Search -
The Medici Guns (Leonardo da Vinci, Bk 1)
The Medici Guns - Leonardo da Vinci, Bk 1 Author:Martin Woodhouse, Robert Ross In the autumn of 1477, Florence, the cradle of the Italian Renaissance, was in grave peril. Castelmonte, a strategic fortress perched above the key road to the city, had been captured by the advancement of Rome's invading Papal army. — The ambitions of Rome were frighteningly clear to Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of the Florentines.&nbs... more »p;The venal Pope Sixtus IV and his deceitful Cardinal Borgia had conspired to seize the treasures of Italy's opulent city-states, and nothing could stop their forces while Castelmonte was in their hands. Florence was doomed unless the massive stronghold could be captured before the enemy's spring campaign. For months the Medicis had failed to breach Castelmonte's impregnable walls,and a new strategy was urgently needed.
To his courtiers' amazement, Lorenzo turned to an eccentric young artist who painted with both hands by candlelight and wasted his days filling the notebok tied to his hip with impious ramblings and sketches of bizarre experiments. Kites, clouds, angels, arrows -- his dabblings had enchanted a few court ladies, but what did this upstart know of martial arts and the engines of war? Only a brilliant, daring gambit could save Florence, and Lorenzo de Medici had placed its fate in the hands of an impetuous amateur: Leonardo da Vinci. « less