Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe

John Julius Norwich-who the Wall Street Journal called "the very model of a popular historian"-has crafted a big, bold tapestry of the early sixteenth century, when Europe and the Middle East were overshadowed by a quartet of legendary rulers, all born within a ten-year period:

• Francis I of France, the personification of the Renaissance, who became a highly influential patron of the arts and education




• Henry VIII, who was not expected to inherit the throne but embraced the role with gusto, b...