With the papacy embattled in recent years, it is essential to have the perspective of one of the world's most accomplished historians. In Absolute Monarchs , John Julius Norwich captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and devotion, intrigue and scandal. The men (and maybe one woman) who have held this position of infallible power over millions have ranged from heroes to rogues, admirably wise to utterly decadent. Norwich, who knew two popes and had private audiences with two others, recounts in riveting detail ...
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With the papacy embattled in recent years, it is essential to have the perspective of one of the world's most accomplished historians. In Absolute Monarchs , John Julius Norwich captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and devotion, intrigue and scandal. The men (and maybe one woman) who have held this position of infallible power over millions have ranged from heroes to rogues, admirably wise to utterly decadent. Norwich, who knew two popes and had private audiences with two others, recounts in riveting detail the histories of the most significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and socially to Rome and to the world. Norwich presents such brave popes as Innocent I, who in the fifth century successfully negotiated with Alaric the Goth, an invader civil authorities could not defeat, and Leo I, who two decades later tamed (and perhaps paid off) Atilla the Hun. Here, too, are the scandalous figures: Pope Joan, the mythic woman said (without any substantiation) to have been elected in 855, and the infamous pornocracy, the five libertines who were descendants or lovers of Marozia, debauched daughter of one of Rome's most powerful families. Absolute Monarchs brilliantly portrays such reformers as Pope Paul III, the greatest pontiff of the sixteenth century, who reinterpreted the Church's teaching and discipline, and John XXIII, who in five short years starting in 1958 opened the church to the the twentieth century, instituting reforms that led to Vatican II. Norwich brings the story to the present day with Benedict XVI, who is coping with a global priest sex scandal. Epic and compelling, Absolute Monarchs is the astonishing story of some of history's most revered and reviled figures, men who still cast light and shadows on the vatican and the world today.
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This is a very readable first class piece of scholarship.
Whether Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or otherwise, you will find this book a fascination.
For Catholics, no matter how much you think you know about the history of the Church, you will find new facts!
Daniel Maisel
Sep 15, 2011
Fascinating facts of Life within the Vatican
Found this book fascinating and beneficial in learning the affects of the corrupting affects of Power.
No wonder Christ's instructions to all of his apostles and disciples was to be "No Part of the World... just as he was no part of the World".
When Satan offered the newly baptized Jesus Christ all the Kingdoms of the world... he again dismissed the Devil and would not allow himself to even think of it.
What an amazing example for all who wish to serve as true followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
