Gioachino Greco was an Italian chess player and writer. He recorded some of the earliest chess games known. His games, all against anonymous opponents ("NN"), were quite possibly constructs (Hooper & Whyld 1992), but served as highly useful...

Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1...

Louis XIII was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1610 to 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged to the French crown. Louis succeeded his father Henr...

Pierre de Fermat was a French lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, France, and a mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to modern calculus. In particular, he is recognised for his discovery of an original method o...

Anne of Austria was queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish and Portuguese Infanta by birth. During her regency (1643–1651) Cardinal Mazarin served as France's chief minister. Accounts of...

Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester, styled Lord Herbert of Raglan from 1628–1644, was an English nobleman involved in royalist politics, and an inventor. While Earl of Glamorgan, he was sent by Charles I to negotiate a peace trea...

Jules Mazarin was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician, who served as the chief minister of France from 1642 until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu. He was a noted collector of art and jewels, particularl...

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of count John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and countess Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein. When Frederick Henry became...

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was a Baroque music composer, singer and Benedictine nun. She spent her adult life cloistered in the convent of Santa Radegonda, Milan, where she became abbess and stopped composing. More than a dozen cloistered w...

Otto von Guericke was a German scientist, inventor, and politician. His major scientific achievements were the establishment of the physics of vacuums, the discovery of an experimental method for clearly demonstrating electrostatic repulsio...

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). His was the first European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now T...

John Maurice of Nassau was called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period as governor of Dutch Brazil. He was count and (from 1674) prince of Nassau-Siegen, and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg). He was b...

Frans Banninck Cocq was a burgemeester (mayor) of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. He is best known as the central figure in Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch which shows Cocq and his company of civil guards. Although known as T...

Philip IV of Castille (Felipe IV) was the king of Spain, from 1621 until his death, and king of Portugal as Philip III (Filipe III) until 1640. The eldest son of Philip III (and his wife Margaret), Philip IV was born at Valladolid. His chie...

Sir Thomas Browne was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural...