Renaissance

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

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....

The brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world....

In How the Medici Shaped the Renaissance, you’ll study the remarkable trajectory of the Medici from the late 14th century to 1737, when the Medici dynasty ended....

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....

In this landmark study of Italy from the 14th through the early 16th centuries, Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt chronicles the rise of Florence and Venice as powerful city-states....

Eduard Habsburg, a member of the family and archduke of Austria, shares insights about the Seven Principles (maxims) at the root of Habsburg thought, action, politics, and family life....

Volume Three of 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, in showing the progression of the Reformation era and the daring bravery of its figures, presents a period of history from which there are many lessons to be learnt....

This book will explore the lives of the 17 most productive people in history.....

Leonardo's Brain uses Da Vinci as a starting point for an exploration of human creativity....

This superb account of the siege emphasises the crucial importance of the siege while at the same time putting it in a far wider context. While seen as a climactic battle between the West and the East, it was also much more nuanced than that.

From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages....

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.

In 1474, a 23-year-old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Ahead of her lay the challenge of being a young female ruler....

From the death of Richard III on Bosworth Field in 1485 to the execution of Charles I....

A new history of the Middle Ages, Beatrice's Last Smile reveals how Christianity and Islam evolved out of a shared cultural and religious ferment, and how this shaped the development of the West....

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

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....

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....

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....

If ever a catharsis in Western European Civilization occurred, it had to have been the period we refer to as the Renaissance....

A diverse array of ancient and modern cryptographic challenges exists today. Among the most famous is a 600-year-old document that continues to mystify: the Voynich Manuscript....

The aspects of Anne Boleyn's life and death are fiercely debated by historians, yet her ladies-in-waiting remain an understudied topic....