What is your personal Top Ten of Borgia nonfiction books, and why would you choose them?
Ohh, ok, I donāt think I have a top ten??? but letās see how this goes! lol I'll separate it in two sections: non-fiction books about the Borgia family as a whole and non-fiction books about individual members of the family (tbh just Rodrigo and Cesare), Iāll focus on secondary sources, but let me know if you also meant/want primary sources :))
Non-Fiction Books about the Borgia Family:
The Borgias: The Hidden History, G.J Meyer
His book has some flaws, which Iāve talked about here in the past so I wonāt get into it again haha, but overall I do think it is a decent bio about the Borgia family. He did made an effort to present something new, and he does have at least a little bit of critical thinking about the sources which created the history of the Borgias as we know today, and also like I said before, I adore the structure of his book, how he intertwined the chapters about the Borgias with chapters about papal history/other noble families, itās an engaging and interesting read.
The Borgias, Ivan Cloulas
Ok so, although his book reads like a gossip magazine with many unsubstantial claims, I feel I have to include him on this list only because his book begins with the Borgias from ValĆØncia and it goes back to Spain, with Juanās son, arriving at Francisco de Borja, most commonly known as St. Francis Borgia. Itās one of the few books about the Borgia family where you have a more detailed account about these family members, and I like some of his thoughts about the descendants of Rodrigo Borgia and their shared similarities, being employed in different ways. It also has a cool chapter analysing the history of the Borgias through the centuries, I donāt agree with some of his conclusions, but I really enjoyed reading that chapter, so yeah.
The Borgia Chronicles: 1414-1572, Mary Hollingsworth
The reason I like her book is maybe precisely why some people donāt, I suppose, it is dry and it mainly sticks to presenting the information available about the family, instead of sensationalistic writing with a high dose of personal judgments and claims/narratives which donāt have enough (or any) evidence to back it up. That within the Borgia historical literature is a rare thing to find, overall Borgia authors seems more interested/concerned about showing the reader what they think about the family, and the many mysteries surrounding them, than actually laying out in an objective manner the historical material available, andletting the reader reach their own judgments and conclusions about it, you know. Hollingsworth, for the most part, tends to do the former in her book and refrains from doing the latter, so yeah there might be some mistakes iirc, and itās not a book for everyone, but I do like it, and I find it a decent source to check/compare info about the Borgia family in the english language.
Non-Fiction books about Rodrigo Borgia, (Pope Alexander VI)
Material for a History of Pope Alexander VI, his relatives and his times, Peter de Roo.
The reason this one is on my list is because no matter how much we may agree or disagree with his presentation of Rodrigo, his life and his papacy, there is no denying he gathered an extensive, if not the most extensive, historical material about Rodrigo/his family and itās amazing to read it. I also think he lays out his arguments in a very coherent way, attaching his evidence alongside it. His thought process is not all over the place, which is something I appreciate a lot when reading historical bios. He also does not throw Cesare under the bus in order to defend Rodrigo or explain his actions, De Roo is as just with Rodrigo as he is with Cesare, which itās another rare thing to find with Borgia authors, especially Rodrigoās authors.
Non-fiction books about Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia: Duca di Romagna, notizie e documenti raccolti e pubblicati, Edoard Alvisi.
I donāt even know what else to say about this biography without fangirling all over again lol, Iāll leave some of my thoughts while reading his bio that I posted here and here :)) and I will complement by saying it is my one and only favorite Borgia biography as well as the best one made about Cesare imo. Every time I remember Cesare has such a high quality historical work about his life, it warms my heart and I feel so grateful to il signore Alvisi, God bless his soul for the necessary, honest, historical work he did there.
Cesare Borgia: La Sua Vita, La Sua Famiglia, I Suoi Tempi, Gustavo Sacerdote.
The reason I include him is mostly because of his research, like it happens with de Roo, it is impossible to deny his excellent research about Cesare. Combined with Alvisiās, you really do have all the available historical material about Cesareās life, and it was great to be able to absorb so much information in an in-deepth way. I donāt have a good opinion about him as an historian, or as Cesareās biographer, but as a researcher he is one of the best Iāve read, and the way in which he exposes his research should be the standard for any historical work imo. He was incredibly meticulous and made it a point to present as much of the official documents in their integrity as possible, instead of just selective bits. His bibliography is also a thing of beauty, super organized and thorough.
The Life of Cesare Borgia, Rafael Sabatini
The reason is, really, that I love his writing and his sense of humour. He is dramatic, but my kind of dramatic perhaps lol, and he rightly addresses the big double standards when it comes to the Borgia family (while they lived and even more so after their deaths, until Sabatiniās own day), as well as points out the flaws within the main primary sources about them, most of all: Cappello, Guicciardini and Sanuto, with a justified wave of indignation + amazing sarcasm which for me is satisfying to read. His examination of Gregoroviusā view and claims about Cesare, for example, itās truly one of his best moments, so yeah, I have a fondness for his bio, even though I am aware of its flaws, and I mostly disagree with his personal view about Cesare as a man and his politics.
El PrincĆpe del Renacimiento: Vida y Leyenda de CĆ©sar Borgia, JosĆ© CatalĆ”n Deus
So, putting aside that I love reading in spanish and I find the spanish section of the Borgia historical literature quite interesting, actually, the reason I included this one is because, as far as I know, I think it is the best one in the spanish language about Cesare, it carries much of the flaws and vices of his historical literature, yes, but I do think it a decent bio. Also it was an important book for me when I read it at the time, because it made me re-think much of the claims and presentations made about the Borgia family by the previous authors I had read, and go deeper into the historical material to see if there was any evidence for it. I think much like Meyer, CatalĆ”n Deus also attempted to deliver something new, and advance in a way the way Cesareās historical figure has been studied and presented, and I appreciate that effort, itās one of the books I check info from time to time, too. Ps: itās not on my top 10, I donāt like the book as a whole, but I canāt help but to add on this list Marion Johnsonās The Borgias, for one simple and superficial reason: the artwork is soooo pretty š itās hardcover with quality pages and beautiful coloured images, and to this day it is the most beautiful bio I own about the Borgias, so I had to say something djsdjsdjs, excuse me here. Andd I think those are it, anon?? itās possible I might be forgetting some, I spent such a long time reading about them, itās hard for me to remember all of the books, especially with my bad memory lol, but if I remember other ones later, Iāll reblog this and add to this list! Thank you for sending this ask, and Iām so sorry for the time I took to answer it! :( I hope you still see this <33
