Absolute Monarchs

A History of the Papacy

By: John Julius Norwich

Narrated by: Michael Page

With the papacy embattled in recent years, it is essential to have the perspective of one of the world's most accomplished historians. In Absolute Monarchs, John Julius Norwich captures nearly 2,000 years of inspiration and devotion, intrigue, and scandal. The men (and maybe one woman) who have held this position of infallible power over millions have ranged from heroes to rogues, admirably wise to utterly decadent.

Norwich, who knew two popes and had private audiences with two others, recounts in riveting detail the histories of the most significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and socially to Rome and to the world. He presents such brave popes as Innocent I, who in the fifth century successfully negotiated with Alaric the Goth, an invader civil authorities could not defeat, and Leo I, who two decades later tamed (and perhaps paid off) Atilla the Hun.

Here, too, are the scandalous figures: Pope Joan, the mythic woman said (without any substantiation) to have been elected in 855, and the infamous "pornocracy", the five libertines who were descendants or lovers of Marozia, debauched daughter of one of Rome's most powerful families.

Absolute Monarchs brilliantly portrays such reformers as Pope Paul III, "the greatest pontiff of the sixteenth century", who reinterpreted the Church's teaching and discipline, and John XXIII, who in five short years, starting in 1958, "opened the church to the the twentieth century", instituting reforms that led to Vatican II. Norwich brings the story to the present day with Benedict XVI, who is coping with a global priest sex scandal.

Epic and compelling, Absolute Monarchs is the astonishing story of some of history's most revered and reviled figures, men who still cast light and shadows on the Vatican and the world today.

©2011 John Julius Norwich (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Norwich doesn't skirt controversies, ancient and present, in this broad, clear-eyed assessment." ( Kirkus)

A little bit of all the Popes

Where does Absolute Monarchs rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I think it's pretty high up there, as it goes through a little of all the Popes, especially the early ones.

What could John Julius Norwich have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I can't think of anything.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes, it's nonfiction.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

Great performance, pretty good book

This history of the papacy covers almost all of them -- right from St. Peter up to Benedict.

The excellent performance kept my interest all the way through. But I kept waiting for a bigger picture of the papacy and analysis of historical trends. It never came. The book is a series of mini-biographies with little more analysis than, "If Pope So-and-so had been a less bigoted, he might have had a great impact on XYZ."

Still, it was informative and worth listening to. If you want to learn more about the history of the papacy, this isn't a bad place to start.

Well written, well read, and fascinating

The book covers a lot of time and a lot of people, but it never drags and is always interesting. I burned right through it, learning and enjoying (and being appalled by bad papal behavior) all the way through.

Pooped Popes Past Prime

As someone who was raised Catholic but left a long, long time ago, I enjoyed this book from a historical perspective. The writer, who is obviously pro-Catholic, did a thorough and complete job in painting a realistic picture of the pantheon of popes who've come our way, praises, warts and all.

I come way from this book, appreciating the history but am much stronger in my convictions that there is nothing godly about the institution of the Catholic Church, but rather, its very--sorry to say--humanness in its conniving nature, its sexual escapades, its search for raw power, etc.

I don't know how anyone could read this book and then come away with the thought that this is a religion that came from a higher source. But there will be those who read it that way, and all the power to them, I guess.

But I think it illustrates perfectly how the growth of the Catholic church is much like the layers of an onion, or more accurately, a perverse game of "Telephone", played as a kid. Did you ever play that? One kid starts by whispering one thing into the ear of the kid next to him or her. Then each kid does the same thing, whispering into the next kids ear. By the time you get to the end, what the last kid says is normally 100 percent different than what was originally said.

So, too, the Catholic church. Its beginnings may have come from someone who was radical (at the time) and challenged traditional thought, but over the years, each gilded layer of the onion has come to produce a mega-rich institution, highly ornate, theatrical, and slow-moving in its errors.

I appreciate this book for its honesty. An entertaining history of human foibles.

superb!

this general history of the Papacy (from St. Peter to the beginning of Benedict XVI) is Norwich at his best. it provides a n excellent introduction to the history of the Catholic chir church vis-à-vis general European history, with special emphases in the medieval period.