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Home / Periods / Renaissance & Early Modern Europe

Period

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 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

Afonso de Albuquerque1453–1515 Ahmed I1590–1617 Ahuitzotlc. 15th century–1502 Alessandro de’ Medici1510–1537 Alexander II of Russia1818–1881 Alexander I of Russia1777–1825 Alexander VI1431–1503 Alonso del Castilloc. 1520–c. 1607 Amerigo Vespucci1454–1512 Anne Boleyn1501–1536 Anne of Brittany1477–1514 Anne of Great Britain1665–1714 Anthony Babington1561–1586 Antonio de Mendoza1490–1552 Arthur, Prince of Wales1486–1502 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881 Bianca Cappello1548–1587 Bohdan Khmelnytsky1595–1657 Boris Godunov1552–1605 Cardinal Mazarin1602–1661 Cardinal Richelieu1585–1642 Carl XII of Sweden1682–1718 Caroline Matilda of Great Britain1751–1775 Catharina Bolnes1631–1687 Catherine de’ Medici1519–1589 Catherine of Aragon1485–1536 Catherine the Great1729–1796 Cesare Borgia1475–1507 Charles II of England1630–1685 Charles I of England1600–1649 Charles IX of France1550–1574 Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne1554–1611 Charles the Bold1433–1477 Charles V1500–1558 Charles VIII of France1470–1498 Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus1444–1487 Christian VII of Denmark1749–1808 Christopher Columbus1451–1506 Claude of France1499–1524 Cosimo I de’ Medici1519–1574 Cuauhtémoc1495–1525 Cuitláhuac1476–1520 David of Trebizond1408–1463 Deborah Willet1650–1678 Desiderius Erasmus1466–1536 Diane de Poitiers1499–1566 Don John of Austria1547–1578 Edward IV1442–1483 Edward Staffordc. 1552–1605 Edward VI1537–1553 Elisabeth Pepys1640–1669 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Ferdinand II of Aragon1452–1516 Ferdinand Magellanc. 1480–1521 Ferdinando I de’ Medici1549–1609 Francesco I de’ Medici1541–1587 Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua1466–1519 Frances Walsinghamc. 1567–1633 Francis, Duke of Guise1519–1563 Francisco Tenamaztledied 1556 Francis Drake1540–1596 Francis II of France1544–1560 Francis I of France1494–1547 Francis Walsingham1532–1590 Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon1635–1719 Gaspard II de Coligny1519–1572 Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours1489–1512 George III1738–1820 George IV of the United Kingdom1762–1830 George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence1449–1478 Giacomo Casanova1725–1798 Giambattista della Porta1535–1615 Giordano Bruno1548–1600 Girolamo Savonarola1452–1498 Giulia Farnese1474–1524 Giulia Tofanad. 1651 Henry I, Duke of Guise1550–1588 Henry III of France1551–1589 Henry II of France1519–1559 Henry IV of France1553–1610 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 Ivan the Terrible1530–1584 Izabela Czartoryska1746–1835 James III of Scotland1451–1488 James II of Cyprus1438–1473 James VI and I1566–1625 Jane Seymour1508–1537 Jeanne d’Albret1528–1572 Jeremi Wiśniowiecki1612–1651 Johannes Vermeer1632–1675 Johann Friedrich Struensee1737–1772 John, Prince of Asturias1478–1497 John Cabotc. 1450–c. 1499 John Dee1527–1609 John Hawkins1532–1595 John II Casimir Vasa1609–1672 John III Sobieski1629–1696 John Robinson1575–1625 John Saris1580–1643 John Smyth1570–1612 Joseph Chamberlain1836–1914 Joséphine de Beauharnais1763–1814 Juana I of Castile1479–1555 Juan de Homedes1477–1553 Juan Sebastián Elcanoc. 1486–1526 Kara Mustafa Pasha1634–1683 Katharina von Bora1499–1552 Kublai Khan1215–1294 Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519 Louise de La Vallière1644–1710 Louise of Savoy1476–1531 Louis XII of France1462–1515 Louis XI of France1423–1483 Louis XIV1638–1715 Louis XV of France1710–1774 Lucrezia Borgia1480–1519 Madame de Montespan1640–1707 Manuel I of Portugal1469–1521 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy1480–1530 Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland1456–1486 Margaret of Valois1553–1615 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 Cortésc. 1522–1569 Mary, Queen of Scots1542–1587 Mary Boleyn1499–1543 Mary I1516–1558 Mary of Burgundy1457–1482 Mary of Guise1515–1560 Mary Tudor, Queen of France1496–1533 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor1459–1519 Mehmed II1432–1481 Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki1640–1673 Michelle de Saubonne1485–1549 Miguel de Lunac. 1550–1615 Moctezuma II1466–1520 Muhammad XII of Granada1459–1533 Napoleon1769–1821 Nathaniel Courthope1585–1620 Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527 Nicholas I of Russia1796–1855 Oliver Cromwell1599–1658 Pedro de Alvarado1486–1541 Pedro de Castro y Quiñones1534–1623 Penelope Rich, Lady Rich1563–1607 Peter the Great1672–1725 Philibert II, Duke of Savoy1480–1504 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Philip I of Castile1478–1506 Philip Sidney1554–1586 Pieter van Ruijven1624–1674 Polydore Vergil1470–1555 Pope Pius V1504–1572 Prince Rupert of the Rhine1619–1682 Renée of France1510–1574 Richard Bancroft1544–1610 Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick1428–1471 Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury1563–1612 Robert Clive1725–1774 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex1565–1601 Roderigo Lópezc. 1525–1594 Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor1552–1612 Samuel Pepys1633–1703 Selim II1524–1574 Stanisław August Poniatowski1732–1798 Suleiman the Magnificent1494–1566 Thomas Cromwell1485–1540 Thomas Helwys1575–1616 Thomas Heneage1532–1595 Thomas More1478–1535 Thomas Wolsey1473–1530 Tokugawa Ieyasu1543–1616 Turgut Reis1485–1565 Vasco da Gamac. 1460s–1524 Victoria1819–1901 Walter Raleigh1552–1618 William Adams1564–1620 William Brewster1566–1644 William Careyc. 1490s–1528 William Pitt the Younger1759–1806 William Stafford1508–1556 William Wordsworth1770–1850

Series

Series about Renaissance & Early Modern Europe (5 series)

The Lymond Chronicles in Order

by Dorothy Dunnett 6 books 4.6(5,091)

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.

Giulia Tofana in Order

by Deborah Swift 4 books 4.3(11,811)

The Giulia Tofana series reimagines the legendary poisoner against the courts, convents, workshops and political intrigues of seventeenth-century Italy. Beginning with Giulia’s flight to Naples, the sequence follows her attempts to survive a reputation built around Aqua Tofana while protecting those closest to her. Later volumes carry the…

Clash of Empires in Order

by William Napier 2 books 4.3(588)

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…

Chronicles of the House of Valois in Order

by Keira Morgan 3 books 4.1(2,260)

Chronicles of the House of Valois follows Anne of Brittany and the royal women whose marriages, inheritances and children shaped the French crown at the turn of the sixteenth century. Beginning with Anne’s inheritance of Brittany in 1488, the sequence moves through war with France, her marriage to…

European Trilogy in Order

by James Fenimore Cooper 3 books 3.5(108)

The European Trilogy comprises The Bravo, The Heidenmauer and The Headsman, three novels in which Cooper shifts his historical fiction from America to European societies governed by inherited institutions. Venice, the German Rhineland and Switzerland provide sharply different settings, but each book tests individual liberty against systems of…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Renaissance and early modern Europe

Non-Fiction

30 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Renaissance and early modern Europe

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.