Surveys important occurrences in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas around the year 1500.

Eager to expand his commercial empire, ambitious merchant banker Nicholas van der Poele travels to Africa, followed by Gelis van Borselen, a determined young woman who blames Nicholas for her sister's death.

The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire. In 1462, Nicholas is a wealthy 21-year-old. His beloved wife has died. His stepchildren have locked him out of the family business. He and his private army are the target...

Scotland, 1477: Nicholas de Fleury, former banker and merchant, has reappeared in the land that, four years earlier, he had brought very close to ruin in the course of an intense commercial and personal war with secret enemies-and, indeed, with his clever wife Gelis. Now the opportunity for redemption is at hand, but Nicholas soon finds himself pursuing his objectives amid a complex, corrosive power struggle centering on the Scottish royal family...

In Renaissance Italy, Elisabetta longs for romance, and when Leonardo da Vinci introduces her to Guiliano de Medici, whose family rules Florence but is about to be deposed, she has no inkling of the romance--and sorrow--that will ensue.

Readers take a trip back in time to learn about the culture and civilization of 15th century Europe and Spain, and the discovery of America by Columbus.

Rok 1533. Prosty chłopiec z kalabryjskiej wsi, Giovanni Tratore, zakochuje się w pięknej pannie z bogatego weneckiego rodu Dożów. Za próbę zbliżenia do dziewczyny zostaje poddany chłoście. Chcąc udowodnić, że jest jej godzien, opuszcza rodzinny dom i wstępuje na niebezpieczną drogę. Przeznaczenie zaprowadzi go do tajemniczej zielarki Luny potrafiącej przewidywać przyszłość, do siedziby największego astrologa Europy, do prawosławnego...

Uses paintings, manuscripts, and pictures of contemporary objects to tell the story of an artist, scientist, and inventor of Renaissance Europe and to give an account of his world.