Renaissance History

Medieval reenactors are individuals who closely study the traditions and practices of the Middle Ages. Many reenactors are particularly interested in learning medieval combat techniques, but countless prefer to reenact by recreating medieval clothes, art, writing, and recipes. Regardless of your current abilities and interests, if you have a soft spot for the fearsome knights, beautiful royalty, and awe-inspiring castles of the Middle Ages, then this hobby has a nice for you.

Five Tudor monarchs sat on the throne of England and Ireland from 1485 to 1603. The family earned their royal rights through strategic planning and battlefield prowess, and kept them because of intellect, strength, and sheer determination. The Tudors, one of England’s most powerful and famous royal dynasties, knitted together a fragmented and small island nation that became one of the world’s financial, colonial, and technological superpowers.

Chi è stato realmente Leonardo Da Vinci? E qual è stata la rilevanza del suo pensiero, delle sue scoperte, delle sue opere...

The Reformation was a long struggle of ideas between the established Catholic Church and the questioning of faith brought about by the Renaissance in Western Europe. Started by Martin Luther in 1517, religious dissidence spread across Europe throughout the sixteenth century, causing wars, migration and disunity.

This audiobook includes both of Henry David Thoreau's most popular and enduring works, the book Walden and the essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience."

The Burren, the Ring of Kerry, the Giant’s Causeway, the Cliffs of Moher - green Ireland is indeed a tower of intrigue. The nation is home to most of the world’s enchanting sites, and behind the generous bounties of nature lies a history that is all the more enchanting. Prehistoric to modern, this audioook chronicles every prominent event that led to the sculpting of today’s Ireland.

This audiobook provides an easy-to-understand overview of British history in 50 events.You will learn about the foundation of London, the Great Viking Invasion, the Battle of Hastings, the Black Death, the Battle of Waterloo, the last public hanging, and much more!

Studies in Islamic Civilization was published in complete form in 2010 and reprinted in 2011. It draws upon the works of Western scholars to make the case that without the tremendous contribution of the Muslim world there would have been no Renaissance in Europe. For almost a thousand years Islam was arguably one of the leading civilizations of the world spanning a geographic area greater than any other.

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are mind-boggling evidence of a 15th-century scientific genius standing at the edge of the modern world, basing his ideas on observation and experimentation. This book will change children’s ideas of who Leonardo was and what it means to be a scientist.

Although Genoa cannot compete in the popular imagination with some of Italy’s more famous cities, this busy port town perched above the sea once boasted a powerful empire that rivaled that of Venice. It also lasted for roughly the same time period, rising in the early Middle Ages and coming to an end at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte near the end of the 18th century. Today, historians are starting to correct the imbalance that has focused on Venice, Florence, and Rome, and new histories are gradually introducing Genoa to the world, even as much remains to be uncovered.

Machtgewinn und Machtbehauptung der Medici im Florenz des 15. Jahrhunderts waren schon für die Zeitgenossen ein Lehrstück der Politik: Wie konnte es gelingen, scheinbar übermächtige Gegner aus älteren und vornehmeren Familien zu verdrängen? Wie ließ sich eine vorher relativ offene Republik so umformen, dass der Wille der Medici maßgeblich und durchsetzbar wurde? Als packendes Drama in fünf Akten erzählt Volker Reinhardt den Machtkampf der Medici - mit Cosimo de Medici als "Hauptdarsteller".

Rom befindet sich auf dem Gipfel der Hochrenaissance, als am 6. Mai 1527 ein Heer Kaiser Karls V. die Mauern der Ewigen Stadt erstürmt und in der Folgezeit ein regelrechtes Terrorregiment am Tiber errichtet - Sacco di Roma. Vorangegangen war eine Diplomatie der Illusionen und der Selbstüberschätzung Papst Clemens' VII, der nach der Einnahme Roms monatelang in der Engelsburg als Gefangener in seiner eigenen Hauptstadt ausharren muss.

In every nation, in every era of history, there are inevitably one or two places that become the symbol of the times. Mention Valley Forge to an American and it will immediately conjure up visions of a hard won fight for freedom. Likewise, the word Dunkirk said to a Briton will elicit a sense of both pride and horror at the lives lost and saved at that desperate point in World War II. For the French, and those who study their history, Versailles is a symbol of, as Charles Dickens once put it, "the best of times...the worst of times."

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known across the world simply by the name Raphael, stands as one of the main pillars of the High Renaissance, an iconic example of the balance between spirituality and humanistic inquiry that characterized the time period. Although he lived just 37 years, his career produced an amazingly rich output, and he completed more works than many artists do over careers spanning twice the length.

Ever since Machiavelli penned The Prince, his 1513 treatise on princely rule and the politics of reality, a work that infamously advises rulers to abandon virtue and morality when necessary, his name has been synonymous with deceit, duplicity, and amoral pragmatism. Since then a sinister reputation has posthumously plagued the controversial Florentine. But is this depiction of Machiavelli as wicked and immoral accurate?

Most historians credit the city-state of Florence as the place that started and developed the Italian Renaissance, a process carried out through the patronage and commission of artists during the late 12th century. If Florence is receiving its due credit, much of it belongs to the Medicis, the family dynasty of Florence that ruled at the height of the Renaissance. The dynasty held such influence that some of its family members even became pope.

The Renaissance spawned the use of the label "Renaissance man" to describe a person who is extremely talented in multiple fields, and no discussion of the Renaissance is complete without the original Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci. Indeed, if 100 people are asked to describe Leonardo in one word, they might give 100 answers.

In 1503, Pope Julius II had succeeded the notorious Alexander VI, and Julius II brought an appreciation for the arts to the papacy. After Michelangelo finished the flurry of works that he had worked on during the previous four years, he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to complete a tomb in the Pope's honor. The project was to be massive in scope, and the tomb was to be placed inside of St. Peter's Basilica, the construction of which was intended to take place while Michelangelo designed the tomb.

When Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519, he believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing west through or around the New World. He was right, but what he didn't know was that the treacherous voyage would take him three years and cost him his life.

Of course part of what made Galileo such a monumental figure was the fact that he was ahead of his time and that he mostly refused to conform to the accepted dogmas of contemporary society. As he once put it, "Philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes - I mean the universe - but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written."