torture of her townsfolk. She is to pretend madness to discourage these plans. Despite their careful plans, Orsini is recognized by Angela Borgia and the Cardinal d'Este while recruiting Swiss mercenaries and Pierre de Bayard. They reveal the plot to Borgia's captain, and spying on Orsini's interview with Camilla in the madhouse, discover how to stop the plot. Having suspected them, Orsini reveals that they have actually set the attack in motion. Bayard and the Swiss gain the walls as the city rises in revolt. Camilla gives the Catalan prefect to the people to avenge themselves upon, and Angela and d'Este are sent away. Months later, the pope is dead and Cesare, ill and left without patronage, has been captured and exiled by his enemies. Orsini is acclaimed by all as the model man of the Renaissance, married to Camilla, whose (anonymous) paintings excite the envy of Mantegna himself. Characters in "Prince of Foxes" Andrea Orsini, né Andrea Zoppo, who has made himself into a man of parts, skilled in intrigue, politics, and human nature Mario Belli, an assassin, born Marius de Bella of Savoy, traitor to France, Andrea's ensign Cesare Borgia, duke of Valentinois, lord of the Romagna, captain of the Papal forces Lady Camilla Varano di Baglione Lord Varano of Citta del Monte Blessed Lucia Brocadelli of Narni, late of Viterbo, now of Ferrara Allusions/references to actual history and current science The conquest of the Romagna effected by Cesare Borgia is the backdrop for the events of the novel. Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, the subject of one of Shellabarger's scholarly works (The Chevalier Bayard: A Study in Fading Chivalry), makes several appearances. Andrea Mantegna makes a brief appearance. The novel dramatizes the mediation between Alfonse d'Este and the Borgias to bring about his marriage to Lucrezia The novel dramatizes how Ercole secured the Blessed Lucia of Narni from a jealous Viterbo The novel dramatizes the murder of Lucrezia's second husband, Alfonso of Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie) Zoppo is "cripple" in Italian. Blacksmiths in proto-Indo-European cultures were often crippled to prevent escape. Release details 1947, Boston, Little, Brown & company , Pub date 1947, Hardcover 1947, Toronto, McClelland and company 1947, Armed Services Edition 1948, London, Hamish Hamilton 1947 American novels Novels set in the Middle Ages Novels set in the Renaissance Novels set in Italy Cultural depictions of Cesare Borgia Cultural depictions of Lucrezia Borgia Cultural depictions