History of the Popes, Their Church and State Vol. 3 of 3 Vols.

History of the Popes, Their Church and State, by Leopold Von Ranke, this is Vol. 3 of 3 Vols.
No scholar can consider him or her self an Historian of the world who has not read, and studied, Ranks' History of the Popes. This remarkable History was produced between 1834, when volume one was published and 1837 with the publication of the third and final volume. Upon its publication it was universally recognized for its impartial scholarship and depth of study, and was immediately translated into all the main languages of Europe. Today it remains a foundation Work in the history of the Roman Catholic church. The hidden facts of History are far more interesting and revealing than any fiction can possibly be, and this History of the Popes reveals the depth and heights of the business of the popes, their intrigues, sins, bloody plots, and pious audacity, that made the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic church, the most powerful political machine in Western Civilization.
Emmett F. Fields