Summary: Spain's Golden Age is recognized as the most fertile and glorious era in Spanish arts and letters. Miguel de Cervantes, Francisco de Quevedo, Calderon de la Barca, Diego Velazquez, and many others created works of enduring renown.even as their country fell into ruin. This program contrasts the marvels of the Siglo de Oro through dramatizations, film clips, artwork, and visits to important...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From “promises to pay” on ancient Babylonian tablets to the insolvency of present-day consumerist America, this program explains the origins of credit and debt and why credit networks are central to civilization. Historian Niall Ferguson examines financial transactions recorded in cuneiform; the transition from Roman numerals to Arabic symbols for greater speed and efficiency among medieval...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Philip II ruled over Spain at its peak of world influence.and at the start of its long slide from prominence. This program depicts the life and times of this absolutist monarch through dramatizations, artwork, and maps. High-profile topics, including the Inquisition, the Armada, and the Battle of Lepanto, are presented while addressing controversies such as the imprisonment and death of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Philip II was married to Maria of Portugal, Mary I of England, Elizabeth of France, and Anna of Austria. What were the ramifications of these courtly alliances? And why did Philip imprison his heir, Don Carlos, in favor of his younger son, the future Philip III? This program discusses the convoluted royal family of Philip II. Fernando Bouza, of the Universidad Complutense Madrid and author of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program surveys the life and work of the perennially fascinating genius Leonardo da Vinci, from his birth in Tuscany to his final years in Cloux. Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and student of anatomy, physiology, botany, architecture, hydrodynamics, aeronautics, and other disciplines, he was the quintessential "Renaissance man.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Filmed on location and divided into three sections, this program examines how civic planning was tailored to suit the varying political agendas of Republican Florence, Ducal Milan, and Ducal Florence. By taking the viewer on a detailed tour of urban plazas and buildings, including the Piazza and Palazzo della Signoria in Florence and the Castello Sforesco in Milan, the program shows how...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: England, Scotland, and Ireland had been locked in all-out conflict for two years-and the largest battle was yet to come. This program looks at the period of the worst violence in the English civil war and the emergence of the king's chief nemesis, Oliver Cromwell. Dramatic reenactments filmed on location bring to life the largest battle of the war, at Marston Moor in York, and its most...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Amidst the Thirty Years' War and an atmosphere of religious fervor stoked by continuing friction between Protestant sects and the High Church, an arrogant king with unshakeable faith in divine right ignited civil war in England. In this program, host Tristram Hunt presents the players and ideas that set the stage for bloodshed: Charles I, his likeminded Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Charles II was the last of the Spanish Habsburgs. This program follows the continuing decline of Spanish influence during Charles the Bewitched's life-and the War of the Spanish Succession that broke out upon his death. The Peace of Utrecht, which marked the triumph of balance of power over hereditary rights of rule, is addressed as well. Dramatizations, artwork, and visits to important locales...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Gonzagas and Mantua were, in their heyday, largely one and the same: together they emerged from the Middle Ages, became strong, fortified their strength, and learned to decorate their fortifications, pitted brother against brother and sons against fathers while fostering artists from Mantegna and Donatello to Titian and Rubens. Popes and kings were houseguests, Tasso and Ariosto lived here....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Philip II ruled over Spain at its peak of world influence.and at the start of its long slide from prominence. This program depicts the life and times of this absolutist monarch through dramatizations, artwork, and maps. High-profile topics, including the Inquisition, the Armada, and the Battle of Lepanto, are presented while addressing controversies such as the imprisonment and death of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Viewed through the lens of time, Philip II was not the cruel tyrant portrayed by so many. In fact, his reign was generally just, but his bureaucratic absolutism, with its disregard for local conditions and privileges, inevitably caused discontent and even revolt. This program discusses the court of Philip II, an industrious king who loved justice yet was little disposed to clemency or...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Mystery of Jan van Eyck tells the stories of some of the Flemish master's most significant paintings-The Ghent Altarpiece, The Arnolfini Marriage, The Dresden Triptych, Portrait of Cardinal Niccolo Albergati, and Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy, to name only five-with quiet authority and deep respect. Composed of stills and highly detailed close-ups supported by informative analysis and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Spain of Philip II's time was a place of great cultural accomplishment as some of history's most renowned writers, artists, and philosophers created works of lasting significance. This program looks at the Renaissance as it flourished in Spain during the 16th century and Philip's role in it as a scholar and patron of the arts. Fernando Checa, director of the Museo del Prado, is featured.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: At the core of the Protestant Revolution was a new emphasis on exploring and questioning the natural world. This program shows how a religious upheaval that began a half-millennium ago led to the art, literature, and science of today's Western society. The film makes the case that a humanistic approach to art first grew out of the Protestant drive to remove images from European churches in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg hoping to open a theological dialogue. Instead, he sparked the Reformation. This definitive documentary chronicles Luther's life and lasting impact on religion and society through a wealth of location footage, original manuscripts, period paintings, and expert commentary from Dr. Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Why do stock markets produce bubbles, and what makes them burst? In this program, financial scholar Niall Ferguson examines the origins of the joint stock company and the modern share trading system, highlighting some of history’s most notorious market meltdowns. Analyzing the herd instinct and its role in economic upswings and downturns, Ferguson draws parallels between the 2001 Enron...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: A child of Belgium, a speaker of French, and a Habsburg on his father's side, there was little Spanish about Charles V, yet Spain was the core of his kingdom. This program follows the cosmopolitan "Carlos Quinto," King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, through two coronations, a wedding, wars with France and the Ottoman Empire, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and his retirement to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: A child of Belgium, a speaker of French, and a Habsburg on his father's side, there was little Spanish about Charles V, yet Spain was the core of his kingdom. This program follows the cosmopolitan "Carlos Quinto," King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, through two coronations, a wedding, wars with France and the Ottoman Empire, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, and his retirement to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Spain's Golden Age is recognized as the most fertile and glorious era in Spanish arts and letters. Miguel de Cervantes, Francisco de Quevedo, Calderon de la Barca, Diego Velazquez, and many others created works of enduring renown.even as their country fell into ruin. This program contrasts the marvels of the Siglo de Oro through dramatizations, film clips, artwork, and visits to important...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Using sophisticated animation and expertise from modern scholars and archivists, this program reconstructs European voyages of discovery that took place in the 15th through 18th centuries and profiles the visionaries who led them. Viewers are introduced to Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian merchant who gave his name to the New World; Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese admiral who found the passage...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Martin Luther's most effective strike against the Church may have been his decision to marry. This program shows how Luther's radical choice and the Protestant movements of the 16th and 17th centuries transformed Western attitudes toward sex, love, marriage, gender roles, and family life. Viewers will learn about the contributions of several historical figures, including Thomas Cranmer's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Fervently pious, Philip II was the scourge of those called heretics and infidels-but his motives were not entirely due to his strong Roman Catholic faith. This program explores the interrelation of Church and State during Philip II's reign as he zealously championed the Counter-Reformation, albeit not without subverting even the Spanish Inquisition to his political aims. Antonio Escudero,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Bubonic plague, starvation, maybe even cannibalism-such were the miseries of life in England's Jamestown settlement, circa 1609. Four centuries later, this program explores the colony's story with the help of dramatic reenactments and information on recent historical discoveries. Sophisticated forensics and archaeological methods reveal the contents of Jamestown graves, producing shocking...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010