Sorry for the lack of postings, dear friends. I'm in the frantic throes of finishing The Book That Would Not Leave, which is due the fifteenth of March.
The not-quite-finished manuscript runs over 200,000 words and will be cut down to 150,000. I'll check with the editor to find out whether the cut pages can be put up on the website for curious readers.
Comments (2)
I'm currently reading Sarah Bradford's Lucrezia Borgia, and was just wondering if you've read it and what you think of it. She is very insistent that the incestuous relationships did NOT occur. Anyways, you can just answer after the stress of the Medici has finally lifted. Grazie!
Posted by Sarah Eshelman | March 17, 2008 2:41 AM
Posted on March 17, 2008 02:41
Hi, Sarah,
I'll come out of hiding for you. :) No, I haven't read Bradford's book. I referred instead to Maria Bellonci's respected biography of Lucrezia. Bellonci, who lives in Italy, was able to gain direct access to "secret" Vatican documents, including the legitimization of Lucrezia's first child. They suggest that the child was her father's; however, Bellonci strings together a lot of evidence that implicates Cesare as the father.
I Googled Bradford. It seems she dismisses allegations of incest as coming solely from the vengefulness of Lucrezia's first husband after the annulment -- but he was definitely not alone in his accusations.
We can never know what really happened -- but I'm voting with the probability that the incest occurred.
Posted by Jeanne Kalogridis | March 19, 2008 6:32 AM
Posted on March 19, 2008 06:32