The Prince and His Friends

Recently, I've started back up my World Lit Survey. It's been a few months-- but they were not uneventful! My beautiful daughter Julianna was born on January 22, 2012. She's been a wonderful baby. I couldn't have asked for better. But of course I was still distracted by the novelty of motherhood, so I took some time off from my "school." I'm happy to have gotten back into it though, even if the pace is slow. 

I'm in the middle of reading "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli.
I actually have a personal connection to this book. My husband is Italian, and his aunt (by marriage) is actually a direct descendant of Machiavelli, and in fact Machiavelli is her maiden name. So her children- my cousins through marriage- are also direct descendants. It certainly makes me feel more invested in reading the book, although I find the content quite fascinating in its own right. The book is written by a "commoner" who acts as a political adviser for Lorenzo D'Medici and focuses primarily on monarchies as opposed to republics, but does compare and contrast the two a bit. I have only read the forward (which was quite long and detailed and I will comment on that in my review) and the first third of the book. But it is short and I hope to be finished with it shortly.

To complement the reading material (and to fill my time while I watch the baby and can't read!), I've been familiarizing myself with the European politics (both royal and religious) during that time period by watching TV series inspired by that era. It began when I watched "The Tudors" on Netflix. Of course the focus is more on drama rather than history, but it allowed me to get a mental image of the characters, their relationships and family trees, and the culture. I researched the historical facts vs. the inaccuracies in the series as extensively as the internet would allow and I think I was able to get a good balance of "interesting" and "historical." Now that I feel intimately familiar with the reign of Henry VIII, I'd like to learn more about the royal families and religious leaders (and "heretics") that influenced the time period of "The Prince." Especially since Henry VIII came shortly AFTER "The Prince" was written and was based primarily in England and not Italy.

Right now I'm beginning to watch the TV series "Borgia" (by Tom Fontana; not the Showtime series because that version is not available) which is closer to the time frame of "The Prince", and it is also set in Italy. It focuses on the scandalous Borgia family who is most famous (or infamous) for Pope Alexander VI who actually had a mistress who lived at the Vatican with him and children of his own including a son whom he made a cardinal in his service. I think learning about this family will give me a greater perspective on "The Prince." So far this particular TV series seems more focused on sensationalizing the bizarre practices of that day and less on the history-- even more so than "The Tudors." But I have only watched one episode and I will give it a shot. In the very least it will give me a face to go with the names so that when I do some research I can keep track of who-is-who a little better.

Does anyone have any other recommended TV series, movies, or even other reading material to compliment "The Prince"?

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