Four Queens: The Provençal Sisters who Ruled Europe Nancy Goldstone Viking, New York 2007 978-0-670-03843-5 336 pages $24.95 Today in the U.S., there are legitimate concerns about having two families alternately control the government for a period of two decades. We Americans get fidgety when power remains in someone’s hands for too long (think presidential ...
Always being played by guilt over his sins, Martin Luther, like many in his day, sought the answer to how he could e saved. His studies eventually led him to his three “sola principles.” These were faith alone, grace alone, and scripture along. These were not new ideas, but the notion that one did not ...
Was Pope Innocent II as innocent as his name might suggest? Who was Pope Innocent the II? Pope Innocent II was born as Gregorio Papareschi in Rome though the actual date of his birth is unknown. Gregorio was given many different positions of responsibilities early in life and it may be surprising to know he ...
10. The Colosseum is actually named the Flavian Amphitheater, but which Emperor built it? Most people look on this awesome structure and think of it as The Colosseum (or less accurately as The Coliseum as Edgar Allen Poe’s poem shows) – many people don’t realize that it’s actually called The Flavian Amphitheater. And who ordered ...
The Thirty Years’ War, which lasted from 1618 until 1648, was the most gruesome war started by religion in European history. Almost every European nation was involved in the conflict either directly or indirectly, the major players being Bohemia, Spain, France, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. The war, which began and ended in the Holy Roman ...
The revolutions of 1848 is one of the most interesting series of events in world history. No other revolution in Europe that took place during 1848 was as eventful and as fruitful as the Revolutions that took place in the states of the German Confederacy. Although at the time the revolutionaries seemed to accomplish nothing; ...
