I Take History With My Coffee

A historical journey through the Early Modern period

I Take History With My Coffee


Recent Episodes

90: The Making of Erasmus: From the Low Countries to the World
March 3, 2026

90: The Making of Erasmus: From the Low Countries to the World

He was born illegitimate in a provincial Dutch backwater, a region that produced herring fishermen and transit traders — not intellectuals. He entered a monastery he had not chosen. He served a bishop who never fulfilled his ...
89: Guillaume du Fay: The Music of Burgundian Splendor
Feb. 17, 2026

89: Guillaume du Fay: The Music of Burgundian Splendor

In the fifteenth century, the Burgundian Low Countries became Europe's premier musical center, and no composer embodied this achievement more fully than Guillaume du Fay. From the soaring polyphony of Cambrai Cathedral to the ceremonial grandeur of papal Rome, du Fay's music captured the cultural p…
88: As I Can: How Jan van Eyck Changed the Way We See
Feb. 3, 2026

88: As I Can: How Jan van Eyck Changed the Way We See

May 6, 1432. Inside a cathedral in Ghent, a crowd gathers to witness something extraordinary—an altarpiece so lifelike that viewers can count individual flowers in a painted meadow and watch blood flow into a golden chalice. ...
87: The Regent of Mechelen: Margaret of Austria and the Governing of the Habsburg Netherlands
Jan. 13, 2026

87: The Regent of Mechelen: Margaret of Austria and the Governing of the Habsburg Netherlands

In November 1530, Margaret of Austria lay dying in Mechelen after twenty-three years as regent of the Habsburg Netherlands. Her final letter to her nephew, Emperor Charles V, urged him above all to preserve peace—a testament ...
86: The Flemish Revolt: The War of Two Governments, 1482-1492
Dec. 30, 2025

86: The Flemish Revolt: The War of Two Governments, 1482-1492

When Mary of Burgundy died in a riding accident in March 1482, she left a four-year-old heir and a succession crisis that would tear apart the richest territories in northern Europe. Her widower, Maximilian of Austria, claime...
85: The Great Privilege: Mary of Burgundy and the Crisis of 1477
Dec. 16, 2025

85: The Great Privilege: Mary of Burgundy and the Crisis of 1477

On January 5, 1477, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, died on a frozen battlefield outside Nancy. His death sparked one of the most intense constitutional crises of the fifteenth century. Charles left behind his nineteen-ye...

Recent Blog Posts

Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck
Feb. 2, 2026

Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck

Altarpiece closedAltarpiece open The Annunciation. Gabriel and Mary.St John the Baptist, left. St. John the Evangelist, RightThe Donor and his wifeDetails from the Adoration of the Lamb: Adam and Eve&…

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