Summary: This program focuses on the fierce competition between the newly wealthy merchant classes in Sienna and Florence throughout the 13th and 14th centuries over the creation of new buildings, services, and ways of governing. Leading art historians interpret this jarring 200-year conflict through detailed analysis of each city-state's stunning cathedrals and exquisite artworks. Their revealing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 13th- and 14th-century Tuscany, money became the new tool of power as industry, trade, and finance flourished. This program follows the remarkable rise of the great banking families whose groundbreaking innovations in finance led to the economics of international big business practiced today. Merchant bankers also supported the aims of the Catholic Church by using their extraordinary wealth...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Until 1348, people in Sienna and Florence enjoyed the richest, safest, and most comfortable lives in their history. But almost overnight, their certainty of life-and even any hope of a good death-was gone. This program assesses the aftermath of the ferocious damage unleashed by the bubonic plague on the two city-states. Historians Alexander Nagel and Nicholas Terpstra, from the University of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: St. Francis of Assisi revolutionized Christianity in 13th-century Tuscany with his down-to-earth belief that poverty, chastity, and obedience should shape an individual's relationship with God. By going back to Christ's original message, he played a pivotal role in the genesis of the Renaissance. This poignant program investigates how St. Francis's infusion of emotion and nature into the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006