Browse Items (202 total)

The Palace of Versailles began its life in 1624 as the hunting lodge of Louis XIII, which he later made into a chateau, moving also to vastly expand the lands of the estate. His successor, Louis XIV, had little interest in the chateau until the early…

Saint Wilibrord’s Basilica was built in Hulst, Netherlands sometime around 1200, before gradually being renovated and improved upon over the years (Wikipedia). The Basilica was originally Roman Catholic, with architecture in the Romanesque fashion.…

Rudolph II was a Hapsburg who served as Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 - 1612. While his reign is mostly remembered for his strange behavior and his lack of political competence, he was also one of the most important patrons to the arts and sciences in…

Perhaps the most famous figure of the Scientific Revolution is the Italian mathematician Galileo Galilei, known for his contributions to the fields of astronomy and physics. He famously quarreled with the Inquisition due to controversy over his…

John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government reflect the anti-absolutist sentiments woven throughout England’s political fabric. He outlined the Law of Nature and how it granted each person the right to life, liberty, health, and property, maintaining…

Santa Maria Novella (New St. Mary) is a famous gothic church in Florence, Italy. The church's construction began around 1278 and was completed in 1350. The early Rennaisance-era façade of the church was completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470…

Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic) is a clandestine Catholic church located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The building itself had been an ordinary canal house since the 14th century. However, its interior was converted to a secret…

The Edict of Restitution was published by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in 1629. It laid out a set of orders that had the potential to marginalize Protestantism in the Holy Roman Empire and pave the way for a centralized and unified Germany.…

The Peace of Westphalia, as represented in the above image of the ratification of the treaty of Münster, finally brought an end to the 30 years war in 1648. (Wiesner-Hanks 323). This peace had major impacts on all of Europe, but especially the…

During the early 17th Century Europe underwent a large-scale currency crisis due in large part to the near constant state of war during the century. In no place was this more apparent than in Spain where the real had undergone tremendous inflation as…

St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is a magnificent building, a titanic Latin cross of ornately-carved white limestone capped by a lead dome which soars 280 feet (not counting its lantern or its cross) over the streets of London (Britannica). The Baroque…

This painting of a Dutch East Indiaman illustrates the prominence of the Dutch Republic in maritime trade throughout the 17th century. Dutch trade interests encompassed a large part of the globe during this time. In the European sphere, the Dutch…