I Take History With My Coffee

A historical journey through the Early Modern period

I Take History With My Coffee


Recent Episodes

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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 ...
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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...
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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...
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84: The Squalid Drama: Succession, Madness, and the Foreign Takeover of Spain (1504-1517)
Dec. 2, 2025

84: The Squalid Drama: Succession, Madness, and the Foreign Takeover of Spain (1504-1517)

When Queen Isabel of Castile died on November 26, 1504, she left behind a unified Spain and a disastrous succession crisis. Over the following thirteen years, a series of unexpected deaths, political conspiracies, and a conve...
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83: The Crucible of Spanish Power: How Granada Forged Spanish Dominance
Nov. 17, 2025

83: The Crucible of Spanish Power: How Granada Forged Spanish Dominance

On the night of January 1, 1492, Christian soldiers quietly entered Granada's Alhambra palace. By dawn, the banners of Castile and Aragon flew from the towers of Iberia's last Muslim kingdom. Royal heralds announced a glorious military conquest blessed by divine providence. The reality was much mes…
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82: Crown, Cross, and Crisis: Spain's Inquisition and the Expulsion of 1492
Nov. 3, 2025

82: Crown, Cross, and Crisis: Spain's Inquisition and the Expulsion of 1492

The year 1492 is one of the most important in Spanish history. While Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, Jews were forced to flee east, ending over a thousand years of Jewish presence on the Iberian Peninsula. That same...
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Recent Blog Posts

Maps of the Burgundian Territories
Jan. 13, 2026

Maps of the Burgundian Territories

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16th Century House of Habsburg
Jan. 13, 2026

16th Century House of Habsburg

  Maximilian                                                        Philip the Handsome   &…

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15th Century Aragonese Monarchs
Sept. 15, 2025

15th Century Aragonese Monarchs

Marti I (1396-1410), Book of Privileges of the Carthusian Monastery of Valldecrist, 15th century   Central panel of the altarpiece of the Archbishop of Toledo Sancho de Rojas, from San Benito el Real, Valladolid. The Virgin crowns the arc…

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