Sir Francis Drake (1540 – 1596) was an English knight, a navel officer, a pirate, and the favorite sea dog of Queen Elizabeth I. Privateer Queen Elizabeth I issued a special mandate encouraging attacking and stealing the bounty of Spanish ships. With the mandate Drake became a privateer. He helped fund Britain’s war against Spain. …
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Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) born Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios was a Venezuelan military genius and political leader. He led a revolution that liberated South American countries that are now Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia from the Spanish Empire. Caste System Born to a wealthy, politically connected, Venezuelan family, …
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was a romantic era German, French composer and impresario. A child prodigy, at four he studied violin with his father; at nine he fell in love with the cello. At 14 he was accepted as a student to the prestigious Paris Conservatoire. International Fame But Offenbach grew bored and left after a …
E. T. A. Hoffmann
E. T. A. Hoffmann, (1776-1822) born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann was a German author of fantasy and Gothic horror. He was also a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Hoffmann is one of the major creators of the Romantic movement. Jacques Offenbach His stories were the basis of the famous opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach, …
Nat Love
Nat Love (1854-1921) was a slave born on Robert Love’s Tennessee plantation. After the civil war ended and the slaves were freed his parents became sharecroppers. His father Sampson died shortly after and Nat took a job at a local farm to help breaking horses. Westward Eventually Nat traveled to Dodge City, Kansas where he …
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German professor of theology, a composer, a priest, and a monk. Horrified by the indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church he became a major initiator of the Protestant Reformation. Protestant Reformation The Protestant Reformation was a religious reform movement. It swept through Europe in the 1500s. The Reformation divided the …
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an escaped slave from Maryland. He was an author, editor, diplomat, suffragist, and a national leader of the abolitionist movement. Orator & writer A brilliant orator Northerners had a hard time imaging that he had once been a slave. This inspired him to write his first autobiography which became a best …
Sir Kenelm Digby
Dashing 17th century courtier Sir Kenelm Digby (1603 –1665) was a dashing 17th century courtier. During his time on the continent Marie de Medici fell madly in love with him and wrote about him in her memoirs. An English courtier, diplomat, philosopher, and astrologer Digby was also a privateer. Privateer A privater is a government …
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a Victorian sage. He was an often brilliant writer, historian, philosopher, and teacher. He was born in Scotland. Carlyle was also a mathematician and developed the Carlyle circle, a method used in quadratic equations. Theories Carlyle is known for his theories the Great man and Hero-worship. He was influenced by William …
Emily Brontë
Emily Bronte (1818-1848) was an English Romantic era novelist and poet. She wrote a single novel Wuthering Heights. It was an imaginative story of passion and hate set on the Yorkshire moors. The book got terrible reviews when first published. It is now considered one of the English language’s finest novels. The Bronte sisters Emily …