Though we all live lives of imperfect freedom, limited as they are by both the wise and the foolish strictures of government, there can be no doubt that most of us have infinitely more control over our existences than did those of generations past. Whereas we make philosophical arguments for the freedom to imbibe various banned substances, secure as we are in far more fundamental rights, those who came before us often struggled for the power to make even the most basic choices, their destinies predetermined by the shackles of their cast and their sex. What would life be like operating within such restrictions? Ms. Bradford offers up the infamous Lucrezia Borgia as a case study. But while the subject does not disappoint, Ms. Bradford certainly does.
Born in the violent fractiousness of 15th century Italy, Lucrezia borgia was, by dint of being the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, a powerful figure in Italian politics. The subject of much historical debate, centering on various marital and familial scandals, time and the vicissitudes of history have made her the most widely remembered member of a ruthless clan of nobles who played the game of thrones with vicious vigor. Reputed to have been avid poisoners, the borgias killed their enemies both as a means of acquiring the wealth of their vanquished foes and as a means by which to secure their preeminent positions in tempestuous times. Given this, it would be logical to deduce that Lucrezia, the family's most famous beauty, would be deeply entangled in the family business, but to what extent did she actually earn her reputation for opportunism, slatternliness and incestuousness and what measure of it was foisted on her by the self-righteousness of future historians?
In Lucrezia Borgia, Ms. Bradford, a British author, meticulously reconstructs the tumultuous life of this Italian noblewoman, presenting an image of a woman more wronged than wronging. Sympathetically, Ms. Bradford frames Lucrezia as a creature regarded as a plaything of both her machiavellian father and her salacious brother. The former, Alexander VI, cajoled, maneuvered and even forced Lucrezia into three marriages, at least one of which appears to have been against her will. The latter, Cesare, ignoring Lucrezia's powerlessness, pursued her to the point of being the likely murderer of some of her lovers and suiters. Beset by such powerful players, the author appears to contend that Lucrezia essentially fought a lifelong, defensive battle against her fellow Borgias, yielding ground to their political and even sexual desires while preserving some measure of happiness for herself.
While Ms. Bradford's account of Lucrezia's life has much to recommend it -- she relies heavily on the noblewoman's own letters while keeping her own opinions and speculations to a bare minimum --, she fails utterly to generate a portrait of her subject. Yes, the author has painstakingly rebuilt Lucrezia's life, detailing her rivalry with Isabella d'Este, her plights with her various husbands, her difficulties in childbearing and her various strategic engagements with her family, but her account reads as a chronology of the princess' life, not a biography of it. To meet this simple requirement, Ms. Bradford would have to speculate on who Lucrezia might have been. And certainly there's plenty of room to do so given that much of the woman's early life is lost to the destructive tides of time. Her unwillingness to venture an opinion, or to provide really any historical context for Lucrezia's outlook, prevent this work from becoming anything more than a bland, straightforward chronology of events long past.
Disappointing. I'd hoped for much more than a simple line. Informative, and certainly protective of her subject, but there's little of heart or spirit here. (2/5 Stars)
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