In the years up to 1623, Papirio Bartoli, Cardinal Federico Borromeo’s Milanese agent in Rome, drew up a project for an intervention on St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. The Lombard’s main proposal was the construction of an enormous boat-shaped choir at the crossing of the church, but the dilettante also suggested the construction of two new aisles, a new façade, and a porticoed piazza in...
Finding Margaret (Pole) in Shakespeare’s Richard III
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Although the two princes may be the most well-known children in Richard III, Clarence’s son and daughter surface at key moments in Shakespeare’s script. Clarence’s daughter, the historical Margaret Plantagenet, would go on to become the Margaret Pole executed by Henry VIII, and she offers an intriguing instance of a young female child on the early modern stage. By reading the girl Margaret as...
Knox, the Scottish Church, and Witchcraft Accusations
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The link between the reformation and witch-hunting in Scotland has not always been clear, including the role played by the reformer, John Knox. This paper argues that Knox’s contribution was the direct consequence of how he read scripture and applied it to contemporary developments in Scotland. Knox’s approach to scripture, as studied by previous scholars, is outlined and then applied to the...
Stabat Mater Dolorosa: Mary at the Foot of the Cross
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From earliest times, controversies abounded about the Blessed Virgin Mary, her Immaculate Conception or capacity for sin, and other issues. These controversies achieved particular intensity and expression in a debate about the Mater Dolorosa, the “sorrowful mother” at the foot of the Cross, a debate that began with the patristic writers and came to intense new life in early modern English ...
The Precedence Controversy and the Devolution of Ferrara: A Shift in Renaissance Politics
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The precedence controversy refers to the dispute between the dukes of Ferrara and the dukes of Florence over who had precedence at ceremonials, especially those held at the papal court, over the last half of the sixteenth century. The controversy has been largely undervalued as the product of mere princely egotism, especially of Alfonso II d’Este and Cosimo I de’ Médici, linked to the decline ...