The papacy is the oldest continuously functioning institution in the world. Developed c. A.D. 30 when Jesus invested his disciple Peter with the authority to create a church, the Bishops of Rome grew their organization from a small flock of persecuted worshipers to a religion that counts one-sixth of the world's population as members.

The papacy is the oldest continuously functioning institution in the world. Developed c. A.D. 30 when Jesus invested his disciple Peter with the authority to create a church, the Bishops of Rome grew their organization from a small flock of persecuted worshipers to a religion that counts one-sixth of the world's population as members.

Over the last 2,000 years, the papacy has had an enormous influence on the world stage in religious, geopolitical, legal, social, artistic, and cultural matters. Today, more than a billion Roman Catholics throughout the world look to the pope for guidance and leadership.

He uncovers the links between the papal intrigues of Renaissance Rome and the music of the enigmatic Palestrina, whose work is considered by many to be unsurpassed in its spiritual perfection. The art and architecture of the Italian High Renaissance are accompanied by a performance from the award-winning choir The Sixteen, conducted by founder Harry Christophers.

Music videos and archived footage supplement recent interviews in this documentary of ex-Pogues singer Shane MacGowan. We follow his life from the early days in Ireland and England, through his formation of - and later dismissal from - The Pogues, to his new band The Popes. Shane's family, friends, and former bandmates comment on the music, the rumors, and the alcohol.

Music videos and archived footage supplement recent interviews in this documentary of ex-Pogues singer Shane MacGowan. We follow his life from the early days in Ireland and England, through his formation of - and later dismissal from - The Pogues, to his new band The Popes. Shane's family, friends, and former bandmates comment on the music, the rumors, and the alcohol.

Music videos and archived footage supplement recent interviews in this documentary of ex-Pogues singer Shane MacGowan. We follow his life from the early days in Ireland and England, through his formation of - and later dismissal from - The Pogues, to his new band The Popes. Shane's family, friends, and former bandmates comment on the music, the rumors, and the alcohol.

Vatican City or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano, which translates as State of the Vatican City, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of just over 800.

Is your knowledge of The Crusades less than tip-top? Maybe you're curious about Columbus, or you're desperate to read about the Black Death in all its gory detail?

Genre: Documentary
A Lamp in the Dark is an exciting documentary that shows the intriguing history of the Bible. Enter into a world of saints and martyrs battling against spies, assassins, and wolves in sheep's clothing. Through the Middle Ages, the popes and Inquisition forbade biblical translation, threatening imprisonment and death to those who disobeyed. Learn the lives of men like John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale and others, who hazarded their lives to communicate the Bible in languages people could understand.

"The Crusades" tells the story of two centuries of Christian offensive
during the millennium of warfare between Christendom and Islam, an era
in which the presence of the supernatural was much more recognized than
it is today.

In Rome today is the street known as Vicus Papissa, the street of the woman pope. In that avenue is an alcove in which it is said an image of Joan once stood, in memory of the spot where she gave birth.

Were the two centuries from c. 1300 to c. 1500?an age that has come to be known as the Late Middle Ages?an era of calamity or an era of rebirth* Should we look on this time as still clearly medieval or as one in which humanity took its first decisive steps into modernity* Was it a period as distant from us as it appears, or was it closer than we suspect* Students of history are still trying, even after so many centuries, to reach anything approaching a consensus on the answers to these questions.

In 1260, the Italian city-states of Florence and Siena went to war. With wealth and power on its side, there was no question the Florentine force could easily overpower the underdog city-state of Siena.

From Library Journal
In the English-speaking world, Dante has the status of a great unknown. His reputation is secure; his Inferno, with its scrupulously organized tiers of punishment, is a byword and a blessing for satirists and artists; his life and works are the subjects of a steady, enthusiastic stream of secondary literature. Yet the whole of his work is little understood. Few readers ever advance beyond the first portion of his mighty poem to its conclusion in Heaven; fewer still ever gain a sufficient understanding of his context, of the nuances of his response to his world, or of the complexity of his approach to style, language, and religious belief.