Peter Paul Rubens October 20, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITArt History, European History Lead: The 16th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens is best known for his vivid joyous murals filled with voluptuous women and fleshy cupids. He was also a hard-nosed businessman and successful diplomat. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Son of an Antwerp lawyer, in 1600 at the age of 22 Rubens went to Italy to complete his training as an artist. A chance meeting brought him into the service of the Duke of Mantua who used him not only as a painter but also as an advisor and informal representative. Rubens used his time in Italy well, studying the work of Italian painters and absorbing the decayed culture of Italy's classical past. He returned to Antwerp in 1608 and was hired as court painter to the Hapsburg Archduke Albert of the Spanish Netherlands. Read more →
The Conciliar Movement II October 5, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITEuropean History, Religious History Lead: With the Church split into factions, with three popes claiming the obedience of Roman Catholics the leaders of Christian Europe met in the Swiss village of Constance to clean up the mess. Intro.: "A Moment in Time" with Dan Roberts. Content: In 1409 at the Council of Pisa, the leaders of the church met to bring some kind of order out of the chaos that grew from having rival popes one in Rome the other in Avignon in the south of France. They were also trying to come up with way of governing the Church that broadened its leadership base. Many in the church led by Pierre D'Ailly of Bishop of Cambrai in France advocated a change in Church government that would retain the office of Pope but place him under a General Council of Bishops which would be the ultimate authority in the Church. At Pisa the Council deposed the rival popes and appointed one of their own. He soon died and his successor took the name John XXIII. The other popes refused to go, that meant there were three. Read more →
The Conciliar Movement I October 4, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITEuropean History, Religious History Lead: To a Europe beset by plague, war and economic depression, the Church offered precious little help. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: In the late 1300s Europe was in trouble. The Black Death was the in process of reducing the population by as much as a third. The Hundred Years' War between France and England was tearing up the French countryside and both countries’ economies. To make matters worse, the continent’s one unifying institution was itself in disarray. For seventy years Popes of the Roman Catholic Church lived in Avignon in southern France. Suspicious that the Church was then a pawn of the French king, English and German Catholics increasingly looked elsewhere for spiritual guidance. Read more →
The Dancing Stallions of Lipizza II September 25, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Entertainment History, Equine History, European History, Military History, WWII Lead: Bred as royal horses of the Austrian emperors, the beautiful and graceful Lipizzaner stallions were the subject of a spectacular rescue at the end of World War II. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: The Hapsburg emperors bred the Lipizzaners for their strength and intelligence. With the end of World War I, the empire was no more but the white stallions, in their home at Vienna's Spanish Riding School, continued the tradition of the precision riding originally developed as battlefield maneuvers against enemy soldiers. Download [70.53 KB]
The Dancing Stallions of Lipizza I September 24, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITEntertainment History, Equine History, European History, Military History, WWII Lead: The graceful and elegant stallions of Vienna's Spanish Riding School have a long and fascinating history. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: It is hard for those living in the late twentieth century to imagine a time in which motorized transport was nonexistent and the horse in its various breeds was the indispensable provider of locomotion and carriage for goods and people. Today, expensive to maintain and relatively rare, the horse has largely become a diversion and source of entertainment for the well-to-do. There was a time, however, when one had a horse or walked, when goods were mostly conveyed by horse power or by humans, when the fate of nations was decided by the quality of horse bred and fought in their service. Download [7.85 KB]
Baroque Culture Part II September 21, 2019PermalinkSandy CreedToday's AMITEuropean History Lead: One of the great influences of the seventeenth century “Baroque” style was the ecumenical council held by the Roman Catholic Church between 1545-1563 – known as the Council of Trent. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: The Baroque era with its rich style, elaborate ornamentation and dramatic design ran from 1600 about to 1750. It began in Italy, spread throughout Europe and across the Atlantic to the Americas. One of the historical events which influenced the artisans of the period was the Counter-Reformation - that is the reaction and the reforms within the Roman Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation. To counter Protestant success, Pope Paul III convoked an ecumenical council in 1545 in the northern Italian town of Trent hard against the Austrian border. Read more →
Baroque Culture I September 20, 2019PermalinkSandy CreedToday's AMITEuropean History Lead: Some of the west’s greatest artists emerged from the Baroque Era – Caravaggio, Vermeer, and Rubens, Bernini, and the composers – Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Bach and Handel. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: “Baroque” refers to a style in the arts as well as to the period when the style was most valued, about 1600 to 1750. As in other historical periods, the descriptive term, baroque, period or style, was not used until much later when scholars chose the name from the Spanish or Portuguese word for an irregularly shaped pearl. That makes perfect sense because the Baroque style in painting, sculpture and architecture, like that odd shaped pearl, was exquisitely beautiful but features bold and curving forms and over-the-top ornamentation. Later the term was also used to refer to literature and music of the same period which followed closely after the Renaissance. Read more →
Sir Francis Drake III September 19, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITEnglish History, European History, Military History, Religious History, Spanish History Lead: His voyage around the world behind him, Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth's Golden Admiral, intensified his campaign to make miserable the life of the King of Spain. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Returning from the East in 1581, Drake made Plymouth his home and was elected mayor of the town. He served with distinction, revamping the municipal water system with such care that his improvements lasted for decades. Ever restless, he returned to the sea which was both the love of his life and source of his fortune. In 1585 Elizabeth sent Drake back to the Caribbean where, over a period of months, he renewed his reputation as the scourge of Spain. His occasionally brutal capture and sacking of Cartagena in Columbia, St. Augustine in Florida, and Santo Domingo, combined with attacks on the Cape Verde Islands, were not as successful or lucrative as previous forays, but caused enormous financial distress to the Spanish and confirmed their hatred for el draque or the dragon, as he was coming to be known. This campaign and other conflicts with England so incensed Spanish King Philip II that he made the fateful decision to assemble a huge naval Armada to invade the island kingdom. Download [70.93 KB]
