Curated playlist
16th-century Roman Catholics
- MichelangeloMichelangelo said he lived like a poor man, yet he was worth about 50,000 gold ducats.
- Ferdinand MagellanFerdinand Magellan never finished the first voyage around the world. He died in a battle on Mactan island in 1521.
- Henry VIIIHenry VIII broke England from Rome after the pope would not annul his first marriage.
- Galileo GalileiGalileo watched four points of light move beside Jupiter. In January 1610 he realized they were moons circling it.
- Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V was born during a ball in Ghent in 1500. He ruled more of the world than any Christian monarch before.
- Catherine HowardCatherine Howard was queen of England for barely sixteen months. Henry VIII's fifth wife was beheaded in 1542.
- RaphaelRaphael painted Michelangelo into The School of Athens as Heraclitus.
- Tomás Fernández de MedranoPhilip II planned to send Tomás Fernández de Medrano to Turin with a private warning for the Duke of Savoy.
- François RabelaisRabelais imagined an abbey with a swimming pool, no clocks and one rule: Do What You Want.
- John DowlandIn 1594, lutenist John Dowland applied for a place at Elizabeth I's court and was turned down. He blamed his religion.
- Gil VicenteGil Vicente's first known play was staged in the queen's rooms to celebrate a prince's birth.
- Luís de CamõesPortugal's national day, the 10th of June, is the day poet Luís de Camões died.
- Benvenuto CelliniA thief climbed scaffolding in Vienna in 2003 and stole Benvenuto Cellini's gold salt cellar.
- Fernão Mendes PintoCaptured near the Red Sea, Fernão Mendes Pinto was taken to Mocha to be sold as a slave.