renaissance

n/a

Niccolò Machiavelli in the chapter VI of 'The Prince' pointed out that the greatest issue for Friar Girolamo Savonarola was the absence of a personal army able to support him when nobody else would. I was thinking to this when I remembered about a Sepâh. You know what I want to ask. Given that...

What if Marcus Tullius Cicero Cicero, the Roman statesman and Lawyer never existed, or died at a very young age? I don't think this would have too much of an affect on the Civil Wars, but it would affect later Roman writers such as Tacitus who longed for Republican era statesmen. Beyond that...

For a while now, I've been working on a pretty standard Yorkist TL. The PODs are pretty small: Mary of Burgundy doesn't die in a riding accident. James III is killed by the pro-Albany lords, James IV and his retainers are forced into exile, allowing the Duke of Albany to become king. Butterflies...

At the end of the Middle Age, Genoa, Firenze and Venice were powerful city states that had a vast economic and cultural influence over the rest of Europe, Venice controlled a large part of the trade in the Mediterrannean, so did Genoa, along with strong financial ties with Spain in its early...

Apparently Ludovico 'il Moro' tried to secure English involvement in the Italian Wars by pitching an engagement between his son and Mary Tudor (the elder). Henry VII wasn't having it and turned it down. So, let's suspend credulity for the moment, and say that Henry VII/VIII agress to marrying...

PLEASE NOTE BEFORE READING: I've already done extensive research into how these events leading up to the conquest of Rome would have occurred. It has nothing to do with bias toward Muslims, nor Christians, but based on some very peculiar situations many countries were finding themselves in...

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What if the king of France Charles VIII had never invaded itaIy in 1494, kick-starting the Italian wars? His plan was to take southern Italy and use it to start a crusade against the ottomans, but how would the history of Europe change without this series of wars during the 16th century? And...

Winner of the 2020 Turtledoves for Best Early Modern Timeline Introduction "A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from snares, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be...

Hi everyone. I know that race and racism in alternate timelines is a difficult topic to discuss, but I think it's one that's worth exploring, and I think this board is mature enough to handle it. So, I was reading over this Wikipedia page that gives a brief overview on how concepts of race used...

The first of the cadet branches of the title to go was the Burgundian branch of the Valois with the death of Charles the Bold (he left no son, so the line died with his daughter). The next to go was Valois-Anjou, in the person of the Comte du Maine. The hopes of the Angevins had reposed...

Isabella of Portugal b 1503, Holy Roman Empress and queen of Spain died in 1539 at the age of 36. If the empress were to survive until somewhere around 1555 or so what would be the consequences for the future? I just really like her as a person and queen and it's a interesting subject to explore.

The AHC if you choose to accept it is with a POD in 1491, make Ireland a possession of the Kingdom of Spain or a separate portion of the Spanish Empire. What would be the effects of this rule and how would the Irish people adapt to an even more distant rule than that of England? Preferably this...

Summary: The story of Venetian suffrage as the Patricians of Venice blunders unintentionally toward equality and industry. This TL is written so that no background knowledge is required to enjoy the TL. Q&A in the post below. The focus is on social change in the aristocratic police state that is...

I remember having read that universities once had parliamentary representation in the UK (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_constituency). Would it be possible to have, at the example of clerical states within HRE, to see some 'scientocratic' states emerging out of universities, and at...

The Visconti Victorious Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, b. 1351 In August 1402 the armies of Milan stood at the gates of Florence. For the past twenty years the brilliant lord Gian Galeazzo Visconti had amassed a powerful array of territory in Northern Italy- bequeathed the city of Pavia at...

János Arany, 19th century Hungarian poet wrote a trilogy of epic poems about the 14th century Hungarian knight, Miklós Toldi. The last part of the trilogy, Toldi Estéje "Toldi's Night" takes place at the very end of the 14th century, the titular character is an old man, months before his death...

Cesare Borgia: A Restored Rome Timeline Act 1 Cesare Borgia Part 1: The Young Prince ‘While you are the mighty representative of God on Earth, after your passing there will be no glory, no hope for our house, for land determines glory in this age of might makes right.' Cesare Borgia, 1491...

What if Machiavelli worked directly for Cesare Borgia as a strategist? How would this change Cesare Borgia's fate, and ambitions over Italy? What is the maximum Cesare Borgia could accomplish with Machiavelli's tactics, or would it change anything at all?