In the 15th and 16th century Italy, the Borgias dominated the scene.Dumas details who they were, their crimes and how history views them. Young Beatrice Cenci conspired with her stepmother and brothers to murder her abusive father. Fearing a trend of patricide the law came down swiftly on Beatrice and her coconspirators. Alexandre Dumas is best known for his D'Artagnan Romances, including the books The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. Dumas, a student of history, wrote several historical fictions as well as historical essays. There are 8 volumes of the "Celebrated Crimes."
Author
This note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils. Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to Senior in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. Dumas also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent. Dumas was of Haitian descent and mixed-race. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a black slave. At age 14 Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career. Dumas' father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre Dumas acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, finding early success. He became one of the leading authors of the French Romantic Movement, in Paris. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
