary of Machiavelli, Francis was the founder of modern France, whose sheer force of will and personality molded his kingdom into the first European superpower. Arguably the man who introduced the Renaissance to France, Francis was also the prototype Frenchman - a national identity was modeled on his character.
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Rekindling salamandrine fires...
- By Adeliese Baumann on 09-29-18
By: Leonie Frieda
What listeners say about Legends of the Renaissance: The Life and Legacy of Lorenzo de' Medici
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Roy
- 11-08-23
Awful accent
Couldn’t listen to it, why wasn’t the reader better vetted? He makes no effort to understand how Italian words are pronounced.
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- Elizabeth
- 12-31-21
Just barely "ok"
This is a very short, generic history of Lorenzo de' Medici's life. A bare outline that gives only the most basic, rudimentary glimpse into his world. I suppose it would be "ok" (but just "ok," nothing really more than that) for someone who wants a bit of a short, brief, "cliff notes" version of his life, but most of what is in this work is what many would already know or have a general idea of if they have studied Florentine history. I cannot recommend it unless someone is just looking for an extremely bare-bones, rather dull glimpse into his life.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Artemis Gordon
- 01-06-19
Interesting, but problematic
This tidbit of history is very interesting, but the narrator's consistent mispronunciation of people's names would actually be comical, if it wasn't so irritating. He pronounces just about everyone's name incorrectly, except for Lorenzo! By the end, I was actually surprised that he got that one right!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-16-20
Not recommended
I have to agree with the other review. The pronunciation of names is so blatantly incorrect that it makes it impossible to listen to. I gave up when the narrator pronounced Bologna as Bo-Lowge-Na. It's also read incredibly fast making any transmission of useful information practically zero.
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1 person found this helpful