Last episode, we looked at the Reformation spreading out of Germany, and into other parts of Northern Europe, particularly looking at how England was affected. One of the side effects of the north part of Europe leaving the Catholic Church was that Catholic Church itself was also forced to change. The Catholic Church needed to … Read more
Ulrich Zwingli John Calvin Henry VIII Wife #1: Catherine of Aragon. Mother of Queen Mary. Wife #2: Anne Boleyn. Mother of Queen Elizabeth. Wife #3: Jane Seymour. Mother of King Edward VI. Ridley and Latimer attend a bbq Monument in Oxford, supposedly on the spot of the place where Latimer and Ridley were … Read more
So what do you think of when you think of the idea of hell? You’ve probably got an image of a floor made of boiling lava, and horned demons gleefully poking poor burning sinners with pitchforks. I’ll just start off by saying, that image is not from the Bible. It’s much more an image that … Read more
There are occasionally, in the history of the world, those singular moments, an instant in time, when everything changes. One single action, one quick moment, and then everything after that is altered. The course of history is changed. Caesar crossing the Rubicon, the guy in crow’s nest of the Santa Maria shouting ‘Tierra!!’ (Land). The … Read more
One of the things you might have noticed in the past few episodes, besides the fact that we were jumping around in time a bit, was that we actually got a bit into the 1500’s. For example, the High Renaissance ended in 1520, with the death of Raphael. An anyone with any sense of … Read more
OK, so in my original plan for the flow of the podcast, I wasn’t going to talk about the Hundred Years War, but the more I looked at what was going on in European History, the more I felt like it was worth talking about. Why? Well, the hundred years war happened at a crucial … Read more
Well, I was going to try to squeeze Gutenberg into the last episode, since he actually lived before the High Renaissance, and his invention kind of fit into the ethos of talking about the high points of the Renaissance. But there was just too much to cover in one episode, plus Gutenberg really does deserve … Read more
Ok, here we are. The High Renaissance. Lots of great stuff happened during the Renaissance, but there was one particular period, about 35 years, where some of the greatest art in all of human history was made. I’ve put pics of all the art here on the website. Also, I mentioned at the end of … Read more
It’s hard to overstate how important the Renaissance was. It’s kind of one of the highest high points of all of human history. I mean, there are Renaissance faires all over the US, including one in Texas that starts next week. Fortuitous timing, that. But there’s not really faires for other stuff – there’s no … Read more
Polo! Yes, in this episode, I’m starting with Marco Polo. There’s not a lot of people who I have looked at over the course of this podcast where I say, ‘Man, I would have liked to have had his life,’ but Marco Polo is someone whose life sounds pretty awesome. Not free of hardship, … Read more