Browse Items (202 total)

This portrait of William III represents the interesting government which developed in the Dutch Republic following its independence from Spain. William III served as stadtholder of the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands from 1672-1702. The stadholder…

The English Bill of Rights was a revolutionary document that afforded more authority to Parliament. It was written as a response to the absolutist ideas and actions of the Stuart monarchs. Absolutism dictated that a monarch’s power was God-given,…

In order to prevent the Catholic heir of King James II from the inheriting the throne and reuniting the Anglican Church with Rome, Parliament decided to offer the throne to Dutch noble William of Orange and his wife Mary. In exchange, they drew up a…

This is an image of the cover page of Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius, usually translated as Starry Messenger. The book describes Galileo’s early discoveries with his telescope, foremost of which were the four moons of Jupiter. Galileo named these the…

The tale that Jean de Coras recounts in his Arrest Memorable is the story of perhaps one of the most famous 16th century French peasants, a man named Martin Guerre. The story itself is remarkable. A man named Martin Guerre disappears for many years,…

This short text, written by Francis Bacon illustrates a rather important aspect of the Scientific Revolution- that of patronage and the importance of powerful backers in scientific endeavors. While the contents of his discovery is also interesting,…

This is the dedication page of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ seminal work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,” which he published in 1543 just months before he died. In it he presents…

Spanish artist Juan de Mesa created this print in 1610, and it features three images from the life and death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola as part of a larger series on the life of Ignatius. Ignatius experienced a deeply spiritual conversion experience…

This medal was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in commemoration of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the French Wars of Religion. Catholics targeted and killed many prominent Protestants who were in Paris for the…

In Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, the influence of Italian political ideas is clearly evident throughout the book. Hobbes’s specifically parallels Machiavelli’s focus on the unity and security of a state in the Prince. This idea of state unity is very…

Almost three years after Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses set off a religious wildfire, Pope Leo X issued this papal bull, named after the first two words in the Latin text, “Arise, O Lord.” The document lists forty-one purported errors of Luther.…

This large architectural project took Michelangelo and many assistants four decades to complete from the date of its commissioning. In fact, it was completed in a radically different form than originally envisioned over thirty years after its…