The Popes: A History

Author: Viscount John Julius Norwich

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General Fields

  • : $20.00 AUD
  • : 9780099565871
  • : Random House UK
  • : VINTAGE ARROW - MASS MARKET
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  • : 0.405
  • : June 2012
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 33mm
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  • : 22.99
  • : June 2012
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  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Viscount John Julius Norwich
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  • : Paperback
  • : 1204
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  • : English
  • : 282.0922
  • :
  • :
  • : col. Illustrations, ports. (chiefly col.)
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Barcode 9780099565871
9780099565871

Description

"John Julius Norwich examines the oldest continuing institution in the world, tracing the papal line down the centuries from St Peter (traditionally - but by no means historically - the first Pope) to the present. Of the 280-odd holders of the supreme office, some have unquestionably been saints; others have wallowed in unspeakable iniquity. One was said to have been a woman, her sex being revealed only when she improvidently gave birth to a baby during a papal procession. Almost as shocking was Formosus whose murdered corpse was exhumed, clothed in pontifical vestments, propped up on a throne and subjected to trial. From the glories of Byzantium to the decay of Rome, from the Albigensian Heresy to controversy within the Church today, The Popes is superbly written, witty and revealing."

Promotion info

An irresistible account of some of history's most illustrious - and iniquitous - figures, from one of our best-loved historians.

Author description

John Julius Norwich is the author of histories of Norman Sicily, the Republic of Venice, the Byzantine Empire and, most recently, The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean. He has also written on architecture, music and the history plays of Shakespeare, and has presented some thirty historical documentaries on BBC Television.