Podcasts about pope alexander vi

Step into the ultimate power playbook with this insightful episode of the Jeremy Ryan Slate Show! In "Machiavelli's Power Playbook: Lessons from The Prince," we take a deep dive into the cunning strategies of Cesare Borgia, Niccolò Machiavelli's muse for his timeless masterpiece, *The Prince.* This critical examination unpacks the rise and fall of Borgia, a warlord who dazzled Machiavelli with his ruthless brilliance but ultimately fell victim to misfortune and over-reliance on his father, Pope Alexander VI. Was Cesare the perfect prince or a cautionary tale in what not to do?Join me, Jeremy Ryan Slate—CEO of Command Your Brand and a passionate advocate for liberty and freedom—as we explore Machiavelli's unique perspective on power, from Renaissance Italy's chaotic city-states to the modern political and corporate landscapes of 2025. We'll uncover how Machiavelli's principles, from "better to be feared than loved" to hedging against Fortuna, shape today's leaders, CEOs, and even election strategies. This must-watch episode challenges you to question who's pulling the strings in your world and how you can control your own narrative.Let's spark a conversation! What lessons can we take from Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia in navigating power, politics, and life today? Drop your thoughts in the comments, hit the like button, and subscribe for more episodes that dive deep into history's greatest minds. Ready to command your own brand of power? Follow along and stay tuned for more thought-provoking content. Don't miss out—your journey to mastering modern power begins here.#cesareborgia #thelifeofcesareborgia #popealexandervi #machiavelli #darksideofgoodness___________________________________________________________________________⇩ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ⇩THE WELLNESS COMPANY: Health without the propaganda, emergency medical kits before you need it. Get 15% off now by using our link: https://twc.health/jrsCOMMAND YOUR BRAND: Legacy Media is dying, we fight for the free speech of our clients by placing them on top-rated podcasts as guests. We also have the go-to podcast production team. We are your premier podcast agency. Book a call with our team https://www.commandyourbrand.com/book-a-call MY PILLOW: By FAR one of my favorite products I own for the best night's sleep in the world, unless my four year old jumps on my, the My Pillow. Get up to 66% off select products, including the My Pillow Classic or the new My Pillow 2.0, go to https://www.mypillow.com/cyol or use PROMO CODE: CYOL________________________________________________________________⇩ GET MY BEST SELLING BOOK ⇩Unremarkable to Extraordinary: Ignite Your Passion to Go From Passive Observer to Creator of Your Own Lifehttps://getextraordinarybook.com/________________________________________________________________DOWNLOAD AUDIO PODCAST & GIVE A 5 STAR RATING!:APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-create-your-own-life-show/id1059619918SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5UFFtmJqBUJHTU6iFch3QU(also available Google Podcasts & wherever else podcasts are streamed_________________________________________________________________⇩ SOCIAL MEDIA ⇩➤ X: https://twitter.com/jeremyryanslate➤ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate➤ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jeremyryanslate_________________________________________________________________➤ CONTACT: JEREMY@COMMANDYOURBRAND.COM

Get ready for an insightful episode as we take a deep dive into "The Borgias' Playbook: Lessons for Modern Power Games." In this must-watch video, we critically examine the rise and fall of the infamous Borgia family, from Pope Alexander VI's daring schemes to Cesare Borgia's ruthless conquests. Drawing parallels between Renaissance power plays and modern leadership strategies, we unpack their legacy of ambition, alliances, and betrayal. Were the Borgias masterminds of political innovation or victims of their own overreach? Join me, Jeremy Ryan Slate, CEO of Command Your Brand, as we explore these timeless lessons. With a unique perspective, we connect their controversial tactics—bribery, propaganda, and strategic alliances—to today's political and corporate power structures. From conspiracies of hidden wealth to Machiavelli's admiration of Cesare, this episode offers a fascinating lens on how history's power games still influence America's future, sovereignty, and even global elites in 2025.Don't miss this thought-provoking journey into the Renaissance crime family that rewrote the rules of power and inspired "The Prince." Let's discuss how their playbook resonates with today's dynasties, from lobbying to insider deals. Comment below with your take, hit that like button, and subscribe to join the conversation. Stay curious, stay sharp, and let's uncover the lessons history can teach us about navigating modern power struggles. Your insights matter—let's build a community that challenges the status quo!#pope #popealexandervi #politics #cesareborgia #weirdhistory___________________________________________________⇩ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ⇩THE WELLNESS COMPANY: Health without the propaganda, emergency medical kits before you need it. Get 15% off now by using our link: https://twc.health/jrsCOMMAND YOUR BRAND: Legacy Media is dying, we fight for the free speech of our clients by placing them on top-rated podcasts as guests. We also have the go-to podcast production team. We are your premier podcast agency. Book a call with our team https://www.commandyourbrand.com/book-a-call MY PILLOW: By FAR one of my favorite products I own for the best night's sleep in the world, unless my four year old jumps on my, the My Pillow. Get up to 66% off select products, including the My Pillow Classic or the new My Pillow 2.0, go to https://www.mypillow.com/cyol or use PROMO CODE: CYOL________________________________________________________________⇩ GET MY BEST SELLING BOOK ⇩Unremarkable to Extraordinary: Ignite Your Passion to Go From Passive Observer to Creator of Your Own Lifehttps://getextraordinarybook.com/________________________________________________________________DOWNLOAD AUDIO PODCAST & GIVE A 5 STAR RATING!:APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-create-your-own-life-show/id1059619918SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5UFFtmJqBUJHTU6iFch3QU(also available Google Podcasts & wherever else podcasts are streamed_________________________________________________________________⇩ SOCIAL MEDIA ⇩➤ X: https://twitter.com/jeremyryanslate➤ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate➤ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jeremyryanslate_________________________________________________________________➤ CONTACT: JEREMY@COMMANDYOURBRAND.COM

Who were the most evil Popes? Join us, as we cover EVERY pope that you would consider EVIL and their stories of behavioral issues, satanic personalities, and greed! WELCOME TO CAMP!

In 1501, Lucrezia Borgia—daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI—briefly ruled the Vatican in his absence, a moment as shocking then as it is now. But how did she gain this rare position of power? And how does Frank Cadogan Cowper's striking Pre-Raphaelite painting mirror our cultural perception of her? Unravel the myths surrounding Lucrezia Borgia, explore the evolution of women's roles in the Catholic Church, and examine how history, scandal, and art collide in depicting one of the Renaissance's most enigmatic women. Today's Image: Frank Cadogan Cowper, 'Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI' (c. 1910). Oil on canvas. Tate Britain, London. ______ New episodes every month. Let's keep in touch! Email: artofhistorypod@gmail.com Instagram: @artofhistorypodcast | @matta_of_fact

Countess Caterina Sforza was raised in the Renaissance court of Milan and survived the assassination of her father and husbands. She then proceeded to confront Cesare Borgia and his father, Pope Alexander VI. Who would win: the papacy or a woman? Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/OLDBLOODJAN #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformanceSources:Allison, Charlie. “One Wrong Foot: An Alternate History of the Siege of Forli.” Sea Lion Press. 25 May, 2020. https://www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/one-foot-wrong-an-alternate-history-of-the-siege-of-forliBrunelli, Giampiero. “SFORZA, Caterina.” Treccani: Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia. 2018. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/caterina-sforza_(Dizionario-Biografico)/Clarke, Michelle Tolman. “On the Woman Question in Machiavelli.” The Review of Politics 67, no. 2 (2005): 229–55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25046410.Hairston, Julia L. "Skirting the Issue: Machiavelli'sCaterina Sforza," Renaissance Quarterly 53 (2000): 687-712.Lev, Elizabeth. The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.)Zarevich, Emily. “Did Caterina Sforza Flash an Army?” JSTOR. 20 July, 2023. https://daily.jstor.org/did-caterina-sforza-flash-an-army/Other links:https://www.caterinasforza.it/en/https://www.lacittadicaterinasforza.it/Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia ListonFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In June 1497, Juan - or Giovanni - Borgia, favoured son of Pope Alexander VI, was found brutally murdered in the River Tiber. Who committed this heinous crime? Suspects ranged from his ambitious brother Cesare to the Borgias' political enemies, the Orsini family. Despite an extensive investigation by the Pope, Giovanni's murder remains one of history's greatest cold cases.In the third episode of our special series, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Catherine Fletcher as they delve once again into the Borgias' treacherous Renaissance world, uncovering secrets of power, betrayal, and intrigue.Presented by Professor Susannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.Theme music from All3Media. Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK

It's a Liberty Dies Christmas Special! Featuring all your favourite dictators; Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin, Pope Alexander VI, Pol Pot, Kaiser Wilhelm. Adolf Hitler, Alexander the Great, General Tojo and Benito Mussolini.

In the next chapter of Spanish Loops, we explore the Spanish Popes and the powerful influence of the infamous Borgia family. Among the most notorious, Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, played a pivotal role in shaping both papal and Spanish history. His reign aligned with the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, during a time of monumental change, including the Reconquista and the discovery of the New World. The Borgia family's power, ambition, and corruption left a lasting mark on both the Catholic Church and European politics, shaping events that still resonate in history today.

In the next chapter of Spanish Loops, we explore the Spanish Popes and the powerful influence of the infamous Borgia family. Among the most notorious, Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, played a pivotal role in shaping both papal and Spanish history. His reign aligned with the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, during a time of monumental change, including the Reconquista and the discovery of the New World. The Borgia family's power, ambition, and corruption left a lasting mark on both the Catholic Church and European politics, shaping events that still resonate in history today.

Walking with the Saints l Feast of  St. Francis of Paola, Patron Saint of all Mariners, Boatmen and Naval Officers l April 2 Have you heard of the Order of Minims? It is a religious Order founded in 1435 in Calabria, Italy. The members live a life of prayer, penance and humility while taking care of the poor, the sick the old and the neglected. They consider humility as their primary virtue and regard themselves as the least (minimi in Italian) of all religious. Our saint for today, St. Francis of Paola was its founder. Francis was born on March 27, 1416 in Paola, Calabria. His childless parents prayed to God through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi to give them a child, and God gifted them with a boy whom they named Francis. Two other children followed him. When he was small, Francis had a swelling which endangered his eyes and again his parents prayed and had him wore the “little habit” of St. Francis, a practice common in the middle ages. They made a vow that the little boy would become a friar someday. He recovered and later he would establish a friary to fulfill the vow of his parents. Francis was educated in a Franciscan friary. When he was a teenager, together with his parents, they went on a pilgrimage to Assisi, to Rome and to other places of devotion. On their return, Francis chose a secluded cave in his father's farm and lived there in solitude. He later moved to a more hidden place near the seacoast of Paola where he stayed for six years, fasting, praying and ministering to the poor. Soon, two men came to join him and Francis had three cells built and a chapel. The following year, they started the foundation of the Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, which would later become the Minim Friars. Humility was their hallmark in imitation of the life of St. Francis. Besides the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, they had a fourth vow not to eat meat and other animal products. The rule of life created by Francis was not only very strict but also severe. They would seek to be hidden and not to be known by other people. His followers gradually increased and in 1454, with the permission of the Bishop, Francis built a monastery and a church. The rule that Francis wrote was approved by Pope Alexander VI, who was responsible in changing their names to MINIMS. Then Francis founded several new monasteries in Calabria and Sicily. He also established monasteries for nuns and a Third Order for those living in the world. These foundations are now working in many countries. When King Louis XI of France was ill, he sent an embassy to beg Francis to see him. Francis was hesitant, considering himself unworthy, but the Pope ordered him to go. He went, assisted the king in his illness and was present when the king died. He became tutor of the king's heir, Charles VIII. Charles treated Francis kindly. He built monasteries for the Minims. Charles' successor, Louis XII was also close to Francis and often consulted him. He would not permit Francis to go back to Italy, so Francis spent the rest of his life in France, near the court of the king. He never asked to be ordained as priest. At the age of ninety-two, he spent his last three months in prayer and solitude preparing for his death. He died in Tours, France on Good Friday, April 2, 1507. He was beatified on November 1, 1518 and was canonized by Pope Leo X on May 1, 1519. He is the patron of mariners, boatmen and naval officers. His feast day is April 2. piety, humility, charity, obedience, integrity, detachment, loyalty and generosity.  Prayer: “Lord God, help us to imitate the humility and meekness of St. Francis of Paola.”

Bry and Fry are joined by Eric of Saint Podcast to discuss the history of saint art - from the early devotional depictions of suffering, straight into eroticism and clever inclusions of mistresses and lovers.    Find Eric and Saint Podcast: https://www.saintpodcast.com/   Show Notes/Works Discussed:    Giotto's Frescos of St. Francis: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giotto/assisi/upper/index.html   Mosaics of St. Sebastian in Ravenna: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2019/12/the-two-earliest-images-of-saint.html   Bronzino's St. Sebastian:  https://www.museothyssen.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_resolution/public/imagen/obras/1985.2_san-sebastian.jpg   Sistine Chapel's Last Judgement St. Blaise and St. Catherine: https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/288a83f4d2603e2782bad6e6c0c5d84696c03ba5.jpg    Jean Fouquet's Melun Diptych: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Fouquet_Madonna.jpg/800px-Fouquet_Madonna.jpg   Caravaggio's John the Baptist:  https://media.mutualart.com/Images//2018_04/10/07/073604980/6c3752da-8079-4e58-aa93-239cff297a5a.Jpeg   Caravaggio's Judith and Holofernes:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Judith_Beheading_Holofernes-Caravaggio_%28c.1598-9%29.jpg/1280px-Judith_Beheading_Holofernes-Caravaggio_%28c.1598-9%29.jpg   Caravaggio's St. Catherine of Alexandria: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Caravaggio_-_Saint_Catherine_of_Alexandria_%28post-restoration_image%29.jpg/800px-Caravaggio_-_Saint_Catherine_of_Alexandria_%28post-restoration_image%29.jpg   Cristoforo Allori's Judith and Holofernes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristofano_Allori#/media/File:Judith_with_the_Head_of_Holofernes_by_Cristofano_Allori.jpg    Da Vinci's John the Baptist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_John_the_Baptist_%28Leonardo%29#/media/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Saint_John_the_Baptist_C2RMF_retouched.jpg   Guilia Farnese as the Virgin Mary with Pope Alexander VI:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulia_Farnese#/media/File:Alexander_VI_guilia.jpg

Savonarola creates a spectacular demonstration of public virtue in the hopes of turning Florence's fortunes around. Meanwhile, Pope Alexander VI has the monk excommunicated- a decision Savonarola was determined to fight against to his last breath. Email me Follow me on Twitter Like the show on Facebook Watch the show on YouTube Visit the eBay store Bibliography: Bartlett, Kenneth. Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola, 1464-1498: A Short History with Documents. Hackett Publishing, 2018. Landucci, Luca. A Florentine Diary from 1450 to 1516. Columbia University Press, 1927.  Martines, Lauro. Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press, 2005.  Savonarola, Girolamo. A Guide to Righteous Living and Other Works. Toronto Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2003. Strathern, Paul. Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City. Pegasus Books, 2016. Villari, Pasquale. Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. University of the Pacific Press, 2004. Weinstein, Donald. Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet. Yale University Press, 2011. Cover Image: Portrait of a Dominican, presumed to be Girolamo Savonarola, c. 1524 Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák Closing Theme: "Dies Irae" performed by the Monastic Choir of the Grimbergen Abbey

Savonarola engages in a new campaign to combat vice in the city of Florence. Meanwhile, Pope Alexander VI continues to utilize every possible strategy to silence the renegade friar. Email me Follow me on Twitter Like the show on Facebook Watch the show on YouTube Visit the eBay store Support the show on Patreon Bibliography: Bartlett, Kenneth. Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola, 1464-1498: A Short History with Documents. Hackett Publishing, 2018. Landucci, Luca. A Florentine Diary from 1450 to 1516. Columbia University Press, 1927.  Martines, Lauro. Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press, 2005.  Savonarola, Girolamo. A Guide to Righteous Living and Other Works. Toronto Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2003. Strathern, Paul. Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City. Pegasus Books, 2016. Villari, Pasquale. Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. University of the Pacific Press, 2004. Weinstein, Donald. Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet. Yale University Press, 2011. Cover Image: Portrait of a Dominican, presumed to be Girolamo Savonarola, c. 1524 Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák Closing Theme: "Dies Irae" performed by the Monastic Choir of the Grimbergen Abbey

When Savonarola's influence prevents Florence from joining an anti-French coalition made up of the other Italian states, he raises the ire of Pope Alexander VI, sparking a deadly rivalry that would last for the next three years.   Email me Follow me on Twitter Like the show on Facebook Watch the show on YouTube Visit the eBay store Support the show on Patreon Bibliography: Bartlett, Kenneth. Florence in the Age of the Medici and Savonarola, 1464-1498: A Short History with Documents. Hackett Publishing, 2018. Landucci, Luca. A Florentine Diary from 1450 to 1516. Columbia University Press, 1927.  Martines, Lauro. Fire in the City: Savonarola and the Struggle for the Soul of Renaissance Florence. Oxford University Press, 2005.  Savonarola, Girolamo. A Guide to Righteous Living and Other Works. Toronto Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2003. Strathern, Paul. Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City. Pegasus Books, 2016. Villari, Pasquale. Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. University of the Pacific Press, 2004. Weinstein, Donald. Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet. Yale University Press, 2011. Cover Image: Portrait of a Dominican, presumed to be Girolamo Savonarola, c. 1524 Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák Closing Theme: "Dies Irae" performed by the Monastic Choir of the Grimbergen Abbey

دوستای عزیزم توی این قسمت ،در ادامه مجموعه سریالی عصر رنسانس داستان خانوادهبورژآ رو براتون تعریف کردم . امیدوارم که لذت ببریدپادکست رسواآهنگ اول : ERA - Amenoآهنگ دوم : Carmen Goett ~ La Lloronaمنابع :0. Will Durant---The Renaissance1. The Borgias of History - Renaissance Studies (BBC)2. George Stuart on the Despicable Borgias3. Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe(Scientific American)(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/case-closed-columbus/#)4.Renaissance Papacy(en.wikipedia)5. The Pope asserts rights to colonize, convert, and enslave6.Lucrezia Borgia's Love Letters(https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lucrezia-borgias-love-letters)7.Lucrezia Borgia(en.wikipedia)8.Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía(en.wikipedia)9.Cesare Borgia(en.wikipedia)10.Pope Alexander VI(en.wikipedia) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Prince is a political treatise, written by Niccolò Machiavelli, first distributed in 1513. It's infamous for its apparent advice to political leaders to lie, murder, and manipulate. It's still a fascinating read today, and is thought-provoking when considering any context where the true motives of actions may not be what they seem. Here, in my own words, is a summary of Niccoló Machiavelli's, The Prince. Is The Prince advice, satire, or sabotage? Machiavelli wrote The Prince while in exile from Florence. Since he opens it with a letter to Lorenzo d'Medici it seems like Machiavelli was trying to get a political position with the Medici, by demonstrating his political knowledge. (The Medici had recently returned to power in Florence, after themselves being exiled fifteen years.) But, some scholars think The Prince is satire. Others think the advice within was a ploy, in that if it were followed, the actions would weaken the power of the Medici. “The ends [justified] the means,” in Renaissance Italy Though the phrase isn't in the book, The Prince is the origin of the saying, “the ends justify the means.” In other words, if you have an important goal, morality doesn't matter. It's also the inspiration for the name of the personality trait of “Machiavellianism”, which is characterized by manipulativeness, insensitivity, and an indifference to morality. Psychologists include Machiavellianism in the “dark triad” personality traits, along with narcissism and psychopathy. Sixteenth century Italy was the perfect environment for advice like that in The Prince to flourish. There was constant conflict amongst small governing bodies, including the most-notable city-states of Florence, Milan, Rome, Naples, and Venice. Additionally, there were frequent invasions by Spain, France, or the Holy Roman Empire. If the numerous examples Machiavelli cites in The Prince are any indication, if you didn't lie, murder, and manipulate, you wouldn't stay in power, and probably would be murdered yourself. You don't have to be Machiavellian to learn from The Prince As you listen to this advice, it's not hard to think of similar, less-violent situations in our everyday lives, as we build relationships and careers, or watch others vie for power. So what is some of this juicy advice that has made The Prince and Niccolò Machiavelli so infamous? I'll break down this summary into two sections, followed by some historical examples Machiavelli cites, peppered with some quotes. Those two sections are: Gaining power Retaining power (Note this isn't how Machiavelli organizes The Prince.) 1. Gaining power First how to gain power. Machiavelli points out that the people within a state are eager to change rulers. People naturally expect change to improve their lives, so, they're willing to join in armed resistance against the ruling power. This attitude extends from the people, to other states. If a powerful foreigner invades a country, the states within want to help overturn the rule of the most-powerful state. But you have to be careful. It's normal to want to acquire more land, but when you try to do it by any means possible, you end up making dumb mistakes. How this applies to other domains As you hear this, you may already have some parallels to other domains bouncing around in your head. How many times have you bought a product just slightly different from one you already had, because you believed the change would make your life better? Marketers take advantage of this. I've read one marketing book that advised to think of the product you're marketing as a “new opportunity.” Changing leadership is a “new opportunity,” that temporarily makes you optimistic, like how we feel when a New Year comes around. But often, the new product, the new ruler, or the New Year doesn't make your life better. We get stuck in a cycle of wanting change and striving for it, only to find we aren't better off than before, which drives our desire to change once again. This is why, to quote Machiavelli: There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince In other words, you might get short-term support in the change you're trying to introduce, but the support you once had will soon wane, and those who were doing well before will try to overthrow you. 2. Retaining power This brings us to the second section, about retaining power. Being able to retain power starts with choosing carefully where and how you gain power. This is why Machiavelli warns: He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince Any new state is extremely fragile, unless the person who unexpectedly gained power over that state is highly-skilled. You can gain power by getting the help of the people, or other states, but whoever helped you will probably be disappointed in what they get from it, and will no longer want to help you. Be especially careful not to make your allies much more powerful, because then they'll become threats. Additionally, they'll distrust you, because in the process of helping them, they saw how cunning you are. So, if you're invading a place, you want to be on the good side of the natives. However, if they're used to being free, you'll have to destroy them, or they'll destroy you. As Machiavelli said: Men ought to either be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince In other words, if they're dead, they can't get revenge. And: He who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince If you want to retain power in a new state, you need to start a colony there. You don't have to spend a lot on the colony, because after you take the land and houses of people, they will be, “poor and scattered,” and can't hurt you. It's important to be in the place you're ruling, because otherwise you don't find out about things that go wrong until it's too late to fix them. Statecraft is a lot of work, because, as Machiavelli says: He who has relied least on fortune is established the strongest. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince How this applies to other domains Some of this advice may resonate with situations you've experienced. Some of it may be horrifying to you. Here's how it can apply to other domains. Imagine you're a CEO, and you've just acquired a new company. It's best to get it right the first time. If you make mistakes, you'll have a hard time leading the company. When a company acquires another, or a new leader comes into a company, you often see layoffs right away. This mirrors Machiavelli's related advice, which is: Injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavor of them may last longer. —Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince If done according to Machiavelli's advice, after the brutal layoffs, there will be ice-cream socials, team-building exercises, and bonuses scattered over the coming months and years, hopefully without more massive layoffs. Whoever is in charge had better have close oversight to an office that's far away from headquarters, otherwise by the time you find out about problems, it's too late to fix them. How not to rule: King Louis XII A leader who Machiavelli uses as a warning for not ruling well is King Louis the XII, of France. The Venetians brought in King Louis, because they wanted to seize half the state of Lombardy. But they later realized, they had helped make Louis king of two-thirds of Italy. Louis was now well-positioned, but then his mistakes began. He helped Pope Alexander occupy the Romagna, divided the kingdom of Naples with the king of Spain, and turned around and tried to conquer Venice's territories. So, he weakened the minor power of Venice, losing their alliance, made a great power – the pope – even more powerful, and brought in a foreign power – Spain. He didn't settle in the land he had conquered, and didn't set up colonies. How to rule: Cesare Borgia Like Louis XII when the Venetians enlisted his help, Cesare Borgia came into power through fortune. Unlike Louis, he made what Machiavelli felt were wise decisions. Cesare was the son of Pope Alexander VI, who himself was cunning. He wanted to give Cesare a state to rule, but there weren't good options. For example, the Milanese or the Venetians would stop him, and anyone in Italy who might have helped knew better than to make the pope even more powerful. When the Venetians brought the French into Italy, Alexander didn't make a fuss, and even helped Louis out by dissolving his marriage. He provided some soldiers to help out in a military campaign in Romagna, and now his son, Cesare was the duke of Romagna. But Cesare wasn't thrilled with his military. The Orsini soldiers didn't seem psyched to take Bologna, and when he attacked Tuscany after taking over Urbino, Louis made him stop. So Cesare decided to figure out how to do things on his own. Cesare Borgia followed Machiavelli's advice (somewhat literally) Anywhere Cesare took power, he was sure to kill the nobles and their families. He weakened the Orsini and Colonna parties in Rome, by making them nobles and giving them a good salary. Then he brought in a Spaniard named Ramiro d'Orco (also known as Ramiro de Lorca) to govern the Romagna. The Romagna had been in disorder when Cesare took over, and d'Orco restored order, but through nasty means, using lots of torture, public executions, and fines. Once d'Orco had cleaned things up, Cesare – according to Machiavelli – didn't want to be associated with d'Orco's reign of terror. So, he had him publicly executed, and put his head on a stick in the town square. Machiavelli was an advisor to Cesare during this time, and felt that Cesare did almost everything right to make the best of the power he had gained through fortune, and lay a foundation that could withstand the inevitable death of his father, the pope. Machiavelli says: He told me that he had thought of everything that might occur at the death of his father, and had provided a remedy for all, except that he had never anticipated that, when the death did happen, he himself would be on the point to die. —Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (on Cesare Borgia) When the pope did die – sooner than expected – Cesare himself was nearly dead from malaria. Though he won the favor of the next pope, Pius III died after only twenty-six days. Machiavelli felt Cesare's one mistake was then helping elect Pope Julius II, who had promised him favors in return. As Machiavelli says: He who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is deceived. —Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince Cesare had slighted Julius in the past, and he wasn't going to forget that. Julius seized land from Cesare, and didn't support him. You can see a dramatization of the story of Pope Alexander and Cesare Borgia in Showtime's excellent-but-incomplete series, The Borgias. The Prince, today Machiavelli's advice – if it really is that – sounds brutal to modern ears, but it was a product of the reality of the time. Machiavelli was the only one brave enough – maybe desperate enough – to describe that reality. In many areas of life, business, and politics, the true effects of actions are often more complex than they appear on the surface. Sometimes this is an accident, many times it's deliberate. Why does a politician, a CEO, or a even a friend say what they say? I'm almost tempted to list The Prince on my best media books list, because the effect of a piece of media is always deeper than it appears on the surface. Political leaders in sixteenth-century Italy influenced perceptions through public events that could be described as media. You could say Cesare Borgia's public execution of Ramiro d'Orco was a pseudo-event. If so, Ryan Holiday's Trust Me, I'm Lying is like a modern day, The Prince: exposing the fundamentally-ugly reality of how a complex and brutal system that affects public perceptions works. Why Machiavelli's exile wasn't lonely Lest you have a low opinion of Niccolò Machiavelli from the content in The Prince, I want to leave you with something more endearing about him. When the Medici returned to power, they suspected Machiavelli of conspiring against them, so had him jailed and tortured – a decent reason to believe The Prince may have been satirical or, fittingly, a Machiavellian gambit to cause the Medici harm. Exiled to his farm estate, and stripped of his position as a political advisor, Machiavelli did his best to keep doing the work he loved, and retain a sense of dignity. In a letter to a friend, he described his daily ritual: When evening comes, I go back home, and go to my study. On the threshold, I take off my work clothes, covered in mud and filth, and I put on the clothes an ambassador would wear. Decently dressed, I enter the ancient courts of rulers who have long since died. There, I am warmly welcomed, and I feed on the only food I find nourishing and was born to savor. I am not ashamed to talk to them and ask them to explain their actions and they, out of kindness, answer me. Four hours go by without my feeling any anxiety. I forget every worry. I am no longer afraid of poverty or frightened of death. I live entirely through them. —Niccolò Machiavelli, Letter to Francesco Vettori There's your summary of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince If you enjoyed this summary, I highly recommend you read Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. There's also an excellent free online annotated version online, called The Annotated Prince. Thank you for having me on your podcasts! Thank you for having me on your podcasts. Thank you to David DeCelle for having me on The Model FA podcast. As always, you can find interviews of me on my interviews page. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »       Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-prince-niccolo-machiavelli-summary/

When French king Charles VIII laid claims to the Kingdom of Naples and invaded Italy in September, 1494, an anti-French coalition called the League of Venice was formed, with the aim of kicking France out of the Italian peninsula. “Hang on a second, what does this have to do with the Netherlands?”, I hear you ask. Bear with me here. The League of Venice included a bunch of Italian city-states and regional powers, including the Pope Alexander VI, as well as our friend Emperor Maximilian and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. To help cement this anti-French alliance between Spain and the Habsburgs, a double marriage was arranged which would see Maximilian's children marry the children of the Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. With thanks to Lucca Breccia, Bryan Winter, Kelsey Murphy, Spencer Deinum and Craig S Tyle for their Patreon support. SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-48-holy-league-holy-matrimony PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ST. VERONICA OF MILAN l SHE IS THE PATRON OF BINASCO, MILAN, ITALY. Feast Day: JANUARY 13 Our saint for today, St. Veronica of Milan, was a lay-Sister, who because of poverty never learned to read or write. But her parents taught her how to pray and how to live a virtuous life. Since she nourished a strong love for Jesus, and to be of service to others, she desired to become a nun. But her ignorance was an obstacle to her cherished dream. Therefore, she used to rise at night, tried to teach herself how to read, but it was so difficult. One night, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and told her that what she was doing was not necessary. There are only three things a person ought to do: to be pure and have the purity of intention in every circumstance in life; to mind one's own business, avoid grumbling, murmuring and judging others; to forget one's problems and sufferings and instead pray and meditate on the life and passion of Jesus every day. Fortunately, Veronica was on the right track so she needed not to study. St. Veronica was born in Binasco, a small village in Milan, Italy on January 13, 1445. They were poor and at an early age she began helping her parents in all household chores and in the fields. While working with other families in the fields, she would avoid the frivolous jokes, songs and stories of her companions. Instead of confronting them, she just prayed for their conversion. At age 22, after three years of preparation, she was admitted to the Augustinian Order as a lay-Sister at their convent at St. Martha in Milan. Due to her lack of instruction her work was to beg for food from door to door to sustain the community of Sisters. She was very obedient to the superiors because she believed that in obeying them she was obeying God. She was gifted with seeing visions of the Virgin Mary, and scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, but they never interrupted her work. In fact, those visions increased her love for God and her generosity to work and serve others. Once, in 1494, she received from Jesus a message for Pope Alexander VI. Since the superiors believed in the holiness of her life, and the authenticity of her visions, she was allowed to go to Rome to deliver the message. After three years in doing that simple and humble work of begging she got an illness which was not very serious. She was able to keep it to herself and continued to do her religious duties. But she suffered yet never complained. In such a condition, she was heard saying: “I must work while I can, while I have time.” Sr. Veronica sought always to be the last in the community. She wanted to do the hardest job and the humblest work of all. And she was happy to offer them all to Jesus. After a few more years, she contracted a more serious disease which she endured for six month and then she died in 1497, on the 30thyear of her religious profession on the day she herself had predicted, at the age of fifty-two. Miracles were attributed to her. Pope Leo X permitted her veneration in her monastery and Pope Clement X extended it to the entire Church. In 1749, her name was included by Pope Benedict XIV among the martyrs of the Church, indicating that her life was a silent martyrdom. Her feast day is January 13, although in the Augustinian Order, it is celebrated January 28. She is the patron of Binasco, Milan, Italy. “St. Veronica please pray that we may learn to be pure, prayerful, humble and obedient so that one day we may be your co-citizen in Heaven.” Do I waste my time in doing useless and worldly things, not necessary for my eternal salvation?

Heavy Head season three episode one, "Our First American Kin." is written and produced by Tanner Hinds.   - Christopher Columbus voiced by Augustin Sanchez   - Pope Alexander VI, Chaplain, Colonist One, Colonist Two, Thomas Jefferson, Georgia Volunteer, Reporter, and General Sherman voiced by Tanner Hinds   - George Washington, James Mooney, and Alexis de Tocqueville voiced by Loren Hutton   - Narration/Art Design by Evan Verrilli   Award winning original music by Real Blue Heartache Kids. Their music is available wherever you buy or stream music. Follow Real Blue Heartache kids on Instagram using the handle: @realblueheartachekids.   TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains adult language, situations, and graphic depictions of genocide, forced indigenous removal, and racism that may be a trigger for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.   If you or a loved one is experiencing a psychiatric emergency and live in the United States, please call or text 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741 for free and confidential support 24/7/365 from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and The Crisis Text Line.   Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using the handle: @heavyheadpod. You can follow creator Tanner Hinds using the handle: @thindscomic. Be sure to subscribe to our official YouTube channel, Heavy Head Podcast. You can email us at heavyheadpod@gmail.com. Please be sure to rate and review us on iTunes. If you enjoy the show, please share us with a loved one!   Merch is available online at https://heavyhead.bigcartel.com

In this week's episode of Heritage Hunters we will go deeper into the history of Crypto-Jews or descendants of the Spanish-Portuguese Jews in the Americas known as the Anusim. This often maligned group, who are no longer called marranos, keep popping up in popular culture and every now and then in major Jewish publications. However, just because it is an interesting topic that does not mean that anyone really cares about these individuals. The reason that I sound cynical is because most CryptoJews are either in a “no man's land” of sorts or are part of the many evangelical churches which are only interested in some kind of Israelism. Few people seem to care about CryptoJewish survival or are interested in developing programs for their return to mainstream Judaism which is crucial for the normalization of their experience. Please join me on this journey through the world of CryptoJudaism as we explore their experience from my point of view, as someone in the trenches of the battle for Jewish survival in our modern world. We also share a brief history of the Jews in Mexico, Discuss Latino Jewish Surname, The truth about Pope Alexander VI being a “Marrano” Jew and the use of Santeria Among Conversos.

Meredith Fuller is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, a nationally published poet, and the author of the novel, Quarry. With her husband, Jim Luyten, Fuller recently returned from walking a part of the pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago (the Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle or the Way of Saint James), which Pope Alexander VI declared to be one of the three great pilgrimages of Christendom. In this show, Fuller talks about the physical and spiritual experience of walking this historic European pilgrimage route and how it has informed and influenced her views on life.

Friends of the Rosary: Today, Columbus Day is the celebration of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas on October 12, 1492. Christopher Columbus, a native of the city-state of Genoa, was the explorer who discovered the Americas for the Catholic Queen Isabella and King Fernando of Spain. Columbus was a complex man in a complicated time; he was neither the barbarian portrayed by the modern world nor a saint. But he was a Christian concerned with serving God and his fellow men. When he first arrived on Hispaniola, his first words to the natives were, “The monarchs of Castile have sent us not to subjugate you but to teach you the true religion.” In a letter to Pope Alexander VI, Columbus asked the pontiff to send missionaries to the indigenous people of the New World so they could accept Christ. And in his will, Columbus proved his belief in the importance of evangelization by establishing a fund to finance missionary efforts to the lands he discovered. Ave Maria! Jesus, I Trust In You! + Mikel A. | RosaryNetwork.com, New York • October 10, 2021, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

Lucrezia Borgia has gone down In history with a pretty bad rep. From murder accusations to incest accusations, this girl never gets a break. In reality, Lucrezia was a political pawn used by her father to establish her low-key Italian mobster family. In today's episode, see how this little girl went from an irrelevant illegitimate child to a reported murderer and Italian Duchess. 08, Samantha Henman | Apr, et al. “Infamous Facts About Lucrezia Borgia, The Black Widow Of Rome.” Factinate, 25 Feb. 2022, www.factinate.com/people/facts-lucrezia-borgia/. Adhamy, Amir. “Lucrezia Borgia: Is Her Bad Reputation Deserved?” Lucrezia Borgia: Is Her Bad Reputation Deserved?, 11 Apr. 2022, www.historyextra.com/period/renaissance/lucrezia-borgia-reputation-adulteress-pope-alexander-vi/. “Alfonso I D'Este, Duke of Ferrara.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_I_d'Este,_Duke_of_Ferrara. “Alfonso of Aragon (1481–1500).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 May 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_of_Aragon_(1481–1500). “Giovanni Sforza.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Sforza. “House of Borgia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia. “Lucrezia Borgia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 May 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia. “Lucrezia Borgia.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Lucrezia-Borgia. “Lucrezia Borgia Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, www.notablebiographies.com/Be-Br/Borgia-Lucrezia.html. “Pope Alexander VI.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 May 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI. Shelton, Denise. “Vixen or Victim? The Truth About Lucrezia Borgia.” Medium, History of Yesterday, 10 Aug. 2021, historyofyesterday.com/victim-or-vixen-the-truth-about-lucrezia-borgia-f5015102ad1c. “Vannozza Dei Cattanei.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannozza_dei_Cattanei.

History has not been kind to Lucrezia Borgia. Daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, she has suffered from her family name (her father was known for his deviant sexual activities). In his eponym play, written more than 300 years after her death, Victor Hugo created a black legend around Lucrezia Borgia, based on allegations of incest, poisoning, and murder on her part. But these rumors, mostly spread by the Borgias' rivals, were never proven to be true. Nowadays, historians attempt to rehabilitate her legacy and demonstrate that Lucrezia Borgia was a victim of a cruel period for women. Texts: Abdelhakim Rezgui, Clément LesaffreHost: Danny WallaceProduction: Axelle Gobert, Clément LesaffreProduction assistant: Aimie FaconnierRecording: Théo AlbaricMixing and editing: Adrien Le Blond, Jimmy BardinInternational coordination: Martin StahlOriginal music: David SpinelliIllustration: © Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.Executive producers: Lorenzo Benedetti, Louis Daboussy, Benoit DunaigreUbisoft: Etienne Allonier, Aymar Azaizia, Etienne Bouvier, Leslie Capillon, Julien Fabre, Louis Raynaud, Justine Villeneuve An original Ubisoft series, produced by Paradiso Media If you like this podcast, subscribe and leave us lots of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ! And to share this episode it's easy : https://lnk.to/echoesofhistorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Doctrine of Discovery was issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493. In July 2022 his successor Pope Francis I showed that the colonial countries of Turtle Island that he can't be bothered to even know what their precious Doctrine of Discovery is. Meanwhile the courts all around the world use this document to justify their colonization of the world, genocide of the people and do so to this day. There are finally officers getting charged for the murder of Breonna Taylor, but they shouldn't be stopping there. With the amount of murder committed against people of colour by those who are supposed to be serving and protecting us unjustifiable. They aren't there to serve and protect anyone but government and corporate interests. More than 200lbs of food has been donated to the elder's lodge, community food resource centre, and among community members from the food sovereignty project. We need the base installed and will not hear about another grant until December. We need your help so we can continue to provide fresh produce to those who need it. donate at https://www.thecrediblemohawk.com or by etransfer at decolonize@thecrediblemohawk.com. From there you can also reach the shop where all of the Two Row Coffee & Tea Company products are available. Follow @TheCredibleMohawk and @AndrewBrant87 on Instagram for more on the project and lots of culturally relevant teachings and information from clothing styles to historical land loss and migration. When you're done here head over to https://www.cottreezy.com and download some music to listen to while you check out the blog and the shop.

Sen and Gil have a talk with game reviewer and critic Daniel Thurot of the marvelous game review site Space-Biff! about his distinctive style of writing, the difference between review and criticism, and theming in games. SHOW NOTES 4m48s: The Settlers of Zarahemla 5m26s: Roger Ebert was a movie critic; Gil remains a big fan of his writing. Also: Tom Chick (whom Dan interviewed on his own podcast), Tom Francis 14m55s: Fort 29m35s: The recent film Men 31m56s: Sen and Jay's game MIND MGMT 34m37s: Sen may be referring to The Long View Podcast  35m40s: Mike Barnes, There Will Be Games 44m06s: Frontierland is indeed a part of Disneyland (California), as well as the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld (Florida) 49m12s: Dan's review of Heading Forward. We had publisher Amabel Holland on Ludology 262 - This Guilty Podcast. 50m27s: Pope Alexander VI, Antipopes 52m37s: Charlie Theel, Matt Thrower, Thinker Themer 53m04s: That's about 1.2x1.2x0.9 meters.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 468, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Beer Bash! 1: This Bavarian city is famous for its pale lager and was the site of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Munich. 2: The top-selling Mexican beer in the U.S., it became a yuppie trend in the 1980s. Corona. 3: Maccabee is one of this country's most popular beers. Israel. 4: The name of Germany's Hefe-Weizen beer means yeast and this grain, not barley. Wheat. 5: This brand's label says it's "From the glass lined tanks of old Latrobe" and includes a mysterious "33". Rolling Rock. Round 2. Category: Femmes Fatales 1: So enraptured was Israel's King David with this woman, he deliberately sent her husband into battle where he died. Bathsheba. 2: In Greek legend, Paris was so enamored with this married woman, he stole her away, thus causing a war. Helen of Troy. 3: A legendary beautiful woman living on a rock in this river, Lorelei was said to lure sailors to their deaths. the Rhine. 4: Ludwig I's infatuation with the dancer Lola Montez helped ensure his loss of this German kingdom. Bavaria. 5: Daughter of the man who became Pope Alexander VI, she became infamous for intrigues and poisonings. Lucrezia Borgia. Round 3. Category: Sitcoms Change 1: (Hi, I'm Jon Lovitz) In 1998 I joined the cast of this sitcom as Max Lewis, a man with a few insecurities. NewsRadio. 2: On this sitcom in 1998, Tim Taylor's son Randy ran off to work in a Costa Rican rainforest. Home Improvement. 3: On her self-titled sitcom, she worked at a plastics factory and a beauty salon before opening her own diner. Roseanne. 4: On "The Cosby Show", daughter Denise left for Hillman College and this spin-off. A Different World. 5: In 1979 when its main setting moved to a bar, "All In The Family" took this new title. Archie Bunker's Place. Round 4. Category: My Maine Man! 1: Raised in Maine, this Bowdoin alumnus hired Matthew Henson in 1887 to assist a Nicaraguan survey. (Admiral) Peary. 2: In 1966 this Portland-born author published his first short story, "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber". Stephen King. 3: Listen, my children, and you shall hear, he was born Feb. 27, 1807 in Portland (hey, he was the poet, not me). Longfellow. 4: Born in Bar Harbor on July 8, 1908, he succeeded Gerald Ford as VP. Rockefeller. 5: The 1st Democrat elected to the Senate by Maine voters, he was Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter. Edmund Muskie. Round 5. Category: Olla Podrida 1: People who daydream are said to be "Building" these "in Spain". Castles. 2: Don Quixote roamed across this plateau of central Spain. La Mancha. 3: Iced drink made of wine, soda water and fruit juice. Sangria. 4: Commanded by the Duke of Medina, this group of ships was thought to be invincible -- didn't work. Spanish Armada. 5: She hit the Top 10 in 1987 with "La Isla Bonita", her Spanish lullaby. Madonna. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

In a wide-ranging discussion the Sangha look at the differences between Christian contemplation and prayer and Buddhist meditation; the importance of continued investigation, belief and reliance on magical stories, and compare love, lust and anticipation. See the video version of this call on YouTube. ►YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9PVL_wIq0k Find the full video chats on the Dhammarato Dhamma YouTube channel. ►YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DhammaratoDhamma Weekly Sangha calls, everyone is welcome.  ►The Sangha US, Friday 7PM PDT with Dhammarato - https://join.skype.com/uyYzUwJ3e3TO  ►The Sangha UK, Sunday 10AM GDT with Dhammarato - https://join.skype.com/w6nFHnra6vdh  ►The Sangha UK, Wednesday 8PM GDT with Dan Goldfield - https://join.skype.com/w6nFHnra6vdh To meet Dhamma friends, hang out, or volunteer—join our Discord Sangha. Everyone is welcome. ►Discord - https://discord.gg/epphTGY 00:00:00 Christian prayer and worship compared to ānāpānasati, Buddhist practice 00:18:16 Faith and belief; saying “not sure”: keep investigating; the meaning of “abba” 00:31:42 Ignorance; knowing enough; observation 00:38:47 Rumi; seeing beyond magical stories 00:55:13 Greed comes in; Pope Alexander VI; Lucrezia Borgia; power and religion 01:10:12 Love and lust; clinging; the love of that which we do have; friendship 01:44:25 God is a heavy word; not sure; adding superfluous weight 01:50:33 Safety and vulnerability; watching what we're doing; appreciation 01:57:15 ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and the quality of anticipation vs. continuing in the present moment

Have you ever heard about Pope Alexander VI? Maybe you know him by his other name, Rodrigo de Borgia. This Pope was anything but holy. Join me as we discuss the life, scandals, and family of Rodrigo de Borgia, AKA Pope Alexander VI. Please note: Episodes of Kinky Facts contain adult themes, graphic content, and vulgar language. It is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18, it is also not suitable for work. Listener discretion is advised. Want more Kinky Facts? Follow me on instagram or TikTok at kinkyfactspodcast To provide Kinky Facts suggestions, please feel free to email me at kinkyfactspodcast@gmail.com Music from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/soulful-sparks License code: I3XF9GKGKU2CSCKG Soulful Sparks by Soundroll Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Borgias_(2011_TV_series) https://historyofyesterday.com/victim-or-vixen-the-truth-about-lucrezia-borgia-f5015102ad1c https://allthatsinteresting.com/pope-alexander-vi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI https://www.factinate.com/people/24-scandalous-facts-borgias/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquet_of_Chestnuts https://historyofyesterday.com/the-banquet-of-the-chestnuts-the-popes-halloween-party-turned-orgy-c22e88fe25f9 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This episode is a preview of the March Patreon bonus dedicated to the lurid acts of Pope Alexander VI, with whom Jackie became intrigued after learning about him during our conversation with Ada Palmer (see episode 69 for context). Head of the notorious House of Borgia, Pope Alexander VI did a lot of weird things and was rumored to have done many more. We break down the facts vs. fiction and see what's up. Topics include: the Ten Courts of Hell, Chestnut Parties, stableboy murder, the Tree of Knives, a huge flex, purgatory, Oprah, and the latest cat trends.   To hear the full episode, join us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/firethecanon  

Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia schemes to make his son Cesare the unrivaled master of Italy. Forming an alliance (and then unforming it before forming it again) with the French King Louis XII, Pope Alexander almost succeeds at making Cesare the duke of Naples and Romagna... almost. Sources: The Borgias: Power and Fortune The Borgias: The Hidden History The Borgias and Their Enemies Become a PATRON and support the show.  

This week on Royally Screwed, we're talking about Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI and perhaps one of the most vile figures of the Renaissance.Subscribe for more episodes as they come.Twitter: @Denim_CreekInstagram: denimcreekproMusic:Intro/Outro: “Life O' the Lavish” - Jules Gaia, “Dayfreak” - White Bones, “12th Floor Party” - Jules Gaia, “Glitz at the Ritz” - Jules Gaia, “A Snowflake's Tale” - Howard Harper-Barnes, “Smooth Passenger” - White Bones, “The Last Bar in Chicago” - Nicky DowlingCopyright 2021, Denim Creek Productions

Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, had plans for his son Cesare. Big plans. Like, Roman Empire-sized plans. No joke on that one. In this episode, Cesare Borgia sets his sights on Romagna with the intention of creating a permanent Borgia empire in Italy. Sources: The Borgias: Power and Fortune The Borgias: The Hidden History The Borgias and Their Enemies Become a PATRON and support the show.

Last time, Rodrigo Borgia climbed the ladder up the Papal Curia. In this episode, he outmaneuvers his opponents and manages to secure the unthinkable: the throne of St. Peter. Borgia takes the name Alexander VI and immediately begins setting forth his vision for a Borgia Italy. Sources: The Borgias: Power and Fortune The Borgias: The Hidden History The Borgias and Their Enemies Become a PATRON and support the show.

The Borgias is a name infamous for treachery, naked ambition, and depravity. But how did a relatively unknown Cardinal from Spain manage to will his way to becoming Pope Alexander VI? Today, we begin the story of the Borgia family and watch Rodrigo Borgia climb the ladder of the Curia, positioning himself for that final step. Sources: The Borgias: Power and Fortune The Borgias: The Hidden History The Borgias and Their Enemies Become a PATRON and support the show. Check out the WEBSITE for more content.

Lucrezia Borgia, the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, also known as Pope Alexander VI, is one of the most infamous women in history. Immortalised in art & literature as an incestuous, poisoning murderess, the true story of a woman caught in the ambitions of the men in her life has been bent and twisted since the Renaissance.    Was she really a killer, or was she just a pawn and victim of the patriarchy?   Hosted by Katie Charlwood New episodes every Tuesday   Donate at:  https://patreon.com/whodidwhatnow  https://ko-fi.com/caitcatch Revolut: WhatKatieDid https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/whodidwhatnowpod Wishlist https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2LAB2ZP4U9USX?ref_=wl_share MERCH!! https://spreadshirt.ie/user/whodidwhatnowpod https://beacons.page/whodidwhatnowpod   Follow me on... https://twitter.com/whodidwhatnowpd https://instagram.com/whodidwhatnowpod https://tiktok.com/@whodidwhatnowpod https://facebook.com/whodidwhatnowpodcast   Business Enquiries: whodidwhatnowpod@gmail.com Fan Mail:   Who Did What Now Podcast Willow Tree Farm Donegal Ireland F94KX64

The Popiest Pope of the Tudor Era or the poopiest? hmmmm only time will tell as we cover the rest of them... But for now, the Borja's have arrived! 

Writer, preacher, reformer, martyr. Girolamo Savonarola was an inspiration to Martin Luther and an early martyr for the Protestant Reformation. He's also a controversial figure – more Old Testament prophet than humble friar. He tried to end the Renaissance, to create a city of God. We can learn a lot from his story today. Our guest Samantha Morris discusses her book Girolamo Savonarola: The Renaissance Preacher and the history of the “mad preacher of Florence”. Her new book is "The Pope's Greatest Adversary: Girolamo Savonarola". Think you could end a movement? Destroy some of the best art ever made? Nearly topple the Italian Renaissance? Of course not, but that's what one man tried to do at the end of the 1400s. He was a righteous man who fought against the evil of Pope Alexander VI. But he went too far—trying to make the world behave in a godly fashion instead of changing the hearts of Florence. In a time before the Bible was readily available in people's own languages, Girolamo Savonarola was put to death by the very superstition he tried to defeat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the new series on Popes across History, this week we are looking at Pope Alexander VI. In this series we will look at the lives of these Popes, where they came from, what they did, and of they were good Popes. To buy 'The Popes A History' by John Jules Norwich: https://amzn.to/2OKyCJL To Buy 'A History of Christianity' by Diarmaid MacCulloch: https://amzn.to/3gaVCgi To catch up on everything to do with History with Jackson head to www.HistorywithJackson.co.uk If you wish to support us and our work please head to our 'Buy me a Coffee' profile: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HistorywJackson Follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/HistorywithJ...... Follow us on Instagram at: @HistorywithJackson Follow us on Twitter at: @HistorywJackson --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/history-with-jackson/message

In the latest episode in our series on history's biggest topics, Professor Jill Burke tackles listener questions and internet search queries on the Borgias, from rumours of incest and the Banquet of the Chestnuts to the forgotten triumphs Pope Alexander VI. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Via 1492 or 2021, it's still "civilizing the savages" It's pretty easy to reframe America's uninvited invasion, occupation, and nation-building of Afghanistan. In order to prove just how imperial our having been in Afghanistan for the last 20-years, rebuilding the country in our own image, is, please do the following thought experiment. Please release your imagination and walk with me for a bit… Just replace George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden with Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Christopher Columbus, and Pope Alexander VI; replace US Armed Forces with conquistadors; and replace Afghanis—women, girls, boys, elders—with Aztecs, Mayans, Amerindians, Mapuche people; then, replace soul-savings, civilizing, modernizing, and enculturating, with…. the same words. Does that make more sense as to why supporting the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in order to save them from themselves is perfectly analogous to supporting the British colonization of the Americas in order to modernize and civilize the American Indians? A reminder, we were at war with Afghanistan during which at least 240,000 Afghans have died, many of them civilians—over the last 20-years; and, how many of those Afghans were women and girls? I called this article The war in Afghanistan was a long Khan because: I thought of it and it made me feel pleased with myself and clever This isn't Afghanistan's first rodeo: they've suffered through long-term occupation by empires so often it's a cliché trope While occupied cities in Vietnam adapted to French and American occupation by feigning love for Joe, the Vietnamese never really loved Joe, only appeased Joe for reasons of survival during a massively chaotic and terrible war (note all the friendly villagers who routinely blew up their friend Joe in the streets). South Vietnam invited America to help defend against the North; and, more relevantly, the Soviet troops were invited by the official Afghan authorities to help combat the Mujahideen. America wasn't invited to Afghanistan. Sometimes, the city-based leadership intelligentsia of a country can often be at odds with the will of the people. Local Hawaiians hate their occupier any more than it pays their rent; Okinawans openly hate their occupiers, though what're you going to do; I know that all of Islam is apoplectic about the mere existence of Riyadh Air Base in Saudi Arabia. People never really fall in love with their oppressor, their occupier, or their hostage-taker. The power dynamic isn't fair. When you are poor and desperate and your occupier offers you a job, you take that job and milk that job for as long as it doesn't get you killed and as long as it lasts. Even someone who is beguiled by Stockholm Syndrome eventually snaps out of it—generally violently and without a lot of compassion and empathy. Even HR knows: a subordinate employee cannot give full consent to a relationship with a superior when their job, income, reputation, and life depend on the fickle whims of their boss. There were never only 80,000 Taliban fighters, there were 380,000 Afghani fighters, 300,000 of which were being trained, funded, paid, and supplied by their American invaders and occupiers until the moment we, the USA, left, which was always inevitable. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chrisabraham/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/chrisabraham/support

Now wearing the papal tiara, Pope Alexander VI was determined to root out the corruption that had plagued Rome and the Vatican. But as his papacy continued, rumors began to spread that the Spanish pope was guilty of his own corruption, murder, and incest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Royally Screwed, we're talking about Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander VI. Was he the horrible man history painted him out to be, or is there more to the story?Subscribe for more episodes as they come.Twitter: @Denim_CreekInstagram: denimcreekproSubscribe to the Channel on YouTubeMusic:Intro/Outro: “Life O' the Lavish” - Jules Gaia, "Mystery Garden" - Brendon Moeller, "The Last bar in Chicago" - Nicky Dowling, "12th Floor Party" - Jules Gaia, "Smooth Passenger" - White Bones, "Coffeeshop Stories" - Almost Here, "Glitz at the Ritz" - Jules Gaia, "Always There" - Table EtiquetteCopyright 2021, Denim Creek Productions

In this episode of Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day Chris and Josh take a look at one of the wildest Popes in history, Pope Alexander VI. Alex was a promiscuous, child bearing, and nepotistic Pope who would have kept up with any Bravo TV star in his pettiness. Chris and Josh breakdown what made […]

Elections Series. Episode #1 of 4. On the morning of August 11, 1492, Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope, taking the name Alexander VI and yelling “I am Pope! I am Pope!” The throngs of Romans in the Piazza di San Pietro shared in his excitement. But for some, the Papal Election of 1492 seemed to indicate the downfall of the papacy, if not the end of days. Giovanni de Medici is recorded as saying, “Now we are in the power of a wolf, the most rapacious, perhaps that this world has ever seen; and if we do not flee, he will infallibly devour us.” Gian Andrea Boccaccio wrote in a letter to the Duke of Ferrara, “ten Papacies would not suffice to satisfy the greed of all his kindred.” Ferrante, King of Naples, purportedly told his wife, “This election will not only undermine the peace of Italy, but that of the whole of Christendom.” The priest and prognosticator Girolamo Savonarola would spend the last year of his life trying to render the 1492 Papal election void due to simony, a campaign that resulted in his excommunication, torture, and execution. What was it about the Papal Election of 1492 and its resultant Pontiff, Alexander VI, that elicited such a dramatic range of reactions? As it turns out, this question is difficult to answer but it involves assassination, simony, nepotism, accusations of poison, coercion, abuse, incest, wildly debauched orgies, and political corruption. Find show notes and transcripts here: www.digpodcast.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The written word allowed us to preserve human knowledge, or data, from generation to generation. We know only what we can observe from ancient remains from before writing, but we know more and more about societies as generations of people literate enough to document their stories spread. And the more documented, the more knowledge to easily find and build upon, thus a more rapid amount of innovation available to each generation... The Sumerians established the first written language in the third millennium BCE. They carved data on clay. Written languages spread and by the 26th century BCE the Diary of Merer was written to document building the Great Pyramid of Giza. They started with papyrus, made from the papyrus plant. They would extract the pulp and make thin sheets from it. The sheets of papyrus ranged in color and how smooth the surface was. But papyrus doesn't grow everywhere.  People had painted on pots and other surfaces and ended up writing on leather at about the same time. Over time, it is only natural that they moved on to use parchment, or stretched and dried goat, cow, and sheep skins, to write on. Vellum is another material we developed to write on, similar, but made from calfskin. The Assyrians and Babylonians started to write on vellum in the 6th century BCE.  The Egyptians wrote what we might consider data that was effectively included into pictograms we now call hieroglyphs on papyrus and parchment with ink. For example, per the Unicode Standard 13.0 my cat would be the hieroglyph 130E0. But digital representations of characters wouldn't come for a long time. It was still carved in stone or laid out in ink back then.  Ink was developed by the Chinese thousands of years ago, possibly first by mixing soot from a fire and various minerals. It's easy to imagine early neolithic peoples stepping in a fire pit after it had cooled and  realizing they could use first their hands to smear it on cave walls and then a stick and then a brush to apply it to other surfaces, like pottery. By the time the Egyptians were writing with ink, they were using iron and ocher for pigments.  India ink was introduced in the second century in China. They used it to write on bamboo, wooden tablets, and even bones. It was used in India in the fourth century BCE and used burned bits of bone, powders made of patroleum called carbon black, and pigments with hide glue then ground and dried. This allowed someone writing to dip a wet brush into the mixture in order to use it to write. And these were used up through the Greek and then Roman times. More innovative chemical compounds would be used over time. We added lead, pine soot, vegetable oils, animal oils, mineral oils, and while the Silk Road is best known for bringing silks to the west, Chinese ink was the best and another of the luxuries transported across it, well into the 17th century.  Ink wasn't all the Silk Road brought. Paper was first introduced in the first century in China. During the Islamic Golden Age, the islamic world expanded the use in the 8th century, and adding the science to build larger mills to make pulp and paper. Paper then made it to Europe in the 11th century. So ink and paper laid the foundation for the mass duplication of data. But how to duplicate?  We passed knowledge down verbally for tens of thousands of years. Was it accurate with each telling? Maybe. And then we preserved our stories in a written form for a couple thousand years in a one to one capacity. The written word was done manually, one scroll or book at a time. And so they were expensive. But a family could keep them from generation to generation and they were accurate across the generations. Knowledge passed down in written form and many a manuscript was copied ornately, with beautiful pictures drawn on the page. But in China they were again innovating. Woodblock printing goes back at least to the second century to print designs on cloth. But had grown to include books by the seventh century. The Diamond Sutra was a Tang Dynasty book from 868 that may be the first printed book, using wood blocks that had been carved in reverse.  And moveable type came along in 1040, from Bi Sheng in China. He carved letters into clay. Wang Chen in China then printed a text on farming practices called Nung Shu in 1297 and added a number of innovations to the Chinese presses. And missionaries and trade missions from Europe to China likely brought reports home, including copies of the books. Intaglio printing emerged where lines were cut, etched, or engraved into metal plates, dipped into ink and then pressed onto paper. Similar tactics had been used by goldsmiths for some time.  But then a goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg began to experiment using similar ideas just adding the concept of moveable type. He used different alloys to get the letter pressing just right - including antimony, lead, and tin. He created a matrix to mold new type blocks, which we now refer to as a hand mould. He experimented with different kinds of oil and water-based inks. And vellum and paper.   And so Gutenberg would get credit for inventing the printing press in 1440. This took the basic concept of the screw press, which the Romans introduced in the first century to press olives and wine and added moveable type with lettering made of metal. He was at it for a few years. Just one problem, he needed to raise capital in order to start printing at a larger scale. So he went Johann Fust and took out a loan for 800 guilders. He printed a few projects and then thought he should start printing Bibles. So he took out another loan from Fust for 800 more guilders to print what we now call the Gutenberg Bible and printed indulgences from the church as well.  By 1455 he'd printed 180 copies of the Bible and seemed on the brink of finally making a profit. But the loan from Fust at 6% interest had grown to over 2,000 guilders and once Fust's son-in-law was about to run the press, he sued Gutenberg, ending up with Gutenberg's workshop and all of the Bibles basically bankrupting Gutenberg by 1460. He would die in 1468.  The Mainz Psalter was commissioned by the Mainz archbishop in 1457 and Fust along with Peter Schöffer, a Gutenberg assistant, would use the press to become the first book to be printed with the mark of the printer. They would continue to print books and Schöffer added putting dates in books, colored ink, type-founding, punch cutting, and other innovations. And Schöffer's sons would carry on the art, as did his grandson.  As word spread of the innovation, Italians started printing presses by 1470. German printers went to the Sorbonne and by 1476 they set up companies to print. Printing showed up in Spain in 1473, England in 1476, and Portugal by 1495. In a single generation, the price of books plummeted and the printed word exploded, with over 20 million works being printed by 1500 and 10 times that by 1600. Before Gutenberg, a single scribe could spend years copying only a few editions of a book before the printing press and with a press, up to 3,600 pages a day could be printed. The Catholic Church had the market on bibles and facing a cash crunch, Pope Alexander VI threatened to excommunicate printing manuscripts. In two decades, John Calvin and Martin Luther changed the world with their books - and Copernicus followed quickly by other scientists published works, even with threats of miscommunication or the Inquisition.  As presses grew, new innovative uses also grew. We got the first newspaper in 1605. Literacy rates were going up, people were becoming more educated and science and learning were spreading in ways it had never done before. Freedom to learn became freedom of thought and Christianity became fragmented as other thinkers had other ideas of spirituality. We were ready for the Enlightenment.  Today we can copy and paste text from one screen to the next on our devices. We can make a copy of a single file and have tens of thousands of ancient or modern works available to us in an instant. In fact, plenty of my books are available to download for free on sites with or without mine or my publisher's consent. Or we can just do a quick Google search and find most any book we want. And with the ubiquity of literacy we moved from printed paper to disks to online and our content creation has exploded. 90% of the data in the world was created in the past two years. We are producing over 2 quintillion bytes of data daily. Over 4 and a half billion people are connected, What's crazy is that's nearly 3 and a half billion people who aren't online.  Imagine having nearly double the live streamers on Twitch and dancing videos on TikTok! I have always maintained a large physical library. And while writing many of these episodes and the book it's only grown. Because some books just aren't available online, even if you're willing to pay for them.  So here's a parting thought I'd like to leave you with today: history is also full of anomalies or moments when someone got close to a discovery but we would have to wait thousands of years for it to come up again. The Phaistos Disc is a Minoan fired clay tablet from Greece. It was made by stamping Minoan hieroglyphs onto the clay.  And just like sometimes it seems something may have come before its time, we also like to return to the classics here and there. Up until the digital age, paper was one of the most important industries in the world. Actually, it still is. But this isn't to say that we haven't occasionally busted out parchment for uses in manual writing. The Magna Carta and the US Constitution were both written on parchment. So think about what you see that is before its time, or after. And keep a good relationship with your venture capitalists so they don't take the printing presses away. 

In this episode the hosts unravel the lives and legacies of two religious rulers, Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. The hosts discuss Pope Alexander's corrupt election to the papacy, his nepotism, profiteering, expansion of the papal states and wild sex life. They also discuss Ayatollah's Khomeini's Iranian Islamic revolution, his toppling of the Shah, his war with Saddam Hussein, Fatwa against Salman Rushdie as well as the oppressive treatment of women and homosexuals in Iran. These two dictators battle it out in Round 12 of the knock-out tournament to determine the single greatest dictator of all time. One of these two dictators will be eliminated from the tournament and the other will remain in contention to be crowned history's biggest dictator.

The boys are back with more nonsense chat in one firequacker of a show! On today's episode, Pete has difficulties with his new moped and future dreams of the Isle of Man TT, while Luke talks celebrity steeplejacks and what it takes to do such an important job. Elsewhere, Luke teaches us how to fix a sick cat while Pete confesses to sharing his dog's medication. And if you think that's mad, wait until you hear what Pope Alexander VI got up to with his horses!This week we want to hear all of your weirdest animal stories! Email in to hello@lukeandpeteshow.com! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Italian noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia was the illegitimate daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who would later become Pope Alexander VI. Considered a famous beauty during the Italian Renaissance, she also notoriously rivaled her family members in jealousy, intrigue, and homicide -- but history may have it all wrong.

The name Lucrezia Borgia is synonymous with poison, the name Cesare Borgia with murder, and the name Rodrigo Borgia with orgies, incest and nepotism. Maybe that’s why he changed his name to Pope Alexander VI when he was elected by the college of cardinals. Were the Borgias really the worst family in Rome? Find out in this episode of Blind History… Taylor Blinds & Shutters

Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 466All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is St. Francis BorgiaFrancis Borgia was born October 28, 1510 inGandia, Valencia, Spain asthe son of the Duke of Gandia, the great grandson, from his fathers side, of Pope Alexander VI, the notorious Borgia pope, and from his mothers side, the great grandson of King Ferdinand of Aragon.Francis grandmother joined her daughther in a convent of Poor Clares after the death of her husband and helda pious influence in the court of the Borgia, to which Francis is indebted. It was with these two women that holiness penetrated into the scandalous lineage of the Borgia family.Francis grew to be a pious young man, posessed of many natural gifts and a favorite at the court of Charles V. It is recounted that one day Francis passed through Alcal, followed by his escort, and exchanged an emotional glance with a poor man being escorted to prison by the Inquisition. This man was Ignatius of Loyola, and at this moment Francis could not have had any idea what an importantrolethis man wouldplay in his destiny.In 1539 Francis was appointed Viceroy of Catalonia, and four years later, upon the death of his father, the Duke of Gandia. He built a university there, received the degree of Doctor in Theology, and invited the Jesuits to his duchy.His wife died in 1546, and Francis entered the Society of Jesus in 1548, but was ordered by the Pope to remain in the world until he had fulfilled his obligations to his ten children and his duchy.Two years later he left Gandia, never to return, and joined the Jesuits in Rome. He immediately set about initiating grand projects he convinced Ignatius to found the Roman College, and a year later he left for Spain, where his preaching and example sparked a renewal of religious fervour in the country, drawing pilgrims from far and wide to hear him preach. In 1556 he was placed in charge of all the missions of the Society, and his energetic work transformed them. He also initiated the missions to Peru, New Spain and Brazil.He was elected as general on July 2, 1565, and although in poor health for his last years, he executed the governance and initiated projects of the Society with great energy. He introduced so many reforms to the society of Jesus that he was considered in some ways to be its second founder. Francis was a man of contemplation and action in the fullest sense, and clearly drew much strength from the silence of his prayer.He died in Rome on September 30, 1572, in Ferrara, Spain, two days after returning from an apostolic journey to Spain.Saint Francis Borgia is one of the great saints of the Catholic Reformation, and was cannonized by Pope Clement X in 1670. Saint of the Day Copyright CNA, Catholic News Agency

Pope Alexander VI, the 6th not the 9th, I apologize for the mistake. The most corruptible pope in the history of the world. From selling church offices, having children with married women, and conducting orgies in the Vatican. This episode is very explicit in whom this individual was and the horrid acts he did as pope.

This week we're continuing our conversation about the political corruption that put the Borgias in the perfect position of power.

Joining me this week is Katharine Fellows. Katharine is currently a DPhil candidate in History at St Peter's College, Oxford; she will be discussing the House of Borgia, with particular reference to Rodrigo Borgia who later became Pope Alexander VI. 

In 1492, Lorenzo The Magnificent died. His heir was his eldest son, 20 year old Piero de' Medici, a useless turd. The Pope died soon afterwards and was replaced by the corrupt Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI. Savonarola proclaimed that the “Sword of the Lord” would soon descend upon Florence to punish it for its wicked ways. In this case, the sword would soon be carried another 20 year old ruler - King Charles VIII of France. The post #98 – Savonarola Part 5 appeared first on The Renaissance Times.

We are joined once more by Mike Corradi from A History of Italy Podcast to look at the lives, loves, and crimes of the Borgia family. This week, we focus on the the beautiful Lucrezia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, who allegedly lured men to their deaths. We then find out about the fate of the infamous dynasty.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag.Make sure to check out our sister show, Fab Figmentals! Fab Figmentals is hosted by our very own Lindsey Morse, and it explores the realm of curious creatures, magical monsters, and beautiful beasts.If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, a monthly livestream, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast You can also interact with us on Twitter. You’ll find us @AssassinsPod.Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

In 1492, something else happened besides Columbus sailing the ocean blue, namely, that the most notorious pope EVER ascended to the Chair of Peter. This week it's the guy who typically tops the list of every rundown of the so-called “Bad Popes”, and who was described by contemporary historian as “more evil and more lucky than perhaps any pope before him”. SUPPORT THE POPECAST: patreon.com/mattsewell LINKS * Letter of Pope Pius II rebuking Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (https://books.google.com/books?id=jgDVSSisM0sC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=We+have+heard+the+the+dance+was+indulged+in+in+all+wantonness;+none+of+the+allurements+of+love+were+lacking,+and+you+conducted+yourself+in+a+wholly+worldly+manner.+Shame+forbids+mention+of+all+that+took+place,+for+not+only+the+things+themselves+but+their+very&source=bl&ots=IpuLNhDl8P&sig=ACfU3U1o-1BKW0avibesmXGfOewURZnfcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjw4oOg3I3iAhXhPn0KHQlvD-YQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false) * Inter Caetara (http://www.papalencyclicals.net/alex06/alex06inter.htm) (papal bull granting Spain exclusive rights to colonize and explore the New World) * Pope Alexander VI (https://projects.flocknote.com/note/2360409) (Popes in a Year - Flocknote) * Pope Alexander VI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI) (Wikipedia) * Pope Alexander VI (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01289a.htm) (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Clips from Jacob Jones and Margaret's Bullitt-Jonas interviews: Jacob Jones: Jacob talks about how to keep healthy relationships, learn the language of love and so many useful life skills that you can benefit from for your daily life. He also talks about what are the two major causes for divorce that he has found from his research and experience. Lack of Communication Money & Financial issues   You can look for the book he recommends by Gary Chapman “The 5 Love Languages.”   Jacob believes that it is important for people to have premarital and during the marriage counseling to keep it on track.   On the question of hope, he believes that people can make a change regardless of how bad the situation looks or feels.   Jacob touches upon racism and all the issues we have today, being a Black American, but he believes that, “one day, we will make it right, might not be in my life time but I do want to fight for that and fight towards that.”   Being with people lights Jacob up! Thank you! Margaret Bullitt-Jonas   An Episcopal priest, author, retreat leader, and climate activist,;Margaret Bullitt-Jonas; serves as Missioner for Creation Care for both the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and Mass. Conference, United Church of Christ. She seeks to inspire and support a wave of religious activism to address the climate crisis, deepen reverence for God's creation, and create a more just and sustainable society.   Margaret is passionate about Earth Care and Climate change. A job was created for her because she wanted to address the climate crisis. Written three books.   She sees earth care as spiritual, ethical and a moral issue. She also did a Christian repentance service at Standing Rock on Doctrine of Discovery.   What is Doctrine of Discovery? The Doctrine of Discovery established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. It has been invoked since Pope Alexander VI issued the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera” in 1493. Check her work out on on this:    http://revivingcreation.org/search/doctrine+of+discovery   To learn about both the guest, please visit the website or the channel. For full interviews, you can watch for Jacob - EP: 55 & for Margaret EP: 58. Thank you!   Shua - شعا ع  www.lightupwithshua.com - Podcast http://bit.ly/2nc9tZM - Youtube channel https://goo.gl/rf3HQ9 - The Groton Channel http://apple.co/2BteyA3 - iTunes https://goo.gl/dWpvLF - Instagram    

A powerful, unscrupulous man whose two greatest vices are greed and lust. He's close to his family...perhaps too close (particularly his daughter). He has many children by different women, but the three he loves most are two sons and a daughter...a beautiful blond-haired daughter. He holds a position of great power, although the machinations he employed to get it are mired in scandal. Bribery was most certainly involved—and perhaps even blackmail. He is resented by those around him who feel he doesn't deserve his position. Hated by those who see him abusing his power, profiting off his office, and making a mockery of the very institution he rules over. He has placed his children in positions of power and authority within his sphere, and he is positioning them to take over the reins of his power when he is gone, dreaming of turning his elected seat into a family dynasty. If you think you know who I'm talking about, you're probably wrong. Pope Alexander VI, birth name Rodrigo Borgia, is the subject of our latest episode. Tune in to hear all about the “Evil Pope,” his corrupt and rapacious family, and all the ways they are so uncannily like another powerful family we know too well. Also, we'll also discuss the places in Rome where Borgia family lived, worked, and played so you can follow along in the footsteps of what Mario Puzo called the “original crime family.” We hope you'll listen, but here's a cheatsheet so you don't have to take notes while you're listening: - The Borgia Apartments at the Vatican - Salita dei Borgia - Piazza Fiammetta - Palazzo della Cancelleria (Piazza della Cancelleria) - Palazzo Farnese (Piazza Farnese) ------------------------------------------------------------------- SPONSOR THE SHOW: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.  DONATE: Open your laptop and visit The Bittersweet Life and click the donate button on the right side of the page. The show needs your support to continue.  JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email at bittersweetlife@mail.com. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – Better yet, tag #thebittersweetlife with your story for a chance to be featured! NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us. BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon. TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!    © The Bittersweet Life – Web and show content can only be used with written permission

This week we delve into the intrigues and feuds of the infamous Borgia family. Disclaimer - we suck at saying some of the names. Not a single insult is meant, we just can't speak Spanish or Italian, but please bear with us and correct us where we go wrong. As usual, here are our sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Luigi_de_Borgia,_1st_duke_of_Gandíahttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Borgia-familyhttps://www.thoughtco.com/the-borgias-infamous-family-of-renaissance-italy-1221656

Exploring the remarkable power of your time horizon, this episode of the Classic Influence Podcast reveals the surprising benefits of aligning with and orienting to the long view. Drawing on the life story of Cesare Borgia and his father, Pope Alexander VI, as well as the research of former Harvard professor of political science Edward Banfield, you will also learn the hazards of failing to implement this essential mental frame and how to avoid them, and three key application tools for helping to ensure your success. Finally, you will discover the single most critical secret of self-discipline. If you like this show, then you’ll love my book, Mastering the Power of Grit, available as both an ebook and a paperback on Amazon. Following a format similar to this show, shared through their own compelling stories, Mastering the Power of Grit reveals the timeless lessons learned from the legends of grit, and the corresponding strategies, tactics, tips and tools you can use to master the power of grit to achieve your own most daring dreams and goals. For additional resources, updates and more, be sure to subscribe to our email list by visiting us online at http://www.classicinfluence.com/timehorizon  

Doctrine of Discovery and Domination, has been kept silent for hundreds of years. On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI released a document entitled, "The Doctrine of Discovery." This "bull" or decree gave consent and direction to unleash a worldwide campaign of terror, domination, massacre and genocide. Few people have been aware of this decree, but all people are affected by it. Renown scholar, Steven Newcomb, will help us to understand the complexity of this global human tragedy. That campaign has developed into a world-wide movement.

La Mama Theatre’s The Masque of Beauty seems to have taken its name from Ben Johnson’s courtly masque composed in 1608. However, in Peter Green’s ‘Renaissance Cabaret’ we certainly feel far away from the England court, even if he uses a few Shakespeare passages on one of his literary medleys. Green’s writing, and indeed Faye Bendrups’ directing, both take Australian audiences to very different theatrical territory than they might be used to. True to the form of a masque, this show is a meandering hour of live music, dance pieces, dramatic scenes and chorus style songs, which historically would espouse the most famous figures of the day. On this particular outing, to the Italian court, we encounter three formidable sisters-in-law – the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, the sharp-witted Isabella d’Este, and the worldly Elisabette Gonzaga – as well as the controversial Pope Alexander VI, his son, and Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare Borgia, the Monna Lisa (“constipated for over 500 years”) and a very nervous young Leonardo da Vinci. This production might have done away with some big hallmarks of the masque – the actual masks, the decorative sets and the audience participation – but aside from that, it really does feel like a journey back to the 16th century. 21st century audiences are very used to narrative-based entertainment, and to more visual forms of storytelling, whereas the figures displayed here are introduced much more through monologue than dialogue. Even the grim ensemble songs feel much more like an Ancient Greek chorus than an exchange played out in song. In these parts of the show, the four voices of the cast - Maria Paula Afanador, Madeleine Field, Claire Nicholls and Jessica Greenhall – seem to blend into the one entity. The dances and the more physical scenes function more as further illustrations of the figures than as a way of driving forward a story. I call them ‘figures’ instead of ‘characters’ because they are far from being active players in a dramatic narrative. The Masque of Beauty is, throughout, a consciously historical work. More specifically, this is revisionist history, and the sardonic kind at that, based on rumours and re-evaluations. This piece is undisguisedly looking backwards, and makes no attempt to make us feel like we are looking forwards as though we and the performing ensemble don’t know what’s coming. The cast and creatives are certainly in the know, but unfortunately, for the most part, their audience is probably not nearly as knowledgeable about it all. The commentary on Leonardo and the Mona Lisa works because this is a part of Italian history that is very much general knowledge. As for the three noble sisters-in-law, as fascinating as they seem, and as exuberantly as they are portrayed, they aren’t really part of the public consciousness. The production team might now know almost everything there is to find out about them, and they certainly seemed to find their commentary on them amusing and compelling, but I’m not sure that a lot of their audience will. It’s definitely a more obscure part of history, something the La Mama staff seemed to have picked up on. At the box office, each audience is member is given a Wikipedia blurb on each figure in the story, which helps a little but it still takes more than a couple of hastily read paragraphs to achieve that same level of familiarity. I’m sure those who know the history of the Italian royals will appreciate what this talented team manage to do with them, but those who don’t are never really brought up to speed at any point here, or at least not in any helpful way. There is often a large disconnect between what you are being told on stage here and what you are being shown. When the exposition becomes particularly intricate and hard to follow, it is very easy to be distracted by the other stagecraft elements and miss certain factual details. You can definitely feel that this is set in a world of seduction, corruption, manipulation and murder, but it’s very hard to be clear on who is doing what to who, and why. Seeing as there is no real narrative movement anyway, or even much thematic movement here, those who aren’t already familiar with all of these people will probably feel start to feel a bit restless. It’s definitely a treat for any Renaissance aficionados but will probably be quite unmemorable for anyone else. Written by Christian Tsoutsouvas

La Mama Theatre’s The Masque of Beauty seems to have taken its name from Ben Johnson’s courtly masque composed in 1608. However, in Peter Green’s ‘Renaissance Cabaret’ we certainly feel far away from the England court, even if he uses a few Shakespeare passages on one of his literary medleys. Green’s writing, and indeed Faye Bendrups’ directing, both take Australian audiences to very different theatrical territory than they might be used to. True to the form of a masque, this show is a meandering hour of live music, dance pieces, dramatic scenes and chorus style songs, which historically would espouse the most famous figures of the day. On this particular outing, to the Italian court, we encounter three formidable sisters-in-law – the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, the sharp-witted Isabella d’Este, and the worldly Elisabette Gonzaga – as well as the controversial Pope Alexander VI, his son, and Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare Borgia, the Monna Lisa (“constipated for over 500 years”) and a very nervous young Leonardo da Vinci. This production might have done away with some big hallmarks of the masque – the actual masks, the decorative sets and the audience participation – but aside from that, it really does feel like a journey back to the 16th century. 21st century audiences are very used to narrative-based entertainment, and to more visual forms of storytelling, whereas the figures displayed here are introduced much more through monologue than dialogue. Even the grim ensemble songs feel much more like an Ancient Greek chorus than an exchange played out in song. In these parts of the show, the four voices of the cast - Maria Paula Afanador, Madeleine Field, Claire Nicholls and Jessica Greenhall – seem to blend into the one entity. The dances and the more physical scenes function more as further illustrations of the figures than as a way of driving forward a story. I call them ‘figures’ instead of ‘characters’ because they are far from being active players in a dramatic narrative. The Masque of Beauty is, throughout, a consciously historical work. More specifically, this is revisionist history, and the sardonic kind at that, based on rumours and re-evaluations. This piece is undisguisedly looking backwards, and makes no attempt to make us feel like we are looking forwards as though we and the performing ensemble don’t know what’s coming. The cast and creatives are certainly in the know, but unfortunately, for the most part, their audience is probably not nearly as knowledgeable about it all. The commentary on Leonardo and the Mona Lisa works because this is a part of Italian history that is very much general knowledge. As for the three noble sisters-in-law, as fascinating as they seem, and as exuberantly as they are portrayed, they aren’t really part of the public consciousness. The production team might now know almost everything there is to find out about them, and they certainly seemed to find their commentary on them amusing and compelling, but I’m not sure that a lot of their audience will. It’s definitely a more obscure part of history, something the La Mama staff seemed to have picked up on. At the box office, each audience is member is given a Wikipedia blurb on each figure in the story, which helps a little but it still takes more than a couple of hastily read paragraphs to achieve that same level of familiarity. I’m sure those who know the history of the Italian royals will appreciate what this talented team manage to do with them, but those who don’t are never really brought up to speed at any point here, or at least not in any helpful way. There is often a large disconnect between what you are being told on stage here and what you are being shown. When the exposition becomes particularly intricate and hard to follow, it is very easy to be distracted by the other stagecraft elements and miss certain factual details. You can definitely feel that this is set in a world of seduction, corruption, manipulation and murder, but it’s very hard to be clear on who is doing what to who, and why. Seeing as there is no real narrative movement anyway, or even much thematic movement here, those who aren’t already familiar with all of these people will probably feel start to feel a bit restless. It’s definitely a treat for any Renaissance aficionados but will probably be quite unmemorable for anyone else. Written by Christian TsoutsouvasSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rebroadcast of the long running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour", a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Saint Anselm of Canterbury - Italian-born theologian and philosopher, known as the father of Scholasticism, a philosophical school of thought that dominated the Middle Ages. He was recognized in modern times as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God (based on the idea of an absolutely perfect being, the fact of the idea being in itself a demonstration of existence) and the satisfaction theory of the atonement or redemption (based on the feudal theory of making satisfaction or recompense according to the status of a person against whom an offense has been committed, the infinite God being the offended party and humanity the offender). There is incomplete evidence that he was canonized in 1163, though some scholars contend that he was canonized by Pope Alexander VI in 1494.

No fan of Renaissance history can ignore the far-reaching influence–or the legendary corruption–of the Borgia family. From Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, to his scheming, possibly murderous sons, to his daughter Lucrezia whose reputation for debauchery still follows her ghost to this day, the Borgias were certainly one of the most memorable families of their time. A key figure in the family’s infamy was Giulia Farnese, the young mistress of the powerful pope. With floor-length golden hair and looks that inspired artists, Giulia was certainly beautiful. But she must have been much more than merely a stunning woman: she was the only person to escape the orbit of the cunning and destructive Borgias and live to tell the tale. In The Serpent and the Pearl (Berkeley Trade, 2013) the rise of the Borgias is examined through the eyes of three unforgettable characters: Carmelina, a cook with a life-or-death secret to keep; Leonello, a knife-wielding dwarf on the trail of a serial killer; and Giulia Farnese, who proves, as author Kate Quinn puts it, that she “has brains under all that hair.” Kate Quinn brings Renaissance Rome to glittering life in this, the first installment of her Borgia series. The author of five published novels set in Rome with another on the way, Quinn delights the reader with gorgeous prose and a fast-paced, intrigue-laced plot in The Serpent and the Pearl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No fan of Renaissance history can ignore the far-reaching influence–or the legendary corruption–of the Borgia family. From Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, to his scheming, possibly murderous sons, to his daughter Lucrezia whose reputation for debauchery still follows her ghost to this day, the Borgias were certainly one of the most memorable families of their time. A key figure in the family’s infamy was Giulia Farnese, the young mistress of the powerful pope. With floor-length golden hair and looks that inspired artists, Giulia was certainly beautiful. But she must have been much more than merely a stunning woman: she was the only person to escape the orbit of the cunning and destructive Borgias and live to tell the tale. In The Serpent and the Pearl (Berkeley Trade, 2013) the rise of the Borgias is examined through the eyes of three unforgettable characters: Carmelina, a cook with a life-or-death secret to keep; Leonello, a knife-wielding dwarf on the trail of a serial killer; and Giulia Farnese, who proves, as author Kate Quinn puts it, that she “has brains under all that hair.” Kate Quinn brings Renaissance Rome to glittering life in this, the first installment of her Borgia series. The author of five published novels set in Rome with another on the way, Quinn delights the reader with gorgeous prose and a fast-paced, intrigue-laced plot in The Serpent and the Pearl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Probably History is back! Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) welcomes Andy Wood (twitter.com/andytwood), Richard Bain (twitter.com/dickbain), Matt Kirshen (twitter.com/mattkirshen) and special guest comedian/sociologist Pat Reilly (twitter.com/reallypatreilly) to take a look at the infamous House of Borgia, the Renaissance family that brought us Pope Alexander VI, incest, murder and the Banquet of Chestnuts!

How to Turn $100 into $100,000 Magellan was a misfit, a visionary with a better idea, a curious explorer of things unknown. He would have fit right in at Wizard Academy. But a similar outlook on life isn't the only thing that connects us to Magellan. There's a tangible connection as well. More about that later. Magellan was 13 years old when Columbus returned triumphantly to Queen Isabella and Pope Alexander VI divided the world in half, the eastern half going to Portugal, the western half to Spain (1493.) Years later, when Magellan asked King Manuel of Portugal if he might sail for him, the king publicly snubbed Magellan. Humiliated, Magellan leaned forward to kiss the king's hand. King Manuel put his hands behind his back. Remembering that Spain had funded Columbus, a foreigner, Magellan went to Spain and pointed out to King Charles that no one knew exactly where the Pope's boundaries were in the East, so an explorer like himself might be able to establish the boundary between Spain and Portugal on the back side of the world and thereby prove the coveted Spice Islands belonged to Spain.  King Charles liked the idea. Magellan sailed toward South America in 1519 carrying 280 men in 5 small, wooden ships: the Concepcion, the Santiago, the Victoria, the San Antonio and the Trinidad. Stay with me. I promise you an interesting twist at the end. The largest of Magellan's ships was smaller than the Santa Maria of Columbus or the Mayflower of the Pilgrims. And Magellan didn't just sail 4,000 quick miles to America. He covered 42,000 miles in 2 years and 11 months, hampered by plots, battles, mutiny, desertion, starvation, disease and murder. And half of those miles were across waters never before seen by any previous explorer. Only 18 of the 280 sailors made it home to Spain after circumnavigating the globe. The Santiago was wrecked in a storm at the tip of South America. The chicken-hearted captain of the San Antonio turned his ship back to Spain during the night with more than a third of the fleet's provisions. When the 3 remaining ships finally limped into the Philippines, the islanders enthusiastically accepted Christianity. When chief Lapu-Lapu of Mactan tried to unravel those conversions, Magellan took just 60 men to face the chief's army of 3,000 natives. And there Magellan died. There weren't enough sailors to sail three ships, so the papers, logs, letters and diaries of Magellan were put aboard the Concepcion by the 2 captains that had been guilty of mutiny and that ship was burned in Philippine waters.  (We know these things because an Italian named Antonio Pigafetta kept a secret diary. He was one of the 18 who made it home.) The Victoria and the Trinidad were headed home to Spain when the Trinidad sprung a leak and had to turn back to the Philippines. There she was captured by the Portuguese who had come to the Philippines along the traditional route, down the coast of Africa. Soon after her capture, the Trinidad was lost in a storm. FLASH FORWARD: A soldier returning from Viet Nam is stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines in the late 1960's. One day he sees a man step off a fishing boat carrying what appears to be a crustacean covered rock. Curious, the soldier investigates. The object is too heavy to be a rock. That's why the fishermen didn't chunk it back into the sea when it appeared in their nets. The soldier buys the curiosity and spends the next several weeks picking away at its concrete-like encasement. It turns out to be an old ship's bell, 12 inches across and 12 inches high. Bronze. Upon his return to the states, the soldier sends photos of the bell to an underwater archaeologist who tells him the bell's style, markings and color (high copper content) indicate it's probably a Spanish ship's bell from the first half of the 1500s. The archaeologist assumes the bell was found in the Caribbean. The soldier doesn't tell him...

In this episode of CS, we take a look at the Expansion of Christianity into the New World.Following Columbus's voyages at the end of the 15th C to the Caribbean, the expansion of Christianity into the New Word was chiefly dependent on the 2 great colonial powers, Portugal and Spain. From the outset of their adventures in the New World, a religious intention was central to the efforts of the explorers, however secondary it may have become to conquest and treasure-seeking of their royal patrons back in Europe.By means of a papal bull in 1493, Pope Alexander VI, divided the world between the 2 kingdoms. Although the line was later moved to allow Portugal to colonize Brazil, the original division was a line drawn from North to Southwest of the Azores [ah-zores] Islands. Spain was given the West Indies and the Americas; while Portugal, because it had already explored the west coast of Africa and moved towards India thru Vasco da Gama's explorations, was given the right to colonize Africa, India and the East.It seems monumentally arrogant to us today that these Europeans assumed they were “discovering” lands that already had people living there for generations. And how do you plant a colony in a place indigenous people had called their home for centuries? Yet that was the attitude of many Europeans in the late 15th C and as the scope of geography for the New World was understood, other Europeans joined the rush to grab as much territory as they could. è Because religion was a central and defining part of the European worldview, they took their Faith with them.Priests accompanied da Gama's voyages as they were a central part of Spanish colonization, combining the roles of missionaries, explorers, secretaries and chroniclers. Often they belonged to religious orders like the Franciscans and Dominicans, then later, the Jesuits.It was with a sense of religious mission, as well as the longing to acquire wealth from indigenous peoples, that men like Cortez and Pizarro began their conquest of the Aztec and Incan empires. Modern students of history know that the Spanish conquistadors seemed not to think forced baptisms of native Americans was all that bad of an option. What we do well to remember was that these explorers didn't originate the policy. Charlemagne had practiced a similar program of forced conversions. That doesn't make it right, but it provides a little historical context.Cortez was born in Medellin, Spain. He attended the University of Salamanca and left Spain for Cuba in 1511. At the age of 33 he mounted an expedition against the Aztec capital in Mexico with only 700 fellow Spaniards, but equipped with canons and muskets, reinforced by thousands of Indian allies who'd been brutally dominated by the blood-thirsty Aztecs for generations.Although he experienced a serious reverse after a massacre of Aztec nobles and temporarily had to withdraw from the capital of Tenochtitlan, he returned to the city in August 1520 and systematically destroyed it. He founded and built Mexico City on the same site, then became governor of New Spain and captain-general of the forces in 1522, titles that were confirmed by Emperor Charles V, when Cortez returned to Europe in 1529. He was later replaced by a viceroy and died in 1547.His contemporary, Pizarro, directed his attention to the Inca Empire in what would later be the nation of Peru. He obtained authority from Spain for its conquest in 1528–29 and attacked the Incas in 1530. A massacre of native Americans assembled at Cajamarca was followed by the capture of the Inca capital of Cuzco in November 1530.You may remember from an earlier episode, one of the major debates between the Church and civil rulers of Europe was over who had the right to appoint bishops. While there were seasons when civil rulers took control of this, it was usually the Church that maintained control over church appointments. The New World presented a new challenge and opportunity. The Pope was already busy enough with internal affairs and the threat of the Reformers to be bothered with selecting hundreds of new bishops for lands that hadn't even been properly mapped yet. So he granted the monarchs of Spain and Portugal the right to select church leaders in their new colonies.On the colonialist front, a system was developed called encomienda. By this method, a number of native Americans were assigned to a colonist-landlord. He was given rights to both tribute and labor but it was understood he was responsible for Christianizing those committed to his charge. As we'd suspect, the encomienda system became a by-word for oppression and cruelty and resulted in the virtual slavery of the Indians after its introduction in 1503. Brave Dominican priests denounced the system with one of the earliest protestors being Antonio de Montesinos on the island of Hispaniola in 1511.Bartholemew de las Casas was another Dominican, whose father accompanied Columbus on one of his voyages. When he witnessed the live burial of an Indian leader in 1514 in Cuba, he became a champion of Indian rights for the next 50 years.I pause at this point to speak to those offended by my use of the term “Indian” for the native Americans of the New World. There are those who believe it's a slight to refer to inhabitants of the new World as “Indians” because it was a historical mistake on the part of previous generations of Europeans who labeled them as such. BUT! It turns out many native Americans want to be identified, NOT as Native Americans, but as Indians. While they know the errant origin of the term, they've embraced it as a self-designation and ask that others identify them as “Indians.”This is akin to today, to followers of Jesus being more than happy to be known as Christians, though the best evidence says the terms was originally a slur applied by opponents of the Faith to its adherents.In any case, De las Casas had to confront a widespread European mindset based on a philosophical position going all the way back to Aristotle, that viewed New World Indians as inherently “less human” and so fit to be slaves by nature, an inferior race intended for menial labor and to serve their betters. He worked tirelessly in America and Spain to change this attitude and to convince those in authority that the use of force was contrary to a Christian understanding of the Indians as worthy of respect for those created in God's image. His efforts to lobby support at home in influential circles, received recognition from the Emperor, against the activities of the colonists. It included a debate in 1550 at Valladolid with the Aristotelian philosopher and scholar, Sepulveda. Before he died, de las Casas's campaign for just laws for the Indians was responsible for what's called “the New Laws” of 1542–3, which prohibited slavery and caused the Council for the Indies to be reorganized. After serving as bishop of Chiapas, de las Casas used his pen on behalf of the Indians, most famously in his Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, a hard-hitting critique of Spanish practices, in which some claimed he exaggerated abuses. But the work was widely read and proved influential in turning the tide in Europe toward a greater empathy toward the people of the New World.The Franciscans and Dominicans were the first in the field of the New World from 1510 onwards, but in the 2nd phase of the mission the Jesuits were active.José de Anchieta was a great Jesuit missionary who gave 44 years of his life and became known as the ‘apostle of Brazil'. He was one of the founders of both the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Jesuit missions. Another heroic figure and defender of Indian rights in Brazil was the Jesuit, Antonio Vieira, who in equal measure opposed both the Inquisition and colonists, was admired by King John IV of Portugal but almost lynched in 1661 after the king's death.In the 17th C, Jesuits were active in Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. In the early 1600s they created a missionary system known as the ‘Reductions.' These were settlements of Indians that sought to protect them from European colonization while at the same time evangelizing them. In total, these communities comprised some 100,000 people. Each settlement had a church, school and workshops and led an ordered life. The colonists resented the removal of their labor pool but the Jesuits steadfastly defended the Indians against enslavement.General agitation against the Jesuit order in Europe and colonies of the New World led to their expulsion from Portuguese territory in 1759, then from Spanish possessions 8 yrs later. The Jesuits were suppressed in the New World in 1773. All this was a disastrous blow to the Reductions. It also exposed the weakness of a form of mission that was essentially paternalistic, with little or no authority passed over to the indigenous people or attempt to develop leaders among the Indians. With the removal of the Jesuit leaders, the Reductions collapsed and whole villages were engulfed by jungle after 150 years as oases of Christian community.The region of modern Venezuela was an area for further Jesuit exploits. They penetrated the jungles of the Amazon to reach large numbers of Indians. One early Jesuit pioneer, Rafael Ferrer, began a mission in 1599 that saw his martyrdom in 1611. Further Jesuit efforts achieved more and by 1661 many thousands were baptized in the region. The Jesuits found that these people were less easily led than the Guarani people who lived around Sao Paulo. There was opposition from the Portuguese; but with assistance from the Franciscans, half a million people were reached.Central America was pioneered by the Franciscans, Dominicans and a Catholic order we've not seen before; the Mercedarians.Founded by the Spaniard, Peter Nolasco in 1235, their original goal was to ransom captives and redeem properties that had fallen into Muslim hands during the Moorish occupation of Spain. The Mercedarians began as a lay order but by the 14th C the clergy had taken control. Following the Reconquista, when the Moors were expelled from Spain, the Mercedarians continued their mission by traveling to Muslim lands to seek freedom for Christian captives. Gradually, academic, theological, and educational work was included in its work and an order of nuns was founded. They joined the Franciscans and Dominicans in taking the Gospel to Central America.The first church in Panama was built in 1510. Missionaries entered Guatemala in 1526. By 1600 there were 22 Franciscan and 14 Dominican bases in Guatemala.Mexico, after the era of Cortez, attracted the orders, so that Franciscans landed at Vera Cruz in 1524, Dominicans in 1526, Augustinians in ‘33, and later, Capuchins and Jesuits. The Franciscan, Juan de Zumarraga, became bishop of Mexico City in 1528 and proved to be a firm defender of Indian rights and a believer in an indigenous clergy. He became the archbishop of Mexico in 1546. The University of Mexico, founded in ‘53, reflected the church's emphasis on education.In the north of the country a famous Jesuit missionary, Eusebio Kino, arrived in 1681 and did missionary work in Baja California, up into the modern state of Arizona, and reaching as far as Colorado. Described as a modest, gentle, humble man who was an upholder of the welfare of Indians, he traveled perpetually in the interest of the mission. He hoped to reach the fierce Apaches but died before he could in 1711. Before their formal removal from the region, the Jesuits achieved 37 bases in Baja by 1767.In the modern state of California, a string of Franciscan missions are still to be found between San Diego and San Francisco. Father Junipero Serra, born in Majorca, became the leader of the mission and founded the communities of Monterey, Carmel, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and several others. While many of the original buildings are gone, Catholic churches continue on in several of these sites to this day. By 1800, some 100,000 Californian Indians, many from the Chumash people, had been reached by the mission and 18 Franciscan mission compounds were established. At least some of the thrust to the N was driven by Spanish fear of Russian incursion, moving S from Alaska. Father Serra also spent some years establishing a work in Texas.Regarding Junipero Serra, when I originally composed this episode, Pope Francis had recently arrived in the US where he addressed both the US Congress and the United Nations. While in the US, he canonized, that is, he conferred sainthood, on Serra. That had been an issue of some controversy for a while as Serra's career came under fire from some historians and human rights advocates.Critics claim Serra's methods ranged from harsh to brutal. Lashings of the Indians were used liberally in the missions for infractions as small as asking for more food.  The friars kept meticulous records so historians are able to document this treatment. The problem comes in interpreting these records. The language isn't the problem; it's the cultural context that makes interpretation difficult.On one hand, Serra was devoted to protecting the Indians from exploitation by adventurers and settlers who wanted to reduce the native population to slavery. Serra understood people are led to faith by kindness and love rather than heavy-handedness. That he traveled so far, pioneering several missions proves he wasn't driven by some kind of personal profit motive. So why the harsh treatment of the Indians at so many of the missions? Defenders of Serra say such treatment was necessary because of the nature of the cultures of the natives where the Missions were located.What we can say is that the Missions definitely went far to alter the tribal life of the Indians where they were based. If they began as attempts to Christianize Indians while allowing them to continue some of their native traditions, they ended up going much further in converting the Indians not just to the Faith, but to the Spanish culture. And it seems that more than anything raises the ire of at least some of Serra's critics.As we end, just a quick reminder that CS is supported by the donations of subscribers.

This 85th episode of CS, is titled, Dawn.I want to take a brief moment here at the start to say “Thank you” to all those who've spread the word about CS to their friends and family. We've had a significant bump in subscribers and lots of new likes on the FB page. So—Kudos to all who've spread the word.As most of you know, iTunes is by far the major portal for podcasts. So, if you use iTunes, a review of CS is a great way to boost our rating – and ratings usually translate into new subscribers. Why do we want more subscribers since there's no commercial interest in CS? Because information and knowledge about history are crucial to a well-rounded worldview. I'm convinced an accurate view of history is crucial to overcoming prejudice, to tearing down the walls that divide people. That is when we discover not just WHAT people believe but WHY – it helps puts things in perspective and disabuses us of errant opinions.Anyway, that's my hope.As I've learned about different groups, I've revised my opinions. Traditions almost always have some origin in history, in some ground that at the time seemed perfectly reasonable to the people who created them. We may not agree with them today, hundreds and even thousands of years later, but at least we can respect those who originally framed them; and if not respect, gain a modicum of understanding for the complexities they wrestled with.Okay, back to it …We've come now to one of the most significant moments in Church History; the Reformation. Since it's considered by many the point at which the Protestant church arose, it's important to realize a couple of things.First – The student of history must remember almost all those who are today counted as the first Protestants were Roman Catholics. When they began the movement that would later be called the Reformation, they didn't call themselves anything other than Christians of the Western, Roman church. They began as an attempt to bring what they considered to be much-needed reform to the Church, not to start something new, but to return to something true. When the Roman hierarchy excommunicated them, the Reformers considered it less as THEY who were being thrust forth out of the Church as it was those who did the thrusting, pushed them out of the true church which was invisible and not to be equated with the visible religious institution HQ'd in Rome, presided over by the Pope. It's difficult to say for certain, but you get the sense from the writing of some of the Reformers that they hoped the day would come when the Roman church would recognize in their movement the true Gospel and come to embrace it. Little did they envision how deep and wide the break between them would become, and how their movement would shatter and scatter into so many different sects, just as the Roman hierarchy worried and warned.Second - There'd been groups that diverged from Roman Catholicism and its Eastern cousin the Orthodox Church, for a long time. We've already considered the Nestorian Church which dominated the Church in the Far East for hundreds of years and didn't lose its place of prominence until the Mongol invasions of the 13th C. There were little communities of what can be called non-aligned Christians scattered throughout Europe. And we'll consider some of those as we turn now to the Reformation.Long before Luther nailed his list of 95 topics for discussion to the chapel door at Wittenberg, others had sniped at the theological position of the Roman church.  There'd always had been some who didn't agree with its teaching, and many had broken off into separate religious communities.By way of review …Peter Waldo was one of the most effective of the pre-Reformers. A wealthy merchant of Lyons, France, moved by Matthew 19:21, he was convinced that poverty in the service to Christ was the path to heaven. So three centuries before Martin Luther, he sold his estate and gave the proceeds to the poor. Within a year, he was joined by others, both men and women, who called themselves the “Poor Men of Lyons,” and took on an itinerant ministry of preaching repentance and living from handouts. These were an early form of what came to be the mendicant monks.Thinking themselves to be good Roman Catholics, they appealed to the Third Lateran Council in 1179 for permission to preach but were refused because they were considered ignorant and unlearned laymen. But they were convinced they were like the first followers of Jesus and should obey God rather than men. So, Peter and his followers continued to preach.In 1184, Pope Lucius III excommunicated them for their disobedience. Contrary to what we might expect, this brought numerous supporters, and the movement spread into southern France, Italy, Spain, the Rhine Valley, and Bohemia. That they gained such support after being drop-kicked by Rome leaves the impression the Church's reputation wasn't so grand, at least in the regions where the Waldensians lived and worked.It's hard to know if all those called “Waldensian” were really followers of Peter Waldo or if contemporary opponents just used that term as a blanket description for the many disaffected individuals who opposed the Church. It's possible as well that many smaller groups of non-aligned Christians emerged from hiding to join the Waldensians.Whatever the case, they took the New Testament as a rule of life and used it in what we might call a legalistic sense. They went about 2 by 2, wearing simple clothing, preaching repentance, frequent fasting, and living from the gifts of others. They rejected the doctrine of purgatory, masses and prayers for the dead, and promoted the necessity for translations of Scripture in people's native language. They insisted on the right of anyone to preach, man or woman—but they did have some organization among their clergy, with bishops, priests, and deacons.While Peter Waldo never embraced the doctrines we'd call genuinely evangelical, his emphasis on Scripture as the basis of faith and practice opened the door for his followers to become so.The Waldensians were persecuted harshly for centuries. Part of the reason for their widespread distribution in Europe was that they were driven from their homeland. In Bohemia, they ultimately became part of the followers of Jan Hus. In their mountain retreat of the Alps between France and Italy, their homeland by the time of the Reformation, they met with representatives of the Swiss Reformation in 1532 and adopted the theology and government of the Swiss Reformers. Then, in 1545, about 4000 were massacred in Provence, France. It wasn't until 1848 that they won recognition. Today they number about 20,000, the only medieval separatist group to survive to the present.That brings us to the next pre-reformer, the Englishman JOHN WYCLIFFE, who we've already looked at.John Wycliffe lived about 200 yrs after Peter Waldo. Like Waldo, Wycliffe was determined to derive his theology, both theoretical and practical, from Scripture. Like the Waldensians, Wycliffe encouraged the translation of the Bible into the common language and that anyone ought to be able to preach, not just sanctioned and licensed clergy.Though he personally translated or supervised the translation of parts of the Bible, the version given his name wasn't completed until after his death. Its widespread use had an influence on the development of the English language. Wycliffe was educated at Oxford and later became a master of Balliol College there. For a while chaplain to the king, with access to Parliament, he was able to reach some of the upper-class English. But he also sought to reach the common people, sending out lay evangelists to instruct them.After 1375, Wycliffe's reforming views developed rapidly. Pope Gregory XI condemned him in 1377 for his efforts, but he was protected by some of the nobles and the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III. These were the days of the Hundred Years War between England and France, when it was unthinkable an Englishmen would surrender one of their most outstanding countrymen to a pope at Avignon, under the domination of England's French foes.To Wycliffe, Scripture, which he interpreted literally, was the sole authority for the believer. Decrees of the pope were not infallible except as based on Scripture. The clergy were not to rule, but to serve and help people. He concluded that Christ and not the pope was the head of the church; in fact, the pope, if he were too eager for worldly power, might even be regarded as the Antichrist. Ultimately, Wycliffe repudiated the entire papal system. He also attacked transubstantiation, the Roman doctrine that the bread and wine of Communion become the actual body and blood of Christ in the Mass.  Wycliffe condemned the doctrine of purgatory, the use of relics, pilgrimages, and indulgences. For all this, he's called the Morningstar of the Reformation.Wycliffe's followers were forcefully suppressed in 1401. Those who held his views went underground and helped to prepare the way for the British Reformation a century later. Bohemians studying at Oxford in Wycliffe's day carried his ideas to their homeland, where they influenced the teachings of Jan Hus, another pre-reformer we've already looked at, but whom we'll consider again now in this set up for the Reformation.Hus was the professor of philosophy at the University of Prague and lead preacher at Bethlehem Chapel.  Historians used to think Hus transported Wycliffe's views to Prague but it seems clear now that while Hus was later influenced by Wycliffe's views, his reforms ran tandem to what was happening in England.Hus's approach was similar to Wycliffe's but his influence in Europe was greater than that of the Englishman's. Luther was greatly impressed with the work of Jan Hus. His greatest work was titled On the Church. He said that all the elect are members of Christ's church, of which Christ, rather than the pope, is head. He argued against simony, indulgences, and abuses of the mass. He demanded a reform in the lives of clergy, and the right of laymen to take both the bread and wine in Communion.Hus became the leader of a reform movement that spread across Bohemia. Almost the entire realm supported him, in spite of being excommunicated by the pope. After Hus's death the reform carried on, and in the middle of the 15th Century the Bohemian Brethren rose out of the embers of the fire Hus lit. They still exist as the Moravians.The 4th pre-Reformer was Savonarola who lived in Florence, Italy in the late 15th C. He was a fiery preacher against the worldliness and corruption of church and society. A Dominican, he was transferred to the priory of San Marco in 1482 and rose in influence and power in the city. His studies in the OT prophets and the book of Revelation made him a powerful preacher against the evils of a decadent society.Savonarola served as the spiritual leader of the political party that came to power in Florence when the Medicis fled the city in 1494. Exercising a virtual dictatorship, he tried to reform both the church and state. But over time, the people of Florence found his rule too strict and used his criticism of the Roman Church as the excuse to remove him from office. Pope Alexander VI's excommunication of Savonarola in 1497 was all the Florentines needed to arrest and try him for sedition and heresy. He was cruelly tortured then hanged in the piazza before the city hall, not far from where Michelangelo's David would stand just 5 years later.Although Savonarola demanded reform in the church, he never took the more advanced position of Wycliffe and Hus. He had no quarrel with the teachings or the organization of the church but seems to have believed in justification by faith.At the same time, Wycliffe and Hus were leading their attempts at reform, a mystical movement flowered in northern Europe. Known as The Brethren of the Common Life, they emphasized Bible reading, meditation, prayer, personal piety, and religious education. The main aim of the Brethren was to secure a revival of practical religion. They gathered in homes rather than monasteries, held property in common, worked to support themselves, and avoided the ill-will of the communities in which they lived by not seeking tax-exempt status or begging. They had good relations with the townspeople but sometimes incurred the suspicion and opposition of the clergy and monks. They attended parish churches and had no peculiar doctrinal positions.The Brethren were committed to education. They established several schools in the Netherlands and Germany that were outstanding for scholarship and piety. Four of their best-known students were Nicholas of Cusa, Erasmus, Luther, and Thomas à Kempis, who's credited with writing the widely distributed Imitation of Christ.Europe was a seething kettle by 1500, ready to boil over. In the realms of economics, politics, education, and religion, the time had come for change. All that was needed was someone who could mold these explosive elements into a single movement. Such a movement could, and eventually would cover Europe.There are a couple of reasons that need to be stated for why the Reformation succeeded—besides the obvious one many Protestant Christians would note first > It was God's Will.The more pedantic reasons are two-fold:First – The Great Papal Schism had left a bad taste in the mouth of many Christians in Europe. How could the Pope, the Vicar of Christ not be able to keep the Church together? And how could the Pope become such an obvious tool in the hand of secular rulers? The corruption of the Church was so obvious, so blatant, even the most devoted churchmen were embarrassed and wrote impassioned pleas for reform.And that leads us to the second reason the Reformation occurred; this was the age when the nation-states of Europe were emerging. Kings and regional governors were coming out from under the thumb of the Church hierarchy. Instead of Popes being king-makers, kings made popes. And some kings decided they didn't want to play Rome's game at all. They wanted to take their ball and go home to start their own game. If only someone would write some new rules.Enter: Martin Luther.In central Europe, the Holy Roman Empire which was essentially a German entity, had an emperor check-mated by numerous states with only slight allegiance to him. Muslim armies knocked at the doors of the empire not long after Luther tacked his theses to the church door at Wittenberg. After toppling Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Turks strolled across Eastern Europe until they stood at the gates of Vienna in 1529.What really happened was this. Charles, a Hapsburg with holdings in central Europe and king of the Netherlands and Spain, was elected in 1519 as Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Francis I of France, surrounded by Charles' territory and defeated by him in 1525, made an alliance with the Ottomans in 1526 to apply a pincer movement against Charles. The Emperor needed the help of all his German vassals to defeat the Muslims. When some of the German princes became supporters of Luther, Charles was no longer able to put religious pressure on them. If he did, they'd withhold aiding him politically and militarily. So Charles wasn't able to force Luther's political covering, the powerful Frederick of Saxony, to surrender Luther when the Pope demanded his head on a pike.This is all very fun, isn't it?Now consider this à Just a few years after Luther's birth, Columbus reached the New World in 1492 and launched the Spanish Empire in the West. Shortly after Luther posted his theses, Magellan's expedition sailed around the world. At the same time, the Portuguese were establishing outposts of empire in Brazil, Africa, India, and the Far East.Did you know Columbus and Luther were contemporaries?Let's not forget as well that a whole new world of thought had come in with the tide of the Renaissance. Rediscovering the literature and thoughts of the classical age, contributed to a greater secularization of life.Humanism was one of the main features of the Renaissance, involving a new emphasis on man and his culture and an effort to make the world a better place in which human beings might live. The pull of the future life was not so great for the true child of the Renaissance as it had been for his ancestors during the Middle Ages. As has been said, the Renaissance man would rather eat his pie now than have it in the sky by and by.In harkening back to the literature of the Classical Age, humanists put renewed emphasis on the study of Greek and Hebrew in an effort to read the classics in the original languages. The greatest of all ancient documents was the Bible, and the renewed emphasis on ancient languages led many to the Scripture.The literary humanists included a good deal of biblical study in their academic diet, and it was in the north that the Reformation gained the most headway, among scholars like Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon, and Erasmus.Erasmus was a great satirist of the evils of the institutional church and society. That he got away with it and was so popular proves that criticism of Romanism by Renaissance leaders contributed to the success of the Reformation.Adding to the effectiveness of the Reformation was the Renaissance spirit of individualism, which paved the way for Luther's emphasis on the priesthood of the believer and its attendant ideas of the right of believers to go directly to God and to interpret the Scriptures for themselves.Another important ingredient of the intellectual development of Europe on the eve of the Reformation was the invention of movable type and the spread of printing. Without it the Reformers would not have had the same impact. The tremendous literary activity of the Reformers was largely responsible for building the printing trade.Lastly, an important phenomenon of the period was the rapid growth of universities, which provided education for a larger number of people, fostered a critical spirit, and provided a means for leaders of the emerging generation to be reached with Reformation principles.As we end this episode, I wanted to let you know that the donation feature is once more active on the CS site. We had to block it for a while because fraud did a lot of damage. You've heard reports of identity theft. It seems once crooks snag a bunch of credit accounts, they check to see if they're still valid by using sites like CS to post a bogus donation of 1 to $5. If it goes through, they know the accounts good and make real charges. Problem is, EVERY time my account gets one of these bogus donations, the bank charges me a transaction fee. Let's just say, 10K bogus donations made for a hefty cost to the CS account. So we had to block the donation feature until the proper security could be installed. That's done now thanks to the excellent work of Dade Ronan at Win at Web. Thanks, Dade. You're a genius!So, if you'd be so kind, a donation to keep the site up would be marvelous.

The title of this episode of CS is The Not-So Great After All Schism.At the end of our last episode, a Frenchman, the Archbishop of Bordeaux was elected by the College of Cardinals in 1305 as Pope Clement. But Clement never set foot in Rome, because the locus of political power had shifted to France and her King, Philip.  This marks the beginning of what's called the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, a 72–year long period when France dominated the papacy. After Clement, the next 6 Popes, all French, made their headquarters in Avignon, France rather than Rome. Though it began as a small town when Clement first located there, over the next 70 years it grew to a population of some 80,000, nearly all of them associated in some way with the Church bureaucracy.This transfer of the papacy from Rome to France had a profound impact on the way all Europe came to see both the Pope and the leadership of the Church. Rome was the Eternal City. The Church of Rome, with the Pope as its bishop, went all the way back to Peter. That's why people regarded it as special; why it called the shots for everyone else. If the Pope no longer sat in Rome, if he could now reside in some other church, what did that say about his authority? Was he indeed Peter's successor? Was he truly The Vicar of Christ? And what did it mean when the Pope seemed to be little more than the political mouthpiece for the King of France?While the French enjoyed having the Pope close to home, the rest of Europe didn't find it much to their liking. The duchies and other regions of what would later be called Germany in particular resented it, being in constant tension with their French neighbors.A good part of the hostility toward the Avignon papacy revolved around the abuse of money. Since the Papal States in Italy were no longer contributing, the papacy nearly went bankrupt. To replace lost income, French popes employed a slew of schemes. There were fees for this and taxes for that. Whenever a new bishop was appointed, his first year's income went to the Pope. Veteran bishops were transferred between churches, so the Pope could start the process all over again. Sometimes no bishop would be appointed so the entire income went to Avignon.The most lucrative practice was the granting of indulgences. These were passed out for just about any reason; any venture the Church figured was in its interest. From minor public works to war could earn someone an indulgence. And what the indulgences earned those they were granted, grew as time passed. The common people, who couldn't afford to purchase such spiritual extravagances, and trusted in a more sincere form of devotion, saw all of this as a gross departure from the path of genuine righteousness. Bitter feelings toward Avignon grew, especially when the Pope demanded an increase in revenue under the threat of excommunication. Hell was for un-repentant sinners, not people who couldn't afford to pay ever more taxes and fees.By 1360, the outcry over the French domination of the Church made it clear the Avignon papacy could not continue. But no one foresaw the incredible events a return to Rome would bring.In 1377, the elderly Pope Gregory XI re-entered Rome. But the joy that attended the re-establishment of the papacy there was short-lived. Gregory died within a year. The College of Cardinals, still filled by Frenchmen, yielded to the clamor of a Roman mob and chose an Italian. On Easter Sunday, April 18, Urban VI was crowned as the new Vicar of Christ. As the next months unfolded, it became clear Urban was a harsh dictator. The Cardinals had second thoughts about his election. In August, they announced that in their earlier decision, a mob had forced the selection of an apostate and the proceedings were invalid.End of Round One.A month later, the so-called apostate Pope Urban VI fired off Round Two by creating a new College of Cardinals. The sitting College, dominated by French cardinals, chose a new Pope from among their number, Clement VII. Clement took a tour of Italy to present himself as the real Pope, then headed back to à Avignon.This brings us to what's known as “The Great Schism.” It lasted 39 years. Each papal court had its own College of Cardinals, insuring the succession of its choice. Each Pope claimed to be the true Vicar of Christ, with the power to excommunicate those who refused to acknowledge him. The other guy was “antichrist.”Of course, the French went with Clement; Italy and most of the rest of Europe, with Urban. But since England went with Urban, Scotland went with – can you guess? Yep – Clement. Within each kingdom, there were minorities of support for the “other guy.” Riots broke out. Property was burned and a new crusade was called for.In 1395, professors at the University of Paris proposed a general council, representing the Universal Church, to meet and heal the schism. Problems immediately arose. Canon Law said only the Pope could call a general council; and only the Pope could ratify any decision it made. Which Pope had those rights? In effect, Canon Law prohibited the reunion of Christendom.By 1409, a majority of cardinals from both sides agreed something had to be done. They met for a general council at Pisa in Italy. They deposed both Popes and elected a new man, Alexander V. Wouldn't you just know it; neither of the two deposed prelates accepted the action. Now the Church had not two, but three Popes!One of them called for a crusade against another and sold indulgences to pay for it. This ridiculousness finally stirred the people of Europe to action. In 1414, the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund assembled the most impressive Church gathering of the era at the German city of Constance. Even the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church sent representatives.For the first time, voting took place on a purely national basis. Each nation had one vote. The national structure of the council was highly significant. It shows that the Church was reluctantly coming to realize the new alignment of power turning Europe into the modern world.It took three years, but eventually the council got one of the Popes to step aside, deposed the other two and chose a new Pope, Martin V. One of the deposed popes tried to retain his title, but for all practical purposes, the council in Constance brought an end to the Great Schism.Just when it seemed things would get back to normal, the new Pope made a move which seemed to slit his own throat. The instant he was seated, he repudiated all acts of the council, except the one by which he ruled. Yet it was the council's acts that had built the authority by which they could name him Pope. It was as if he said his election was based on a fiction.Looking back, Pope Martin's actions seem foolish, but he had good reason to deny the work of the council. It raised an important question: Who's greater, a council that seats a Pope, or the Pope who's authority convenes councils?This blatant foray into political machinations dug a trough for the papacy it would be a while getting out of.As we end this episode on the Not-So-Great-After-All Schism, it seems a good place to pause and make an editorial comment.Over the years I've done this podcast, I've had only a few Roman Catholics who've gone after me for not being fair with the Church and Papacy. A lot more have remarked on how fair they've found the podcast. So let me say this à The Church, whether we're talking about the Eastern Orthodox, the Church in the East, the Roman Catholic Church, or the dozens of Protestant groups have a mixed record when it comes to faithfulness to God. There are high points and low. Golden Ages, Glided Ages, and periods of growdy mud. There's no point in white-washing those times in Church History when the People of God didn't act like it. This era of the Great Schism is at best an embarrassment. No amount of spin can make it anything else.Pope Alexander VI's real name was Roderigo Borgia. He ruled from 1492–1503 and was grossly immoral; obsessed with providing wealth and power for his children. Yes, I said “children.” So much for being celibate. The entire 15th C is an abysmal period for the Popes as they were far more interested in politics and the arts than the things of God. As Shelly puts it, “The pope often could not make up his mind whether he was the successor of Peter or Caesar. Political corruption and immorality in the Vatican reached unbelievable heights under the Borgias.”And while things were horribly out of whack in the upper reaches of Church Hierarchy, there were many godly bishops, priests, and deacons who served their parishes well, with a heart to glorify God. It's just that the Papacy was certainly no example to follow.So, Pope Martin tried to up-end the Council of Constance but what happened there was not to be forgotten by the representatives. Estrangement from the Vatican was growing. Men began to think in terms of “national churches,” and a church governed by representative bodies instead of a tyrannical dictator.The ground for the Reformation was being plowed.