In the long, winding course of fashion history, few pieces of clothing have captured the imagination and become as iconic as the Elizabethan ruff collar. This remarkable accessory, worn by people of all different ages and genders throughout Europe and England during the 16th and 17th centuries, was much more than a mere collar. It […]
Ruff Collars: The Fashion Statement of Elizabethan England Read More »
Throwing someone out of a window may seem like a bizarre and archaic form of protest. However, throughout European history, this violent act was used more often than you would expect in hopes of achieving important social and political goals. The word “defenestration” originates from the Latin word “fenestra,” meaning “window,” and “de,” a suffix
Defenestration: How Throwing People out of Windows Changed History Read More »
Lucrezia Borgia was one of early modern Italy’s most widely studied women. But, unfortunately, posterity does not remember Lucrezia very kindly but as a sinister, depraved, and ambitious woman. However, she might have just been a pawn in her family’s political chess game, overtly stigmatized due to her family’s deviousness. Early Life Lucrezia Borgia was
Who was Lucrezia Borgia, The Black Widow Of Rome? Read More »
The Renaissance takes its name from the French word for “Rebirth.” No other word captures the Renaissance period better than a total Rebirth of Europe. The Renaissance was a period between c 1300 – 1600 AD known for explosive social, cultural, and scientific developments, which brought massive changes and groundbreaking inventions in fields like the
What Were the Most Important Inventions of the Renaissance? Read More »
Gengis Khan is one of the most renowned conquerors ever known to man. He was a leadership phenomenon famous for successfully uniting the Mongol tribes into a single independent polity and establishing the legendary Mongol Empire, which became the world’s largest land empire ever ruled by one man. To add to his already astonishing legacy,
How Many Descendants Does Genghis Khan Have Today? Read More »
The Habsburgs (spelled Hapsburg as an Americanization) were one of Europe’s most powerful governing dynasties, dominating from the 13th century through 1918. Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia, were once part of the monarchy’s extensive empire, as were considerable sections of Poland, Romania, and Italy. Although their dominance in Spain began in 1516, the
The Habsburg Jaw: Inbreeding and European Royalty Read More »
Writing in 1843 in his collection of eighteen essays compiled and entitled as Celebrated Crimes, the great French novelist, Alexandre Dumas, made a startling claim about modern depictions of Jesus Christ. Dumas claimed that all modern depictions made of the great Jewish prophet and the Christian son of god stemmed from pictures of one individual. That
Were Modern Depictions of Jesus based on Cesare Borgia? Read More »
When growing up, there are certain stories children are told. These stories are typically whimsical, often magical, and sometimes even spooky. However, these stories almost all the time convey a moral lesson that could be useful in later life, ending on an educational but heartwarming note. For example, “friendship makes life fuller,” “stealing is wrong,”
Hansel & Gretel: Not Exactly a Children’s Tale Read More »
There are a great many tales that have been disseminated down into popular culture, which were produced by the Brothers Grimm or the Grimm Brothers, as they are variously known. Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm were German academics from the state of Hesse or Hessen in the late eighteenth and early-to-mid-nineteenth century, who
The True Story of Rapunzel Read More »
Little Red Riding Hood. You know the story: A little girl in a red cloak and hood is told by her mother to take an item of food to her grandmother; while she’s en route to visit Granny, she meets the Big Bad Wolf, who tricks her into letting him sniff out the food; he
The Original Little Red Riding Hood is Darker Than you Think Read More »
