Witchcraft Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland Documents Torture of Women

At Scotland's new Museum of Magic, Fortune-telling and Witchcraft, "visitors can gawk at a mummified cat as well as good-luck charms once used by ordinary Scots. Also on display are mystical amulets and bottles once owned by those thought to be witches," the Religion News Service reports. It quotes Ash William Mills, the museum’s founder and …

Suleiman The Magnificent Represented Golden Age of Ottoman Empire

Suleiman I (1494-1566), "commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver in his realm, was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman caliphate ruled over at least 25 million people." Wikipedia. He codified a centralized legal system …

The Reformation Incited French Wars of Religion

For more than half a century, 1534 to 1598, France was engaged in wars of religion between Catholics and Huguenots. In this short 10-minute documentary, History Matters explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcMVOKa2Os Recommended reading: The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629 by Mack P. Holt. - Pretty much THE go to book about the French Wars of Religion. You …

Medici, Italian Renaissance’s Banking Family, Produced Four Popes and Two Queens of France

Traditional accounts of the Italian Renaissance portray the Borjias as corrupt and evil religious leaders, and the Medici as heroic financiers and philanthropists of stunningly beautiful art and architecture as well as fair-minded popes. I've already pointed out the reasons that popular portrayals of the Borjias, particularly the popular TV series, exaggerate their deviance. Two …

Newly Discovered Native American Site and Spanish Colony from 1560s in North Carolina Reveals Who Was First

Conventional wisdom had it that the English beat the Spanish to colonization in the northeastern U.S. The first English colonization was purportedly the expedition sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in the 1580s, later known as the Lost Colony. But more recent excavations have discovered first, a Native American town called …

Scotland’s Mary Queen of Scots’ Rivalry with England’s Queen Elizabeth I Is Focus of Movie and Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5l8cvuo7IA The 2018 film, Mary Queen of Scots, told the remarkable story of the girl "who became Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18. Mary Stuart defied pressure to remarry. Instead, she returned to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. However, Scotland and England fell under the rule of the compelling …

Latino Americans: Foreigners In Their Own Land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApMDLhcA37Q Trailer for PBS Series on Latino Americans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XQ5Zo2_f-w Episode 1 "explores the period from 1565-1880, as the first Spanish explorers enter North America. Manifest Destiny pushes the U.S west into the Mexican territories of the South West. Mariano Vallejo personifies the era of the Californio rancheros. Juan Seguín is a man caught between two …

England’s Forgotten Muslim History

"One of the more surprising aspects of Elizabethan England (1558-1603) is that its foreign and economic policy was driven by a close alliance with the Islamic world, a fact conveniently ignored today by those pushing the populist rhetoric of national sovereignty." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/englands-forgotten-muslim-history.html?_r=0

Dutch Golden Age of the 1600s Dominated European Trade, Science, Military, & Gave The World Magnificent Art

The Dutch Golden Age spanned mostly the 1600s. Its trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The Dutch Empire evolved into the modern kingdom of the Netherlands after 1815. John Green of Crash Course European History observes that "while the English were falling apart a little, with their civil war and their …

Queen Elizabeth I Kept A Fractious England Together By Marshaling Absolute Power and Defeating the Spanish Empire

Elizabeth I (1533-1603), queen of England from 1558 to 1603, was one strong woman, who by force of will and strength kept England together. She was probably the most shining and successful example of a benevolent monarch from the Age of Absolutism. She was certainly better than her father King Henry VIII (1491-1547), who one historian compared …