AN ILLUSTRTATED LECTURE BY SARAH DUNANT

Murder, poison, corruption and incest: all perfect ingredients for sensational popular culture. But in an age known for its brutality and church corruption, were the Borgias really so bad?

This sumptuous illustrated lecture reveals the real story of the family that dominated the Papacy and Italian politics during the last decade of the 15th century: the wily, charismatic, womaniser, Pope Alexander,  (above), his sociopathic son, Cesare, cardinal, general and the model for  “The Prince” by Machiavelli, himself a character in their story, and his adored daughter, Lucrezia (contested image above) who moves from “the greatest whore in Rome” to a devout and treasured duchess of the city of Ferrara. 

Sometimes, truth is more intoxicating than myth.

Sarah’s two novels on the lives of the Borgias are Blood and Beauty and In the Name of the Family.