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Michelangelo and de’ Medici
Born to a family of minor nobility in Florence, Italy in 1475, Michelangelo Buonarroti became one of the world’s most famous artists. However, his path to artistic greatness was not smooth. His father sent him to study with an eminent Humanist, but Michelangelo copied the paintings on the walls of the church instead. At 13, he became an apprentice of painter Domenico Ghirlandiao. Unusual for the time, Ghirlandiao paid the Buonarroti family for the apprenticeship not the other way around. This had to be due to the burgeoning talent of young Michelangelo. When Lorenzo de’ Medici requested two of Ghirlandiao’s most promising students, Michelangelo was sent to study at the…
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Gráinne Ní Mháille or Grace O’Malley
In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I decided to dedicate today’s post to one of the best. Grace O’Malley was a queen, a pirate and all around bad ass. She went toe to toe with Queen Elizabeth I and won. Not many people did that. Gráinne, or Grace as it was Anglicized, was born in 1530 on the west coast of Ireland to Owen O’Malley, a wealthy trader, seafarer and chieftain. Legend says that as a teenager she begged her father to let her serve with him aboard his ships. He told her no saying her hair would get caught in the rigging. The next day, she showed…
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Publius Vergilius Maro aka Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro was born of peasant stock in 70 BCE, but managed to rise into the upper echelon of Roman society by the time of his death in 19 BCE. He is best known for his epic poem The Aeneid, which was unfinished at the time of his death. It was this epic commissioned by Augustus Caesar outlined the founding of Rome by a Trojan refugee and gave Rome its sense of destiny and history, which the young empire lacked compared to the older civilizations of the age.Virgil was twenty when th [...]
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Catherine de’ Medici
Catherine de’ Medici was a divisive figure during her own time and on into the modern period. There are many even now who believe she practiced witchcraft or Satanism. Whether or not this is true, she was a pivotal figure at a time with France was being torn apart with the wars of religion. She was born Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy to Lorenzo II de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne, Countess of Boulogne. Her mother died of childbed fever after she was born, and her father followed soon after. This left young Caterina in the care of her grandmother…
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Elizabeth Tudor- the early years
In chess, the pawn is the most expendable piece on the board. It can be put out into danger and thrown away on the slightest whim. However, if the pawn withstands the dangers of the board and makes it across, it becomes a queen- the most powerful piece in the game. Elizabeth Tudor was born into the Royal Family of England, a pawn. Not the hoped for prince her father had moved heaven and earth for, but another daughter. A disappointment to both parents. Nevertheless, King Henry VIII and his new wife Anne Boleyn put a brave face on it. They added an ‘s’ to the birth announcements and threw…
