Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, styled Lord Herbert of Raglan from 1628–1644, was an English nobleman involved in royalist politics, and an inventor. While Earl of Glamorgan, he was sent by Charles I to negotiate a peace trea...

Jules Mazarin was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician, who served as the chief minister of France from 1642 until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu. He was a noted collector of art and jewels, particularl...

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of count John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and countess Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein. When Frederick Henry became...

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was a Baroque music composer, singer and Benedictine nun. She spent her adult life cloistered in the convent of Santa Radegonda, Milan, where she became abbess and stopped composing. More than a dozen cloistered w...

Otto von Guericke was a German scientist, inventor, and politician. His major scientific achievements were the establishment of the physics of vacuums, the discovery of an experimental method for clearly demonstrating electrostatic repulsio...

The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC, "United East India Company") was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out co...

In Macbeth, or "the Scottish play" as actors sometimes refer to it, William Shakespeare fictionalizes the historical account of King Macbeth, ruler of Scotland from 1040 until his death in 1057. In Shakespeare's drama, Macbeth is urged on b...

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). His was the first European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now T...

John Maurice of Nassau was called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period as governor of Dutch Brazil. He was count and (from 1674) prince of Nassau-Siegen, and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg). He was b...

Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squi...

Considered one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, The Tragedy of King Lear is based on the life of King Leir, a legendary king of Britain who is said to have had the longest reign of all that line of monarchs at sixty years. In Shakespeare's...

Frans Banninck Cocq was a burgemeester (mayor) of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. He is best known as the central figure in Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch which shows Cocq and his company of civil guards. Although known as T...

Philip IV of Castille (Felipe IV) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal as Philip III (Filipe III) until 1640. The eldest son of Philip III (and his wife Margaret), Philip IV was born at Valladolid. His chie...

Sir Thomas Browne was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural...

In 1606, the small Dutch ship Duyfken sailed from the Indonesian island of Banda in search of gold and trade opportunities on the fabled island of Nova Guinea. Under the command of Willem Janszoon, Duyfken and her crew ventured south-east....