Renaissance

A lively and fascinating narrative history about the birth of the modern world....

Samuel Rawson Gardiner remains a respected source on the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which began as a civil conflict between Protestant princes and the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II. Lack of unity on both sides soon drew in outside powers....

In this engaging, accessible account, Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman explore the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and even poisons....

Imagine: it’s the year 1600 and you’ve lost your precious silver spoons, or maybe they’ve been stolen. Perhaps your child has a fever. Or you’re facing a trial. Maybe you’re looking for love or escaping a husband. What do you do?

Following the intertwined stories of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary Queen of Scots from girlhood through young adulthood, Young Queens paints a picture of a world in which a woman could wield power at the highest level yet remain at the mercy of the state....

Novelist and historian Kneale, a longtime resident of Rome, tells the story of the Eternal City - from the early Roman Republic through the Renaissance to Mussolini and the German occupation in World War Two - through pivotal moments that defined its history....

In this engaging, anecdotal history of food, world conquest, and desire, a chef-turned-journalist tells the story of three legendary cities that transformed the globe in the quest for spice....

The creator of the hit podcast series Tides of History and Fall of Rome explores the four explosive decades between 1490 and 1530, bringing to life the dramatic and deeply human story of how the West was reborn....

A beautifully thorough examination into the complicated relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe who shaped each other as well as the course of history.

The rise and fall of the Venetian empire stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty....

Jacob Fugger lived in Germany at the turn of the 16th century, the grandson of a peasant. By the time he died, his fortune amounted to nearly 2 percent of European GDP....

This deeply textured dual biography and fascinating intellectual history examines two of the greatest minds of European history - Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther - and their heated rivalry....

Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife....

Set in the court of Urbino in 1507, Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier presents an invaluable look at court life and culture during the Renaissance. Over four nights of dialogue, the book explores the key question, ‘What should a courtier be like?’ Listen for more....

History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-born queen of France and influential mother of three successive French kings.

Léonard de Vinci était enfant illégitime, homosexuel, gaucher, végétarien, distrait et parfois hérétique. Cette inadéquation aux moeurs de l'époque a décuplé sa créativité...

From Henry VIII's cataclysmic break with Rome to the epic rule of Elizabeth I, the age of the Tudors comes to vivid life in audio....

A true historical “detective story” full of insight about how we look at art―and the artists and eras that produced it....

After the long period of cultural decline known as the Dark Ages, Europe experienced a rebirth of scholarship, art, literature, philosophy, and science....

For such a destructive war, the Thirty Years’ War is not well-known, and yet it changed the geopolitical face of Europe as well as the role of religion and nation-states in society. This audiobook tells the compelling story of the Thirty Years’ War....

The Teutonic Knights were powerful and ferocious advocates of holy war. William Urban's narrative charts the rise and fall of the Order and, in an accessible and engaging style, throws light on a band of knights whose deeds and motives have long been misunderstood....

The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The Tudors and A World Undone....

Professor Victoria L. McAlister, of Towson University guides you through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, highlighting outstanding and historically significant castles of these extraordinary times.

The history books have cast Katherine of Aragon, the first queen of King Henry VIII of England, as the ultimate symbol of the Betrayed Woman, cruelly tossed aside in favor of her husband’s seductive mistress, Anne Boleyn....

Ocean is a story that begins with the formation of the mid-Atlantic ridge some 200 million years ago and ends with the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century, providing a template for the methods used by the Spanish in their colonization of the New World.