March HistoryCat: Early Modern History c. 1500 - 1800

Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1503

This month we will be reading Early Modern History c. 1500 – 1800 which was a time of immense growth and change in regards to world events, politics, art and literature and science. I’ve listed some of the highlights as follows:

Art and Literature

1501 - Michelangelo starts work on his statue of David
1503 - Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
1590 - William Shakespeare writes his first play
1605 - Cervantes publishes Don Quixote
1759 - Voltaire publishes Candide

Science

1610 – Galileo Galilei – telescopic observations
1619 - Johannes Kepler writes the laws of planetary motion
1628 - William Harvey describes the process of circulation
1632 - Issac Newton creates the laws of gravity
1665 - Robert Hooke discovers the cell

Rulers & World Events

: the Tudors, the Stuarts, the House of Hanover were British rulers through this time period
: 1501 Portugal establishes a colony in Brazil
: 1503 Portugal opens spice trade with India and gains a foothold on the sub-continent
: 1512 Magellan circumnavigates the globe
: 1517 Egypt becomes part of the Ottoman Empire
: 1521 The Aztec Empire Falls
: 1532 The Incan Empire Falls
: 1534 Jacques Cartier claims Canada for France
: 1559 Queen Elizabeth I is crowned
: 1588 Spanish Armada defeated
: 1500 - 1600 The establishment of the Slave Trade in West Africa, taking Africans to the New World to work the sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations
: 1600 The East India Company is formed in England with the goal of overtaking the spice trade
: 1607 The colony of Jamestown, Virginia established
: 1631 Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan starts building the Taj Mahal in honor of his deceased wife
: 1643 Louis XIV starts his reign in France
: 1649 Charles 1 executed
: 1652 The Dutch establish a permanent settlement in South Africa
: 1653 Oliver Cromwell established as Lord Protector of England
: 1660 Charles II restored to the English throne
: 1666 Great Fire of London
: 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham, England defeating France for the control of Canada
: 1760 James Watt perfects the steam engine
: 1770 Captain James Cook claims all of eastern Australia for England
: 1773 The Boston Tea Party
: 1776 The Declaration of American Independence
: 1781 The end of the American Revolution
: 1788 First permanent settlement in Australia – sending convicts to colonize
: 1789 The French Revolution
: 1799 Napoleon appointed First Consul of France

As you can see there was a lot happening and I’ve just barely scratched the surface. Many of the most colorful and written about monarchs made an appearance in this time period from Henry VIII and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth Tudor in England, to the Sun King Louis XIV, and of course Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette of France. There were events of interest all over the globe from the new colonies in America to the battle for trade and eventual dominance in India and the far east.

Enjoy your reading exploration of this time in history and please don’t forget to update the wiki with your reading choices. Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2021_HistoryCAT


Portrait of a Violinist by Louise Moillon, 1773

I am planning on reading:

Blue Jacket: War Chief of the Shawnees by Allan Eckert
Pieces of Eight by John Drake
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm reading Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy this year, so whichever one of them I'm reading in March is the one that I'll count for this CAT, probably Bring Up the Bodies. I'm enjoying my reread of Wolf Hall right now.

I've downloaded George Eliot's Romola, but am also keeping my eye out for something shorter and lighter, just in case.

It's set in Florence in the 1490s, close enough?

>2 DeltaQueen50: Ooh, Kidnapped is on my pile for a re-read, so I might mark that for this challenge too.

I have a lot I can choose from for this. Ones I'm leaning toward at the moment include:

Arabella: England's Lost Queen / Sarah Gristwold
To Hold the Crown / Jean Plaidy
Bloody Jack / L.A. Meyer
Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax / Kate Berridge

>4 pamelad: I think 1490 is close enough. :)

I think I will read Tulip Fever, 17th century Amsterdam. It's a novel, but tagged as art history.

I have Cromwell: Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser on my TBR shelf but it is rather a tome so I don't know if I will feel up to it.

I have several in mind. I don't know how many I'll get to.
Colonial American Travel Narratives
Four Women in a Violent Time (one of the four women is my ancestor)
Beheld

Considering Tombland, the most recent of the Matthew Shardlake series by C J. Sansom. I've read all the others, but have been putting this off because it's 880 pages long.

I must have something on the shelves, but it's not leaping out at me right now.

I'm sure I won't get to Kidnapped this month (I had planned to read it for AlphaKIT), so I'm postponing it to March. Excellent! I didn't realize that it takes place in the 18th century until I read this thread.

I'll be reading Revenger by Rory Clements, set in Elizabethan England.

>3 RidgewayGirl: I received the third in the Cromwell trilogy for Christmas this year, and I'm torn between reading all three (which would be re-reading Wolf Hall for the third time) or starting with Bring Up the Bodies before moving onto the The Mirror and the Light.

How are you enjoying your re-read?

I'll try to find an American Colonial Period book or perhaps a Renaissance England book to read. I'm sure I have something from both in my stash.

I think I'll count A fistful of shells by Toby Green. It's the right time period - West African economic history 1500-1790s. I'm about a third of the way through, so I'll read the bulk of it in March, even if I spill over into April.

>17 markon: how are you doing with that one? I read it and it always felt like there was an interesting story that remained just out of my grasp. Economics is not my thing, though, so I was always going to struggle. I felt it could have done with a few more maps.

I started Romola, but couldn't make it through the prologue, then started Tombland and realised that I had no desire to read nearly 900 pages, so the new plan is Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings.

>18 Helenliz: It's slow going, but good information. And it isn't a straightforward narrative. Me & economics aren't good friends either, but so far I think I'm understanding it enough.

Starting Cromwell, Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser, a biography of the 17th century British Lord Protector.

I'm reading The Last Man who Knew Everything which is a tiny bit late, in that it spills over into the 1800's.

I am rereading The Three Musketeers (via audiobook narrated by John Lee), which is set in the early 17th century (during the reign of King Louis XIII).

I have also just gotten Hamnet from the library, my hold having come in. This book is (obviously) set in the time of Shakespeare, the late 16th century.

Well, both my books were excellent! So much so that I spent the weekend devouring them and am now finished.

I have been toying with the idea of rereading Dorothy Dunnett's Niccolo series but it is set a bit before this timeframe (late 1400s)...

I read Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach. The name makes one think it would be about tulips-wrong! The tags makes one think it about be about art-wrong! This was a love story, oft times bordering on the pornographic that takes place in Holland during the 1600's. It wasn't even a good story! 290 pages

>25 Tess_W: Maybe you could count it for the RandomCAT - the contents were a surprise :-)

>26 Robertgreaves:, Great idea, Robert!

I read The last man who knew everything by Andrew Robinson. Not sure it achieved what it set out to do.

I have finished Piraten und Korsaren im Mittelmeer which covers piracy and privateering in the Mediterranean from 1500 to 1800.

I pre-ordered a copy of Colonial Mississippi: A Borrowed Land by Christian Pinnen and Charles Weeks which arrived in advance of its publication date this month. It focuses mainly on 18th century Mississippi under French, British, and Spanish rules--its pre-1798 territorial days. It will probably also get into Georgia's claims. It does discuss the native populations as well. I had a European book picked out, but I can't figure out which box it is in. This one also helps with a recorded presentation I'll be doing later this month. Although I've already got that section of the presentation done, I main gain some new insight to include.

I plan to have the April thread up tonight.

Here's April's thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/330659

Finished Queen without a Crown by Fiona Buckley, an Elizabethan spy/mystery/adventure story.

COMPLETED Cromwell, Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser

Something of a tome, but seemed to me thorough and even-handed

I have finished The Queen's agent about Francis Walsingham.

>15 threadnsong: I bought my copy of The Mirror and the Light a year ago and spent months trying to decide whether to reread the first two books. Finally decided to do the reread and it has been really worthwhile. I finished Wolf Hall this weekend and immediately began Bring Up the Bodies. I'm enjoying treating the trilogy as just one long book.

I've just started The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley, which takes place partially in the early 1700s. It involves time travel or time slippage of some sort -- a contemporary woman goes back to the reign of George I.

I found a childhood favorite at a thrift store this past week, and suddenly realized it fit this challenge!


Margaret Pumphrey's Pilgrim Stories by Elvajean Hall and Margaret Pumphrey

It held up well as an adult re-read.

So far this month I have read Pieces of Eight by John Drake and Blue Jacket War Chief of the Shawnees by Allan Eckert. I am still hoping to squeeze in Kidnapped.

I finished Richard II (by William Shakespeare), a sixteenth-century (1595) History play about a fifteenth-century English king! That’s probably all I’ll get to for this month for 1500-1800 CE!

Bloody Jack / L.A. Meyer
3.75 stars

At the end of the 18th century, Mary thinks she was about 8 years old or so when her parents died and she was literally put out on the street and left to fend for herself. She managed to join up with some other homeless kids and they begged and stole and did what they could for money and food. When she was a few years older, Mary decided to dress like a boy and she managed to get on a ship as a ship’s boy. But no one knew she was really girl as they went about their adventures on the sea.

I listened to the audio and loved the accent. I think it was a Cockney accent (had to look that up!). I quite enjoyed this and it gets the extra ¼ star for the audio. The story was fun, too. It’s odd, but whether I listen to or read adventure, I tend to not pay as much attention to the adventure parts. Odd, I know. But I still quite liked the story and I will be continuing the series.

The world of Renaissance Florence has only one foot in the 16th century, but I am counting it as I am so glad actually finished it.

edited for touchstone

I finished my selection for this month: Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen, which is set in 1726 England and is based on the true story of a woman who starts giving birth to rabbits. I highly recommend it.

I finally finished Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, which takes place in 1751.

Currently reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, set (so far) in 1968 Scotland and 1744 France. I doubt I'll finish it today.

I have finished The Other Boleyn Girl which takes place from 1522 to Anne Boleyn's beheading in 1536. Excellent historical fiction!

>46 leslie.98: That's a great choice for this CAT that I wouldn't have thought of!

>47 MissBrangwen: I almost didn't think of it either! I was looking for an audiobook to listen to and while scrolling through my library discovered this one.

I read Four Women in a Violent Time and Beheld, and I'm hoping to finish Colonial Women tonight. Sadly, I found them all meh.

Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax / Kate Berridge
3 stars

Madame Tussaud was taught by her “uncle”(? Not sure if he was really her uncle, or just the man her mother worked for) to form wax models. She also turned out to be a pretty good marketer and businesswoman. She lived through the French Revolution, then took her wax figures with her to England. From there, she travelled through Scotland and Ireland. Meanwhile, her husband and one son (the other son was with her) stayed in France (until the younger son was in his early 20s, at which time he joined his mother and brother). A man she had gone into business with when she went to England and her husband took advantage of her brilliant head for business (and the money that came from it).

Most of what people know of the early part of Marie Grosholtz’s (Madame Tussaud’s) life came from her own autobiography. This author tries to verify (but has a hard time doing so) much of what Marie wrote about her own life. It seems that there may have been a lot of exaggeration, particularly during the French Revolution, when she created wax figures out of decapitated heads during the “Terror”. It was easier to verify her life (as she became more well-known) once she moved to England.

The book was ok, but a few too many parts of it were kind of dry reading. All I knew about her was from Michelle Moran’s book, but her book pretty much ended when Marie moved to England. I hadn’t realized she had done as much travelling as she had – to promote her show and her wax models. She really does seem to have had a good head for business, but much of her money was taken by a bad deal with the man she went into business with in England (until she untangled herself from him) and her dud of a husband in France.

>46 leslie.98: I decided to re-read Bring Up the Bodies before starting The Mirror and the Light. I'm pretty familiar with the story of Katherine of Aragon and I've seen several episodes of the PBS series of Wolf Hall. The intrigues of Queen Anne's days are really drawing me into the second one.

And like you, I think I'll look at these as one giant trilogy.

Belatedly adding Der Astronom und die Hexe in which Johannes Kepler defends his mother in a legal action where she is accused of being a witch.

I am also adding L'économie de la Révolution Française which turned out to be a very engrossing and fascinating read looking at the budgetary and grain crisis of the French Revolution.