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John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( Greek : Ίωάννης Η' Παλαιολόγος , Iōannēs VIII Palaiologos , 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448), was the penultimate reigning Byzantine Emperor , ruling from 1425 to 1448. Wikipedia  Repeatedly the court had discussed the question of making their cause a universal one by reuniting their church with the Roman Catholic. Preliminary negotiations had already taken place. Greek ambassadors had appeared at (he Council of Constance. Emperor Manuel had shown a certain zeal in the cause of union, but chiefly from political motives. Now John VIII. (Figs. 88 and 89) returned to the matter with the honest purpose of bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion. The emperor himself and a large retinue of clerics and theologians sailed to Venice, in 1438. Thence they went to Ferrara, where the anti-council of Eugenius IV. was sitting. But here no conclusion was reached. In Florence, however, whither the pope transferred the council on acc...

Còsimo di Giovanni degli Mèdici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance ; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" ("il Vecchio") and "Cosimo Pater Patriae ". Wikipedia  Cosmo The Elder, b. 1389, d. 1 Aug., 1464, the founder of their power and so-called "Padre della Patria", was the son of Giovanni di Averardo de' Medici, the richest banker in Italy. He obtained the virtual lordship of Florence in 1434 by the overthrow and expulsion of the leaders of the oligarchical faction of the Albizzi. While maintaining republican forms and institutions, he held the government by banishing his opponents and concentrating the chief magistracies in the hands of his own adherents. His foreign -policy, which became traditional with the Medici throughout the fifteenth century until the French invasion of 1494, aimed at establish...

Fransesco Sforza was the son of a mercenary, Muzeo Attendola Sforza, who was the founder of the Sforza House. The family nickname aptly meant ‘strength or force’. Attendola came from a peasant family and was born in 1369 at Cotignola at Romagna. He chose to train as a condottiere – a soldier who could be hired for money to fight on behalf of some kingdom or duchy – by training and taking command over the very band of adventurers who happened to kidnap him for ransom. Attendola later served under Joanna II of Naples and also fought bravely for Pope Martin V in a battle against the Spaniards. The Viscontis too employed his services whenever they felt the need. He was drowned when on a military expedition in 1424. His son Fransesco Sforza carried on the family name from then onwards, even followed his father’...

"Of wives and ladies, knights and arms, I sing, / of courtesies and many a daring feat." ludovico Ariosto, one of the greatest of Italian poets, was born at Reggio, In northern Italy, September 8, 1474. He was intended for the law by his father, but at length, being allowed to follow his own inclinations, studied the classics and devoted himself to literature. About 1503 he settled in Ferrara and entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who employed him in various political negotiations. During his leisure hours throughout a period of ten years he wrote his masterpiece, "Orlando Furioso" (Orlando Mad), an epic poem in forty-five cantos, celebrating the achievements of the Paladins of Charlemagne in the wars between the Christians and the Moors. It is virtually a continuation of Boiardo's metrical romance, "Orlando Innamorato" (Orlando in Love). Ariosto subsequently joined the court of the cardinal's brother, Alfonso, Duke o...

Robert Greene was baptized in Norwich 1 on July 11, 1558. 2 He died in London, September 3, 1592. Of the life that extended between these dates there is little of actual record. On November 26, 1575, Greene was matriculated as a sizar at St. John's Cambridge. From that college he received his primary degree in 1578. 3 In 1583, July 7, he was at Clare Hall, 4 where he was granted the degree of Master of Arts. Sometime in 1585 or '86 he was married. Oxford conferred a degree in July, 1588; so that he was henceforth the Academiae Utriusque Magister in Artibus of which he was so vain. "Hee inherited more vertues than vices," says Nashe again. "Debt and deadly sinne, who is not subject to? with any notorious crime I never knew him tainted." ... "A good fellowe he was;" considerable of a drinker. "Hee made no account of winning credite by his workes, ... his only care was to have a spel in his purse to conjure up a good cuppe o...

The passage in which " Robert Greene." warns his friends and fellow-poets against the ingratitude of the players runs as follows:— " Yes, trust them not: for there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers heart wrapt in a Players hide, supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the only Shake-scene in a countrie ." The allusion to Shakespeare's name is unequivocal, and the words about the tiger's heart point to the outburst, "Oh Tyger's hart wrapt in a serpents hide!" which is found in two places: first in the play called The True Tragedie of RicJtard Duke of Yorke, and the Death of the good King Henrie the Sixt, and then (with "womans" substituted for "serpents"), in the third part of King Henry VI., founded on the True Tragedie, and attributed to Shakespeare. It is preposterous to interp...

Connection #6 - King Alfonso VIII to Urraca of León and Castile             Connection #7 - Urraca of León and Castile to Pope Calixtus II             Connection #8 - Pope Calixtus II to Pope Paschal II             Connection #9 - Pope Paschal II to Henry V             Connection #10 - Henry V to William Shakespeare

Henry V ( Welsh : Harri V ) (16 September 1387 – 31 August 1422 [1] [2] ) was King of England from 1413 until his death. From an unassuming start, his military successes in the Hundred Years' War , culminating with his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt , saw him come close to conquering France. Wikipedia  Accession of Henry V. 1 : 1413.— Henry V. ascended the throne without challenge, and was crowned at Westminster three weeks after his father's death (April 9). The responsibilities of his position sobered him at once. The riotous Prince Hal was suddenly transformed into the brave and spirited King Henry V. —Shakespeare's ideal King. His earliest acts were to discard his old companions; to call around him the wisest of the land ; to set free the Earl of March; and to restore the Percy estates to the exiled son of Hotspur. He caused the body of Richard II. to be buried in Westminster Abbey. Determined to have a minister who should carry out his polic...

Succeeded Urban II , and reigned from 13 Aug., 1099, till he died at Rome , 21 Jan., 1118. Born in central Italy , he was received at an early age as a monk in Cluny. In his twentieth year he was sent on business of the monastery to Rome , and was retained at the papal court by Gregory VII , and made Cardinal-Priest of St. Clement's church. It was in this church that the conclave met after the death of Pope Urban , and Cardinal Rainerius was the unanimous choice of the sacred college. He protested vigorously against his election, maintaining, with some justice , that his monastic training had not fitted him to deal with the weighty problems which confronted the papacy in that troublous age. His protestations were disregarded by his colleagues, and he was consecrated the following day in St. Peter's . Once pope , he betrayed no further hesitation and wielded the sceptre with a firm and prudent grasp. The main lines of his policy had been laid by the master minds of Greg...

  Pope Calixtus II (or Calistus II) (died December 13, 1124), born Guy de Vienne, the fourth son of William I, Count of Burgundy (1057–87), was elected Pope on February 1, 1119, after the death of Pope Gelasius II (1118–19). His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, which he was able to settle through the Concordat of Worms (in 1122). Although his birth date is not known, his eldest brother was born in 1061, therefore we can assume that Guy himself was born between 1065 and 1068. Guy first appeared in contemporary records when, in 1088, he became the Archbishop of Vienne. He held strong pro-Papal views about the Investiture Controversy. As archbishop, he was appointed papal legate to France by Pope Paschal II (1099–1118); this was during the time that Paschal II, yielding to pressure from Emperor Henry V (1105–25), was induced to issue the Privilegium of 1111, by which he yielded much of the papal prerogatives that had been so forcefully claimed by Po...

Urraca, Queen of Castile and Leon (rf. 1126), by her marriage with Alfonso I. of Aragon united that crown to those of Castile and Leon, but afterwards made war on her husband and excluded him from Castile. She also quarrelled with her son and her sister, Theresa of Portugal.   Cassell's new biographical dictionary   alphonso I., king of Aragon, "the Battler," who married Urraca, daughter of Alphonso VI. (1104-1134), is sometimes counted the Vllth in the line of the kings of Leon and Castile. A passionate fighting-man (he fought twenty-nine battles against Christian or Moor), he wasjmarried to Urraca, widow of Raymond of Burgundy, a very dissolute and passionate woman. The marriage had been arranged by Alphonso VI. in 1106 to unite the two chief Christian states against the Almoravides, and to supply them with a capable military leader. But Urraca was tenacious of her right as proprietary queen and had not learnt chastity in the polygamous household of her fathe...

ALFONSO VIII., king of Castile and Leon, styled the Emperor. At the death of his mother, Queen Urraca , he became king in 1126. The misrule of that princess's government, and the wars which had devastated Castile during the latter part of the preceding reign, rendered the beginning of his own very stormy. Several places were held by his step-father, Alfonso VII., until they were subdued, but at last the two princes were reconciled, and Alfonso VIII. remained sovereign lord of Castile and Leon. About the year 1137 he was obliged to march an army into Galicia against the Count of Portugal, Alfonso Henriquez. Though the Portuguese had the advantage, Heuriquez Bued for peace, which Alfonso readily granted. Iu 1140 he attempted to conquer Navarre, but failed. In his wars with the infidels, Alfonso was more successful. He obtained many signal victories over them, and advanced the Castilian frontiers to Andalusia, His last battle against the Almohades was undecisive; after whic...

    Connection #1 - Giordano Bruno to Baruch Spinoza         Connection #2 - Baruch Spinoza to Maimonides     Connection #3 - Maimonides to Averroes     Connection #4 - Averroes to Yacoub Almansour     Connection #5 - Yacoub Almansour to King Alfonso VIII  

Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur ( Arabic : ابو يوسف يعقوب المنصور ‎) (c. 1160 – January 23, 1199), also known as Moulay Yacoub, was the third Almohad Amir Succeeding his father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , Yakub al-Mansur reigned from 1184 to 1199 with distinction. During his tenure, trade, architecture, philosophy and the sciences flourished, to say nothing of military conquests. In 1191 Yaqub al-Mansur repelled the occupation of Paderne Castle and the surrounding territory near Albufeira, in the Algarve which had been controlled by the Portuguese army of King Sancho I since 1182. In the Battle of Alarcos , on July 18, 1195, he defeated the Castilian King Alfonso VIII . After victory, he took the title al-Mansur Billah ("Made Victorious by God"). The battle is recounted by the historian Abou Mohammed Salah ben Abd el-Halim of Granada in his Roudh el-Kartas (History of the Rulers of Morocco, French translation by A. Beaumier, 1860) in 1326. He died in Marrakech , Moro...

Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad bin Aḥmad bin Rushd ( Arabic : أبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد ‎), better known just as Ibn Rushd ( Arabic : ابن رشد ‎), and in European literature as Averroes (pronounced /əˈvɛroʊ.iːz/ ) (1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Andalusian Muslim polymath ; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy , Islamic theology , Maliki law and jurisprudence , logic , psychology , politics , Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine , astronomy , geography , mathematics , physics and celestial mechanics . He was born in Córdoba , Al Andalus , modern-day Spain , and died in Marrakech , modern-day Morocco . His school of philosophy is known as Averroism . He has been described by some [1] as the founding father of secular thought in Western Europe and "one of the spiritual fathers of Europe ," [2] although other scholars oppose such claims. Wikipedia Averroes (Abonlwalid Mo'hammed ibn Abmed ibn Mo'hnmmed ibu-Roschd) was ...

"jDABBI MOSES Ben Maimon or Maimonides, called alsoRAMBAM from the initials of his name, and Moses the Egyptian from his long residence in Egypt, was bom at Cordova in Spain, in the year 1131, or according to some 1138, of the Christian era. His father, who was descended from an illustrious line of ancestors, sustained the office of judge among his own nation; and by his knowledge of jurisprudence, and the ability and integrity with which he executed the difficult and important duties of the magistracy, secured the respect of Christians as well as Jews. The education of young Maimonides appears to have been conducted,at first, under the immediate superintendence of his father ; but a series of domestic quarrels having subsequently obliged him to quit the paternal roof, he placed himself under the care of the most learned Jewish teachers, and studied, with sedulous attention, the Mosaic Law, and its various Talmudical and Rabbinical commentaries. After devoting some ...

Born at Amsterdam , 24 Nov., 1632; died at The Hague , 21 Feb., 1677. He belonged to a family of Jewish merchants of moderate means, and was originally called Baruch, a name that he later translated into its Latin equivalent Benedict. His father's name was Michael, his mother, Michael's second wife, was called Hana Debora. In 1641 Michael married a third wife who was named Hester de Espinosa. The family probably had some connexion with the little town of Espino in Spanish Galicia, and with the celebrated Marrano family there called Espinosa. (The Marranos were Spanish Jews compelled to conform outwardly to Christianity .) Baruch attracted attention in the school for Portuguese Jews at Amsterdam by his talents and application to study. He made rapid progress in Hebrew and the study of the Talmud, and his teachers, especially Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira, had the greatest hopes of his future. It was intended that he should become a rabbi. The subtle methods of the teachers ...

Giordano Bruno (1548 – February 17, 1600), born Filippo Bruno , was an Italian Dominican friar , philosopher , mathematician and astronomer , who is best known as a proponent of the infinity of the universe. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in identifying the Sun as just one of an infinite number of independently moving heavenly bodies: he is the first European man to have conceptualized the universe as a continuum where the stars we see at night are identical in nature to the Sun. He was burned at the stake by civil authorities in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy and turned him over to the state, which at that time considered heresy illegal. After his death he gained considerable fame; in the 19th and early 20th centuries, commentators focusing on his astronomical beliefs regarded him as a martyr for free thought and modern scientific ideas. Wikipedia Thus, his system of thought is an incoherent materialistic ...