OUR MAN IN ROME
Friday 18th May 7:00pm - KENILWORTH CASTLE STABLES Ticket Price £7.50 / £6.00 Concessions (Concessions are those in receipt of state pension or card carrying students)

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OUR MAN IN ROME

Friday 18th May 7:00pm - KENILWORTH CASTLE STABLES
Ticket Price £7.50 / £6.00 Concessions
(Concessions are those in receipt of state pension or card carrying students)

Catherine Fletcher's book "Our Man In Rome" is about the Italian diplomat who represented King Henry VIII’s interests at Rome, when he was seeking his divorce. This is an interesting and unusual tale about Gregorio ,‘The Cavalier’ Casali. In 1527 he was Henry VIII’s man in Rome, an Italian freelance diplomat, who charmed his way into the English service before he was twenty. But he faced an almighty challenge. Henry wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and Casali must persuade Pope Clement VII of his master’s case.
Set against the backdrop of war-torn Renaissance Italy, "Our Man in Rome" weaves together tales from the grubby underbelly of Tudor politics with a gripping family saga to reveal the extraordinary true story behind history’s most infamous divorce. Through six years of cajoling, threats and bribery, Casali lives by his wits. He manoeuvres his brothers into lucrative diplomatic postings, plays off one master against another, dodges spies, bandits and noblemen alike. But as the years pass and Henry’s case drags on, his loyalties are increasingly suspected. What will be Casali’s fate?
Drawing on hundreds of unknown archive documents, "Our Man in Rome" reconstructs his tumultuous life among the great and powerful at this turning point for European history.
From the besieged Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome to the splendours of Greenwich Palace, we follow his trail in the service of Henry VIII. Lavish ceremony and glamorous parties stand in contrast to the daily strains of embassy life, as Casali pawns family silver to pay the bills, fights off rapacious in-laws and defends himself in the face of Anne Boleyn’s wrath. This vivid and compelling book will make us think anew about Henry, Catherine and the Tudor world.

Catherine Fletcher Catherine Fletcher is a specialist in the history of Renaissance and early modern Europe, especially Italy, and lectures at the University of Durham.

This is an event promoted by Kenilworth Books for Kenilworth Festival. Tickets are available from Kenilworth Books, Warwick Books and online. click here

We are grateful to the support of Vintage the publisher for enabling us to put on the event.

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