Description

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Famed for having killed his cousin Alessandro, the Duke of Florence, in 1537, but also for writing accomplished literary works, including a comedy and several poems, Lorenzino de' Medici remains one of the most enigmatic figures of Italian literature. In his masterpiece, Apology for a Murder, he reveals the inner motives behind his act, portraying himself as a hero to be numbered alongside the great tyrannicides of ancient Rome and Greece.

Lorenzino himself, in 1548, was murdered by two soldiers hired either by the emperor Charles V or by Cosimo, Alessandro's successor as Duke, and this volume includes the dramatic account of his killing by Francesco Bibboni, one of the assassins, as well as a selection of Lorenzino's poems, giving a fully rounded image of the antihero of Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio.

About the Author

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ANDREW BROWN is an author, a lawyer, and a volunteer police officer who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize for Coldsleep Lullaby, and his work has also been shortlisted for the Alan Paton Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Africa Region). He is married and has three children.

Praise For…

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Lorenzino de’ Medici remains one of the most enigmatic figures of Italian literature