author

M. Beresford Ryley

Best known for a vivid early-20th-century book on Renaissance women, this writer approached biography as a series of character studies rather than a dry list of facts. Her work brings together figures like Catherine of Siena, Lucrezia Borgia, and Margaret d'Angoulême in a lively, readable way.

1 Audiobook

Queens of the Renaissance

Queens of the Renaissance

by M. Beresford Ryley

About the author

M. Beresford Ryley is a little-documented author and translator whose surviving public record is quite slim. The main work reliably tied to the name is Queens of the Renaissance, first published in London by Methuen in 1907 and later also issued in Boston by Small, Maynard.

In the preface to that book, Ryley explains that the aim was not simply to repeat known facts, but to offer fresh "character studies" of six women: Catherine of Siena, Beatrice d'Este, Anne of Brittany, Lucrezia Borgia, Margaret d'Angoulême, and Renée, Duchess of Ferrara. That interest in personality and historical atmosphere gives the book its distinctive tone.

Library and catalog records also show Ryley as the translator of Claude Anet's Through Persia in a Motor-car. Beyond those credits, dependable biographical details about the author appear to be scarce, so much of her life remains unclear today.