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“[This] marvelous biography peels back layer upon layer of previous myth to render a startling new portrait of the countess. . . . Absorbing.” —Publishers Weekly Tuscan Countess is a fast-paced and colorful exploration of the life of Matilda of Canossa (c. 1046–1115), a woman who loved a pope and was loved by him, successfully defied the Holy Roman Emperor, and changed the map of Europe. Matilda of Canossa, the “Great Countess,” was a remarkable woman. Her personal power was so extraordinary that even centuries after her death she became the first woman to be interred in St. Peter's Basilica. She is best remembered for her role in the conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman emperor, the climax of which took place at her castle of Canossa. This unique biography is also a journal of the author's travels through contemporary Tuscany as she explores the palaces where Matilda held court, the blood-stained plains on which her soldiers battled, the churches and cathedrals she endowed, and the fortified aeries where she sought refuge. Readers will be swept along on this engrossing journey retracing the steps of a courageous and brilliant woman.
Offers an analysis of the presence and significance of female characters in Dante's 'Comedy'. Commencing with the tabulations of women listed in "Inferno IV" and "Purgatorio XXII", to which may be added the grouping in "Paradiso XXXII", this work traces the symmetry and symbolic import of these clusters.
Once there was a gospel written in Christ's own hand: a treasure of almost unimaginable magnitude, referred to by the Cathars of medieval France as The Book of Love... Fresh from her successful search for the long-hidden scrolls written by Mary Magdelene, journalist Maureen Pascal now finds herself on the trail of the legendary lost gospel known as the Book of Love. But just as there were those who would stop at nothing to seize and suppress the Book of Love seven centuries ago, so there are those today who are equally determined that its radical message should never be revealed. In a race across Italy and France, new dangers await Maureen and her lover Sinclair as they begin to uncover secrets and shine new light on the hidden corners of Christianity. Combining expert research with dazzling plot twists, The Book of Love is sure to thrill readers as they follow Maureen's search for clues through some of the world's greatest art, architecture and history, until a potentially fatal encounter reveals the Book of Love to her -- and to us.
In All's Well That Ends Well, Helen, a lowly ward, risks her life to satisfy her boundless love for Bertram, a count and ward to the King of France. Following him to Paris, she concocts an endangering plan to win the King of France's favour and induce Bertram's hand in marriage. In the comprehensive introduction to this new, fully-illustrated Arden edition, Suzanne Gossett takes a transformative look at the play's critical and performance history by offering fresh perspectives on the conundrum of genre, sexuality and moral dilemmas with masculinity and the structures of family. The authoritative play text is amply annotated to clarify its language and allusions, and two appendices debate the play's authorship and review its casting. Offering students and scholars alike a wealth of insight and new research, this edition maintains the rigorous standards of the Arden Shakespeare.
Late in the eleventh century the First Crusade culminated in the conquest of Jerusalem by Christian armies. Five centuries later, when Torquato Tasso began to search for a subject worthy of an epic, Jerusalem was governed by a sultan, Europe was in the crisis of religious division, and the Crusades were a nostalgic memory. Tasso turned to the First Crusade both as a subject that would test his poetic ambition and as a reflection on the quandaries of his own time. He sought to create a masterpiece that would deserve comparison with the great epics of the past. Gerusalemme liberata became one of the most widely read and cherished books of the Renaissance. First published in 1581, it was translated into English by Edward Fairfax in 1600. That translation has been the standard, even though Fairfax was only a good, not a great, poet. Fairfax tried to fit Tasso's verse into Spenserian stanzas, adding to and subtracting from the original and often changing Tasso's meaning. Anthony Esolen's new translation captures the delight of Tasso's descriptions, the different voices of its cast of characters, the shadings between glory and tragedy—and it does all this in an English as powerful and clear as Tasso's Italian. Tasso's masterpiece finally emerges as an English masterpiece.
In 1603, England and Scotland came together and Great Britain was created. But how did this union last when so many others in Europe have failed? This volume provides an account of two nations who have often differed, remained very distinct and yet have achieved endurance in European terms.
Reproduction of the original: North Italian Folk by Alice Vansittart Strettel Carr, Randolph Caldecott