Francesco Petrarca, commonly known anglicized as Petrarch, died on the 18 or 19th of 1374. He was a great and celebrated Italian scholar and poet during the early Italian Renaissance and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch’s great legacy includes his philosophy of humanism that profoundly influenced intellectual accomplishments of...
Philippe II of France: a monarch rightfully deserving the epithet ‘Augustus’
Born on the 21st of August 1165, King Philippe II of France died on the 14th of July 1223 in Mantes-la-Jolie en route to Paris at the age of 58. When his father, Louis VII of France, fell ill, he had his only son crowned at Reims in 1179, making...
End of the Siege of Acre (1189-1191)
On July 12 1191, the long siege of Acre (1189-1191) during the Third Crusade was finally over. The city of Acre offered terms of surrender to the Crusaders, and this time, these terms were considered suitable and were accepted. The siege had begun when Guy de Lusignan attacked Acre in...
Charles VIII of France: accidental death after a momentary glory in Italy
Charles VIII of France, known as the Affable, was born at Château d'Amboise on the 30th of June 1470. He was the only surviving son of King Louis XI of France, called the Prudent and the Spider, and his second queen, Charlotte de Savoy. His four brothers were all either...
Louis XII of France: a king by accident with dreams of Italian conquests
King Louis XII of France was born on the 27th of June 1462 at Château de Blois. The son of Duke Charles d'Orléans, and Mary of Cleves, Louis XII succeeded his father only at the age of 3. King Louis XI appointed the chief councilors and servitors of the young...
Fulk III Nerra, Count of Anjou: incredible and savage
On the 21st of June 1040, Fulk III Nerra, also known as Fulk the Black (French: Foulques le Noir), who was Count of Anjou from 987 to 1040, died at the old age of 69-70. Fulk was a powerful early ruler of the Angevin dynasty that originated in the County...
Isabella of Angoulême, second wife of King John of England
Isabella of Angoulême, second wife of King John of England, died on the 4th of June 1246 at Fontevraud Abbey, where she was buried in the abbey’s churchyard, as if seeking atonement for her misdeeds. Years after her death, her eldest son with John, King Henry III of England, arrived at Fontevraud...
Death of Queen Adela of France, King Louis VII’s third wife
Queen Adela of France, King Louis VII of France’s third wife, died on the 4th of June 1206 and was buried in the Church of Pontigny Abbey near Auxerre. She was also known as Adelaide, Alix, and Adela of #Champagne. She was the third child of Theobald II, Count of Champagne; she...
Birth of Geoffrey Plantagenet, second son of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou and Empress Matilda
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Nantes, was born in Rouen on the 1st of June 1134. He was second of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou and Empress Matilda. Also known as Geoffrey of Anjou and Geoffrey FitzEmpress, he was Count of Nantes from 1156 to 1158. Geoffrey’s...
End of the Capets: the beginning of the Valois royal dynasty
On the 29 May 1328, King Philippe VI of France, once simply Count de Valois, was crowned at Reims Cathedral. The nearest male relative to the last Capetian monarch, Charles IV of France known as the Fair (le Bel), Philippe inherited the throne because of the direct male line of...
The Treaty of Le Goulet
The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed on the 22nd of May 1200 between King John of England and King Philip II of France. It was a complete victory for Philip who had long envied the #Angevin and coveted the Angevin lands. According to this treaty, the war between the...
King Henry II’s illegitimate half-brother: Hamelin de Warenne, a man of unwavering loyalty
Hamelin of Anjou, or Hamelin de Warenne as he would become known years later, was the illegitimate son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine. His mother seems to have been Adelaide of Angers; he also had two illegitimate half-sisters – Emma and Mary of Anjou. Hamelin himself...
The Lion is Snared
Historians and history enthusiasts know the legends and tales about Richard the Lionheart, the third son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Perhaps one of the most fascinating stories of his reign is the account of his travels after leaving the Holy Land and his capture in...
Struggle for power: Hugh Capet and Lothair of France
Today, on the 3rd of July 987, Hugh Capet was crowned King of France. He was the eldest son of Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks. When his father died in 956, teenaged Hugh inherited his estates, becoming a vassal to the Carolingian king Lothair III (sometimes called Lothair...
A Fabulous, yet Sad, Life: Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio! He is inextricably connected with the Renaissance, just as Petrarch is. Boccaccio was a man of the Renaissance in almost every sense. Born to a Tuscan merchant Boccaccio di Chellino, Giovanni came into the world in the summer of 1313. The exact date and place of Giovanni’s birth...