The Medici Podcast
The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of God in Münster
As the Protestant Reformation continues to spread, the city of Münster unexpectedly plays a special role. Not only does it become a refuge for a religious minority despised by even other religious minorities, but it can boast being the capital of the new King of the World. Sources Arthur, Anthony. The Tailor King: The Rise…
The Secret Love of Copernicus
The scientific revolutionary Copernicus lived the simple life of a low-ranking priest and a bishop’s personal physician in a northern Polish city. However, his correspondence does suggest he had one scandalous secret: he was likely living with his lover. Sources Freely, John. Celestial Revolutionary: Copernicus, The Man, and His Universe (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014). Repcheck,…
The Abducted Children Sent to an Island
Hundreds of children were taken from their families and sent to a distant, previously uninhabited island. The reasons why this happened are a toxic mixture of deeply rooted intolerance and simple greed. Sources ha-Cohen, Joseph. The Vale of Tears (Emek Habacha), trans. Harry S. May (Martinus Nihoff, 1971). Soyer, François. “King João II of Portugal…
How an Independence War Inspired a Ski Competition
A rebel leader and future king makes a dramatic escape across the Swedish countryside in the dead of December. This is the story of how this adventure inspired a famous competition centuries later. Sources Gustafsson, Harald. “A State That Failed?: On the Union of Kalmar, Especially Its Dissolution.” Scandinavian Journal of History 31:3-4 (2006): 205-220.…
The Forgotten Woman Who Helped Shape The Protestant Reformation
Someone sticks up for a university student accused of heresy. This starts the public career of one of the most assertive, formidable voices of the early Protestant Reformation, a voice that would probably be better remembered if not for the fact that they were a woman. Sources MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation: A History (Viking, 2003).…
The Peasant Revolt That Changed Eastern Europe
A soldier named György Dózsa helps turn an army of peasant crusaders into a full-on revolution. His war on the nobles who ruined his country’s recent reforms is destined to have an impact, just not the one he wanted… Sources Albert-László. Barabási. Bursts: The Hidden Patters Behind Everything We Do From Your E-Mail to Bloody…
The Queen Who Became a Professional Writer
Marguerite de Navarre is the sister and wife of kings. While coping with being an agent of her brother and navigating the religious turmoil, she still found the time to become a bestselling author and perhaps the “first modern woman.” Sources Cholakian, Patricia F. and Rouben C. Marguerite de Navarre: Mother of the Renaissance (Columbia…
The Actual First Bible Translated into English (And The Man Who Died For It)
An Oxford grad and private tutor has a dream of making the first English Bible translated directly from Hebrew and Greek. Unfortunately, his ambition becomes a matter of life and death once his scholarly endeavors become just another front in the war to decide Europe’s religious future. Sources Daniell, David. The Bible in English: Its…
The Drop-Out Who Destroyed a Society
In 1519, Europeans made their first diplomatic contact with an urbanized empire in the Americas—and, within a few years, that empire will no longer exist, in no small part because of a failed law student from Spain. Sources Cortés, Hernán. Letters from Mexico, trans. A.R. Pagden (Orion Books, 1971). Florentine Codex, vol. 9, trans. Arthur J.O.…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
