Tag Archives: 17th Century

Official Release: Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century

It’s done! Finished, edited, proofed and approved. And we have copies on the shelves!

The sequel to Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation.

Rather than reprinting Famous Men of Modern Times (which is a bit uneven in both tone and selection), we have made the decision to complete the Famous Men biography series with four new books:

  • Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century (Queen Elizabeth to Louis XIV) – available now
  • Famous Men of the 18th Century (Isaac Newton to Robespierre) – 2010
  • Famous Men of the 19th Century (Napoleon Bonaparte to Mark Twain) – 2011
  • Famous men of the 20th Century (Teddy Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan) – 2012

The 17th century was an age of religious wars and revolutions. The French had seven civil wars of religion from 1570-1590. The German Empire had a religious civil war from 1618-1648. The English had a civil war from 1642-1649. It was also the century in which the English and French settlements were founding colonies in North America at Jamestown, Plymouth, Boston, & Quebec. But learning the wars will not convey to students what the times were like. Biographies will. Twenty-eight key individuals are profiled in chronological order:

Birth Crowned Death

1519

1547

1589

Catherine de’ Medici
1553

1589

1610

Henry of Navarre (Henry IV)
1533

1558

1603

Elizabeth I
1540

1595

Sir Francis Drake
1552

1618

Sir Walter Raleigh
1566

1603

1625

James I
1552

1610

Matteo Ricci
1564

1616

William Shakespeare
1580

1631

John Smith
1583

1634

Wallenstein
1594

1611

1632

Gustavus Adolphus
1575

1635

Samuel de Champlain
1564

1642

Galileo
1585

1642

Cardinal Richelieu
1600

1625

1649

Charles I
1599

1658

Oliver Cromwell
1590

1620

1657

William Bradford
1588

1629

1649

John Winthrop
1623

1662

Blaise Pascal
1606

1669

Rembrandt
1608

1674

John Milton
1632

1675

Johannes Vermeer
1630

1660

1685

Charles II
1629

1674

1696

Jan Sobieski
1650

1688

1702

William of Orange (William III)
1632

1704

John Locke
1653

1706

Johan Pachelbel
1638

1643

1715

Louis XIV

I am particularly pleased with how the chapters on the colonial founders turned out. John Smith (Jamestown), Samuel de Champlain (Quebec), William Bradford (Plymouth), and John Winthrop (Boston) all have incredible and fascinating stories. A simple comparison of their backgrounds and their reasons for leaving England and France will give students far more understanding about the founding of the colonies than any textbook can.

I also enjoyed greatly retelling the events of the English Civil War, the Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. These events (with a number of larger-than-life characters) were critical in shaping the political ideas of America’s Founding Fathers – whose stories I am looking forward to telling in Famous Men of the 18th Century.

I’ve also included accounts of the lives of artists (Rembrandt, Vermeer), a musician (Johan Pachelbel), and writers (Shakespeare & Milton) so that students will become acquainted with more than just the political history of the times.

The reading level is targeted on upper elementary/jr. high, but even older students and adults will find much here that gets left out of the textbook accounts.

Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century is 28 chapters, 228 pages and retails for $17.95, directly from Greenleaf Press.

Get ’em while they’re hot off the press!

– Rob Shearer, (author and) Publisher