The Vatican and the Holy See
The History and Legacy of the Roman Catholic Church's Governing Body
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The Vatican and the Holy See
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Narrated by:
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Colin Fluxman
About this listen
Every year, millions visit a stunning circuit board city starring gorgeous collections of interconnected rectangular buildings and charming houses in shades of beige, sandy-brown, and other earthy tones. Zoom in a little closer, and one can see the Renaissance-style exterior of its buildings and the exquisite detail captured in the statues mounted on the tops of its palaces and cathedrals. Take a gander through the doors inside these historic places, and one enters a whole new world even more mesmerizing than the view of the city bathed in the peach and purple tints of sunset. Nested inside Rome, this spellbinding destination is none other than Vatican City.
The Vatican is an enchanting backdrop often found in literature, music, and the shimmering silver screen for good reason. Of course, being the smallest independent sovereignty in the world at just 44 hectares is a selling point that only scratches the surface. As the centuries-old home of the Catholic Church, its engrossing, eventful history, not to mention the rich and varied artwork and architecture contained within, ensures the influence and importance of the Vatican far surpasses its size.
©2017 Charles River Editors (P)2017 Charles River EditorsListeners also enjoyed...
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Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 24 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 156
From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City", but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city but a global story.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A daunting undertaking pulled off superlatively
- By SGS on 12-24-17
By: Bettany Hughes
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Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 248
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 248
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
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Tried by Fire
- The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years
- By: William J. Bennett
- Narrated by: Wayne Campbell
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world's greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best history of Christianity I've read
- By JOHN F KANARY on 05-05-16
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Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,313
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,170
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,162
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
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Jerusalem
- The Biography
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 879
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 767
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 770
Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
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The Bright Ages
- A New History of Medieval Europe
- By: Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 227
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4 out of 5 stars 189
The word medieval conjures images of the “Dark Ages”. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors. The Bright Ages takes us through 10 centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Does exactly what it claims to clarify
- By Aaron Rapozo on 12-13-21
By: Matthew Gabriele, and others
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Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 866
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 863
In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. During the four extraordinary years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the ceiling, power politics and personal rivalries swirled around him. He battled ill health, financial and family difficulties, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the Pope's impatience - a history that is more compelling than most novels.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History brought to life!
- By Anne on 05-17-03
By: Ross King
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Magna Carta
- The Birth of Liberty
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 665
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 585
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 577
The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles - even its language - can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange document and how did it gain such legendary status? Dan Jones takes us back to the turbulent year of 1215, when, beset by foreign crises and cornered by a growing domestic rebellion, King John reluctantly agreed to fix his seal to a document that would change the course of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Complicated period of history made accessible
- By NH on 12-09-15
By: Dan Jones
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The Hidden History of the Knights Templar
- The Church's Oldest Conspiracy
- By: Conrad Bauer
- Narrated by: Charles D. Baker
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4 out of 5 stars 120
The Knights Templar existed officially for less than 200 years. Founded to protect pilgrims who were travelling through the Holy Lands, their rise to power was sudden. They became some of the most feared warriors in the region, they had a mandate from God, they controlled perhaps the world's first real banking system, and they waged war against anyone who tried to wrestle Christianity and seize holy grounds from the control of the Catholic Church.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Insightful
- By Tina on 09-11-16
By: Conrad Bauer
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The Friar of Carcassonne
- Revolt Against the Inquisition in the Last Days of the Cathars
- By: Stephen O'Shea
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
In 1300, the French region of Languedoc had been cowed under the authority of both Rome and France since Pope Innocent III 's Albigensian Crusade nearly a century earlier. That crusade almost wiped out the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians whose beliefs threatened the authority of the Catholic Church. But decades of harrowing repression - enforced by the ruthless Pope Boniface VIII; the Machiavellian French King Philip the Fair, of France; and the pitiless grand inquisitor of Toulouse; Bernard Gui (the villain in The Name of the Rose) - had bred resentment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By P on 08-04-15
By: Stephen O'Shea
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In the Shadow of the Sword
- The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 670
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 587
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Story4 out of 5 stars 580
The evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. In this exciting and sweeping history - the third in his trilogy of books on the ancient world - Tom Holland describes how the Arabs emerged to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion in a matter of decades, overcoming seemingly insuperable odds to create an imperial civilization.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Misleading title
- By Edd Huetteman on 04-08-16
By: Tom Holland
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The Templars
- The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,851
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,482
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,465
In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unexpected
- By Protogere on 10-30-17
By: Dan Jones
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A World Lit Only by Fire
- The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,055
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 784
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Story4 out of 5 stars 779
From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Ruined by the narrator
- By Wallen on 02-28-09
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Lost to the West
- The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization
- By: Lars Brownworth
- Narrated by: Lars Brownworth
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,877
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,524
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,525
Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to the Byzantine Empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy. For more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just a delight for anyone interested in history !
- By Cinders on 05-28-13
By: Lars Brownworth
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The Fisherman's Tomb
- The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Search
- By: John O'Neill, Sarah Wynne, Katie Clark
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 444
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 404
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Story5 out of 5 stars 405
In 1939, a team of workers beneath the Vatican unearthed an early Christian grave. This surprising discovery launched a secret quest that would last decades a quest to discover the long-lost burial place of the Apostle Peter. From earliest times, Christian tradition held that Peter, a lowly fisherman from Galilee, whom Christ made leader of his church was executed in Rome by Emperor Nero and buried on Vatican Hill. But his tomb had been lost to history. Now, funded anonymously by a wealthy American, a small army of workers embarked on the dig of a lifetime.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great narrator
- By Fran on 09-10-18
By: John O'Neill, and others
What listeners say about The Vatican and the Holy See
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- OAGallups
- 02-21-18
I can’t call this history
This could be great. The subject is great.
At first he praises the church at the expense of the Roman Emperors. Then he talks as though there wasn’t an Orthodox Church. Later, he speaks well of Protestants. But then…
Some good historians need to review and revise the text or Charles River Editors should replace this text with a more correct text.
I generally like Charles River Editors’ books. This book disappoints me.
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