Book Description Pope's diplomat. As a protege of Constable Colonna he receives the rank of captain and is sent to the town of Ancona with a secret mission to expose and neutralize a Spanish spy ring acting in the army. After many dangerous adventures he manages to fulfill this task but faces the wrath of the Spaniards who are formally the Pope's allies. Through his ingenuity and resourcefulness he finds a way to allay the Vatican's fears of the Spaniards, survives the Spanish threats, and even defeats them diplomatically.

This is the third of four books about the adventures of Giulio Mazarini. It covers the period from approximately 1627 to 1639, the most productive time in Mazarini's career. He tries hard to achieve one important goal: to restore peace in Western Europe. The peace was violated by Spain and Savoy which attacked the small marquesate of Montferrat in northern Italy. Mazarini manipulates the Spanish commander into inaction. By doing so, Mazarini happens to fulfill the agenda of Richelieu thus defending the interests of France. Richelieu appreciates his efforts. After a short period of happiness when Mazarini falls in love with a woman he saved from death, his fortunes take a turn for the worse. The young diplomat loses the favor of the Pope, who does not approve of Mazarini's leanings toward Richelieu's policies. As a result Mazarini has to flee Italy and goes to France.

The memoirs of Hortense (1646–1699) and of Marie (1639–1715) Mancini, nieces of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin and members of the court of Louis XIV, represent the earliest examples in France of memoirs published by women under their own names during their lifetimes. Both unhappily married—Marie had also fled the aftermath of her failed affair with the king—the sisters chose to leave their husbands for life on the road, a life quite rare for women of their day. Through their writings, the Mancinis sought to rehabilitate their reputations and reclaim the right to define their public images themselves, rather than leave the stories of their lives to the intrigues of the court—and to their disgruntled ex-husbands. First translated in 1676 and 1678 and credited largely to male redactors, the two memoirs reemerge here in an accessible English translation that chronicles the beginnings of women’s rights to personal independence within the confines of an otherwise circumscribed early modern aristocratic society.

AMERICAN FREEDOM AND JUSTICE VS. THE TYRANNIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY The new government in central Europe, called the Confederated Principalities of Europe, was formed by an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians led by Mike Stearns who were transplanted into 17th-century Germany by a mysterious cosmic accident. The new regime is shaky. Outside its borders, the Thirty Years War continues to rage. Within, it is beset by financial crisis as well as the political and social tensions between the democratic ideals of the 20th-century Americans and the aristocracy which continues to rule the roost in the CPE as everywhere in Europe. Worst of all, the CPE has aroused the implacable hostility of Cardinal Richelieu, the effective ruler of France. Richelieu has created the League of Ostend in order to strike at the weakest link in the CPE's armor¾its dependence on the Baltic as the lifeline between Gustav Adolf's Sweden and the rest of his realm. The greatest naval war in European history is about to erupt. Like it or not, Gustavus Adolphus will have to rely on Mike Stearns and the technical wizardry of his obstreperous Americans to save the King of Sweden from ruin. Caught in the conflagration are two American diplomatic missions abroaRebecca Stearns' mission to France and Holland, and the embassy which Mike Stearns sent to King Charles of England headed by his sister Rita and Melissa Mailey. Rebecca finds herself trapped in war-torn Amsterdam; Rita and Melissa, imprisoned in the Tower of London. And much as Mike wants to transport 20th-century values into war-torn 17th-century Europe by Sweet Reason, still he finds comfort in the fact that Julie, who once trained to be an Olympic marksman, still has her rifle . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Works of Pietro Testa, an Italian High Baroque artist in Rome.