Prince of Foxes
First edition
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| Author | Samuel Shellabarger |
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| Country | Boston, MA, USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown |
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Publication date
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1947 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 433 (hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | (hardcover edition) |
Prince of Foxes is a 1947 historical novel by Samuel Shellabarger, following the adventures of the fictional Andrea Orsini, a captain in the service of Cesare Borgia during his conquest of the Romagna.
Andrea Zoppo, an Italian peasant schooled in the arts and versed in the ways of nobility during his University years, loses his old identity during the French invasion of Florence, and becomes Andrea Orsini, a bastard member of a dead Neapolitan junior branch of the great house of Orsini. Having made his name with the French forces, he takes service with Cesare Borgia, with dreams of uniting Italy to stop the depredations of foreign adventurers and the manipulations of France and the Holy Roman Empire. However, his love of Lady Camilla of the Bagliones and respect for her husband Lord Varano of Citta del Monte derail those plans when he is sent to their court to take the city by treachery.
The novel begins with Andrea on the verge of embarking from Venice on his first non-military mission for Borgia, to induce Alfonso d'Este, the heir of Ferrara, the "brightest court in Italy," to marry Lucrezia Borgia, lately widowed, despite the numerous objections against the match on the grounds of state and taste. Orsini meets with an instrument maker and humanist to sell a certain painting he claims was taken during the fall of one of the cities of the Romagne. There he meets Camilla Varano, the wife of the lord of the fictional Citta del Monte, both of which have been promised to him by Borgia. There is a definite attraction between the two.
The d'Estes, forced by Borgia to accept Andrea's service, do not wish to kill him in their demesne, and delegate the matter to their ambassador to Venice. He uses Mario Belli (Marius de Bella, lately of Savoy), erstwhile nobleman, traitor, and assassin of some repute. Mario fails, but, a true "modern," turns his coat and offers information. Finding him intriguing and useful, Orsini spares him and offers him a place in his retinue. By force of his personality, Orsini overawes the d'Este ambassador and makes his way to Ferrara. On the journey, Belli secretly discovers Andrea's true heritage.
In Ferrara, despite the interference of Duke Ercole d'Este and his impetuous son Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, and the resistance of the cannon-happy Alfonso d'Este, he accomplishes his mission, securing Alfonso's promises. Meanwhile, Orsini makes an enemy of the cardinal, befriends Belli's enemy Pierre de Bayard, paints a monastery, and falls deeper in love with Camilla, a guest of the d'Estes.
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