Curated category
Critics of the Catholic Church
- Charles DickensOn the 12th of May 1824, twelve-year-old Charles Dickens boarded a small boat to visit his father inside the Marshalsea debtors' prison in Southwark.
- George OrwellEric Arthur Blair arrived in the world on the 25th of June 1903 within a house in Motihari, Bengal Presidency. His family belonged to what he called the…
- Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky was born on the 11th of November 1821 in Moscow. His father, Mikhail Dostoevsky, served as a senior physician at the Mariinsky Hospital for…
- James JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd of February 1882 at 41 Brighton Square in Rathgar, Dublin. He entered the world as the eldest of ten…
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis on the 11th of November 1922. He descended from a long line of German Americans whose family fortune rested on the…
- H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was born at Atlas House, 162 High Street in Bromley, Kent, on the 21st of September 1866. He grew up as the fourth and last child of…
- Denis DiderotDenis Diderot was born on the 5th of October 1713 in the city of Langres. His father Didier worked as a cutler and his mother Angélique Vigneron supported…
- Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was born on the 26th of February 1802 in Besançon, a city in eastern France. His father Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo served as a general…
- John CalvinOn the 10th of July 1509, a boy named Jehan Cauvin was born in the town of Noyon within the province of Picardy. His father Gérard Cauvin worked as a…
- Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on the 29th of July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì.
- John MiltonJohn Milton was born on the 9th of December 1608 in Bread Street, London. His father, also named John Milton, had moved to London around 1583 after being…
- Baruch SpinozaOn the 24th of November 1632, a boy named Baruch Espinoza was born into a house on the Houtgracht canal. This street sat on an artificial island called the…
- David HumeDavid Hume was born on the 7th of May 1711 in a tenement building located on the north side of Edinburgh's Lawnmarket. He entered the University of Edinburgh…
- Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was born on the 25th of April 1599 in Huntingdon to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. His family estate derived from his…
- Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer entered the world on the 2nd of July 1489 at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. He was a younger son of Thomas Cranmer and his wife Agnes…
- Maximilien RobespierreMaximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was baptised on the 6th of May 1758 in the city of Arras, located in Artois.
- Martin LutherOn the 10th of November 1483, a boy named Martin Luther was born in Eisleben. His father Hans worked copper mines and served on the local council.
- John FoxeJohn Foxe was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, England during the year 1516 or 1517. He came from a family that held some local prominence.
- John WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was born in the village of Hipswell, near Richmond in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Records suggest he was born in the mid-1320s…
- Frank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was born on the 21st of December 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of the…
- Edmund SpenserEdmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, around the year 1552. His parentage remains obscure to modern historians, though evidence suggests he was…
- ErasmusDesiderius Erasmus was born in Rotterdam on the 27th or the 28th of October, likely around 1466. His parents could not legally marry because his father…
- Huldrych ZwingliHuldrych Zwingli was born on the 1st of January 1484 in Wildhaus, a village nestled deep within the Toggenburg valley of Switzerland.
- Protestant ReformersIn 1382, John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. This act challenged the authority of the Catholic Church in England.
- Hilary MantelHilary Mary Thompson was born on the 6th of July 1952 in Glossop, Derbyshire. She grew up as a Roman Catholic in the mill village of Hadfield.
- John KnoxJohn Knox was born sometime between 1505 and 1515 in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lothian. His father William Knox worked as a merchant while…
- Lorenzo VallaLorenzo Valla entered the world in Rome around 1407. His father Luciave della Valla worked as a lawyer within the Papal Curia.
- David StarkeyDavid Robert Starkey arrived in the world on the 3rd of January 1945 within the quiet town of Kendal, Westmorland. He was the only child born to Quaker…
- Julian (emperor)On the 6th of November 355, a young man named Flavius Claudius Julianus stood before Emperor Constantius II in Mediolanum and received the title of Caesar of…