Louis XI, called the Prudent, was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois. During his 22-year reign, Louis successfully expanded royal power at the exp...

Christian I was a Danish monarch of the Oldenburg dynasty, King of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464), under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxensti...

Giovanni Bellini, Venetian painter, founder of the Venetian school of painting, Giovanni Bellini raised Venice to a center of Renaissance art that rivaled Florence and Rome. He brought to painting a new degree of realism, a new wealth of su...

Casimir IV of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the most active Polish rulers, under whom Poland, by defeating the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Yea...

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick KG, known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, and military commander. The son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, Warwick was the wealthiest and most powerful Englis...

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamb...

The Order of the Golden Fleece (German: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies; Dutch: Orde van het Gulden Vlies; French: Ordre de la Toison d'Or; Italian: Ordine del Toson d'Oro; Spanish: Orden del Toisón de Oro) is an order of chivalry founded in Bruge...

James II who reigned as king of Scots from 1437 on, was the son of James I and Joan Beaufort. Nothing is known of his early life, but by his first birthday his twin and only brother, Alexander, who was also the older twin, had died, thus ma...

Hugo van der Goes was a Flemish painter. He was, along with Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Dieric Bouts, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters. His most famous surviving work is the Portinar...

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was a member of the House of Draculesti, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known by his patronymic name: Dracula. He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler, and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ru...

Alexander VI, (Rodrigo Borgia) pope 1492-1503, is the most memorable of the secular popes of the Renaissance. He was born at Xàtiva, València, Spain, and his father's surname was Lanzol or Llançol; that of his mother's family, Borgia or Bor...

Mehmed II (1432-1481), nicknamed the conqueror, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire a short time in 1444 to 1446, and from 1451 to 1481. Mehmed II brought an end to the Byzantine Empire by capturing Constantinople in 1453 (during the well-...

Charles the Bold (or Charles the Rash), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. Known as Charles the Terrible to his enemies, he was the last Valois Duke of Burgundy and his early death was a pivotal, if under-recognised, moment in European...

The Craftsman's Handbook: "Il Libro dell' Arte" by Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c.1370-c.1440). He was an Italian painter influenced by Giotto. He was a student of Agnolo Gaddi. He is remembered mainly for having authored Il libro dell'arte, o...

Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of Charolais was the second wife of Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais and future Duke of Burgundy. She was a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and the mother of Mary of Burgundy,...