Copyright © 2011 by John Julius Norwich
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Published in the United Kingdom as The Popes: A History by Chatto & Windus, a member of The Random House Group Limited, London.
The illustration credits are located on this page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Norwich, John Julius.
Absolute monarchs : a history of the papacy / John Julius Norwich.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-679-60499-0
1. Papacy—History. I. Title. II. Title: History of the papacy.
BX955.3.N67 2011
262′.13—dc22 2010036598
Title-page image copyright © iStockphoto.com/© Paolo Cipriani Maps by Reginald Piggott
Jacket design: Susan Zucker Koski
Jacket painting: Pierre Subleyras, portrait of Pope Benedict
XIV (detail) (Musée Condé, Chantilly, France/Giraudon/
Bridgeman Art Library)
v3.1