An influential and prolific Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant (1828–97) is best remembered for her Chronicles of Carlingford – novels which sketch the religious and domestic politics of a provincial community – and for her many book reviews, essays and serialised fiction for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Her output included ninety-eight novels, some fifty short stories, works of biography and non-fiction, and a series of cultural histories of European cities, of which this is the last. A place of poignant association for Mrs Oliphant, Rome was the city in which both her husband and daughter Maggie died. Originally published in 1895, this book paints a compelling picture of the development of the great city from the fourth century to the Renaissance through accounts of its key figures. These include Saints Marcella and Paula, Cola di Rienzi, and pontiffs from Gregory I to Leo X. The volumes on Florence (1876) and Venice (1887) are also reissued in this series.