The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim (and earlier non-Muslim) people of Berber and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most of what is now Spain and Portugal.

The Pinzon brothers were Spanish sailors/explorers/fishermen, natives of Palos de la Frontera. All three, Martín Alonso, Francisco Martín and Vicente Yañez, participated in Columbus's first expedition to the New World. They are noted by most historians as being integral to this adventure, yet they received very little recognition for their acts.

Francisco de Bobadilla was a Spanish colonial administrator. Member of the Order of Calatrava, in 1499, de Bobadilla was appointed to succeed Christopher Columbus as the second governor of the Indies, Spain's new territories in America, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the most successful artists of his day, Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio. Verrocchio's workshop was at the centre of the intellectual currents of Florence, assuring the young Leonardo of an education in the humanities. Other famous painters apprenticed or associated with the workshop include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi.[10][13] Leonardo would have been exposed to a vast range of technical skills and had the opportunity to learn drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting and modelling.[14][15][16]

In Buddhism, relics of the Buddha and various saints are venerated. Originally, after the Buddha's death, his remains were divided into eight portions. Afterward, these relics were enshrined in stupas wherever Buddhism was spread, despite his instructions that relics were not to be collected or venerated. Some relics believed to be original relics of Buddha still survive including the much revered Sacred Relic of the tooth of the Buddha in Sri Lanka.

Mortal sin, according to the beliefs of Roman Catholicism, and some Protestant denominations, is a sin that, unless confessed and absolved (or at least sacramental confession is willed if not available), condemns a person's soul to Hell after death. These sins are considered "mortal" because they constitute a rupture in a person's link to God's saving grace: the person's soul becomes "dead", not merely weakened. The phrase is used in I John 5.16 -17: "If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one - to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal."

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven. This is an idea that has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, while the conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the achievement of medieval Christian piety and imagination.[1]

Frederick was Pope Leo X's candidate for Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 - the pope had awarded him the Golden Rose of virtue on 3 September 1518 - but he helped secure the election of Charles V. Frederick ensured Luther would be heard before the Diet of Worms in 1521 and subsequently secured an exemption from the Edict of Worms for Saxony.

Frederick was Pope Leo X's candidate for Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 - the pope had awarded him the Golden Rose of virtue on 3 September 1518 - but he helped secure the election of Charles V. Frederick ensured Luther would be heard before the Diet of Worms in 1521 and subsequently secured an exemption from the Edict of Worms for Saxony.

Martin Luther changed the course of Christianity and Western history. His 1517 complaint against specific abuses in the Roman Catholic church -- a document now known as the 95 Theses -- sparked the explosive Protestant Reformation that swept Europe for the rest of the century. Born to a Roman Catholic family (his father was a copper miner), Luther graduated from the University of Erfurt in 1505 but abandoned his legal studies to enter a monastery devoted to St. Augustine.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452. He was an inventor, scientist, engineer, sculptor, musician, mathematician, anatomist, astronomer, geologist, biologist, and philosopher. When da Vinci was in his teens, he was sent to Florence to apprentice as a painter under Andrea del Verrocchio. He quickly developed his own artistic style which marked the beginning of the High Renaissance. Two of da Vinci's more well-known paintings are the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.

Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy. When he was 13, he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio. It was then that he learned the technique of fresco Michelangelo finished David in 1504. In 1508, he began work on the Sistene Chapel ceiling frescoes, which would occupy him until 1512. In 1534, Michelangelo left Florence for Rome where he stayed for the rest of his life. He died on Feb. 18, 1564.

A 1578 handbook for inquisitors spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties: ... quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur. [Translation from the Latin: "... for punishment does not take place primarily and per se for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit.

After Charles VIII of France invaded Florence in 1494, the ruling Medici were overthrown and Savonarola emerged as the new leader of the city, combining in himself the role of secular leader and priest. He set up a republic in Florence. Characterizing it as a "Christian and religious Republic," one of its first acts was to make sodomy, previously punishable by fine, into a capital offence. Homosexuality had previously been tolerated in the city, and many homosexuals from the elite now chose to leave Florence.

Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti who were involved in the 15th century Renaissance. Although he did not commission many works himself, he helped them secure commissions from other patrons.

Because of the great demand from associations that their favourite prayers, devotions, places of worship or pilgrimage, their processions and meetings, be enriched with indulgences, there was a tendency to forge documents declaring that such indulgences, sometimes of extraordinary character, had been granted. Indulgences were attached to many works that were not only good but also served the common good, both religious and civil: churches,

Saint Peter Pope St. Hormisdas Pope Adrian II Pope John XVII Pope Clement IV Pope Honorius IV

Suicide (Latin suicidium, from sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"[1] (e.g., "political suicide"). Suicide may occur for a number of reasons, including depression, shame, guilt, desperation, physical pain, emotional pressure, anxiety, financial difficulties, or other undesirable situations.

The Eastern Catholic Churches are autonomous (in Latin, sui iuris) particular Churches in full communion with the Bishop of Rome - the Pope. They preserve the liturgical, theological and devotional traditions of the various Eastern Christian Churches with which they are associated, and between which doctrinal differences exist, in particular between the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East.[1

Methodists in the mid eighteenth century,[2] and the movement did not form a separate denomination in England until after John Wesley's death in 1795. Other 18th century branches of Methodism include Welsh Methodists, later the Calvinistic Methodists, from the work of Howell Harris,[3][4] and the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion through the work of George Whitefield.