Michelangelo 1475 -- 1564 Sculptor, painter, and poet, born in Caprese, Italy. As a boy he was placed in the care of a stonemason at Settignano, and in 1488 spent three years in Florence with Ghirlandaio. He received the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, and after his death (1492) spent three years in Bologna. His "Cupid' was bought by Cardinal San Giorgio, who summoned him to Rome (1496), where he stayed for four years. He then returned to Florence, where he culpted the marble "David'. Though he did not wholly neglect painting, his genius was essentially plastic, and he was far more interested in form than in colour. In 1503 Julius II summoned him back to Rome, where he was commissioned to design the pope's tomb; but interruptions and quarrels left him able to complete only a fragment. Instead, he was ordered to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with paintings, which he did with reluctance (1508--12). In 1528 danger to Florence forced him to the science of fortification, and when the city was besieged (1529) he was foremost in its defence. His last pictorial achievement was "The Last Judgement' (1537), and the next year he was appointed architect of St Peter's, to which he devoted himself until his death.

Raphael 1483 -- 1520 Painter, born in Urbino, Italy. He studied at Perugia under Peruginino, whose style is reflected in his earliest paintings, such as "The Crucifixion' (c.1503, National Gallery, London). In c.1504 he went to Florence, where he was strongly influenced by Leonardo and Michelangelo. He completed several Madonnas, as well as such works as "The Holy Family' (Madrid) and "The Deposition' (1507, Borghese). In 1508 he went to Rome, where he produced his greatest works, including the frescoes in the papal apartments of the Vatican, and the cartoons for the tapestries of the Sistine Chapel. In 1514 he succeeded Bramante as architect of St Peter's. His last work, "The Transfiguration' (Vatican), was nearly finished when he died.

Donatello 1386 -- 1466 The greatest of the early Tuscan sculptors, born in Florence, Italy. He may be regarded as the founder of modern sculpture, as the first producer since classical times of statues complete and independent in themselves, and not mere adjuncts of their architectural surroundings. Among his works are the marble statues of saints Mark and George for the exterior of Or San Michele; and the tomb of Pope John XXIII in the Baptistery.

Petrarch 1304 -- 1374 Poet and scholar, born in Arezzo, Italy. He studied at Bologna and Avignon, where he became a clergyman. In 1327 at Avignon he first saw Laura (possibly Laure de Noves, married in 1325 to Hugo de Sade), who inspired him with a passion which has become proverbial for its constancy and purity. As the fame of his learnings grew, royal courts competed for his presence, and in 1341 he was crowned poet laureate at Rome. The earliest of the great Renaissance humanists, he wrote widely on the classics, but he is best known for the series of love poems addressed to Laura, the Canzoniere. He left Avignon in 1353 after Laura's death, and lived the rest of his life in N Italy. His writing proved to be a major influence on many authors, notably Chaucer.

More, Sir Thomas 1478 -- 1535 English statesman and scholar, born in London, England, UK. He studied at Oxford, became a lawyer, then spent four years in a Carthusian monastery to test his vocation for the priesthood. He did not take holy orders, and under Henry VIII became Master of Requests (1514), Treasurer of the Exchequer (1521), and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1525). On the fall of Wolsey (1529), he was appointed Lord Chancellor, but resigned in 1532 following his opposition to Henry's break with the Roman Catholic Church. On refusing to recognize Henry as head of the English Church, he was imprisoned and beheaded. A leading humanist scholar, as revealed in his Latin Utopia (1516) and many other works, he was canonized in 1935; feast day 22 June.

Cosimo de' Medici 1389 -- 1464 Financier, statesman, and philanthropist, born in Florence, Italy. Known posthumously as "father of his country', he began the glorious epoch of the Medici family. As ruler of Florence he procured for Florence (nominally still republican) security abroad and peace from civil dissensions. He employed his wealth in encouraging art and literature, building the Medici library, the first public library in Europe, as well as many other magnificent buildings, and made the city the centre of the new learning.

Lorenzo de' Medici 1449 -- 1492 Florentine ruler, born in Florence, Italy, the son of Pietro I Medici and grandson of Cosimo de' Medici. He succeeded as head of the family upon the death of his father in 1469, and was an able if autocratic ruler, who made Florence the leading state in Italy. In 1478 he thwarted an attempt by malcontents, with the encouragement of Pope Sixtus IV, to overthrow the Medici, although the rising led to the assassination of his brother, Giuliano (1453--78). A distinguished lyric poet, he was, in the words of Macchiavelli, "the greatest patron of literature and art that any prince has ever been'.

Boccaccio, Giovanni 1313 -- 1375 Poet and scholar, born in Tuscany or Paris. He abandoned a career in commerce, and at Naples (1328) turned to story-writing in verse and prose. He mingled in courtly society, and fell in love with the noble lady whom he made famous under the name of Fiammetta. Until 1350 he lived alternately in Florence and Naples, producing prose tales, pastorals, and poems. The Teseide was partly translated by Chaucer in the Knight's Tale. The Filostrato, dealing with the loves of Troilus and Cressida, was also in great part translated by Chaucer. After 1350 he became a diplomat entrusted with important public affairs, and a scholar devoted to the cause of the new learning. In 1358 he completed his great collection of tales, the Decameron, begun some 10 years before. During his last years he lived principally in retirement at Certaldo, and would have entered into holy orders, moved by repentance for the follies of his youth, had he not been dissuaded by Petrarch.

Dante (Alighieri) 1265 -- 1321 Poet, born in Florence, Italy. A lawyer's son, he was baptized Durante, later contracted into Dante. In 1274, when he was nine, a meeting with Beatrice (c.1265--90), possibly the daughter of the Florentine aristocrat Folco Portinari, influenced the rest of his life. His platonic devotion to her continued despite her marriage, and despite his own marriage (after her death) to Gemma Donati, daughter of a powerful Guelph family. In 1300, he became one of the six priors of Florence. His sympathy for the moderate "White Guelphs' led to his exile in 1302, when the Black faction became dominant. His travelling after this date is unclear, but he never returned to his native city. He may have visited Paris and Oxford. Some believe he was recalled to Italy when Henry of Luxembourg became emperor, but when Henry died (1313), he took refuge in Ravenna, where he stayed until his death. Dante had six sons and one daughter. The dates and sequence of his various works are not known. The Vita nuova, which tells of his boyish passion for Beatrice, is probably the earliest. By far the most celebrated is the Divina commedia (Divine Comedy), a vision of hell, purgatory, and heaven which gives an encyclopedic view of the highest culture and knowledge of his age. He also wrote several shorter poems, as well as treatises on government and language.

Erasmus, Desiderius 1466 -- 1536 Humanist, born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. After six years in an Augustinian monastery, he became private secretary to the Bishop of Cambrai, and a priest (1492). He went to Paris, where he lived as a teacher, then moved to England in 1498, and became professor of divinity and of Greek at Cambridge. Here he wrote his satire, Encomium moriae (1509, The Praise of Folly). After 1514 he lived alternately in Basel and England, then in Louvain (1517--21). His masterpiece, Colloquia, appeared in 1519, an audacious handling of Church abuses. He also made the first translation of the Greek New Testament into English (1516) and edited the works of St Jerome (1519). In 1521 he left Louvain, and lived mainly in Basel, where he was engaged in continual controversy, but enjoyed great fame and respect in his later years.

Savonarola, Girolamo 1452 -- 1498 Religious and political reformer, born in Ferrara, Italy. He became a Dominican at Bologna in 1474, and after an initial failure, came to be recognized as an inspiring preacher. He was vicar-general of the Dominicans in Tuscany (1493), and his preaching began to point towards a political revolution as the means of restoring religion and morality. When a republic was established in Florence (1494), he was its guiding spirit, fostering a Christian commonwealth, with stringent laws governing the repression of vice and frivolity. His denunciations of the abuses of Church and government leaders made him many enemies, including Pope Alexander VI, who summoned him to Rome (1495) to answer a charge of heresy. He disregarded the order, was excommunicated in 1497, and burned in Florence.

Borgia, Cesare 1476 -- 1507 Italian soldier, born probably in Rome, the illegitimate son of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI), and brother of Lucrezia Borgia. He was appointed Archbishop of Valencia (1492) and a cardinal (1493) after his father's election to the papacy. In 1499 he succeeded his elder brother Juan (whom he was suspected of murdering) as captain-general of the papal army. In two campaigns, he made himself master of Romagna Perugia, Siena, Piombini, and Urbino, and planned a kingdom of central Italy. After the death of Alexander (1502), his enemies rallied. He surrendered at Naples in 1504, was imprisoned, escaped in 1506, but soon after died while fighting for the King of Navarre. Though he remains a monster in the public perception, he was praised by Machiavelli as a model prince. He also encouraged art, and was the protector of Leonardo da Vinci.

Machiavelli, Niccolò (di Bernardo dei) 1469 -- 1527 Italian statesman, writer, and political theorist, born in Florence, Italy. Little is known of his early life, but he travelled on several missions in Europe for the Republic of Florence (1498--1512). On the restoration of the Medici, he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy (1513) and, though pardoned, was obliged to withdraw from public life. He devoted himself to literature, writing historical treatises, poetry, short stories, and comedies. His masterpiece is Il Principe (1532, The Prince), whose main theme is that all means may be used in order to maintain authority. It was condemned by the pope, and its viewpoint gave rise to the adjective machiavellian. His writings were not published until 1782.

Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1378 -- 1455 Goldsmith, bronze-caster, and sculptor, born in Florence, Italy. In 1401 he won the competition to make a pair of bronze gates for the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral. When these were completed (1424), he worked on a further pair of gates, which were finished in 1452.

Henry VIII 1491 -- 1547 King (1509--47), born in Greenwich, EC Greater London, England, UK, the second son of Henry VII. Soon after his accession he married Catherine of Aragon, his brother Arthur's widow. As a member of the Holy League, he invaded France (1512), winning the Battle of Spurs (1513); and while abroad, the Scots were defeated at Flodden. In 1521 he published a book on the Sacraments in reply to Luther, receiving from the pope the title "Defender of the Faith'. From 1527 he determined to divorce Catherine, whose children, except for Mary, had died in infancy. He tried to put pressure on the pope by humbling the clergy, and in defiance of the Roman Catholic Church was privately married to Anne Boleyn (1533). In 1534 it was enacted that his marriage to Catherine was invalid, and that the king was the sole head of the Church of England. The policy of suppressing the monasteries then began. In 1536 Catherine died, and Anne Boleyn was executed on the grounds of infidelity. Henry then married Jane Seymour, who died leaving a son, afterwards Edward VI. In 1540 Anne of Cleves became his fourth wife, in the hope of attaching the Protestant interest of Germany; but dislike of her appearance caused him to divorce her speedily. He then married Catherine Howard (1540), who two years later was executed on grounds of infidelity (1542). In 1543 his last marriage was to Catherine Parr, who survived him. His later years saw further war with France and Scotland, before peace was concluded with France in 1546. He was succeeded by his son as Edward VI.

Leonardo da Vinci 1452 -- 1519 Painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, born in Vinci, Italy. About 1470 he entered the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio, and in 1482 settled in Milan, where he painted his "Last Supper' (1498) on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In 1500 he entered the service of Cesare Borgia in Florence as architect and engineer, and with Michelangelo decorated the Sala del Consiglio in the Palazzo della Signoria with historical compositions. About 1504 he completed his most celebrated easel picture, "Mona Lisa' (Louvre). In 1506 he was employed by Louis XII of France, and in 1516 was given a pension by Francis I. Very few of his paintings have survived. His notebooks contain original remarks on most of the sciences, including biology, physiology, hydrodynamics, and aeronautics.

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, comte (Count) 1463 -- 1494 Renaissance philosopher, born in Mirandola, Italy. He studied in Italy and France, and in 1486 offered to defend 900 theses on Christian theology at Rome, but the debate was forbidden on the grounds that some of the theses were heretical (a charge from which he was absolved in 1493). His philosophy was an attempt to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian ontological doctrines. He also wrote Latin epistles and elegies, a series of Italian sonnets, and a major study of free will, De hominis dignitate oratio (1486, Oration on the Dignity of Man).

Brunelleschi, Filippo 1377 -- 1446 Architect, goldsmith, and sculptor, born in Florence, Italy. One of the figures responsible for the development of the Renaissance style in Florence, his chief work is the dome of the cathedral there. Erected between 1420 and 1461, it is (measured diametrically) the largest in the world, and served as the model for Michelangelo's design for St Peter's in Rome. Other well-known buildings by him in Florence are the Church of San Lorenzo (1418--29) and the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419--44). He is also noted for his innovations in the use of perspective.

Giotto (di Bondone) 1266 -- 1337 Painter and architect, the founder of the Florentine School of painting, born near Vespignano, Italy. His major work was the fresco cycle, "The Lives of Christ and the Virgin', in the Arena Chapel Padua (1305--8). In 1330--3 he was employed by King Robert in Naples, and in 1334 was appointed Master of Works of the cathedral and city of Florence, where amongst other works he designed the campanile.

Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal 1475 -- 1530 English clergyman and statesman, born in Ipswich, Suffolk, E England, UK. He studied at Oxford, was ordained in 1498, appointed chaplain to Henry VII in 1507, and became dean of Lincoln. Under Henry VIII, he became Bishop of Lincoln, Archbishop of York (1514), and a cardinal (1515). Made Lord Chancellor (1515--29), he pursued legal and administrative reforms, and became Henry VIII's leading adviser, in charge of the day-to-day running of government. He aimed to make England a major power in Europe, and also had ambitions to become pope, but his policy of supporting first Emperor Charles V (1523) then Francis I of France (1528) in the Habsburg--Valois conflict was unsuccessful, and high taxation caused much resentment. When he failed to persuade the pope to grant Henry's divorce, he was impeached and his property forfeited. Arrested on a charge of high treason, he died while travelling to London.

Luther, Martin 1483 -- 1546 Religious reformer, born in Eisleben, Germany. He spent three years in an Augustinian monastery, obtained his degree at Erfurt, and was ordained in 1507. His career as a reformer began after a visit to Rome in 1510--11, where he was angered by the sale of indulgences. In 1517 he drew up 95 theses on indulgences, which he nailed on the church door at Wittenberg. Violent controversy followed, and he was summoned to Rome to defend his theses, but did not go. He then began to attack the papal system more boldly, and publicly burned the papal bull issued against him. An order was issued for the destruction of his books; he was summoned to appear before the Diet at Worms, and was put under the ban of the Empire. In 1525 he married a former nun, Katharina von Bora.The drawing up of the Augsburg Confession, where he was represented by Melanchthon, marks the culmination of the German Reformation (1530). His translation of the Bible became a landmark of German literature.

Calvin, John 1509 -- 1564 Protestant reformer, born in Noyon, France. He studied Latin at Paris, then law at Orléans, where he developed his interest in theology. In Bourges and other centres he began to preach the reformed doctrines, but was forced to flee from France to escape persecution. At Basel he issued his influential Christianae religionis institutio (1536, Institutes of the Christian Religion), and at Geneva was persuaded by Guillaume Farel to help with the reformation. The reformers proclaimed a Protestant Confession of Faith, under which moral severity took the place of licence. When a rebellious party, the Libertines, rose against this, Calvin and Farel were expelled from the city (1538). Calvin withdrew to Strasbourg, where he worked on New Testament criticism, and married Idelette de Bure (1540). In 1541 the Genevans recalled him, and he founded a theocracy which controlled almost all the city's affairs. By 1555 his authority was confirmed into an absolute supremacy. The father-figure of Reformed theology, he left a double legacy to Protestantism by systematizing its doctrine and organizing its ecclesiastical discipline. His commentaries, which embrace most of the Old and New Testaments, were collectedand published in 1617.

Knox, John c. 1513 -- 1572 Protestant reformer, born near Haddington, East Lothian, E Scotland, UK. A Catholic priest, he acted as a notary in Haddington (1540--3), and in 1544 was influenced by George Wishart to work for the Lutheran reformation. After Wishart was burned (1546), Knox joined the reformers defending the castle of St Andrews, and became a minister. After the castle fell to the French, he was kept a prisoner until 1549, then became chaplain to Edward VI, and was consulted over the Second Book of Common Prayer. On Mary's accession (1553), he fled to Dieppe, then to Geneva, where he was much influenced by Calvin. He returned to Scotland in 1555 to preach, and again in 1559, where he won a strong party in favour of reform, and founded the Church of Scotland (1560). He played a lasting part in the composition of The Scots Confession, The First Book of Discipline, and The Book of Common Order.

Loyola, Ignatius of, St 1491/5 -- 1556 Theologian and founder of the Jesuits, born in his ancestral castle of Loyola in the Basque province Guipúzcao.He became a soldier, was wounded, and while convalescing read the lives of Christ and the saints. In 1522 he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, studied in Alcalá, Salamanca, and Paris, and in 1534 founded with six associates the Society of Jesus. Ordained in 1537, he went to Rome in 1539, where the new order was approved by the Pope. He wrote the influential Spiritual Exercises, and was canonized in 1622; feast day 31 July.

Zwingli, Huldrych or *Ulrich 1484 -- 1531 Protestant reformer, born in Wildhaus, Switzerland. He studied at Bern, Vienna, and Basel, was ordained in 1506, and became a chaplain to the Swiss mercenaries. In 1518, elected preacher in the Zürich minster, he opposed the selling of indulgences, and espoused the Reformed doctrines, obtaining the support of the civil authorities. In 1524 he split with Luther over the question of the Eucharist, rejecting every form of corporeal presence. War between the cantons followed, and he was killed during a battle near Kappel.

Wycliffe or *Wicliffe, John 1330 -- 1384 Religious reformer, born near Richmond, Yorkshire, N England, UK. He studied at Oxford, where he taught philosophy, then entered the Church, becoming Rector of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, in 1374. He was sent to Bruges to treat with ambassadors from the Pope about ecclesiastical abuses, but his views were found unacceptable, and he was prosecuted. He then attacked the Church hierarchy, priestly power, and the doctrine of transubstantiation, wrote many popular tracts in English (as opposed to Latin), and issued the first English translation of the Bible. His opinions were condemned, and he was forced to retire to Lutterworth, where he wrote prolifically until his death. The characteristic of his teaching was its insistence on inward religion in opposition to the formalism of the time. His followers were known as Lollards, and the influence of his teaching was widespread in England, in many respects anticipating the Reformation.

Huss or *Hus, John c. 1369 -- 1415 Bohemian religious reformer, born in Husinec, Czech Republic, from which his name derives. In 1398 he lectured on theology at Prague, where he was influenced by the writings of Wycliffe. In 1408 he continued to preach in defiance of a papal bull, and was excommunicated (1411). After writing his main work, De ecclesia (1413, On the Church), he was called before a General Council at Constance, and burned after refusing to recant. The anger of his followers in Bohemia led to the Hussite Wars, which lasted until the middle of the 15th-c.