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Found 75 results matching 'brief history' within Historian > Historical Periods > Early Modern > Europe   (Clear filter)

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  • Catherine de' Medici and the French Wars of Religion

      Article
    R. J. Knecht suggests that the 'Black Legend' may not be quite as unfair to Catherine as her defenders have argued. Few historical figures have aroused as much passionate controversy as Catherine de’ Medici who was queen of France from 1547 until 1559 and several times regent before her death...
    Catherine de' Medici and the French Wars of Religion

  • Radicalism and its Results, 1760-1837

      Classic Pamphlet
    Radicalism with a large "R", unlike Conservatism with a large "C" and Liberalism with a large "L", is not a historical term of even proximate precision. There was never a Radical Party with a national organization, local associations, or a treasury. But there were, and there are, "Radicals", generally qualified...
    Radicalism and its Results, 1760-1837

  • Louis XIV

      Classic Pamphlet
    Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 and became King on May 14 1643 at the age of four years and eight months on the death of his father Louis XIII. He attended the Conseil d'en haut from 1649 when he was eleven years old. He announced his coming...
    Louis XIV

  • Charles XII

      Classic Pamphlet
    The reputation of Charles XII who became king of Sweden before he was fifteen years old and had the responsibility of absolutist goverment thrust upon him within the next six months - contrary to the plans laid down for him by his father - has tended to attract political rather...
    Charles XII

  • Francis I and Absolute Monarchy

      Classic Pamphlet
    Francis I of France reign lasted for more than thirty years and coincided with movements as significant as the Renaissance and the Reformation. Text-books are apt to gloss over the domestic history of France before the outbreak of the Wars of Religion and convey the impression that Francis was more...
    Francis I and Absolute Monarchy

  • Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico

      Historian article
    When the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in Mexico during the early sixteenth century there were many repercussions for the indigenous people. Their conversion to Christianity and the sacking of their temples are two of the most well known examples.  However, it is often forgotten that the Aztecs had only a pictorial...
    Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico

  • The Armada Campaign of 1588

      Classic Pamphlet
    Between 1585 and 1588 a state of undeclared war existed between England and Spain. During the course of those years, Philip II devised a plan for the 'Enterprise of England'. It was probably  the most ambitious military operation of the sixteenth century: a massive invasion to be mounted jointly by...
    The Armada Campaign of 1588

  • The Last Duke of Lorraine

      Article
    The Place Stanislas in Nancy has a high reputation. But expectations are far surpassed as one surveys the beautifully proportioned square, with its imposing buildings such as the Hôtel de Ville and the Governor's Palace, its Arc de Triomphe and its magnificent iron work. It is a reminder of how...
    The Last Duke of Lorraine

  • The throne and the fairy tellers

      Historian article
    Fairy tale princesses and mysterious castles are just part of the way that historically story tellers have been connected to royalty. In this article some of the most famous story tellers are discussed with their royal patronage and experiences. Hans Christian Andersen couldn’t believe his luck. In 1854, he was...
    The throne and the fairy tellers

  • The Terror in the French Revolution

      Classic Pamphlet
    A natural reaction to the history of the French Revolution is to see it as a glorious movement for liberty which somehow ‘went wrong', ending in a nightmare of blood and chaos. This pamphlet explains what really happened, and why. It shows how the apparent achievements of the first two...
    The Terror in the French Revolution

  • Peter the Great

      Classic Pamphlet
    No European ruler except Napoleon I has impressed both contemporise and later historians so profoundly as Peter I of Russia by the originality and the personal character of his achievements. Like Napoleon, Peter appeared to some observers, at least in his later years, as almost more than human. He seemed...
    Peter the Great

  • To see the witch: understanding the European witch craze through visual art

      Historian article
    During the European witch craze, visual art played a powerful role in shaping belief in witches. The printing press allowed images of witchcraft to circulate widely, amplifying fear and suspicion. In this article, Natasha Brockman explores how such imagery did more than illustrate witchcraft: it helped create it, teaching people what witches...
    To see the witch: understanding the European witch craze through visual art

  • Hiding in plain sight: an eighteenth-century portrait of an Inca leader

      Historian article
    In this article, Emily C. Floyd explores a rare eighteenth-century self-commissioned engraved portrait of an elite Indigenous man in colonial Lima. By comparing this unassuming image with a more overtly Inca portrait, the article reveals how Indigenous leaders navigated identity, loyalty, and colonial restrictions, using portraiture to assert agency in...
    Hiding in plain sight: an eighteenth-century portrait of an Inca leader

  • Kangxi and Louis XIV

      Historian article
    Recently the French and Chinese governments have joined together in a nostalgic reflection on cultural interactions between King Louis XIV and Emperor Kangxi in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. As Sean Heath explains here, these modern reflections are particularly interesting for an aspect of the relationship which they...
    Kangxi and Louis XIV

  • Mercurial justice: a Jesuit chaplain’s view of life in the prisons of sixteenth-century Seville

      Historian article
    Justice in the early modern period was discretionary, which meant it could be both violent and deeply unfair. Elites often escaped the most severe punishments inflicted on the poor and minoritised groups. Clare Burgess shows how a Jesuit chaplain in sixteenth- century Seville used his spiritual discretion and zealous belief...
    Mercurial justice: a Jesuit chaplain’s view of life in the prisons of sixteenth-century Seville

  • In conversation with Tom Hamilton

      Historian feature
    The Historian sat down with Tom Hamilton to discuss his recent work, A Widow’s Vengeance after the Wars of Religion, which uncovers the story of a revealing criminal trial during the French Wars of Religion...
    In conversation with Tom Hamilton

  • Images of Ukraine through western lenses

      Historian article
    How has the understanding of what Ukraine is and, therefore, its image changed through the centuries? What did the word ‘Ukraine’ mean in the Middle Ages, the early modern times, or in the twentieth century? Even during the last four decades, this image has transformed dramatically, and the first association...
    Images of Ukraine through western lenses

  • In conversation with Ulinka Rublack

      Historian feature
    The Historian discusses with Ulinka Rublack her latest book, Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece: Art and Society at the Dawn of a Global World (2023), which takes a fresh look at this major Renaissance artist, telling the story of his life and times, and reassessing some of his best-known works...
    In conversation with Ulinka Rublack

  • Secular acts and sacred practices in the Italian Renaissance church interior

      Historian article
    Joanne Allen reveals a fundamental structural and architectural development in Italian churches in the Renaissance era, demonstrating that careful observation of structures and archives can substantially inform our appreciation of all church buildings.  In the opening to The Decameron (c. 1350), Boccaccio described how the ten young people who would become storytellers...
    Secular acts and sacred practices in the Italian Renaissance church interior

  • The Duchy of Courland and a Baltic colonial venture across the ocean

      Historian article
    The Duchy of Courland’s attempts to establish outposts in the Caribbean and Africa were not the only Baltic ventures across the Atlantic during the seventeenth century. However, the expeditions of the small vassal dukedom were possibly the most unlikely. The article introduces the motivations behind the Couronian colonial project, as...
    The Duchy of Courland and a Baltic colonial venture across the ocean

  • Sweden’s forgotten revolution

      Historian article
    People are sometimes surprised to learn that for much of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, Sweden was one of Europe’s great powers. The revolution that transformed Swedish government following the death of Karl XII at the end of the Great Northern War is still less widely-known. But though largely carried...
    Sweden’s forgotten revolution

  • Out and About in Stockholm

      Historian feature
    When Désirée Clary – wife of French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte – arrived in Stockholm in 1811, she was appalled. It was true that she would eventually become Queen Desideria of Sweden and Norway, her husband having been elected heir-presumptive to the throne the previous year. But she left her new capital...
    Out and About in Stockholm

  • What did it mean to be a city in early modern Germany?

      Historian article
    Alexander Collin examines the significance of cities within the Holy Roman Empire in early modern times. With a strong political identity of their own, cities were at the heart of the Empire’s economy and, also, centres of theological and social change. If you have ever read a description of a...
    What did it mean to be a city in early modern Germany?

  • Origins of the European financial markets

      Transcribed podcast lecture
    This article is transcribed from a 2015 podcast given by Dr Anne Murphy of the University of Hertfordshire. In it Dr Murphy looks at the early origins of the European financial markets from the Italian Renaissance to the present day, as well as providing a useful introduction to finance, the stock market and the bond market....
    Origins of the European financial markets

  • Film: Foreign Relations and Tudor Royal Authority – discussion

      Development of Tudor Royal Authority film series
    In this film Professor Sue Doran, Jesus College, University of Oxford and Professor Steven Gunn, Merton College, University of Oxford discuss the role foreign relations played in Tudor royal authority and the amount of power Tudor monarchs were able to exercise. The film will explore common threads and differences in foreign policy...
    Film: Foreign Relations and Tudor Royal Authority – discussion