F-YEAH HISTORY

Map of Western Africa by Lázaro Luis, 1563

Drawing of the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, 14–15 October 1586

Adalbert I of Teck - detail from a painting of the family tree of the Dukes of Teck, c. 1557

The Spanish Fury (Engraving) by Hans Collaert The sack of Antwerp or the Spanish Fury at Antwerp was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. On 4 November 1576, mutinying Spanish tercios began the sack of Antwerp, leading to three days of horror among the population of the city, which was the cultural, economic and financial center of the Netherlands. The savagery of the sack led the provinces of the Low Countries to unite against the Spanish crown. The devastation also caused Antwerp's decline as the leading city in the region and paved the way for Amsterdam's rise.

Greenstone staff from the Tairona culture, c. 1550-1600, from Magdalena, Colombia Tairona was a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which goes back at least to the 1st century CE.

The last letter of Mary Queen of Scots 'At 2am on Wednesday 8 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots picked up her pen for the last time. Her execution on the block at Fotheringhay Castle was a mere six hours away when she wrote this letter. It is addressed to Henri III of France, brother of her first husband.' - Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland's manuscript collections. (NLS reference: Adv.MS.54.1.1)

Translated text can be found here.

Depiction of the Battle of Mohács, 1526 The Battle of Mohács was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Hungary and was a decisive event for the history of East-Central Europe for the following centuries. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland under Elizabeth I, sets out from Dublin Castle. Detail from a plate in The Image of Irelande, by John Derrick (London, 1581)

Map of Vienna from 1530

The ivory throne of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately 4,046,856 km2 (1,562,500 sq mi). Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.

Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. In one such outburst he killed his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich. This left the Tsardom to be passed to Ivan's younger son, the weak and intellectually disabled Feodor Ivanovich. Ivan's legacy is complex: he was an able diplomat, a patron of arts and trade, founder of Russia's first Print Yard, a leader highly popular among the common people of Russia, but he is also remembered for his paranoia and arguably harsh treatment of the nobility.

1584 map of the Azores

17th-century portrait of Johann Georg Faust Dr. Johann Georg Faust (/ˈfaʊst/; c. 1480 (or 1466) – c. 1540), also known in English as John Faustus /ˈfɔːstəs/, was an itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance. His life became the nucleus of the popular tale of Doctor Faust from circa the 1580s, notably culminating in Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1604) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's closet drama Faust (1808).

Deification of Julius Caesar, a 16th-century engraving by Virgil Solis illustrating Ovid's passage on the apotheosis of Caesar (Metamorphoses 15.745-850)

Turquoise mosaic mask. Mixtec-Aztec, 1400-1521

Engravings of Julius Caesar and Joshua, from a series of the Nine Worthies, c. 1550 The Nine Worthies are nine historical, scriptural and legendary personages who personify the ideals of chivalry as were established in the Middle Ages. All are commonly referred to as 'Princes' in their own right, despite whatever true titles each man may have held. In French they are called Les Neuf Preux, meaning "Nine Valiants", which term gives a slightly more focused idea of the sort of moral virtue they were deemed to represent so perfectly, that of soldierly courage and generalship. The study of the life of each would thus form a good education for the aspirant to chivalric status. In Italy they are i Nove Prodi.

The Nine Worthies include three good pagans: Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, three good Jews: Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus, and three good Christians: King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon.

The Ditchley Portrait of Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger - Queen Elizabeth I standing on a map of England, 1592

Depiction of cannibalism, 1571, German plate