A personal and political history, unpredictable and often tragic, of the series of Italian cardinals who undertook, at the invitation of the crown, to serve the king and England in the papal court. It also investigates fully the character of Anglo-papal relations in the two generations before the break with Rome.

A personal and political history, unpredictable and often tragic, of the series of Italian cardinals who undertook, to serve the king and England in the papal court.