The Count of Virtue
Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan
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Narrated by:
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Nigel Patterson
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By:
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E.R. Chamberlin
About this listen
Fourteenth-century Italy was chaotic: mercenaries swarmed across the land as competing city-states attempted to vie with each other for power, while pestilence and famine decimated populations.
Into this cauldron was born Giangalezzo Visconti, a man who perfectly exemplified all the contradictions of his age. Viscous, covetous, and with loose morals, he has been portrayed as one of the most criminal men in history, yet he was also a man of remarkable gifts as a brilliant administrator, a shrewd ruler who was able to command the loyalty of his men, and a patron of beautiful art and architecture at the dawn of the Renaissance.
Visconti as a young boy had been taught by Petrarch, yet he was just as influenced by his family of deft schemers and killers as he carved his pathway to power. Playing the parochial jealousies of the city-states against one another, he was able to weaken his rivals and strike them in quick succession.
E. R. Chamberlin's The Count of Virtue is a remarkable study of the life and times of Giangaleazzo Visconti that provides fascinating insight into the political, social and cultural world of fourteenth-century Italy.
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- By: Sir Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The English-speaking peoples comprise perhaps the greatest number of human beings sharing a common language in the world today. These people also share a common heritage. For his four-volume work, Sir Winston Churchill took as his subject these great elements in world history. Volume 1 commences in 55BC, when Julius Caesar famously "turned his gaze upon Britain" and concludes with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
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Birth of Britain
- By Terryl Pettengill on 02-11-07
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The New World
- A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume II
- By: Sir Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Between 1485 and 1688, England became a Protestant country under Henry VIII. His daughter, Elizabeth I, battled for succession and supremacy at home, and the discovery of 'the round world' enabled a vast continent across the Atlantic to be explored. While this new era was spawning the beginnings of modern America, England was engaged in a bloody civil war and sustained a Republican experiment under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.
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Churchill series
- By Elizabeth Weingarten on 08-27-08
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The Thirty Years War
- By: C. V. Wedgwood
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Initially, the Thirty Years War was precipitated in 1618 by religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. But the conflict soon spread beyond religion to encompass the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire, and then later to the other European powers. By the end, it became simply a dynastic struggle between Bourbon France and Habsburg Spain. And almost all of it was fought out in Germany. Entire regions were depopulated and destroyed.
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One of the World's Great History Books.
- By Judith A. Weller on 08-25-12
By: C. V. Wedgwood
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Sicily
- An Island at the Crossroads of History
- By: John Julius Norwich
- Narrated by: Michael Healy
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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"Sicily," said Goethe, "is the key to everything." It is the largest island in the Mediterranean, the stepping-stone between Europe and Africa, the link between the Latin West and the Greek East. Sicily's strategic location has tempted Roman emperors, French princes, and Spanish kings. The subsequent struggles to conquer and keep it have played crucial roles in the rise and fall of the world's most powerful dynasties.
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DISAPPOINTING
- By SRdto on 11-22-16
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Scandinavia
- A History
- By: Ewan Butler
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, award-winning historian Ewan Butler writes, struggled through unions and separations with both outsiders and each other, developing their own personalities and languages yet retaining their ancient connections.
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Excellent History of Scandinavia after the Vikings
- By Arthur on 05-05-17
By: Ewan Butler
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The Greatest Knight
- The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones
- By: Thomas Asbridge
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Greatest Knight, renowned historian Thomas Asbridge draws upon the thirteenth-century biography and an array of other contemporary evidence to present a compelling account of William Marshal's life and times. Asbridge charts the unparalleled rise to prominence of a man bound to a code of honor yet driven by unquenchable ambition.
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The Biography of a Legend
- By Troy on 04-02-15
By: Thomas Asbridge
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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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The Tudors
- The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time in decades, here, in a single volume, is a fresh look at the fabled Tudor dynasty, comprising some of the most enigmatic figures ever to rule a country. Acclaimed historian G. J. Meyer reveals the flesh-and-bone reality in all its wild excess.
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OUTSTANDING!
- By The Louligan on 03-15-10
By: G. J. Meyer
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King John
- Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from the tales of Robin Hood - greedy, cowardly, despicable, and cruel. But who was the man behind the legend? Was he a monster or a capable ruler cursed by bad luck? In this new book, best-selling historian Marc Morris draws on contemporary chronicles and the king's own letters to bring the real King John vividly to life. John was dynamic, inventive, and relentless but also a figure with terrible flaws.
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A Medieval Narcissist
- By M. A Newman on 09-19-21
By: Marc Morris
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Matilda
- Empress, Queen, Warrior
- By: Catherine Hanley
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A life of Matilda - empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages.
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Both entertaining and scholarly
- By Anonymous User on 09-10-19
By: Catherine Hanley
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Absolute Monarchs
- A History of the Papacy
- By: John Julius Norwich
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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With the papacy embattled in recent years, it is essential to have the perspective of one of the world's most accomplished historians. In Absolute Monarchs, John Julius Norwich captures nearly 2,000 years of inspiration and devotion, intrigue and scandal. The men (and maybe one woman) who have held this position of infallible power over millions have ranged from heroes to rogues, admirably wise to utterly decadent.
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A relentless succession of very old men
- By Nassir on 11-01-11