# Recommend a book on European history, c. 1450-1550 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732 "2013-09-01T15:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/1 "2013-09-01T15:44:08Z")
The Renaissance and the Age of Exploration were happening simultaneously – which, when you think about it, is really odd. Why did intellectual ferment go in one direction in Italy and in a completely different direction in Spain and Portugal? I’ve read a bit on both eras separately, but would be interested in a book that pulled together a big-picture look at what was going on in Europe during that period. Can anyone recommend something? TIA. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/2 "2013-09-01T17:38:57Z")
The only survey I have is the late [John Hale’s](http://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-Europe-1480-Blackwell-Histories/dp/0631216243/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1378056322&sr=8-2), which is okay if a bit older ( my copy is from 1971 ). But it looks like this latest edition is ridiculously expensive for an old survey history. Get a cheaper used copy if you can find one. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/3 "2013-09-01T17:53:39Z")
Whoa, $60 for a paperback? I don’t think so – and my library doesn’t seem to have this exact title. How’s [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Europe-Renaissance-John-Rigby/dp/0684803526/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378057862&sr=1-1&keywords=hale+renaissance) by the same author? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/4 "2013-09-01T18:07:54Z")
Never mind, [Half.com](http://Half.com) had a copy for $10. Thanks for the recommendation! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/5 "2013-09-01T20:39:05Z")
As a middlebrow, I’d recommend William Manchester’s [A World Lit Only By Fire](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316545562/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1378067536&sr=8-1&pi=SL75), anchored by Luther and Magellan. “Well, it’s good to be back home. Hey, how come the ship’s log is a day off?” ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/6 "2013-09-01T21:52:54Z")
I loved [Empires of the Sea](http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Sea-Battle-Lepanto-Contest/dp/0812977645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378072259&sr=1-1), which focuses on the Turkish attacks on Europe in the early 1500s. Reads like a suspense novel. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/7 "2013-09-02T02:19:49Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > As a middlebrow, I’d recommend William Manchester’s [A World Lit Only By Fire](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316545562/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1378067536&sr=8-1&pi=SL75), anchored by Luther and Magellan. “Well, it’s good to be back home. Hey, how come the ship’s log is a day off?” That looks good, too. I’ll add it to my wish list. > [@Sefton](#): > > I loved [Empires of the Sea](http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Sea-Battle-Lepanto-Contest/dp/0812977645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378072259&sr=1-1), which focuses on the Turkish attacks on Europe in the early 1500s. Reads like a suspense novel. That looks interesting, but more specific than what I’m looking for. Thanks, all. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/8 "2013-09-02T12:15:13Z")
_A World Lit Only By Fire_ is rather notorious in medievalist circles for being just so wrong - it’s a crappy text outdated even when it was written, the field has moved so far beyond it it’s just not funny…here’s a [good introductory review](http://medievalhistorygeek.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/book-review-a-world-lit-only-by-fire/)that has a nice list of alternatives at the end, and links to [this more detailed analysis](http://vaultingvellum.blogspot.com/2010/05/world-lit-only-by-misconceptions-1.html). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/9 "2013-09-02T13:36:44Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > _A World Lit Only By Fire_ is rather notorious in medievalist circles for being just so wrong - it’s a crappy text outdated even when it was written, the field has moved so far beyond it it’s just not funny…here’s a [good introductory review](http://medievalhistorygeek.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/book-review-a-world-lit-only-by-fire/)that has a nice list of alternatives at the end, and links to [this more detailed analysis](http://vaultingvellum.blogspot.com/2010/05/world-lit-only-by-misconceptions-1.html). Interesting, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![SweetiePotato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SweetiePotato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetiePotato)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/10 "2013-09-02T21:10:24Z")
I know this is a little earlier than you specifically requested, but _A Distant Mirror_ by Barbara Tuchman is a fantastic read about the century preceding. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A\_Distant\_Mirror](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Distant_Mirror) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/11 "2013-09-02T21:51:28Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > _A World Lit Only By Fire_ is rather notorious in medievalist circles for being just so wrong. Well shit, there goes my middlebrow book cred. Next you’ll tell me that John Wesley Hardin _didn’t_ shoot a man just fer snorin’! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/12 "2013-09-03T00:57:22Z")
Was that in Reno? I thought it was just to see him die. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/13 "2013-09-03T18:30:05Z")
I am a big fan of Tuchman’s “A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century.” I found it very readable, informative and downright entertaining. She has faded in popularity since her death, but I always enjoyed her writings with the possible exception of Stillwell: The American Experience in China. That was a labor of obsession. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/14 "2013-09-03T19:35:36Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The Renaissance and the Age of Exploration were happening simultaneously – which, when you think about it, is really odd. Why did intellectual ferment go in one direction in Italy and in a completely different direction in Spain and Portugal? I’ve read a bit on both eras separately, but would be interested in a book that pulled together a big-picture look at what was going on in Europe during that period. > > Can anyone recommend something? > > TIA. To answer your specific question, many of the explorers in the age of exploration of course were Italian - like Columbus and Cabot (A/K/A “Columbo” and “Chabotto”), not to mention “Amerigo Vespucci” after which “America” was named! 😃 The difference is that they all tended to have non-Italian state sponsors. The reasons for this were: - the nations they worked for had an Atlantic focus; - the money in Italy was based on the trade with the ME and the Black Sea - trade routes the Atlantic powers were trying to ‘outflank’; and - the city-states of Italy were small, while exploration was expensive. The new nation-states like England and Spain had the cash. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/15 "2013-09-03T20:01:43Z")
Gotcha, **Malthus** – I’m looking for a book that spells all of that out in more detail. And I own a copy of _A Distant Mirror_ (or I did at some point … it’s hard keeping track of the books that have gone in and out of my life over the last 30 years), so maybe I’ll finally get around to reading it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/16 "2013-09-03T22:22:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Why did intellectual ferment go in one direction in Italy and in a completely different direction in Spain and Portugal? [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqgZnvfJ9Jg) is why. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-european-history-c-1450-1550/667732/17 "2013-09-04T16:11:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqgZnvfJ9Jg) is why. I don’t know how I could have forgotten the water ballet with the nuns.