Popes: A History
by John Julius Norwich | History | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0701182903 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0701182903 Global Overview for this book
1 journaler for this copy...
"Well known for his histories on Norman Sicily, Venice, the Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean, John Julius Norwich has now turned his attention to the oldest continuing institution in the world, tracing the papal line down the centuries from St Peter himself - traditionally (though by no means historically) the first pope - to the present Benedict XVI.
Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquestionably been saints, others have wallowed in unspeakable iniquity. One was said to have been a woman - and an Englishwoman at that - her sex being revealed only when she improvidently gave birth to a baby during a papal procession. Pope Joan never existed (though the Church long believed that she did) but many genuine pontiffs were almost as colourful: Formosus, for example, whose murdered corpse was exhumed, clothed in pontifical vestments, propped up on a throne and subjected to trial; or John XII of whom Gibbon wrote 'his rapes of virgins and widows deterred female pilgrims from visiting the shrine of St Peter'.
Others earned respect, including Leo the Great who protected Rome from the Huns and the Goths, and Gregory the Great who struggled manfully with the emperor for supremacy. After calamitous crusades, and a seventy-year exile in Avignon, came the larger-than-life pontiffs of the Renaissance - the Borgias and the Medicis ('God has given us the papacy; let us now enjoy it'). Pius VII had to contend with Napoleon, Pius IX to steer the papacy through the storm of the Risorgimento. John Julius Norwich brings the story up-to-date with lively investigations into the anti-semitisms of the contemptible Pius XII, the possible murder of John Paul I and the phenomenon of the Polish John Paul II. From the glories of Byzantium to the decay of Rome, from the Albigensian Herecy to sexual misbehaviour with the Church today, the pace never slackens.
John Julius Norwich, an agnostic with no religous axe to grind, has a thrilling and important tale to tell - and in this rich, authoritative book he does if full justice."
This book had already started its journey from someone else's bookshelf; I found this near my work place with a note and a wish to continue the book's journey. I didn't find any indication of it being an official BookCrossing book, so let's see where the book travels with an actual BCID! :)
Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquestionably been saints, others have wallowed in unspeakable iniquity. One was said to have been a woman - and an Englishwoman at that - her sex being revealed only when she improvidently gave birth to a baby during a papal procession. Pope Joan never existed (though the Church long believed that she did) but many genuine pontiffs were almost as colourful: Formosus, for example, whose murdered corpse was exhumed, clothed in pontifical vestments, propped up on a throne and subjected to trial; or John XII of whom Gibbon wrote 'his rapes of virgins and widows deterred female pilgrims from visiting the shrine of St Peter'.
Others earned respect, including Leo the Great who protected Rome from the Huns and the Goths, and Gregory the Great who struggled manfully with the emperor for supremacy. After calamitous crusades, and a seventy-year exile in Avignon, came the larger-than-life pontiffs of the Renaissance - the Borgias and the Medicis ('God has given us the papacy; let us now enjoy it'). Pius VII had to contend with Napoleon, Pius IX to steer the papacy through the storm of the Risorgimento. John Julius Norwich brings the story up-to-date with lively investigations into the anti-semitisms of the contemptible Pius XII, the possible murder of John Paul I and the phenomenon of the Polish John Paul II. From the glories of Byzantium to the decay of Rome, from the Albigensian Herecy to sexual misbehaviour with the Church today, the pace never slackens.
John Julius Norwich, an agnostic with no religous axe to grind, has a thrilling and important tale to tell - and in this rich, authoritative book he does if full justice."
This book had already started its journey from someone else's bookshelf; I found this near my work place with a note and a wish to continue the book's journey. I didn't find any indication of it being an official BookCrossing book, so let's see where the book travels with an actual BCID! :)
