Definitions

Renaissance architecture originated in Italy and superseded the Gothic style over a period generally defined as 1400 to 1600. Features of Renaissance buildings include the use of the classical orders and mathematically precise ratios of height...

Stephen Hopkins (l. 1581-1644 CE) was a passenger of the Mayflower on the voyage of 1620 CE which established the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, USA. He was the only member of the party with prior experience in North America...

John Alden (l. c. 1598-1687 CE) was a member of the crew of the Mayflower, serving as the ship's cooper (barrel maker), on the historic voyage of 1620 CE which established the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, North America. Although he was...

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580 CE) was an Italian Renaissance architect most famous for the villas he designed in and around Vicenza and two large churches in Venice. Palladio blended elements of classical architecture, particularly the orders...

The Ardagh Chalice, one of the finest examples of Irish metalwork from the Middle Ages, was found in 1868 CE as part of a hoard at an Irish ringfort in Reerasta, near Ardagh, Co. Limerick. While the chalice is the only ecclesiastical artefact...

Mourt's Relation (published 1622 CE) is an account of the first year of the Plymouth Colony founded by the pilgrims who arrived in Massachusetts in November 1620 CE aboard the Mayflower. Its original title was A Relation or Journal of the...

Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554 CE) was an Italian Renaissance architect, painter, and scholar. His most successful building design is the classically-inspired Château d'Ancy-le-Franc in France. Serlio's lifetime of scholarship came together...

Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54 BCE) was a Roman poet whose poems are considered to be some of the finest examples of lyric poetry from ancient Rome, despite his youth and early death. Catullus wrote in the neoteric style during the high point...

William Brewster (l. 1568-1644 CE) was an elder of the Leiden congregation of separatists (later known as pilgrims) and their spiritual leader while onboard the Mayflower and later after the establishment of the Plymouth Colony. The pastor...

Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472 CE) was an Italian scholar, architect, mathematician, and advocate of Renaissance humanism. Alberti famously wrote the treatise On Architecture where he outlines the key elements of classical architecture...