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King Henry VIII of England, King Francois I of France, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, these four great monarchs were born in the same decade (1491-1500). They were all important in the history of their respective countries, and in this book, John Julius Norwich zooms in to show how the feud between these four monarchs laid the foundation for modern Europe, against the backdrop of the Renaissance and Reformation. Individually they were different, Henry had six wives and Charles was ascetic; together they dominated the world stage. This book describes the meeting of the Golden Sea that nearly bankrupted France and Britain, tells the story of Suleiman's pile of two thousand enemy heads after the Battle of Mohács, mentions that Anne Boleyn's left hand has six fingers that pious people are afraid of, and mentions the true story of the Maltese Falcon. These stories make "The Four Monarchs" an extremely vivid and interesting historical work.

Venice, originally a floating city inhabited by refugees fleeing barbarian invasions, gradually developed into a city-state that possessed huge wealth and controlled the power of the two empires of the East and West. It had a complex and peculiar oligarchic republic that lasted for more than a thousand years, maintaining the stability and expansion of the city. This book tells in detail the historical process of Venice from its establishment in the 5th century AD to its death at the hands of Napoleon at the end of the 18th century, and depicts the political situation along the Mediterranean coast for thousands of years.