Christianity

John of Plan Carpini

J.J. Saunders describes the Papal envoy to the Mongol conquerors who travelled through Russia to eastern Asia in 1245-7.

Voltaire and the Massacre of St Bartholomew

J.H.M. Salmon describes how Voltaire was haunted by the massacre of Huguenots in August 1572, and used his version of the complicated event in his lifelong campaign against prejudice and superstition.

Guelf and Ghibelline in Italy

Peter Partner describes how resentment against the exile of the Papacy in Avignon led to the ‘War of the Eight Saints’ in 1375 by the ‘Guelf’ cities of Italy.

Bernini and Rome

Judith Hook profiles the genius of Rome during the great Catholic Reformation.

Italy and the Counter-Reformation

Judith Hook describes how, during the sixteenth century gifted churchmen in Italy tried, against crosscurrents of foreign influence, to heal the divisions of Christianity

The Insecure World of Oliver Heywood

The English seventeenth century was an Age of Anxiety; Iris Macfarlane describes how Oliver Heywood and other devout spirits sought refuge in religious faith.

Dante and Politics

If the world were ruled by a single Christian monarch, peace and justice would prevail: such was Dante’s vision in the early fourteenth century, writes Robert F. Murphy.

Akbar and the Jesuits

Iris Macfarlane assesses how Christian missions from Goa operated at the Mughal Emperor’s court.