Browse Items (202 total)

Sir Thomas More’s Utopia is one of the most astounding, influential, and unique works of political satire and inquiry in early modern Europe. More, through the use of fictional prose, imagines an island, Utopia, where society has evolved…

Sofonisba Anguissola was a prominent court painter for Phillip II of Spain, crafting several notable portraits in her time. Her parents encouraged her to receive a humanist education in the arts and sciences and be tutored in painting by prominent…

To access our paper examining Spain and its place in the Early Modern period of European history:

1) Click on the image beneath the "Files" heading

2) After the file section opens, click on the text of the paper to get it in PDF format

In Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan,” he draws out a widespread system of politics and governance based around the idea of a social contract between the public of a state and their sovereign or ruler. Hobbes argues for an absolute monarchy backed…

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…

Before beginning the discussion of education in Early Modern Europe, Medieval education should be examined. There was institutionalized education before the development of universities, but it took a very different form. In medieval Europe, the power…

In 1516, English humanist Thomas More published one of his most famous and controversial works, a novel called Utopia. In it, More described an independent, law-abiding community living on an island. His community was devoid of crime and…

Thomas Sydenham is often referred to by the moniker “the English Hippocrates” a title granted to him for his reviving of Hippocratic methods and ideas about medicine and the treatment of diseases of every kind. A friend and coworker of Locke Sydenham…

While a compiled work of Thomas Sydenham's has already been included in this exhibit, it is valuable to consider one of his work’s influence in English economic history and the history of opium as a whole. In his book discussing medical observations…

The Hanseatic League (or Hansa) was a mercantile organization founded by traders and merchants from Northern Europe in the thirteenth century. It dominated trade in the region between the Netherlands and Poland and imposed monopolies on many of the…

The Queen Elizabeth I “Armada Portrait” is a distinct indicator of her monarchical rule in 16th century England. She is portrayed sitting in a lavish gown, adorned in pearls (a symbol of divine chastity and virginity), in front of two tableaus…

This is an illustration of a building at the University of Wittenberg, which was founded in 1502 by Frederick the Wise, a powerful elector in the Holy Roman Empire (“Wittenberg”). Like many universities, it was created from a pre-existing monastery.…