Turning Modern

Elizabeth Bathory has become many things to many different people: a rare example of a female serial killer, an example of the demonization of strong women in history, or a macabre pop culture icon. But while a great deal has been written about her, is it possible to even know if she actually did commit any of the crimes connected to her name? Sources Craft, Kimberley. Infamous Lady: The True Stor...

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 and Fall of the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münste r (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999)...

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.

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 ‘O Príncipe Perfeito’ and the Jews (1481-1495) S...

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 Cited Gustafsson, Harald. “A State That Failed?: On the Union of Kalmar, Especially Its Dissolution.” Scandinavian Journal of History 31:3-4 (2006): 205-220. “Gustav Vasa Couldn’t Ski?” Nordstje...

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). Mark, Joshua J. "Argula von Grumbach's To the University...

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 Crusades (Plume, 2011). Makkai, Laszlo. "Neo-serfdom: Its...

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 University Press, 2006). Gristwood, Sarah. “I Wro...

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 History and Influence (Yale University Press, 2003).  Foxe...

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. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, rev. ed.  (Santa Fe...

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Martin Luther braves persecution by the Church to come to the city of Worms to have his case heard by Emperor Charles V. In this contest between a reviled monk who is the son of a mine owner and a monarch whose empire spans an ocean, the victor is perhaps not the person one would normally expect... Sources Gregory, Brad S. The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society...

Writing in the years of 1516 and 1517, an inhabitant of Cairo likely witnessed firsthand a new era as Egypt lost its independence and was forcibly annexed by the Ottoman Empire. However, he not only observed the collapse of the old regime, but also the toll it took on the people. Sources: Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: A History of the Ottoman Empire (Basic Books, 2005). Ibn Iyas. An Account of...

The apprentice of a legendary artist, the first publisher in history to be sued over copyright, and a famous satirist team up to create a provocative work of erotica that enraged the Pope himself. Sources: Romano, Giulio; Raimondi, Marcantonio; Aretino, Pietro; and Waldeck, Count Jean-Frederic-Maximilien. I Modi: The Sixteen Pleasures, An Erotic Album of the Italian Renaissance , trans. and ed. Ly...

A young German herdsman draws crowds while preaching about the evils of the nobility and the clergy and a new world where goods and land are shared. In hindsight, he is offering the elites of the Holy Roman Empire a warning about the near future, but will they listen? Sources: The German Peasants’ War: A History in Documents , eds. Tom Scott and Bob Scribner (Humanities Press International, Inc.,...

The Kingdom of Kongo establishes a rare partnership with an up-and-coming European power, Portugal, to the point that the King of Kongo and his family embrace Christianity and take Portuguese royal names. However, this partnership will also be ground zero for one of the greatest atrocities in human history. Sources: Almeida, Marcos Abreu Lelitão de. “Speaking of Slavery: Slaving Strategies and Mor...

A genius prodigy sets out to change the world by resolving all philosophical and religious disputes with one book, his own 900 Theses , and a debate in Rome between Europe's brightest intellectual lights. And he will leave his mark on history, just not in the way he wants... Sources Cited: Hanegraaf, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (Cambridge Univer...

As the sixteenth century begins following plague, turmoil, traumatic defeats, and the discovery of new continents, people from all faiths feel that the end of history and salvation are at hand while others look to the past to find hope for the future. Reference: Cornell H. Fleischer, "A Mediterranean Apocalypse: Prophecies of Empire in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries" Journal of th...

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