In the last episode, our journey began with Giovanni di Medici, the unassuming but shrewd head of a flourishing bank, whose political maneuvers and wealth catapulted his family into prominence. In this episode, we continue …
In 1397, Banco dei Medici was founded by Giovanni de Bicci de Medici, the progenitor of the influential Medici family. He skillfully built his bank through a close relationship with the papacy, and the church, despite conde…
Modern banking traces its roots back to the 12th century. Medieval moneychangers expanded their services from currency exchange to partnerships, deposits, credit, and foreign exchange. With the growth of commerce, the trad…
Historian Hans Baron referred to it as the crisis of the Early Renaissance. In 1390, war broke out between Florence and Milan. At stake was the possibility of Italy becoming a unified kingdom or remaining fractured into i…
If Milan can be seen as the model despotic Renaissance state, then Florence portrayed herself as the ideal of civic republicanism. Throughout the 1300s, Florence grew fearful of the growing power of Milan under the Visconti…
In the latter half of the 14th century, the Trecento, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, would dominate the political landscape of Italy. Consolidating power as the single rule of the Milanese state, Gian Galeazzo set h…
Medieval Italy was a distinct region with unique characteristics that set it apart from the rest of Europe. In an environment of urban expansion and commercial prosperity, Italian Renaissance humanism would emerge. The city-…
The Italian poet Petrarch is the paradigm of Renaissance humanism. He espoused the revival of classical learning and the study of Roman literature as a way to morally improve humanity. He criticized his scholastic contempo…
The House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) was a translation center, a library, and a research institute. It represented the cultural and intellectual efflorescence under the Abbasid Caliphate during the 8th and 9th centuries. It…
In this episode, we explore the scholastic method of the 13th and 14th centuries as it developed from the rediscovery of Aristotle's complete works on logic, known as the Organon . Scholasticism, at its height, emphasized l…
In this episode, I look broadly at the development of Medieval thought and learning since the end of the Roman Empire in the West. The philosopher Boethius in the early 6th century CE, would undertake the task of translatin…
The university as an educational institution appeared in the 12th century CE. The Universities of Paris and Bologna became models of higher education right up to the present day. The emergence of the university as an urban…
Over the last thirty years, we have witnessed how the introduction of the internet and the rise of social media has spurred drastic cultural and social changes that have impacted all aspects of life. Many of the same themes…
Though some modern features such as title pages and pagination did not develop until the 16th century, the book's basic form has remained unchanged since the first codexes appeared in the 1st century CE. As innovated by Gut…
Printing and movable type were known before Johannes Gutenberg. Both had developed in the Far East. Gutenberg was able to combine different technologies, and with his knowledge of metalworking, he devised a mechanical sys…
By the mid-16th century, the Spanish were in the Americas, and the Portuguese reached both China and Japan. By doing so, the Portuguese provided the final link to creating a truly globalized world. From their arrival on Ch…
Like any modern commodity, the spice trade of the 16th century was a complex system. The Portuguese were never able to achieve the desired monopoly on this trade. In this episode, I provide an overview of the spice trade a…
Afonso de Albuquerque was known as the "Lion of the Seas" and the "Caesar of the East." He was the architect of the Portuguese empire in India. As the second Viceroy of the Portuguese State of India, he asserted Portuguese…
In this episode, I look at the early efforts of the Portuguese to intrude upon the spice trade in the Indian Ocean. Within six months of Vasco da Gama's return, King Manuel I had outfitted and armed a larger flotilla. It w…
On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama departed Lisbon, Portugal. In May 1498 he had reached India. In doing so, he and his crew became the first Europeans to see India after sailing directly from a European port. In this episode…
The Indian Ocean had been the scene of robust international trade for centuries prior to the Portuguese arrival. In this episode, I explore the geography and economy of the region from antiquity to the 15th century. The ma…
King John II of Portugal picked up where his grand-uncle, Prince Henry the Navigator, left off. His hopes of finding a direct maritime route around Africa to India are bouyed by the two voyages of Diogo Cao. Yet Cao doesn'…
In 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed directly from Portugal to India around the southern tip of Africa. His accomplishment and Columbus's would transform the world and usher in the age of true globalization. In this episode, I di…
Welcome to the I Take History With My Coffee podcast. This podcast will explore everything about the Early Modern period. In this introduction, I explain my motivation for creating this podcast as well as outline the goals…
