Throughout history, humanity has faced adversity, from the Black Death that wiped out much of Europe to the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. These challenges spurred significant transformations. The...
Florence, called by many the cradle of the Renaissance, is home to many architectural masterpieces that embody the artistic and intellectual glory of that era. Among these treasures, one stands out...
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century shook Europe's cultural identity to its core. It was a revolution that emerged from centuries of political and social grievances against the Christian...
Have you ever wanted to explore the mind of one of history's greatest polymaths? The Codex Leicester gives history experts and art gurus alike the opportunity to do so. This famous book is a treasure...
Foemina Instrumentum Diaboli can be translated as ‘Women are instruments of the devil’, which sums up the essence of Renaissance witch hunts in Europe. The word ‘witch’ evokes the figure of an...
In 1494, King Charles VIII of France launched an all-out war against the republics of the Italian peninsula, a watershed moment in history. Within months, 50,000 soldiers from his army had fled, not...
Although Leonardo da Vinci is predominantly remembered as a great artist, he was also a remarkable scientist and inventor. Many of his inventions were weird, some were wonderful, and more than a few...
For generations of Venetians, “guerra di canne” or “war with sticks” was a celebrated tradition. Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, Venice was divided into many different...
While most people have heard of Michelangelo , the majority have no idea that he had some pretty filthy habits. Nicknamed Il Divino (“the divine one”) by his contemporaries, Michelangelo was a master...
Everyone loves a good, harmless prank. This was especially true for Filippo Brunelleschi, a Florentine man who famously got back at his friend for having failed to show up at a dinner party in...
A pilfered copy of the Nostradamus manuscript written by Renaissance-era French physician, astrologer and psychic Michel de Nostredame, has been recovered and returned to the library from which it...
Women of the Middle Ages were often sadly lacking in rights. Across the world, this period was dominated by a patriarchal society, where the might and prowess of Lords, knights, Kings, warriors, and...
Niccolo Machiavelli, a 16th-century man, is today still feared and yet revered. Machiavelli has come to represent the archetype of a scheming and conniving mastermind and even modern psychology...
Repair and restoration work being carried out at Calverley Old Hall in Yorkshire has led to the stunning discovery of an entire room covered in Tudor paintings from floor to ceiling. Explaining just...
Corvin Castle is a castle in Hnedoara, a city in Transylvania, Romania. The castle dates to the 15th century and was built in the Renaissance-Gothic style. The builder of Corvin Castle was John...
To visit Venice is a dream of every passionate traveler. The city, crisscrossed with channels and marvelous relics of art and culture, is one of Italy’s most sought-after tourist destinations. But...
The Renaissance, Europe’s scientific jump forward from its medieval past, began in Florence, Italy and made the region a global cultural hub in the 14th and 15th centuries. Renaissance achievements...
The real identity of da Vinci’s mother has always been shrouded in mystery, with historians remaining confused about Leonardo da Vinci’s maternal family. But now, a scholar has claimed that he found...
Two Italian historians have announced they have found the “lost descendants” of Leonardo da Vinci after a 10-year-long quest into the family tree of the famous polymath, inventor, and artist. Italian...
For the first time ever, researchers have virtually unfolded a sealed letter from Renaissance Europe. It has remained unopened for 300 years, and thanks to their innovative computational approach,...
“I tell you: one must still have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star” (Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra). By conservative estimates, the European Renaissance spans the historical...
The Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio, more famously known as Raphael, died in 1520 AD. In 1833, an anonymous skeleton was exhumed from its grave in Rome's Pantheon that was suspected of...
Usually we notice architecture when it is a visible expression of beautiful forms. But architecture can be symbolic too. The Danish 16th century manor house called Gammel Estrup reveals a symbolism...
The Age of Discovery (also known as the Age of Exploration) refers to an exciting era in European history when a number of extensive overseas voyages took place. This period lasted roughly from the...
![Luther burning the papal bull, 10 December 1520; Karl Ludwig Bernard Christian Buckhorn, after Franz Ludwig Catel (from Spamers Illustrierte Weltgeschichte, 1894, 5[1], 216/217). Source: Juulijs / Adobe Stock.](https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_optimized/public/field/image/Reformation.jpg?itok=diBeHOT4)
