Renaissance & Early Modern Europe

c. 1300–1789 CE

Renaissance Europe describes the cultural, political and intellectual changes that spread through Italy and much of Europe between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Humanism, classical learning, printing, art, banking, diplomacy and court patronage reshaped elite culture. The period also contained war, plague, religious conflict and brutal political competition.

It mattered because Europe’s courts, cities and churches became laboratories for power and self-fashioning. Florence, Venice, Rome, France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire all offer different versions of Renaissance change. The setting is ideal for novels about artists, patrons, bankers, spies, courtesans, cardinals, scholars and dynastic marriage.

Renaissance Europe is a strong setting for historical fiction by Dorothy Dunnett, Sarah Dunant, Jean Plaidy, Tracy Chevalier and novels centred on artists, courts, bankers, spies and reformers. The period also connects naturally to Hilary Mantel's Tudor world and to wider European series about Florence, Venice, France, Spain and the papacy. These entries can support books about art, banking, dynastic marriage, religious upheaval, court politics and intellectual change.

Related people for Renaissance & Early Modern Europe

Ahmed I1590–1617 Ahuitzotlc. 15th century–1502 Alessandro de’ Medici1510–1537 Alexander VI1431–1503 Anne Basset1521–1557 Anne Boleyn1501–1536 Anne of Brittany1477–1514 Anne of Cleves1515–1557 Anthony Babington1561–1586 Antonio de Mendoza1490–1552 Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus1489–1557 Arthur, Prince of Wales1486–1502 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Bayezid II Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881 Bohdan Khmelnytsky1595–1657 Cardinal Mazarin1602–1661 Catharina Bolnes1631–1687 Catherine Carey1523–1569 Catherine de’ Medici1519–1589 Catherine Howard1523–1542 Catherine of Aragon1485–1536 Catherine Parr1512–1548 Cem Sultan Cesare Borgia1475–1507 Charles II of England1630–1685 Charles the Bold1433–1477 Charles V1500–1558 Charles VIII of France1470–1498 Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus1444–1487 Claude of France1499–1524 Cosimo I de’ Medici1519–1574 Cuauhtémoc1495–1525 Cuitláhuac1476–1520 David of Trebizond1408–1463 Desiderius Erasmus1466–1536 Diane de Poitiers1499–1566 Edward IV1442–1483 Edward VI1537–1553 Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire1480–1538 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Elizabeth of York1466–1503 Ferdinand II of Aragon1452–1516 Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua1466–1519 Francis, Duke of Guise1519–1563 Francisco Tenamaztledied 1556 Francis Drake1540–1596 Francis II of France1544–1560 Francis I of France1494–1547 Francis Knollys1514–1596 Francis Walsingham1532–1590 Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon1635–1719 Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours1489–1512 George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford1504–1536 George III1738–1820 George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence1449–1478 Giacomo Casanova1725–1798 Giambattista della Porta1535–1615 Giordano Bruno1548–1600 Girolamo Savonarola1452–1498 Giulia Farnese1474–1524 Hans Holbein the Younger1497–1543 Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon1526–1596 Henry I, Duke of Guise1550–1588 Henry III of France1551–1589 Henry II of France1519–1559 Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland1502–1537 Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston1784–1865 Henry VII1457–1509 Henry VIII1491–1547 Hernán Cortés1485–1547 Horatio Nelson1758–1805 Isabella d’Este1474–1539 Isabella I of Castile1451–1504 Ismail Ibn Sharif1645–1727 Ivan the Terrible1530–1584 James III of Scotland1451–1488 James II of Cyprus1438–1473 James II of England James V1512–1542 James VI and I1566–1625 Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford1505–1542 Jane Seymour1508–1537 Jeremi Wiśniowiecki1612–1651 Joan Larke1490–c. 1530s Johannes Vermeer1632–1675 John, Prince of Asturias1478–1497 John Dee1527–1609 John II Casimir Vasa1609–1672 John III Sobieski1629–1696 John Saris1580–1643 Joseph Chamberlain1836–1914 Joséphine de Beauharnais1763–1814 Juan de Homedes1477–1553 Kara Mustafa Pasha1634–1683 Lady Jane Grey1537–1554 La Malinche Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519 Lord Thomas Howard1511–1537 Louise de La Vallière1644–1710 Louise of Savoy1476–1531 Louis XII of France1462–1515 Louis XI of France1423–1483 Louis XIV1638–1715 Lucrezia Borgia1480–1519 Luisa Casati1881–1957 Madame de Montespan1640–1707 Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948 Margaret Butler, Countess of Ormondc. 15th century–1542 Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox1515–1578 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy1480–1530 Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland1456–1486 Margaret Tudor1489–1541 Marguerite de Navarre1492–1549 Maria Theresa of Spain1638–1683 Maria Thinsc. 1590s–1680 Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d’Arquien1641–1716 Marino Grimani1532–1605 Martin Luther1483–1546 Martín Cortés1520–1569 Mary, Queen of Scots1542–1587 Mary Boleyn1499–1543 Mary I1516–1558 Mary of Burgundy1457–1482 Mary of Guise1515–1560 Mary Seymourborn 1548 Mary Tudor, Queen of France1496–1533 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor1459–1519 Mehmed II1432–1481 Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki1640–1673 Moctezuma II1466–1520 Muhammad XII of Granada1459–1533 Nathaniel Courthope1585–1620 Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527 Oliver Cromwell1599–1658 Pedro de Alvarado1486–1541 Philibert II, Duke of Savoy1480–1504 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Philip Sidney1554–1586 Pieter van Ruijven1624–1674 Pope Pius V1504–1572 Reginald Pole1500–1558 Renée of France1510–1574 Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick1428–1471 Robert Clive1725–1774 Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor1552–1612 Stephen Gardiner1483–1555 Suleiman the Magnificent1494–1566 Susannah Hornebolt1503–1545 Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire1457–1539 Thomas Cranmer1489–1556 Thomas Cromwell1485–1540 Thomas Pellow1704–1747 Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley1508–1549 Thomas Winter Thomas Wolsey1473–1530 Thomas Wyatt the Younger1521–1554 Tokugawa Ieyasu Turgut Reis1485–1565 Victoria1819–1901 Walter Raleigh1552–1618 William Adams1564–1620 William Careyc. 1490s–1528 William Pitt the Younger1759–1806 William Stafford1508–1556 Winston Churchill1874–1965

Series

Series about Renaissance & Early Modern Europe (2 series)

Clash of Empires in Order

by William Napier 3 books 4.3

The Clash of Empires sequence, also republished under The Last Crusaders titles, follows English adventurers through the sixteenth-century struggle between Ottoman power and Christian Europe. The books move from the Great Siege of Malta to the naval war that culminates at Lepanto, and then into Tudor diplomacy and…

The Last Crusaders: The Great Siege

by William Napier

4.4

The Last Crusaders: Blood Red Sea

by William Napier

4.4

The Last Crusaders: Ivan the Terrible

by William Napier

4.2

The Lymond Chronicles in Order

by Dorothy Dunnett 6 books 4.6

The Lymond Chronicles follow Francis Crawford of Lymond through Scotland, France, Malta, the Ottoman world, Russia and the wars of mid-sixteenth-century Europe. The six novels combine espionage, court intrigue, military command and a long investigation into Lymond’s family history, loyalties and identity.