Sparkula

Not mine at all, but I thought this comic could use a sparkly vampire ;D

Thank you Tessa for showing me this.

Personages of the Reformation part Three

So this is Thomas Cranmer. A rather nice chap, all around. But very heretical, depending on who you ask. I don’t know what heretical book he’s reading, maybe “Sex Lives of the Popes” or “Why Rome Sucks” or “Charles V: Papists at Work”…actually the last one might not be very heretical.
He was the Archbishop of Canterbury, chaplain to Henry VIII and the Boleyns, managed to survive Henry’s reign even when his colleagues partners in crime were….disposed of, only to be burned at the stake by Mary.
He did many things that helped to further the protestant cause etc. but I really just like him because he was nice. xD Lame reason, I know, but he was. It’s so odd to find someone like him when one is used to reading about people like T. Cromwell (not to be confused with Oliver), C. Brandon, T. Wolsey, H. Tudor, etc.

That said: Happy Holidays everyone and see you in the new year.

side note: Luther may or may not show up. Depends if I ever feel like drawing him.

Personages of the Reformation part Two

I wouldn’t want to mess with this guy. He’s old and intimidating and will get Italian Artists to make offensive frescoes concerning you and your family.
This is Pope Paul III in all his glory, a translation of all his denunciations concerning Luther amount to him essentially saying “go on, punk, make my day”. Which….happened…..to the chagrin of the Catholics.
Though Paul had a very impressive beard, I must say.

Personages of the Reformation round One

This is Cromwell. Don’t piss him off or he’ll plant evidence that you had multiple affairs, committed treason, tended towards the incestuous side of things, practiced witchcraft, annul your marriage on the grounds that your husband slept with your sister thus was committing incest, and will make your child illegitament. And he can do this several times over. Oh yeees.
The next few (er…two) are just products of my being lazy and not writing up a proper comic. We get Popes next!

The Borgias

I don’t really think I need to say anything about them.
From left to right: Giovanni (who was most likely murdered by Cesare), Cesare, Lucrezia, Gioffre (the only one to have a somewhat normal life), Pope Alexander VI (aka Rodrigo Borgia), and Vanozza dei Cattanei. They were a fun bunch.

The Wall

So apparently Dracula had an obsession with building walls. Walls and castles. He built them. Lots of them. Then they were all torn down. I think we have like two left.

To be fair, I’d be building lots of walls if I had a vengeful, ambitious Sultan south of my borders too. And I’d get the vengeful, ambitious, ex-Boyars to do it. Oh Vlad.

Politics, or, Caesar – Clinton style

When Caesar was young he was sent to Nicomedes to commandeer acquire some ships for Rome. Apparently N. agreed to the demands so readily, and Caesar still spent so long at his court, that people suspected an affair might have developed. He then spent the rest of his life being accused of have had sexual relations with Nicomedes. It’s something that we will never know, but, Caesar was nick-named the husband of every senator’s wife and the wife of every senator. Though being saddled with “Queen of Bithnyia” in very patriarchal Rome might not have been the best thing to happen. Kudos to Caesar though, he took all in stride and usually replied with “you can believe that if you want”. And it’s not like it stopped him from conquering the World.

Another brief and entertaining story of Caesar’s many sexual escapades: one day Caesar was at the Senate and one of the senators was railing against him, declaring that he had a main part in a recent plot to over throw the republic (I think the senator was twenty five years too early). During this tirade a messenger came in with a note for Caesar and the senator said, jeeringly, that it was probably a message from the rebels. Caesar of course denied this and the senator asked him to read it to everyone, as proof. Caesar obliged. The note was a rather raunchy message from the senator’s wife to Caesar, with whom she had been having an affair with for some time. And that, folks, is what we call a burn.

Compilation

I swear I’ll have something real in a few days. These are just doodles from the margins of my notebooks from class.

Left to right:
Ficino, Brother Jerome, Bishop Aleander
Thomas Cromwell (who has no qualms about fucking your shit up), Jonathan Harker, Rev. Samuel Parris, Robespierre,
Mircea II (Vlad Dracula’s older brother), and the plague rat.

Next time: Julius Caesar and Nicomedes or Why Politics Hasn’t Changed

Petrarch Stalking

Salutati was chancellor of Florence near the end of Petrarch’s life. They were both humanists before everyone else was a humanist. Kind of like being a hipster before everyone else was a hipster. Apart from stalking Petrarch, Salutati rediscovered many original Greek and Latin texts and perfected what is now known as the Times New Roman font. I kid you not.

And yes, he so hid in trees above Petrarch.

“I am anti-Aristotle, only when Aristotle is anti-common sense” – Petrarch.

Bonaparte

It’s a Napoleon! For those who know me, this should hardly be surprising. And Farfalla is butterfly in Italian I believe, the language he grew up speaking (being from Corsica and all).
Wasn’t he a cute little thing?