Book description
In an epic drama of love, death and betrayal, Leonie Frieda charts the
rise and fall of the Italian Renaissance through the lives of the women
who helped shape it.
Mothers of popes and wives of princes, the women who feature in this
book are joined by birth, marriage or friendship, and all ruled for a
time in place of their menfolk. An intricate network of blood ties bound
them inextricably together even as ambition, passion and treachery set
sister against sister. These were women who were not afraid to wield the
sword against their enemies in the murderous struggles that dominated
the peninsula. Each experienced great riches, power, and the warm smile
of fortune, but they also knew banishment, poverty, attempts on their
life and the loss of a husband or child.
From sleeping with the enemy to defying the emperor, THE DEADLY
SISTERHOOD explodes the myth that Renaissance women were passive
bystanders. Far from being confined to patronage and piety, these women
proved that as generals, diplomats, warriors and lovers they equalled,
if not overshadowed, the men whose power they shared. Swedish by
birth, but educated in Britain, Leonie Frieda speaks five languages and
is a member of the Institute of Linguists. She lives in London.
