Browse Items (202 total)

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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

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…

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…

The Fountain Court is located on the grounds of the Hampton Palace in London. The Hampton Palace was built in 1504. When William III and Mary II sat on the throne in 1689, they utilized the services of Sir Christopher Wren to design a new baroque…

The bust (pictured above) depicts Plato. Regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of Classical Greece, the study of Plato and his works was prevalent throughout the Renaissance (one example can be seen in "The School of Athens," an item found in the…