Never before has a detailed, personal biography of this charismatic monarch been set against the cultural, social, and political background of his glittering court. Now Alison Weir, author of the finest royal chronicles of our time, brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of the King. Packed with colorful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards. The result is an absolutely spellbinding read.

    This beautiful book presents the work of these two painters, exploring the artistic development of each, comparing their achievements and showing how both were influenced by their times and the milieus in which they worked.

    How was their society organized? What were their homes like? What dangers did they face? These and other questions are answered in detail to provide the reader with a unique view of the world of the Italian Renaissance. A multitude of settings and socioeconomic backgrounds are presented, from urban life to country life, from upper-class to peasant-class, to paint a full portrait of the different kinds of existence of people of this culture.Recipes, profiles of actual individuals, and over 40 illustrations help bring the period to life. Learn what they ate, what their homes were like, how they spent their leisure time, what their work was like, and much more. Modern readers will be surprised to find fundamental similarities between our lives today and the lives of these people living over 500 years ago, as well as to discover that many of the perceptions they may have of this time period are inaccurate.

    Merchants and Marvels addresses how ideas about the representation of nature, in both art and science, underwent a profound transformation between the age of the Renaissance and the early 1700s.

    This highly entertaining biography provides the first complete picture of the life and exploits of Frobisher, from his voyages in search of the fabled Northwest Passage to his courageous resistance to the Spanish Armada and his activities as privateer and sometime pirate. The book explores Frobisher's vigorous personality and its manifestation in the turbulence of his career and his impact on others. It also illuminates the robust world of maritime enterprise in the sixteenth century, when the shifting objectives of the Elizabethan age brought together felons, merchants, and great officers of state. James McDermott, a leading authority on Martin Frobisher and the Northwest Passage, offers a riveting account of the explorer, based on all extant manuscript and documentary sources. McDermott sets aside the distortions of Frobisher's popular reputation as a hero and offers instead a richly detailed portrait of a fascinating but flawed man whose ceaseless search for wealth and fame defined his ext

    In this fascinating book acclaimed author Clifford Pickover presents a nearly exhaustive list of fortune-telling techniques, from the ominous practice of human sacrifice to reading clues on the Internet.Pickover not only explores a vast and colorful array of methods of prediction--including dreaming--he also evaluates the accuracy of some of the most astonishing prophecies made throughout history. Just how accurate were such famous soothsayers as Nostradamus, the Delphic Oracle, Edgar Cayce, the children of Fatima (whose third vision has only recently been revealed), and dozens more?This book takes us one step further by exploring our own inner psyches: Why does looking into the future provide a source of solace in a world filled with uncertainty, disease, and chance? And why do the most noted prognosticators so often warn of natural catastrophes of biblical proportions, such as earthquakes and floods that will signal the end of the world?Through insight and wit, Pickover will unlock the door of your imagination with engrossing mysteries, intriguing illustrations, and even modern patents and computer techniques. Also included is a range of practical experiments and recipes--from Stone Age to New Age.Prepare yourself for a strange but captivating ride!

    Although each is worthy of her own individual biography, their lives were so enmeshed by kinship, marriage and circumstances as to be well served by a book that mirrors the complex interweaving of their lives. Their story is rich enough in dramatic incident to provide a gripping narrative, but the book looks also at the wider issues: at the restrictions, particularly in the exercise of power, placed on the three women by society; at their success in ignoring or pushing back those barriers; at what they wanted or expected for their daughters; and at how they saw themselves in relation to men. The study draws largely on contemporary sources, both printed and manuscript, and presents material hitherto unknown or overlooked. It is the first study of the three women as a group, and indeed is one of the first modern, reliable studies in English or French of any one of them as an individual.

    It examines the arguments advanced by successive political figures for a plantation policy, and the responses that this policy elicited from different segments of the population in Ireland.

    Contains ethical and theological reflections.

    During the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I England was involved in a constant series of conflicts with Ireland and Scotland, and frequently sent expeditions to the territories now known as Belgium and the Netherlands to keep the Spanish and French at bay.