Italy the Age of the Renaissance During the period 13th and 16th century Europe was in a state of great ebullition and new classification. Wars, revolutions, politico-economical transition, social convulsions and illnesses overwhelmed fatally the stability of Europe. During the period of two c...

Greg Murphy10/10/00Paper 1The Relationship Between Art and Politics During the Italian RenaissanceDuring the Renaissance, art and politics were two very powerful and celebrated arenas of Italian culture. Art at this time was seen as a connection that was being established between the surreal and ev...

The late Pope John Paul II (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) who died two years ago next month on April 2, 2005 at his private quarters inside the Vatican ("Pope John Paul II, March 10, 2007), after having suffered a long and steady, visibly apparent decline in decline in health for well o...

The Great SchismFrom 1305 to 1416, the Catholic Church reached its lowest point in history. Corruption was widespread, the Church's authority was undermined, and its leadership was divided. The Church no longer had a strong foundation, the papacy jumped back and forth from Avignon, France to Rome,...

The Borgias were one of the most important families in Italy, during the last years of the renaissance, if not the most important one. Not because of their goodness and kindness, the exact opposite, due to the behavior of some of the members of the family the Borgia name was soon known as a synonym...

Account for the decline in prestige and authority of the papacy during the fourteenth century. During the fourteenth century, the papacy suffered a huge decline in prestige and authority due to many factors. These include, the open conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Phillip IV of Fran...

The book, Daily Life in Papal Rome in the Eighteenth Century, by Maurice Andrieux, is an enlightening piece of work that describes how the Romans lived; how they thought about life; and how the leadership of the Popes ruled and the different personalities toward the Church. The information and descr...

Michelangelo was pessimistic in his poetry and an optimist in his artwork. Michelangelo\'s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in its natural state. Michelangelo\'s poetry was pessimistic in his response to Strazzi even though he was complimenting him. Michelangelo\'s ...

The Christian Church in the Middle Ages played a significant role in society. Unfortunately though, the church is often regarded as the capital of corruption, evil, and worldliness. Today, so many people depict the medieval church as being led by materialistic popes, devouring tithes from poverty-st...

The First Crusades In the middle of the Eleventh Century the tranquility of the eastern Mediterranean seemed assured for many years to come, but little did the people know what was ahead. This embarks a journey back into the First Crusade. The Crusades were a time of confusion for most pe...

The Crusades began formally on Tuesday, November 27, 1095, in a field just outside the walls of the French city of Clermont-Ferrand. On that day Pope Urban II preached a speech to crowds of laypeople attending a Church council at Clermont. In his speech, the pope outlined a plan for a Crusade and ca...

Frederick Barbarossa, like other men of his age, was influenced by a growing resurgence of neoclassical sensibilities. It should not therefore be considered surprising that he would have considered himself ruling as "Frederick, by the grace of God emperor of the Romans and august forever.."...

On May 18,1920, in Wadowice Poland, Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born. His parent's names were Emilia and Karol; they had an elder son named Edmund who was born on August 27, 1906. Emilia also gave birth to a daughter however, there are no records of her birth, baptism or death as a baby. Lolek (as Karol...

 THE HERESY OF GALILEOGalileo was condemned by the Inquisition, not for his own brilliant theories, but becausehe stood up for his belief in Copernicus's theory that the earth was not, as the Church insisted, thecenter of the universe, but that rather, the universe is hel...

There were several long term and short term causes of the Protestant reformation.The immediate cause that started the reformation was Martin Luther's act of posting the Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was a priest in the Catholic faith in ...

The PapacyDid you know the Pope is not referred to by only one title? He is also referred to as such titles as: the bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, supreme pontiff of the universal church, primate of Italy, patriarch of the West, sovereign of the State of Vatican City, and servant of the servants o...

The greatest of medieval civilizations was the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was divided in 395. The Western half, ruled from Rome, was ruled by the barbarians in the 5th century. The Eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire, lasted for more than over 1,000 years. The Byzantine Empir...

In the history of the Catholic Church there have been but a few great popes who have made a change in history, Pope John Paul II is one of them. When he was young the Nazis occupied his home country, Poland. But despite this he managed to be ordain and to go college in Rome. He showed remarkable ...