Showing titles in 16th Century

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642 something happened that transformed the entire culture of Western civilisation. Painting, sculpture and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born or emerge in an entirely new guise. The ideas that broke this mould largely began, and continued to flourish, in the city of Florence in the province of Tuscany.

Historian and popular TV presenter Ruth Goodman offers up a history of offensive language, insulting gestures, insolent behaviour, brawling and scandal in the 16th and 17th centuries - with practical tips on just how to horrify the neighbours. From royalty to peasantry, every age has its bad eggs, those who break all the rules and rub everyone up the wrong way. But their niggling, antisocial and irritating ways tell us about not only what upset people but also what mattered to them, how their society functioned and what kind of world they lived in.

Una sera di settembre del 1533 Isabella d’Este, quasi sessantenne, rievoca la propria vicenda: dall’infanzia a Ferrara al matrimonio, sedicenne, con il marchese Francesco Gonzaga, e poi la vita a Mantova dove, in un periodo tra i più tumultuosi e fulgidi della storia, nei primi decenni del Cinquecento, resse con grande sapienza politica le fila del piccolo Stato costruendo attorno a sé una corte di ineguagliato splendore, tra pittori poeti musicisti astrologi condottieri papi e imperatori.

In Fatal Rivalry, George Goodwin, the best-selling author of Fatal Colours, captures the vibrant Renaissance splendor of the royal courts of England and Scotland, with their unprecedented wealth, innovation, and artistic expression. Five hundred years after this decisive battle, Fatal Rivalry combines original sources and modern scholarship to recreate the royal drama, the military might, and the world in transition that created this bitter conflict.

Anne Boleyn has mesmerised the English public for centuries. Her tragic execution, orchestrated by her own husband, never ceases to intrigue. How did this courtier's daughter become the queen of England, and what was it that really tore apart this illustrious marriage, making her the whore of England, an abandoned woman executed on the scaffold? While many stories of Anne Boleyn's downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her tragic fate.

When most of us think of nuns, we picture hands clasped in prayer, solemn shuffles down cloistered halls, and that iconic habit silhouette. But what about the nuns who ate spiderwebs, erupted into jealous fights over makeup, or chain-produced manuscripts for extra cash? In reality, these women were no one-dimensional martyrs. 16th- and 17th-century nuns were resourceful, rebellious, and refreshingly relatable—and their lives hold surprising lessons for us today.

'Good people, I am come hither to die and by a law I am condemned to the same.' These were the words uttered by 17-year-old Lady Jane Grey as she stood on the scaffold on a cold February morning in 1554. Forced on to the throne by power players at court, Queen Jane reigned for just 13 days before being imprisoned in the tower, condemned for high treason and executed.

Cousin to Elizabeth I - and possibly Henry VIII's illegitimate granddaughter - Lettice Knollys had a life of dizzying highs and pitiful lows. Entangled in a love triangle with Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I, banished from court, plagued by scandals, embroiled in treason, Lettice would lose a husband and son to the executioner's ax. In the first ever biography of this remarkable woman, Nicola Tallis takes us through her dramatic life and the grand sweep of the Tudor Age and the events that define it.

Penned by a lifelong “Henry Head”, The Lazy Historian's Guide to the Wives of Henry VIII combines Jillianne Hamilton's sassy, fun, and snarky storytelling with one of history's most alluring eras. Focusing on the lives of the wives, and less about the dudes around them, The Lazy Historian's Guide to the Wives of Henry VIII gives the six unfortunate queens the biography for which they almost certainly wouldn't have asked.

In Redeeming "The Prince", one of the world's leading Machiavelli scholars puts forth a startling new interpretation of arguably the most influential but widely misunderstood book in the Western political tradition. Overturning popular misconceptions and challenging scholarly consensus, Maurizio Viroli also provides a fresh introduction to the work. Seen from this original perspective, five centuries after its composition, The Prince offers new insights into the nature and possibilities of political liberation.

Mary Boleyn, ‘the infamous other Boleyn girl’, began her court career as the mistress of the king of France. François I of France would later call her ‘The Great Prostitute’ and the slur stuck. Mary would emerge the sole survivor of a family torn apart by lust and ambition, and it is in Mary and her progeny that the Boleyn legacy rests.

The best-selling revisionist biography of one of the great women of the 16th century. Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at 14 to the future Henri II of France, she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress, Diane de Poitiers. When her husband died as a result of a duelling accident in Paris, Catherine was made queen regent during the short reign of her eldest son (married to Mary Queen of Scots, and like many of her children he died young).

Each Tudor monarch made their name with a Dudley by their side - or by crushing one beneath their feet. The Dudleys thrived at the court of Henry VII but were sacrificed to the popularity of Henry VIII. Rising to prominence in the reign of Edward VI, the Dudleys lost it all by advancing Jane Grey to the throne over Mary I. Under Elizabeth I, the family were once again at the centre of power and would do anything to remain there. With three generations of felled favourites, what was it that caused this family to keep rising so high and falling so low?

James VI & I, who died 400 years ago, was one of Britain’s most consequential and interesting monarchs, not least in creating the British monarchy itself by joining the English and Scottish thrones. A major intellectual, James's preoccupations ranged from witchcraft and theological controversy to hunting, diplomacy, poetry and sartorial fashion. The 'Mirror of Great Britain' was a spectacular jewel that gave symbolic endorsement to James's vision of British union, but mirrors themselves supplied James with one of his favourite literary metaphors.

Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Following a migratory childhood that spanned Kabul and north India, Gulbadan spent her middle years in a walled harem established by her nephew Akbar to showcase his authority as the Great Emperor.

The man who came to be known as Yasuke arrived in Japan in the 16th century, an indentured mercenary arriving upon one of the Portuguese ships carrying a new language, a new religion and an introduction to the slave trade. Curiously tall, bald, massively built and black skinned, he was known as a steadfast bodyguard of immense strength and stature, swiftly capturing the interest and thence the trust, of the most powerful family in all of Japan. Two years later, he vanished.

When we think of the Renaissance, we often think of paintings. And indeed, many painters and sculptors were part of the artistic transformation the Renaissance caused. But there was more. The Renaissance basically formed a period of collective enlightenment and freedoms that put an end to certain tyrannies and false notions from the Middle Ages. Advocates of a "long Renaissance" might put its start in the 14th century and its end in the 17th century. Let’s take a look at what the extensive time period of the Renaissance provided, and what it leaves us with today.

Cette collection "L'Histoire de France vivante" nous faire revivre les grandes heures de l'histoire de France. Pour chaque époque, l'illustration sonore est faite avec des musiques de la période concernée. Les grands moments de chaque période sont reconstitués à la façon d'une pièce de théâtre, avec plusieurs comédiens et comédiennes qui interprètent les personnages historiques.

This volume in a series of world history case studies explores the development of the Reformation by shedding light on the experiences of a cautious theologian who helped bring Protestantism to Strasbourg, France. After Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517, Wolfgang Capito devoted himself to seeking compromise and reconciliation between various Protestant factions. The futility of his persistent efforts illustrate the irreconcilable theological differences between Anabaptists, Calvinists, Catholics, and Lutherans, and help us to understand one of Europe's greatest social ...

Antonia Fraser deals with each woman in turn with sympathy - the sympathy they deserve for having had the unenviable fate of being Henry's wife. Inevitably, there was great rivalry between them; there was jealousy too: the desperate jealousy of queens who found themselves abandoned, but also the sexual jealousy of the king who discovered himself betrayed. The story Antonia Fraser tells is romantic and cruel, funny and sad, dramatic and enthralling. This is historical biography at its best.