Showing titles in Renaissance

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.

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.

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."

The first of Henry VIII's wives was Catherine of Aragon, the pious Catholic princess who suffered years of miscarriages and still births and yet failed to produce a male heir.

Venice, 1522. Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome. With Christendom divided, Suleyman the Magnificent has his hand on its entrails. From the palaces of Istanbul to the blood-soaked fields of Central Europe and the scorched coasts of North Africa, The Lion House pioneers a bold new style of eye-witness history to tell a true story of power at its most glittering, personal and perilous.

The Renaissance was only a short period in European history, but it was the revolution needed to move from the Middle Ages to the modern world. It was full of new philosophies and art, new architecture and inventions, and new governments and churches. In a short span of time, the Europeans found themselves creating, acting, and living in completely new ways. People now had access to new ideas, and Europe would never be the same again.

Renaissance politics unfolded against a background of warring city states in Northern and Central Italy. Humanism, which developed at the same time, was a pervasive program to revive the culture, literary legacy, and moral philosophy of classical antiquity. Some important centers of humanism were Florence, Naples, Rome, Venice, and Genoa.

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.

Hans Holbein the Younger is chiefly celebrated for his beautiful and precisely realised portraiture, which includes representations of Henry VIII, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Anne of Cleves, Jane Seymour and an array of the Tudor lords and ladies he encountered during the course of two sojourns in England. But beyond these familiar images, which have come to define our perception of the world of the Henrician court, Holbein was a protean and multi-faceted genius.

Does a mental disorder reveal the “real” William Shakespeare? Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, bipolar disorder was a mystery, and even as late as the early 2000s, most doctors had difficulties diagnosing it. Unlike COVID-19, there is no swab test for antibodies. No blood test. It is a mood disorder, so doctors rely on their patients to “self-report” their symptoms and ask them questions like, “Were you in a good mood yesterday?”

The First Italian War: The History and Legacy of the Italian Wars’ Initial Conflict at the Height of the Renaissance chronicles the various nations and city-states that jousted for power throughout the peninsula during the late 15th century. The audiobook presents places and events that'll help you learn about the First Italian War like never before.

Boldly original, dramatic story of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots – three queens exercising power in a world dominated by men – Young Queens weaves the personal stories of these three queens into one, revealing their hopes, dreams, desires and regrets in a time when even the most powerful women lived at the mercy of the state.

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.

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.

In some portraits of Henry VIII there appears another figure—a gaunt and morose-looking man with a shaved head. This is William or "Will" Somer, the king's fool, a celebrated wit who reportedly could raise Henry's spirits and spent many hours with him. Was Somer an "artificial fool," a cunning comic who could speak freely in front of the king, or a "natural fool," someone with intellectual disabilities, like many other members of the profession? Fool is the first biography of Somer—and perhaps the first of a Renaissance fool.

Originally published in 1991 as a Book of the Month Club Featured dividend and awarded the Best Nonfiction Book by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, this authoritatively researched portrait of Queen Isabella brings to life one of the most controversial figures in European history--a woman who was passionate lover to Ferdinand of Aragon, conquered the Moors (Muslims) of Spain, funded Columbus on his famous journey, brought the Renaissance to Spain, and was hated for introducing the Spanish Inquisition.

Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning, and the advent of science contributed to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period, and are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity that he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual. This history gives the listener a lucid, perceptive analysis of the splendid Renaissance.

With a narrative that grips the reader like a detective story, Antonia Fraser brings the characters and events of the Gunpowder Plot to life. Dramatically recreating the conditions and motives that surrounded the fateful night of November 5th 1605, she unravels the tangled web of religion and politics that spawned the plot.

Henrietta Maria is the most reviled consort to have worn the crown of Britain's Three Kingdoms. Condemned as that 'Popish brat of France', a 'notorious whore' and traitor, she remains in popular memory the wife who wore the breeches and turned her husband Catholic—so causing a civil war—and a cruel and bigoted mother. Leanda de Lisle's White King was hailed as 'the definitive modern biography about Charles I' (Observer). Here she considers Henrietta Maria's point of view, unpicking the myths to reveal a very different queen.

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!