It’s been a while since we have caught up with Cosimo de Medici. Four years after his return to Florence in 1434, he secured a huge opportunity for Florence, that would have far reaching effects on the Renaissance – hosting the Ecumenical Council between the East and West churches. This saw a contingent of 700 Greek scholars and theologians come to Florence for an extended stay. They brought with them knowledge and documents that would change Florence forever. The post #71 – The Greek Invasion a...
Nov 09, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 71
It’s been a while since we have caught up with Cosimo de Medici. Four years after his return to Florence in 1434, he secured a huge opportunity for Florence, that would have far reaching effects on the Renaissance – hosting the Ecumenical Council between the East and West churches. This saw a contingent of 700 Greek scholars and theologians come to Florence for an extended stay. They brought with them knowledge and documents that would change Florence forever. The post #71 – The Greek Invasion a...
Nov 09, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 71
In 1453, when the Turks took Constantinople, Pope Nicky 5 wanted a crusade and authorized the sale of letters of indulgence—religious documents that released the buyers from penalties for their sins. And guess who printed them? Then he finally got around to working on his masterpiece and the book he is most remembered for – the “42-line Bible,” aka the Gutenberg Bible. But just before the printing of the bibles was finished, his investor, Fust, took him to court and sued him for overdue repaymen...
Oct 25, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 70
In 1453, when the Turks took Constantinople, Pope Nicky 5 wanted a crusade and authorized the sale of letters of indulgence—religious documents that released the buyers from penalties for their sins. And guess who printed them? Then he finally got around to working on his masterpiece and the book he is most remembered for – the “42-line Bible,” aka the Gutenberg Bible. But just before the printing of the bibles was finished, his investor, Fust, took him to court and sued him for overdue repaymen...
Oct 25, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Commercial opportunities for a printing press went beyond books. One of those was the Fall of Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire lead by 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II defeated the army of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor. To tell this story we also need to talk about The Great Schism, how and why Christianity split into east and west camps. Because there’s nothing Jesus loves more than a little bit of Christian on Christian violence. The post #69 – Gutenberg Part 5 ...
Oct 18, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Commercial opportunities for a printing press went beyond books. One of those was the Fall of Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire lead by 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II defeated the army of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor. To tell this story we also need to talk about The Great Schism, how and why Christianity split into east and west camps. Because there’s nothing Jesus loves more than a little bit of Christian on Christian violence. The post #69 – Gutenberg Part 5 ...
Oct 18, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Hand carving a piece of metal type for a printing press would take a skilled craftsman an entire day. Just setting one page of the Bible would take 2600 pieces of type. So Gutenberg needed to come up with an efficient way to manufacture type – which is a lot harder than it sounds. He also needed to invent the printing press. On this episode we go through how he did those things – and then talk about how it was all ripped out from underneath him, just as he was about to have his big victory. The ...
Oct 11, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Hand carving a piece of metal type for a printing press would take a skilled craftsman an entire day. Just setting one page of the Bible would take 2600 pieces of type. So Gutenberg needed to come up with an efficient way to manufacture type – which is a lot harder than it sounds. He also needed to invent the printing press. On this episode we go through how he did those things – and then talk about how it was all ripped out from underneath him, just as he was about to have his big victory. The ...
Oct 11, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 68
One of Gutenberg’s partners died, and the guy’s brothers wanted in on the secret project. Gutenberg refused, so they took him to court. Then in 1444, Gutenberg left Strasbourg and went… where? We don’t know. He disappeared for three years. Some interesting conspiracy theories about where he might have gone. We also talk about the people who invented movable type before Gutenberg… the CHINESE! CHINA CHINA CHINA! The post #67 – Gutenberg Part 3 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ....
Sep 27, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 67
One of Gutenberg’s partners died, and the guy’s brothers wanted in on the secret project. Gutenberg refused, so they took him to court. Then in 1444, Gutenberg left Strasbourg and went… where? We don’t know. He disappeared for three years. Some interesting conspiracy theories about where he might have gone. We also talk about the people who invented movable type before Gutenberg… the CHINESE! CHINA CHINA CHINA! The post #67 – Gutenberg Part 3 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ....
Sep 27, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In 1428, Gutenberg moved to Strasbourg where he would live for the next 20 years. It was there that he had his first big business venture—making holy healing ray containment devices. He brought on investors who later became suspicious that he was holding out on them. He had a secret project that he was working on. And they wanted in. The post #66 – Gutenberg Part 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ....
Sep 19, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 66
In 1428, Gutenberg moved to Strasbourg where he would live for the next 20 years. It was there that he had his first big business venture—making holy healing ray containment devices. He brought on investors who later became suspicious that he was holding out on them. He had a secret project that he was working on. And they wanted in. The post #66 – Gutenberg Part 2 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ....
Sep 19, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Today we begin a series about the man without whom our podcasts would not exist because there would be no books. And you know we get all of our knowledge from books. The man who invented movable type and the printing press (or did he?). Johannes Gutenberg. The post #65 – Gutenberg Part 1 appeared first on The Renaissance Times ....
Sep 13, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Today we begin a series about the man without whom our podcasts would not exist because there would be no books. And you know we get all of our knowledge from books. The man who invented movable type and the printing press (or did he?). Johannes Gutenberg. The post #65 – Gutenberg Part 1 appeared first on The Renaissance Times .
Sep 13, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Born 1401 as Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, “ Masaccio ” (his nickname) was regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, he was the best painter of his generation. The first painter in the Renaissance who really understood linear perspective. He died age only 26, in 1428. “Masaccio,” said Leonardo da Vinci, “showed by perfect works that those who are led by any guide except Nature, the supreme mistress, are consumed i...
Aug 30, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Born 1401 as Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, “ Masaccio ” (his nickname) was regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, he was the best painter of his generation. The first painter in the Renaissance who really understood linear perspective. He died age only 26, in 1428. “Masaccio,” said Leonardo da Vinci, “showed by perfect works that those who are led by any guide except Nature, the supreme mistress, are consumed i...
Aug 30, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Born Guido di Pietro but known to us as Fra Angelico which means the “Angelic friar”. Despite his early talent for painting, at age 12 he entered the Dominican order and spent the rest of his life in convents, painting their walls. Admired by Cosimo de Medici and extremely influential to the early Renaissance artists, he was one of the first to start to incorporate linear perspective. We also talk about Pope Nicholas V, the first humanist Pope. Born into relative poverty, he spent most of his ad...
Aug 22, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Born Guido di Pietro but known to us as Fra Angelico which means the “Angelic friar”. Despite his early talent for painting, at age 12 he entered the Dominican order and spent the rest of his life in convents, painting their walls. Admired by Cosimo de Medici and extremely influential to the early Renaissance artists, he was one of the first to start to incorporate linear perspective. We also talk about Pope Nicholas V, the first humanist Pope. Born into relative poverty, he spent most of his ad...
Aug 22, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 63
The first written work of art theory, produced during the Renaissance was “De Pictura”, or “On Painting”, written in 1435 by Leon Battista Alberti but not published until 1450, in which he explained the science behind linear perspective. He was a humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, mathematician and cryptographer. He also wrote the first autobiography since St Augustine. A true polymath and the first Renaissance Man, who inspired every Renaissance artist who ...
Aug 16, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 62
The first written work of art theory, produced during the Renaissance was “De Pictura”, or “On Painting”, written in 1435 by Leon Battista Alberti but not published until 1450, in which he explained the science behind linear perspective. He was a humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, mathematician and cryptographer. He also wrote the first autobiography since St Augustine. A true polymath and the first Renaissance Man, who inspired every Renaissance artist who ...
Aug 16, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 62
After returning to Rome to work for the Vatican, Poggio Bracciolini starting making some serious money of his own. Enough to get married and buy a big house. He served as chancellor of Florence for five years. After he died, Lucretius kept working its magic on the people of Europe. Forty years later, the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola ruled Florence for several years as a strict “Christian republic” and tried to ban the book. And he wasn’t the last Christian to try to have it banned or at l...
Jul 31, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 61
After returning to Rome to work for the Vatican, Poggio Bracciolini starting making some serious money of his own. Enough to get married and buy a big house. He served as chancellor of Florence for five years. After he died, Lucretius kept working its magic on the people of Europe. Forty years later, the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola ruled Florence for several years as a strict “Christian republic” and tried to ban the book. And he wasn’t the last Christian to try to have it banned or at l...
Jul 31, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 61
In 1419, a couple of years after he lost his papal secretary job and discovered Lucretius, Poggio did what everyone does when they are shit out luck and scraping the bottom of the barrel. He moved to England. He accepted the post of secretary to Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and uncle of Henry V. Poggio hoped to find some intelligent life in England and maybe a valuable ancient manuscript. He was disappointed on both counts. So in 1422 he returned to work for the Vatican again, or, as he ...
Jul 24, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 60
In 1419, a couple of years after he lost his papal secretary job and discovered Lucretius, Poggio did what everyone does when they are shit out luck and scraping the bottom of the barrel. He moved to England. He accepted the post of secretary to Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and uncle of Henry V. Poggio hoped to find some intelligent life in England and maybe a valuable ancient manuscript. He was disappointed on both counts. So in 1422 he returned to work for the Vatican again, or, as he ...
Jul 24, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Nicky the Nickster was one of the most influential people in Florence in the early 1400s. He was the unofficial minister of culture and probably the guy who influenced Cosimo de Medici to support the humanists and artists. Obsessed with antiquity, he spent his entire family fortune on buying ancient manuscripts, sculptures and other artefacts. He was also a master of Latin and quite the dilettante. When he died, he had built the largest private library of ancient books in Italy. Early German pri...
Jul 21, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Nicky the Nickster was one of the most influential people in Florence in the early 1400s. He was the unofficial minister of culture and probably the guy who influenced Cosimo de Medici to support the humanists and artists. Obsessed with antiquity, he spent his entire family fortune on buying ancient manuscripts, sculptures and other artefacts. He was also a master of Latin and quite the dilettante. When he died, he had built the largest private library of ancient books in Italy. Early German pri...
Jul 21, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 59
When Christians banned other religions and philosophies in the late 4th century, Plato and Aristotle, pagans who believed in the immortality of the soul, could ultimately be accommodated by Christianity; but Epicureanism could not. The Epicureans believed life was about seeking pleasure and, if there was pain, it would end with death. Christians, on the other hand, thought life should be difficult, pleasure was evil, and pain could last for eternity. Therefore they had to wipe out all memory of ...
Jul 04, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 58
When Christians banned other religions and philosophies in the late 4th century, Plato and Aristotle, pagans who believed in the immortality of the soul, could ultimately be accommodated by Christianity; but Epicureanism could not. The Epicureans believed life was about seeking pleasure and, if there was pain, it would end with death. Christians, on the other hand, thought life should be difficult, pleasure was evil, and pain could last for eternity. Therefore they had to wipe out all memory of ...
Jul 04, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Let’s get deep into some Lucretius, the Roman Epicurean philosopher poet. Today I want to read from “On the Nature of Things”. * As our Alexander listeners will know, Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher * 341–270 BCE * established his own school, known as “the Garden”, in Athens around 300 BCE * In the period after Alexander died * Epicurus and his followers were known for eating simple meals and discussing a wide range of philosophical subjects, and he openly allowed women to join the sch...
Jun 28, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Let’s get deep into some Lucretius, the Roman Epicurean philosopher poet. Today I want to read from “On the Nature of Things”. * As our Alexander listeners will know, Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher * 341–270 BCE * established his own school, known as “the Garden”, in Athens around 300 BCE * In the period after Alexander died * Epicurus and his followers were known for eating simple meals and discussing a wide range of philosophical subjects, and he openly allowed women to join the sch...
Jun 28, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 57
