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Eleanor Herman, the talented author of the New York Times bestselling Sex with Kings and Sex with the Queen goes behind the sacred doors of the Catholic Church in Mistress of the Vatican, a scintillating biography of a powerful yet little-known woman whose remarkable story is ripe with secrets, sex, passion, and ambition. For almost four centuries this astonishing story of a woman’s absolute power over the Vatican has been successfully buried—until now.
- Sales Rank: #866666 in Books
- Brand: Herman, Eleanor
- Published on: 2009-09-08
- Released on: 2009-09-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x 1.12" w x 5.31" l, .79 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 496 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this engrossing "forgotten story" of the Vatican, Herman (Sex with the Queen) relays not only the life of 17th Cenutry Papal puppet-master Olimpia Maidalchini, but the political and social history of her age, including glimpses of art and architecture, family relations, medical care, religious traditions and daily life. Born into a family of average means, Maidalchini rebelled successfully against her father's plans to place her in a convent. This early triumph gave her a will that she'd eventually use to grab the ultimate seat of power in 17th century Italy, the Papacy, through the likely accomplice of her indecisive brother-in-law, a lawyer with holy orders who was dazzled by Maidalchini's intelligence, planning and accounting capabilities. He submitted to the her plans, and she eventually ushered him into power as Pope Innocent X. As her wealth and strength grow, so does the resentment around her, but her fate would be sealed by the bubonic plague. Exhaustively researched, with historical vignettes interwoven seamlessly, Herman's latest provides a window into an age of empire, nepotism and intrigue that rivals any novel for fascinating reading.
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Review
“...immensely readable and compelling...An expert on—and descendant of—European royal families, she skillfully uses letters, diaries, newssheets of the time, and biographies to tell this personal tale, set during unforgiving times. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Review
"...immensely readable and compelling...An expert on-and descendant of-European royal families, she skillfully uses letters, diaries, newssheets of the time, and biographies to tell this personal tale, set during unforgiving times. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries." (Kirkus Reviews )
Most helpful customer reviews
39 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
A Woman at the Pinnacle of Power
By Timothy Haugh
In her biography of Olimpia Maidalchini, Ms. Herman refers to her as "the secret female pope." This is a line meant to provoke and it does its job. Frankly, however, it is a bit of a stretch considering Ms. Herman's own descriptions of Olimpia's exile and near-catastrophic over-reaching. And let's not forget the fact that Olimpia's power was no secret. Still, given the Catholic Church's history of patriarchy and often sinful misogyny, it is wonderful to have reminders of the fact that, throughout its history, women have played important roles and wielded great power in the Church.
In some ways, Olimpia's story is a great one for any age: a young woman defies the odds and works her way up to the pinnacles of power and wealth in her society. The fact that she does so in the Papal States of the seventeenth century when women were often less than second-class citizens is all the more impressive. Of course, Olimpia is no saint--but few were in Rome at the time--and her path to power is paved with the bodies of those who stood in her way, but it is a fascinating story nonetheless.
Nearly forced into a convent by her father, she ends up marrying above her station in her native Viterbo. Soon after, she marries Pamphilio Pamphili, a nobleman of Rome and begins her quest for power there. She ultimately achieves this through her brother-in-law, Gianbattista Pamphili. Likely his mistress, she guides the shy canon into the intrigues of Vatican politics, to a cardinal's hat, and, ultimately, to elevation as Pope Innocent X. Through her vacillating lover, she controls everything from the purse-strings to cardinal appointments. At times, she truly did wield the power of the papacy and people knew it; at least, when she wasn't in disfavor with the pope. Like anyone, she wasn't perfect holding the reins of power and ran into some problems.
Most of her problems came from her own mistakes and Ms. Herman is fair in describing Olimpia's weaknesses. Her greed and vengefulness are on display, though Ms. Herman sometimes seems tolerant of these short-comings. True, these were common failing in Rome at the time and, in some cases, would have been winked at in men. But that doesn't make them right. But it is fair to say that Olimpia generally knew how to play the game well and she couldn't have achieved what she did without being ruthless.
All in all, this is a very well-written book about an amazing woman. Ms. Herman takes us right into the world of Rome in the seventeenth century. My brief description here does not do justice to the intricacy with which Ms. Herman brings things to life. And, in giving us Olimpia's story, she does more: she shows us how the Church of the time actually functioned. Great things were achieved, but these things were often achieved through less than holy methods. Olimpia turns out to be a reflection of her time. She did great and not-so-great things but she stands out because of her gender. Fortunately for us, since it allowed Ms. Herman to write this great book.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
Great Scholarly Research
By M.O.
I have to disagree with A. Jones' review. He/she claims that Eleanor Herman's work is short on scholarly research. This is preposterous. As someone who has worked in primary source researching - manuscripts at the Library of Congress in Washington - I have to say that the work is absolutely painstaking, and those who are able to do it, and do it successfully, are the true scholars amongst us - they are not simply regurgitating some secondary sources. It is a huge mistake to discard this book as non-scholarly when the exact opposite is true. You can work for days on end combing through Senators' and Presidents' letters in the manuscript division at the Library of Congress and only come up with one or two sentences actually useful for your thesis. The letters are written on horribly deteriorated paper (or paper similar to that of tissue used to keep outgoing letters) in a cursive that is hard to decipher in ink that has run over the years. And I'm only talking about 19th century manuscripts written in American English. Herman did her research in manuscripts from 16th century Italy in medieval Italian (and being someone who speaks Italian, I also assume it was 16th century Romanesco Italian, the Roman dialect of the time) - and she collects a vast fount of these sources. Her research is a wonder. The story that she has been able to uncover from this research is simply astonishing. Yes, Herman does use terminology like "We can imagine/picture..." but it is clear from her writing that she is only extrapolating from the research that she has done and the knowledge of social customs of the time. Herman not only uncovers the gossip and rumors of the day, which is a marvel in itself, but in doing so she paints a picture of 16th century Rome and how life was lived - she is able to tell us not only what the famous Roman statue in the Piazza Navona, Pasquino, had to say about the infamous Olimpia Maidalchini, but she is able to tell us about how Olimpia was able to rid the Piazza of the farmers and peasants who created foul odors in the Piazza, which disturbed Olimpia. How she was able to pilfer the Vatican coffers. How Anna Colonna, a famous member of the Roman Colonna family felt about Olimpia's rise to prominence. How Olimpia's granddaughter refused to consummate her marriage, and how it was well known throughout the city, bringing disgrace upon the Pamphilj family. How it was reported and well known throughout the city that a cardinal, passing through the city streets, called Olimpia a whore.
All of this research paints a fantastic picture of the age, presenting us cutting edge historical research. The fact that Herman asks us to imagine Olimpia doing certain things, which she infers from the voluminous research she went through should not discredit that. Primary source research requires inferences and imagination - as does history in general. If we are unable to imagine, to picture things in the past happening, then we might as well not study history at all. It's the only way we can bring it back to life. And that's exactly what Herman does through, what I must repeat, is some of the best research I have ever seen in a book of its kind. If you are interested in medieval Italy, it is a MUST read. As someone who lived in Italy, studied Italy, and speaks Italian, trust me. It's excellent.
61 of 74 people found the following review helpful.
3 stars for entertainment value, 0 stars for actual scholarly research
By A. Jones
While entertaining and at times salacious, if you're looking for an in-depth, scholarly biography along the lines of Antonia Fraser, keep looking elsewhere.
All in all, I enjoyed reading about a now-forgotten woman who turned Rome and the Catholic Church on its ear with her ambition and greed. The author points out how this woman essentially ran the Vatican for extended periods of time for her brother-in-law, Pope Innocent X. Having schemed to place him on the papal throne, she continued to scheme and intrigue with cardinals, ambassadors, and royalty. All of this was acceptable at the time (bribery and coercion were the norm), but only if you were a man.
That said, this work is far from intellectual and relies too heavily on phrases such as "we can imagine" and "we can picture". This type of speculation runs rampant through the book, as do lengthy fiction-like tangents where the author asks us to imagine scenes in the Vatican and palaces of Rome.
I enjoyed the read, but took much of it with a grain of salt. If you like your biography heavy on opinion and guesswork, this is one for you. If like me, however, you prefer your biography to be well-researched, factual, and lacking in ridiculous exposition about the subject's motivations and the imaginings of the author, then it would be best to look elsewhere.
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