What Happened 500 Years Ago?

[Lonely Tylenol]

My suggestion: walk into a university, book an appointment to chat with a professor of renaissance/reformation history for half an hour. Get a book list from him. A lot of history is written from the perspective of the Church, and a lot of history is written from the perspective of a particular region or nation. It's odd to find general histories of any time period before about the 20th century.

 

[Pbartender]

Alright... Thanks guys... You gave me some good leads for web searching that I hadn't thought of.

Here's what I found so far about the turn of the 16th century...

England - Henry VII rules England. The first of the Tudors, he gained the throne by killing the last of the Yorkist Plantegents in battle. He had trouble with a couple of 'pretenders' who tried to take the throne from him. He stregthened the monarchy, but stayed rather aloof to both the populace and nobility. An excellent politician, he made England rich by bringing the country out of feudalism and into 'modern' trade and law.

France - Louis XII was king. Generally regarded as a just and moderate king to the French, he waged war against Spain for the various Italian provinces and occupied several of them, including Genoa, Naples and Milan (though he could not hold Naples against Spain).

Spain (Aragon & Castille) - The marriage of Ferdinand II & Isabella I united all of Spain, except for Grenada, which they conquered in 1492. Best known for patronizing the voyages of Christopher Columbus, they also expelled the Jews and Moors from Spain and instituted the Inquisition. They divided the New World with Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas. they fought against France in the Italian Wars, and gained control of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia. Isabella died in 1504.

Portugal - Manuel I ruled during the 'Golden Age' of Portugese history, during which the Portugese explored the New World. His court was a haven for arts, sciences and law. Vasco de Gama discovered the route around the Cape of Good Hope to India. Expeditions to Brazil and the Americas. Commercial relations opened with Persia, China and Japan were opened. He also sponsored a great many missionary enterprises, and expelled the Jews from Portugal in 1497 & 98.

Scandinavia - Hans King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden had a rather unremarkable reign distinguished only by the successful rebellion and seccession of Sweden.

Poland & Lithuania - King Alexander and later King Sigismund II suffered from both internal struggles with Russian and Moldavian Rebels, but also external wars with the Teutonic Knights, the Muscovites and the Crimeans. They were notoriously poor kings, which made them, to a certain degree, subservient to the Polish senate and nobles.

Germany - Maximilian I was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, but was never actually crowned by a pope and so can never really be considered more than an Emperor-Elect. He obtained the Netherlands and Burgundy through marriage to Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold. The fought against France in the Italian Wars, joingin the Holy League. He reformed the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire. Later, he arranged marriages to bring the monarchies of Hungary and Bohemia under Hapsburg control.

Ottoman Empire - Beyazid II "the Just" was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire was a patron of both western and eastern culture, and worked hard to ensure smooth-running domestic politics. He engaged in minor conflicts with Venice, but rebellions in the east of the empire and clashes with Perisa were a greater concern.

The Papal States - Alexander IV (Rodrigo Borgia) was corrupt and immoral, but gained little real power as pope. He had many misteresses who bore him several bastard children whom he openly acknowledged, including the Cesare (who employed da Vinci) and Lucretia. Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini) was made pope in September 1503 and arrested Cesare Borgia. He filled the office for less than a month before he died (on Oct. 18) of an ulcer in the leg. Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere) became pope with the political support of Borgia, after which he devised a series of plots to it decidedly uncomfortable for Borgia to remain within the Papal States. He then set about consolidating central Italy, and moved against Venice with the help of France, Germany and Spain via the League of Cambrai. Later, he had to make peace with the conquered Venetians to expel the foreign armies. Afterwards, he organized the Holy League of Ferdinand II, Henry VIII, Emperor Maximillian, and Venice to drive France back across the Alps. Aside from his political and military abmitions, he was also the friend and patron of Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo.

 

[MonsterMash]

Of course now you know what the real world was like, the fun comes in of how to fit magic in. Though people did believe in it in those days, you can't really just slot in straight D&D magic as the impact of divine magic in particular would be huge (just imagine the impact of Cure Disease and Purify Food and Water, let alone Raise Dead or Resurrection).

With the monsters in the 'known world' .eg. Europe they'd need to be quite scarce, but travellers tales often featured odd beasts so depending on location you could have some fun.

 

[Pbartender]

The idea will be that most of the old legends are true...

Werewolves infest France, Vampires run rampant in eastern Europe, Giants and Trolls roam the nordic mountains, Fey hide amongst the British Isles, and so on... Many of the monsters in the MM would become unique. There wouldn't be chimeras, there is The Chimera, for example.

Magic works... whether through faithful miracles, or pseudo-scientific alchemical sorcery. Though the Inquision is in full swing, so PCs will have to be careful how and where they use magic. I figure that, outside of the PCs, real magic use will be rare, and mostly confined to Incantations from UA. I'm going to require that divine casters keep a spellbook much like wizards do.

The tricky part will be incorporating the D&D races into the Renaissance world... But I've got some ideas for that.

 

[Buttercup]

Sheesh! Do people really need to be told how to use google nowadays?

I see that you're a relatively new poster. So perhaps you don't realize that we try not to be rude to others around here. Pbartender asked an honest question, so we're trying to be helpful and friendly. If you can't do that, my advice would be to not post in the thread.

 

[Cam Banks]

My Elizabethulhu campaign was set in 1603, but some of the information in this PDF might help you: http://www.evilhat.com/ethulhu/

This material forms the basis for GLORIANA, a complete roleplaying game derived from d20 Modern that's in the works from Adamant Entertainment. If you want to bounce some ideas back and forth for your own campaign 100 years earlier, let me know. I had a lot of success with my own campaign and I didn't have to leave out many of the D&D elements.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Pbartender]

My Elizabethulhu campaign was set in 1603, but some of the information in this PDF might help you: http://www.evilhat.com/ethulhu/

This material forms the basis for GLORIANA, a complete roleplaying game derived from d20 Modern that's in the works from Adamant Entertainment. If you want to bounce some ideas back and forth for your own campaign 100 years earlier, let me know. I had a lot of success with my own campaign and I didn't have to leave out many of the D&D elements.

Cheers,
Cam

At a glance, it's very cool stuff... Some things I may be able to use. I'll have to take a closer look later.

 

[Arduin Angcam]

Sorry, I didn't see Arduin's post, but he's laid it out pretty well. The King of France in 1504, however, was not Charles VIII (but it was he who began the Italian wars), rather Louis XII.

It really is a great time for adventure. At the turn the sixteenth century, Europe was primed to take the role of engine of world change and seat of ultimate power in world affairs.

Keith

Looks like I made a mix in figures between Charles and Louis
Thanks

 

[Arduin Angcam]

The idea will be that most of the old legends are true...

Werewolves infest France, Vampires run rampant in eastern Europe, Giants and Trolls roam the nordic mountains, Fey hide amongst the British Isles, and so on... Many of the monsters in the MM would become unique. There wouldn't be chimeras, there is The Chimera, for example.

Magic works... whether through faithful miracles, or pseudo-scientific alchemical sorcery. Though the Inquision is in full swing, so PCs will have to be careful how and where they use magic. I figure that, outside of the PCs, real magic use will be rare, and mostly confined to Incantations from UA. I'm going to require that divine casters keep a spellbook much like wizards do.

The tricky part will be incorporating the D&D races into the Renaissance world... But I've got some ideas for that.

Sounds great Do you intend to use the religious background as well ? I mean clerics being Catholic priests or Calvinist parsons ?

 

[Carnifex]

And finally, have you looked at the three volume work by Fernand Braudel? The series title is Civilization & Capitalism: 15th - 18th Century. The individual titles are The Structures of Everyday Life (volume 1), The Wheels of Commerce (volume 2) and The Perspective of the World (volume 3). These three volumes are fascinating reading for their own sakes, but for your current purposes, will probably give you more adventure ideas than you could use in a lifetime.

I'd like to see what you come up with, so please keep us updated on your progress!

Further on the works of Fernand Braudel, you might want to check his 'The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II'.