Queen Elizabeth I was one of England’s greatest monarchs, staying in power for 45 years, one of the longest reigns of any English monarch. But her rise to power was not easy, and she wasn’t even the first in line. Carole Levin’s Heart and Stomach of a King tells us the ways Elizabeth navigated the... Continue Reading →
Dante Alighieri and Francesco Petrarch were Florentine thinkers active in the 13th and 14th centuries. But their worldviews were very different, and two of their most famous texts reflect this. Dante’s On Monarchy uses Aristotelian scholasticism to argue that the Holy Roman Emperor has the right to rule over Europe. Meanwhile, Petrarch’s On His Own... Continue Reading →
Medieval marriages were multifaceted. In canon law marriage focused more on consent and autonomy than rules. Laws of marriage were not always followed, and different types of marriage could be experimented with. Weddings were often just as much social and opulent events as they were about the couple. Mock youth groups could prepare themselves for... Continue Reading →
In mid-16th century Europe, two intellectual groups, the resistance theorists and counter-revolutionary theorists, reconceptualized the nature of political power. They asked similar questions about the nature of society, government and the right of resistance, but came to very different conclusions. In 1556 the English theorist John Ponet published his Short Treatise on Political Power. Twenty... Continue Reading →
In 1520, Martin Luther published two tracts central to the Protestant Reformation: To the Christian Nobility in August, and The Freedom of a Christian in November. The former text appealed to the German political authorities to take the initiative in the face of the Church which he saw as corrupt, while the latter has him... Continue Reading →
One of the most important books on the Reformation is Brand Luther, written by historian Andrew Pettegree. It explores how Martin Luther became the pre-eminent and defining man of his age and how he was able to spread his version of the Christian religion, paying special attention to the role of printing. This paper will... Continue Reading →
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter who was active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between the years 1592 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state with both its physical and emotional parts and a dramatic use of light, greatly influenced the Baroque genre. Michelangelo Merisi da... Continue Reading →
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