Did you know that Garamond, one of the most popular font families around, has been around since the Renaissance? Did you know that the man who invented the font, Claude Garamond, was from France? Today, we’ll take a break from the court to look at a man who helped it grow into a political and
Category History
I’ve written four books at this point about the French Renaissance, and Catherine de Medici is a major supporting character in all of them. You cannot get away from studying 16th Century France without a thorough understanding of Catherine’s life as Duchess, Dauphine, Queen Consort, and finally, Queen Mother of France. Free sources about Catherine
One of the many downsides of having over fifty-four mistresses in one’s lifetime is the fact that sooner or later, one mistress will begin behaving badly. Henry IV of France experienced this a couple of times in his life, but he never really learned from his mistake. An early example of a mistress gone spurned
I’ve gushed in the past about the prayers books that were created during Renaissance France. Before, they were books that belonged to royal and noblewomen. Color me shocked when I learned that Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV of France, carried a prayer book of his own. I have the folks at Medievalists to
Just when you thought people had run out of inappropriate things to steal from museums, news comes from Nantes, France, that Anne of Brittany’s heart is missing. Specifically, a reliquary containing Anne’s heart is now missing from the Thomas-Dobrée Museum. Anne, who became Queen of France twice in her lifetime, is a folk hero for
Prayer books are one of the most common forms of art that survives from the Renaissance and mideaval eras. Although most ladies knew the scriptures contained in them by heart, they carried these books with them daily as they went about their regular routine. Generally speaking, a prayer book, sometimes referred to as a Book
Portraits assumed to be of Renee de Rieux. Marie, Princesse de Conde was not the first woman to inspire a fit of passion in Henry III. Before the two met, Henri had an affair with Renee de Rieux, who would go on to become infamous at his court. Renee’s father left a successful career
Although the Field of Cloth of Gold is the most famous meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, the two would meet over a decade later to discuss Henry’s marital difficulties. Shifting alliances in Western Europe meant that the tone of this meeting was very different from their previous meeting. Although the two monarchs were
During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, you’ll hear the word “hôtel” tossed around frequently. If you’re an American like me, your first images will be of something between a Holiday Inn and the Four Seasons. In the hope of saving you from insanity, I’m going to make the explanation of a nobleman’s hôtel as simple
Today is a short post. In fact, it’s a list post. I love going to other history blogs to talk shop and learn as much as I can from other historians. I figure that you love to do that, too. My old WordPress theme allowed me to have a pretty nifty Blogroll, but Brown doesn’t