Detail of The Story of the Florentine Antonio Rinaldeschi, dated 1501/2

Tavolette: Paintings to Comfort the Condemned

Charged with saving the immortal souls of the condemned, comforters held tavolette showing the Crucifixion in front of the eyes of those facing execution.
Coco de mer

Coco De Mer: The Magical Derrière of the Sea

Once viewed as a precious item of mysterious origin, the seed of the coco do mer palm, though better understood today, remains a rare and valuable commodity.
Village Festival by David Teniers the Younger

Hocktide: A Medieval Fest of Flirtation and Finances

The springtime holiday of Hocktide not only allowed villagers to cross social boundaries in the name of fun, it helped them raise funds for nonsecular needs.
Soeur Jeanne by Charles Emmanuel Patas after Charles Monnet

A Mother Superior’s Demons

What does it mean when an entire convent of Urusline nuns appears to be possessed by demons? Many things, as it turns out.
Opera di M. Bartolomeo Scappi, cuoco secreto di Papa Pio V

The Wild West of Papal Conclaves

In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the death of a pope led to all sorts of chaos, from the destruction of art to armed violence in the streets.
The Execution of Charles I of England, c. 1649

It’s Not as Good to Be the King as It Used to Be

The trial and execution of Charles I irrevocably sundered the tradition of a divine, anointed king.
Title page for Sinners in the hands of an angry God, 1741

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
Lady Arbella Stuart

The Lady Who Might Have Been Queen of England

The failed campaign to put Lady Arbella Stuart in the line of succession began with a matchmaking scheme between her two grandmothers.
A Sea Bishop and a Sea Monk

Martin Luther’s Monsters

Prodigies, or monsters, were opaque and flexible symbols that signaled that God was sending some message.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schreibzeug_(Nürnberg).jpg

How Renaissance Artisans Turned Live Animals into Silver

Lifecasting was the renaissance art of making sculptures using molds taken from real-life plants and animals.