The hauberk, made entirely of steel links, was an essential part of a knight's equipment during the Hundred Years War. Since each link had to be attached by hand, a small army of craftsmen such as this one must have been needed to meet the total...
A Peasant Woman of the 17th c.
Occasionally in Art, where there was a strong tendency towards social realism, voices of poor can be heard. Louis Le Nain, greatest and most compassionate of this school, painted the woman here in about 1645. It is...
""I Build""
Henri's ambitious improvements to the city of Paris were to be of lasting importance. Besides the Place Dauphine and the Place Royale--the first modern ""squares"" of Europe--he built the Pont...
German trade and finance is proudly displayed in this allegory by Jost Amman. In the center are represented the qualities needed in a merchant--Integrity, Discretion, Knowledge of languages--while the sides form a panorama of the businessman's...
Beggars waiting for alms outside a church, from the German edition of Petrarch's De remediis utriusque fortunae. Even when harvest was good, large proportion of population lived on brink of extreme poverty, and when it failed masses of both town...
Dutch Interior, early 17th c.
A comfortable bourgeois world developed in first decades of 17th century. Northern painters loved to recreate this world based on wealth gained in commerce, and to dwell on simple but often rich surroundings of the...
Converted Moors (Moriscos)
The converted Moors, or Moriscos, lived in greatest numbers in the Alpujarra mountains near Granada until they were dispersed through Spain after the rebellion of 1568-70. Morisco women are shown above in Braun and...
This map shows the spread of Black Death across Europe, after it had moved from the steppes of Central Asia, following trade routes opened by Mongols, reaching Constantinople by 1347. Perhaps one third of European population perished in first...
Detail ofan an altarpiece showing Madonna and Child, with Saints and Angels, and Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, kneeling before her, by Piero della Francesca, c.1472. .Trease notes that Federigo was the most attractive and civilized of...
Florence. Late Middle Ages.
From detail of painting. Octagonal Baptistry in middle, tower of the Badia to its left, the Palazzo Vecchio behind and the unfinished Cathedral and Campanile on right. 14c. cities. Urban. Italy.
Cologne, late middle ages.
Detail from a larger painting. Choir of Cathedral on right, unfinished, as it was for whole of Middle ages; church of St Martin near center.
Hamburg: cattle market and market court.
. Hamburg's cattle market, like others all over Europe, was both a busy centre of trade and a profitable municipal privilege. Dues had to be paid, licences bought and bye laws adhered to. The market court is...
