15th Century Navarre

The stop for us this century is Navarre. Last century, Navarre fought for its sovereignty from France, and the brutal end to a brutal king (Charles the Bad), alongside the rise of his son Charles III. Charles is remembered in a much better light than his father, mostly because he spent his 38 year reign…

Crossbow of Matthias Corvinus

For our correlating post to the Holy Roman Empire, I decided to discuss art left from the King considered to bring the Renaissance from Italy, and that would be Matthias, King of Hungary and Bohemia. This crossbow belonged to him and was one of the earliest surviving that included heraldry in the decoration.  Crossbows are…

15th Century Holy Roman Empire

When we left the Holy Roman Empire, it was being ruled by Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, and what started as a peaceful reign is slowly moving towards calamity, as Wenceslaus shows his cruelty, alcoholism, and tolerance for what they perceived as heresy (his support of reformer Jan Hus). The torture and murder of Vicar-General, John…

Catherine of Pomerania, Countess of Palatine of Neumark

Gnadenberg

15th Century Kalmar Union

At the end of the last century, we saw the creation of the Kalmar Union, which encompassed Sweden (with Finland), Norway, and Denmark under one ruler while maintaining their independence. This came from a series of mismanagement throughout each country until the ascension of Queen Margaret of Denmark I, who united them in this union…

The Kingis Quair: A King’s Tale

Due to the misfortunes of the 14th century, the people hadn’t thought much about art and poetry in Scotland. It is surmised their literary Golden Age began in the 15th century with ‘The Kingis Quair’. It is a 379 line poem that is an autobiography of James I. He wrote about his time as prisoner,…

15th Century Scotland

Now that we’ve concluded the countries under English rule, let’s discuss their Northern neighbors: Scotland. (I apologize in advance, this is the century of “James” and every monarch will have this name). When we left the Scots, they struggled to recover from the harsh events of the 14th century, and we’re mourning King Robert II…

Ludlow Castle

18th century painting by Samuel Scott

15th Century England

At the end of the 14th century, England recently noted the rise of Henry IV through conquest against Richard II. Henry’s reign, where we begin today in the 15th century, began by addressing the people of England in his coronation speech, one of the first times since the Normand conquest. His father had been John…

15th Century France

When we left France last century, they had been through an eventful 14th century with no signs of slowing down. We began the century in the middle of the hundred years war with King Charles VI, who was known first as the Beloved and later as the Mad. He was twelve when he took the…