Mary Hollingsworth

Elizabeth Mary Hollingsworth (born November 1950) is a British historian who specialises in the history of medieval Italy.

Hollingsworth gained a BSc in business studies from the University of Manchester and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of East Anglia, where she later taught. She has studied the letters of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, and was a senior academic on the Material Renaissance Project.

Selected publications Catherine de' Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen (2024) Princes of the Renaissance (2021) The Medici (2017); US edition title The Family Medici: The Hidden History of the Medici Dynasty (2018) Conclave: 1559 (2013) The Borgias: History's Most Notorious Dynasty (2011) Art in World History (2008) The Cardinal’s Hat: Money, Ambition and Housekeeping in a Renaissance Court (2004) Patronage in Sixteenth Century Italy (1996) Patronage in Renaissance Italy: From 1400 to the Early Sixteenth Century (1994) Architecture of the 20th Century (1988)