Turning Modern

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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