For the 2022 A to Z challenge, I wrote 26 posts all about the Renaissance. You’ll find juicy gossip about the popes, artwork by Van Eyck and Raphael, the origins of the tarot, and the story behind Da Vinci’s horse. Here is a list of all the individual posts.
A is for Age (Where does “renaissance” come from?)
B is for Black Death (What do the Mongols and Genoese have to do with it?)
C is for Christine de Pizan (The first female European professional writer.)
Note: I eventually wrote part of my Master’s thesis about this amazing woman of letters.
D is for Doge (The Venetians, one of the first republics to engineer their own Crusade!)
E is for Eyck (The Arnolfini portrait, one of the most fascinating in history.)
F is for Fluyt (It’s a ship! it’s a bird! it changed the way they discovered and sold things!)
G is for Guelph & Ghibelline (A bigger feud than even the Hatfields and McCoys.)
H is for Honor Code (Chivalry and courtiers weren’t just medieval.)
I is for Indulgences (And I don’t mean ice cream. Although eating ice cream could get you into Purgatory…)
J is for Julius II (Picture Rex Harrison.)
K is for Kepler (As radical as Galileo, just not burned at the stake.)
L is for Leonardo (and the Giant Horse of Francesco Sforza)
M is for Marble (It has its own valley.)
N is for Navigators (The Portuguese gave the Dutch a run for their money. Literally.)
O is for Ottoman (Spreading science, philosophy, and armies across the Middle East.)
P is for Polyphony (The sound of the Renaissance.)
Q is for the Queen of 1492 (Isabella, the power behind Torquemada.)
R is for Raphael (Would love to see him played by … Timothy Chalamet.)
S is for Summa di Arithmetica (Pacioli again! see photo at top for my buddy!)
T is for Trinofi (The origins of the tarot.)
U is for Usury (Back to those bankers and their clever circumvention of sinning.)
V is for Veronica Franco (The Venetian poet, beauty, and courtesan.)
W is for Window Painting (You’ve heard of perspective, but this specialty was even more so.)
X is for X-chair (Yes, there really was an X word in the Renaissance.)
Y is for York (The Renaissance hits the little island to the north.)
Z is for Zweihänder (A special sword for a pugnacious age.)
