Peter, What Are You Reading № 7

An occasional series featuring the books I'm either reading or have just finished

This edition of Peter, What Are You Reading features a shift away from Russia and towards more historical topics. This is reading that I either have on the go or have just finished, in addition to the reading that I am doing about Medical Aid in Dying - another digest of that material will be coming out within the next few weeks as well. This edition is heavy on Italian Renaissance history, featuring a book about two Renaissance Popes (Paul II and Sixtus IV) as well as a book about the assassination conspiracy against famous Florentine leader Lorenzo de Medici and his brother. Also included in my favourite piece of medieval philosophy, a conversation between an imprisoned political advisor and Lady Philosophy on the fickleness of Providence and Fate. Shifting gears, I write a little bit about a book I’m reading on Critical Disability Studies, particularly about the various models of disability that are currently in conflict with each other. Closing out this edition, we go back to the history of power, and explore the sex lives of monarchs - and in particular their mistresses - from the high middle ages through to the 20th century.

Sections:

History of the Popes Vol IV / The Montefeltro Conspiracy / The Consolation of Philosophy / Critical Disability Theory / Sex with Kings

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The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages Volume IV: Paul II and Sixtus IV - Ludwig Pastor

A few years ago, while I was killing some time at the University of Waterloo library waiting for an event to start I picked up Volume 1 of Lugwig Pastor’s 40+ volume set ‘The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages.” Written in German and published in 1898, this series is the first through accounting of the history of the papacy wherein the author had unencumbered access to the Pope’s Secret Archives, which aren’t so much secret as they are simply records of the Pope’s personal correspondence and writings. Expecting something dry, I quickly found myself taken in by Pastor’s writing, translated though it may be. Unlike many historians who focus on dates and events as if they were rote facts, Pastor puts some extra juice into his writing, so that you almost feel like you were there. After finishing the first volume, I decided that I was going to read the entire series over the long term.

The fourth volume in the set deals with the papacies of Pope Paul II (1464-1471) and Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484). Renaissance Popes, Sixtus IV is perhaps the most well-known of the two, having commissioned the Sistine Chapel's construction and it's initial side-wall frescoes, painted by some of the biggest names in Renaissance artistry. As always, Pastor is even-handed in dealing with his subjects, though it's clearly obvious that he is a partisan historian, most visible in his editorialized condemnation of church heretics.

I love reading Pastor's writing because he is clearly engaged with his subjects material - his enthusiasm comes through in his writing. When writing about the excesses of Sixtus IV's nephews, who were made Cardinals almost immediately upon his ascension to St. Peter's Chair, Pastor is very clearly disappointed with the fact that the Pope did not rein them in, but instead gave them everything and anything they wanted. Pastor is a historian, but he's an interested and passionate historian, not content to merely recount history as a set of dates and people.

I also love reading this series because it gives me a place to start in terms of exploring interesting events during that time. This volume has led me to do additional reading about the plot to kill Lorenzo de Medici, Prince of Florence, as well as the capture of the Italian port town of Otranto by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.

Now it’s on to Volume V and Popes Innocent VIII and Alexander VII!