Curated playlist
Counter-Reformation
- JesuitsThe Jesuits, formally the Society of Jesus, trace their beginning to a crypt beneath a church in Montmartre, outside Paris. On the 15th of August 1534, seven university students gathered there to pronounce promises of poverty, chastity and…
- Mary IMary I came into the world on the 18th of February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to survive infancy. She died on the 17th of November 1558, aged 42, at St James's Palace,…
- Stephen GardinerTudor bishop Stephen Gardiner died saying, "I have erred like Peter, but I have not wept like Peter."
- Ignatius of LoyolaA cannonball broke Ignatius of Loyola's leg and ended his soldiering. The Spanish knight later founded the Jesuits.
- InquisitionThe Inquisition began as a legal reform meant to replace trial by combat.
- John of the CrossJohn of the Cross wrote poetry on scraps of paper in a Toledo prison cell. Fellow Carmelites had seized him in 1577.
- Philip II of SpainPhilip II of Spain ruled the largest empire in the world while his treasury went bankrupt five times.
- Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici lost both parents within a month of her birth. She later outlived three French kings, all her sons.
- French Wars of ReligionA Protestant prince ended France's religious wars by agreeing to attend a Catholic mass.
- Teresa of ÁvilaAt age seven, Teresa of Ávila ran away to seek martyrdom fighting the Moors.
- Pilgrimage of GraceThe Pilgrimage of Grace got its name only after the rising began. It erupted in northern England in 1536.
- ErasmusErasmus, born to a priest and orphaned by plague, became the most read author of his age.
- Counter-ReformationPaolo Veronese avoided church trouble by renaming a painting. His Last Supper had drawn a Holy Office summons.
- Index Librorum ProhibitorumMein Kampf never made the Catholic Church's list of forbidden books.
- Prayer Book RebellionThe Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 began when villagers mocked a new English service as a Christmas game.
- Giovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaThe composer Palestrina, called the prince of music, has no marked tomb. Later construction covered his grave.
- Reginald PoleReginald Pole ended up two votes short of becoming pope. The English cardinal held 26 of 28 votes needed in 1549-1550.
- Luis de LeónLuis de León, a Spanish friar, poet and professor, is said to have returned to his Salamanca classroom on the 29th of January 1577. He began with a Latin line, Dicebamus hesterna die, meaning "As we were saying yesterday." The words skip…