The biographical story of Michelangelo's troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.

The 16th-century sculptor woos the Duchess of Florence despite the duke.

Admiral Yi Sun-sin faces a tough challenge when he is forced to defend his nation with just 13 battleships against 300 Japanese enemy ships in the Battle of Myeongryang.

Following a nefarious plot by Kozukenosuke Kira Takuminokami Asano Tono is ordered to take the blade and commit suicide. he has loyal foot soldiers however. Kuranosuke is one. He vows vengeance and is ready to wield his sword. to enact his revenge he needs funds and turns to an accountant in the fiefdom. Together they hatch a plan. It is time to put the plan into motion.

In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Lord Kira. Lord Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the dishonor of their Lord. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi asks the Shogun to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses his request and Oishi and forty-six ronin revenge their Lord.

Ana, the Princess of Eboli, wears a black patch over her right eye, where she was blinded as a youth when fighting a duel in defense of her king, the despotic Philip. Thereafter she and the monarch were close friends, although his passion for her was never consummated. She marries one of Philip's ministers, bore him a son, and soon became a widow. Now Philip calls upon her to assist in coaching a commoner, Antonio Perez, for the office of first secretary to the crown.The result is more than Philip bargained for as Ana and Antonio become lovers and create a scandal in court, always the scene of perpetual intrigue. Philip has Antonio arrested on a drummed-up charge of murder, and when Ana refuses to leave Madrid, she too is arrested. After spending time in jail, she is transferred to her home and held in check. Antonio escapes and makes his way to Ana, who persuades him to leave the country and take her son.

In the 16th-century Ukraine, the Polish overlords and Ukrainian cossacks fight for control of the land but frequent Turkish invasions force them to unite against the common Turkish foe.

Set in the 16th century, this is a story about Ukraine's Cossack warriors and their campaign to defend their lands from the advancing Polish armies.

Tanhaji is an action epic about the titular Maratha warrior and Shivaji's military commander who lost his father in a battle and grew up to become a fierce warrior with powerful combat skills. When Mughal emperor Aurangzeb recruits his trusted guard Udaybhan to take control of the Kondhana Fort, Shivaji decides not to engage Tanhaji whose son is going to get married soon. However, as Tanhaji learns of Udaybhan's heading towards the fortress, he decides to take charge and stop the rival army from reaching their destination. This doesn't turn out to be easy as Udaybhan finds himself helped by people who don't want Tanhaji to succeed, resulting in battles and attacks that ensue as the plot unfolds.

From the bitter quest of the Queen of Longtrellis, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to the King of Highhills obsessed with a giant Flea, these tales are inspired by the fairytales by Giambattista Basile.

In his quest to find a worthy successor for his grand legacy, Emperor Akbar sparks a war among his sons. What follows is a terrifying battle for power, filled with politics, betrayals, and bloodshed.

Swashbuckling Adventure of Geoffrey Pierce, a young soldier returning home from foreign wars. Coming back with plans to make amends to Lady Grace, a woman he once wronged, Geoffrey finds her married into the powerful Durant family - nobility with a dark and dangerous plan to put Tristan Durant on the throne of England! Joined by a young and cunning thief, Nola, Geoffrey is thrust into a tangled web of intrigue, action, and the desperate search for the mystical Eurydice Hook.

Storm Voeten, son of printer Klaas Voeten, becomes the target of a hunt by the Inquisition. Aided by Marieke, a mysterious girl living in the underground sewers of Antwerp, Storm is caught in a race against time to save his father from death.

Still Star-Crossed picks up where the famous story of Romeo and Juliet ends, charting the treachery, fight for power and ill-fated romances of the Montagues and Capulets in the wake of the young lovers' tragic fate. The series is based on the eponymous book by Melinda Taub. In the wake of Romeo and Juliet's tragic deaths, the Montague and Capulet rivalry escalates. A new royal takes the throne and struggles to determine what is best for his city when Verona as an epicenter of mayhem.

1552, the great Turkish Empire wants to conquer Europe, and the world. The last stand is Hungarian Kingdom, and the castle of Eger. The brave soldiers decides they will fight till the end of their lifes.

A female theatre dresser creates a stir and sparks a revolution in seventeenth century London theatre by playing Desdemona in Othello. But what will become of the male actor she once worked for and eventually replaced?

A ruthless mercenary renounces violence after learning his soul is bound for hell. When a young girl is kidnapped and her family slain by a sorcerer's murderous cult, he is forced to fight and seek his redemption slaying evil.

Snow White's mother dies during childbirth, leaving baby Snow and father John for dead on an icy field, who then receives a visit from one of Satan's representatives, granting him three wishes.

In this dark take on the fairy tale, the growing hatred of a noblewoman, secretly a practitioner of the dark arts, for her stepdaughter, and the witch's horrifying attempts to kill her.

Sir Francis Drake was a British adventure series that aired on the ITV Network from 1961-1962.The series starred Starring Terence Morgan as Sir Francis Drake, who was the commander of the vessel, The Golden Hind. As well as battles at sea and an abundance of sword fights, the series also deals with intrigue at Queen Elizabeth's court.

In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.

After his Dutch trading ship Erasmus and its surviving crew is blown ashore by a violent storm at Injiro on the east coast of Japan, Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, the ship's English navigator, is taken prisoner by samurai warriors. When he is later temporarily released, he must juggle his self-identity as an Englishman associated with other Europeans in Japan, namely Portuguese traders and Jesuit priests, with the alien Japanese culture into which he has been thrust and now must adapt to in order to survive. Being an Englishman, Blackthorne is at both religious and political odds with his enemy, the Portuguese, and the Catholic Church's Jesuitorder. The Catholic foothold in Japan puts Blackthorne, a Protestant and therefore a heretic, at a political disadvantage. But this same situation also brings him to the attention of the influential Lord Toranaga, who mistrusts this foreign religion now spreading in Japan. He is competing with other samurai warlords of similar high-born rank, among them Catholic converts, for the very powerful position of Shōgun, the military governor of Japan.

A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.

The history of this grand 500-year-old palace is inextricably tied to the lavish lifestyle of King Henry VIII and the doomed fates of his six wives.

A masterful work accurately details the current consensus of what exactly occurred to prompt the colonial witch trials.

Set in 17th century colonial Massachusetts—a significant time in the history of American politics, religion and society— Salem brings you the real story behind the infamous witch trials. In Salem, witches are real, and they're behind it all. Salem Village and Salem Town feuded over property, grazing rights and church rights. The government was dominated by Puritan leaders. People were scrutinized closely and this resulted in obvious discord. They were afraid of being persecuted for anything that may offend the Puritan mindset. The word "witch" seemed an easy and appropriate curse hurled at someone who behaved abnormally.

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.

Romeo and Juliet secretly wed despite the sworn contempt their families hold for each other. It is not long, however, before a chain of fateful events changes the lives of both families forever.

Young love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families.

When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.

In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honor.

Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesmen to their gods. Over time, their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.

A look at theories, possible motives and suspects behind the mysterious disappearance of two young princes, Edward and Richard, upon the ascension to the throne of their uncle, King Richard III.

The story begins on the autumn of 1654 in South France. Eloise lives in a cloister. Her famous father left her there. The young lady is enthusiastic about honour, faithfulness, affection to the poor people, and life of course. She seems powerless when the leader of the nuns is executed because she tried to save an unlucky servant who escaped from odious Crassac and his evil Muse, the Red Lady. Eloise is seized with a fit of temper.

The exiled royal physician to King Charles II devotes himself to helping Londoners suffering from the plague, and in the process falls in love with an equally poor woman.

Hidden between the lines of the history books is the story of Mary Stuart, the young woman the world would come to know as Mary, Queen of Scots. Queen of Scotland since she was six days old, the teenage Mary is already a headstrong monarch - beautiful, passionate, and poised at the very beginning of her tumultuous rise to power. Arriving in France with four close friends as her ladies-in-waiting, Mary has been sent to secure Scotland's strategic alliance by formalizing her arranged engagement to the French king's dashing son, Prince Francis. But the match isn't signed and sealed, it depends more on politics, religion and secret agendas than affairs of the heart. With danger and sexual intrigue around every dark castle corner, Mary rallies her ladies-in-waiting and steels herself, ready to rule the new land and balance the demands of her country and her heart.

Young Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.

Sixteen years after the presumed deaths of the two boy princes held captive in the Tower, Perkin Warbeck makes his claim to the throne as the rightful King Richard. Did the younger brother survive? Is he an impostor? Or is he, as he says, King Richard?

An unscrupulous agent for the Borgias suffers a change of heart when asked to betray a noble count and his much younger, very beautiful wife.

In England in 1685, two children are caught up in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion against King James II.

This is the story of Peter I, Tsar of Russia from 1682, and the constant struggle between him, his sister Sophia and the Streltsy, an important Russian military corp. The story depicts the efforts of Peter in transforming Russia in an "all European" country, importing scientists, costumes, technology and military tactics.

In this dramatization, the Virgin Mary works a miracle on a girl in 1623 Mexico. Four centuries later, a family make a pilgrimage for their own child.

Young nobleman Orlando is commanded by Queen Elizabeth I to stay forever young. Miraculously, he does just that. The film follows him as he moves through several centuries of British history, experiencing a variety of lives and relationships along the way, and even changing sex.

A Royalist's son refuses to betray his father and both are pardoned by Cromwell.

A Dutch exploration team sets sail to find the North East passage to the Indies. The weather had other ideas for them.

NOTHING IS TRUER THAN TRUTH is a feature length documentary about Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, A-list party boy on the continental circuit, who spent a year and a half in Venice and traveling in Europe, learning about commedia dell'arte and collecting the experiences that would become the Shakespeare plays. Shot in Venice, Verona, Mantua, Padua, and Brenta, the film ventures to actual sites De Vere visited in 1575-76, including the settings for THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, OTHELLO, ROMEO & JULIET, and TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. The film features renowned Shakespeare scholars, actors, and directors, including Sir Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, Tina Packer, and Diane Paulus, and argues that De Vere's bisexuality is the reason for the pseudonym Shake-speare.

Winter of 1598, the story of Yi Sun-shin's last naval battle during the Japanese invasions of Korea that happened in the Noryang Strait.

A dramatization of Lady Jane Grey's short life, from her forced marriage (which she resisted) to her brief reign as monarch of England and finally to her beheading. The film portrays her as an innocent set up for the slaughter while the scheming courtiers and pretenders to the throne barely pay her mind, as they stab each other in the back in their attempts to gain power and influence.

An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting 'The Night Watch'.

Gripping drama set in the turbulent 1680s. This sequel to The Devil's Whore follows two young men and two young women who commit their lives to a fairer future, with blood, passion and urgency.

During the Sengoku period, the Ii family governs the Totomi region. Due to many past wars, there are no more male successors left to become a lord. Naotora Ii, the only daughter of the lord, now becomes a lord. She faces a difficult period. The constant love from her fiance, whom she became engaged with at a young age, helps her to keep moving forward

From 1520, follows Suleiman the Magnificent and his relatives from his great conquests to the "Battle of Szigeth".

In 1603, Prince Ahmed became the youngest sultan until then in the history of the Ottoman Empire. He falls in love with Anastasia, a young woman who knows only by a portrait that has been given to him. Meanwhile to obtain the favor of her grandson, Sultana Safiye (grandmother) orders to capture the muse of the painting and orders to bring her to the harem of the new sultan. It is at this moment that Nasya (Anastasia) captivate the Sultan even more with her innocence, and after having lived a life full of dangers, assassinations and intrigues, happens to become the first woman in all Ottoman history carrying the title of Empire's official regent.

A 16th century prince falls in love with a court dancer and battles with his emperor father.

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.

Shortly before his death in 1547, the injured King Henry VIII is forced to take refuge a manor house closed for the season. While there, he must confront both his mortality and the ghosts of his past.

Imprisoned for debt, playwright Molière is rescued by an aristocrat who needs his help in order to seduce a young marquise.

A complex love quadrangle develops between four young lovers in Elizabethan England when mischievous forest spirits decide to play Cupid. American adaptation of the Shakespeare classic.

During the sixteenth century, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots engages in over two decades of religious and political conflict with her cousin, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, amidst political intrigue in her native land.

Mary Stuart's attempt to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, finds her condemned to years of imprisonment before facing execution.

A queen who lost three kingdoms. A wife who lost three husbands. A woman who lost her head.

The recently widowed Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to reclaim her throne but is opposed by her half-brother and her own Scottish lords.

Mary & George is based on the true story of Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who in 17th century England moulded her beautiful son, George, to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become the richest, most titled, and influential players the English court had ever seen, and the King's most trusted advisors.

The funny story of mad but kind and chivalrous elderly nobleman Don Quixote who, aided by his squire Sancho Panza, fights windmills that are seen as dragons to save prostitute Dulcinea who is seen as a noblewoman.

Juana is married off by her pious parents, the Catholic kings Ferndinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, to ally Spain, united by their marriage, to the Burgundian and other Habsburg heritage of archduke Maximilian's son Philip. When they meet, it's love at first sight, for her all-consuming, for him one of many happy bed partnerships as she later discovers. Deaths in her family soon make Juana Isabella's heir, but Ferdinand suggests she inherited her grandmother's madness and supports Philip's ambition to rule instead, which becomes the stakes of political maneuvering in the Cortes (nobility-dominated parliament). Combined with Philip's incurable infidelity, which includes a Moorish whore-princess, multiple drama is inevitable, and worse follows.

During the early sixteenth century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes), disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.

In 17th century Italy, a teenage midwife accused of witchcraft must choose between a star-crossed love and fulfilling her powerful destiny.

Historian Lucy Worsley investigates the creation and development of choral evensong, a form of religious music born out of the English Reformation and out of religious compromise.

In the 1580's English colonists arrive in what was to become North Carolina and find supernatural terror.

In 17th-century England, an outlaw clan kidnaps a young girl, who grows up among them. The farm boy who met her just before the kidnapping eventually rescues her, and they fall in love.

The Doone family run roughshod over a valley of farmers in the Exmoor region of southeast England in the 17th century. The family coerces their living out of the locals by threats and intimidation. After his father is killed a young boy vows vengeance. John Ridd meets young Lorna Doone and her cousins while planning how to enter the Doone's fortress. He grows up and returns to the area after serving time in the army. John mobilizes the farmers to arm themselves and resist the Doone's extortion. Eventually John enlists the crown's aid and discovers that Lorna is not a Doone but a kidnapped member of a royal family. There is a final confrontation between John, the farmers and the Doones that includes the fate of Laura.

John Ridd was just a boy when the villainous Carver Doone callously murdered his father. Now a young man, John has two driving passions: his thirst for revenge against the outlaw Doones, and his love for the beautiful Lorna, daughter of his sworn enemies.

Against a backdrop of political and religious upheaval, a farmer falls in love with the "queen" of the notorious Doone clan --a family that he has sworn vengeance on.

Passionate love story set in 17th century rural England, charting the young John Ridd's search for revenge after his father's murder, and the chance encounter with beautiful Lorna Doone that changes the course of his life.

In a society, the proud and arrogant Golden Age Spain, riding blind towards the end of the Empire and in which the honor and loyalty are all, a Spanish soldier who has travelled Europe fighting under the flag of "Tercio Viejo de Cartagena", survives in the Austrias' Madrid as a mercenary swordsman hired four coppers on request. Brave, honest and loyal man, Diego Alatriste will be involved in intrigues and conspiracies of various kinds that require him to make good use of his steel.

England 1555. An isolated group of salt farmers arrange illegal passage to Europe for an Indian Gypsy family in hiding. But a love affair between Patience, a mute English girl, and Rumi, the son of the Egyptians, threatens to destroy both communities.

Seville, 16th century. During a terrible plague epidemic, the corpses of several murdered people are found, as an omen of the end of the world. Seville was one of the main cities of the Western world. Known as the Great Babylon, it was home to people of all races, where fifty different languages were spoken, and all the gold from America arrived into its port. It was one of the smelliest, most beautiful cities in the world, and the setting for this unique, character- driven thriller.

La Guerre des Trônes: la Véritable Histoire de l'Europe recounts the epic story of the rival dynasties that forged the history of medieval and early modern Europe. Shot on location across Europe, the series documents the turbulent conflicts between the French Royal Houses of Valois and Burgundy, and their Plantagenet rivals in England, which erupted with such ferocity in the titanic struggle of The Hundred Years War. Each episode focuses on a moment in European history and a clash between European houses.

The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos because of succession disputes. His weak son King Edward VI is on his deathbed. Anxious to keep England true to the Reformation, a scheming minister John Dudley marries off his son, Guilford, to Lady Jane Grey, whom he places on the throne after Edward dies. At first hostile to each other, Guilford and Jane fall in love. But they cannot withstand the course of power which will lead to their ultimate downfall.

A boy learns the black arts from an evil sorcerer.

In 1700, a Spanish princess travels from New Mexico to California with ruthless outlaw El Tigre as guide.

While she fights a heroic battle against the Spanish besieger with her female army, Kenau, driven by hate and sorrow of the execution of her youngest daughter, is threatened to also lose her eldest daughter, because her fear and pain are covered by her stubborn closeness.

A sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodha.

Set in the early 17th Century, Jamestown tells the story of three courageous, dynamic women who leave their dark pasts behind in England, and make the journey of a lifetime across the ocean for a new life in America.

As Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate their Tsar.

In 1547, Ivan IV (1530-1584), archduke of Moscow, crowns himself Tsar of Russia and sets about reclaiming lost Russian territory. In scenes of his coronation, his wedding to Anastasia, his campaign against the Tartars in Kazan, his illness when all think he will die, recovery, campaigns in the Baltic and Crimea, self-imposed exile in Alexandrov, and the petition of Muscovites that he return, his enemies among the boyars threaten his success. Chief among them are his aunt, who wants to advance the fortunes of her son, a simpleton, and Kurbsky, a warrior prince who wants both power and the hand of Anastasia. Ivan deftly plays to the people to consolidate his power.

Life of Isabella I of Castile, also known as Isabella the Catholic.

Discover Leonardo da Vinci, the man, the painter, the scientist and the inventor, through a unique, engaging and fascinating journey in the mind of Leonardo.

'If you could hear the voice of God, would you want to keep it secret?' A historical drama based on the memoirs of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. This is the story of a soldier, a man of vice and violence who, in his attempt to turn to the light, was forced to wrestle with his inner demons to the very brink of death. A Filipino production shot in Spain and the Philippines, the film chronicles his valiant but futile defense at the Battle of Pamplona, his struggles with depression and near-suicide, his trial before the Inquisition, and his ultimate vindication.

During the 8 episodes of this production where 'Ali Surmeli' and 'Gulben Ergen' had the leading roles, we watched how Hurrem Sultana became a character who influenced the Ottoman history with intrigues after gaining Suleiman the Magnificent's trust and love with her beauty, femininity, intelligence and cleverness.

The Spanish "Conquistador" Hernán Cortés arrives in the shores of what today is México and faces both local demons and those who've sailed with him.

Henry VIII: Man, Monarch, Monster reveals the truth about England's most infamous King, King Henry VIII. Filmed in historic locations including Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and the Vatican and unearthing new documents never seen before on TV, a team of Tudor experts uncover the real Henry, and explore how his complex personality fundamentally shaped the nation.

Henry VIII is a proud and wilful monarch who defies Rome's ban on divorce to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Cardinal Wolsey, the Powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the king's wishes in the matter of the divorce of Catherine of Aragon so he can marry Anne Boleyn. Later, near death, he repents his unpriestly activity. After Henry divorces her, Catherine is sent to Kimbolton Castle. Anne marries Henry and becomes his queen.

Award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern and film director Gillies MacKinnon bring the story behind the Gunpowder Plot to BBC TWO in two original films exploring the lives of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James 1st.The first concentrates on Mary's short-lived reign and the battles she has to fight with both her Protestant subjects and the English Queen, Elizabeth 1st. She conspires with the Earl of Bothwell to assassinate her miscreant husband Lord Darnley.The story continues with her son James VI of Scotland (who, on Elizabeth's death, became James 1st of England), and the plot against his reign masterminded by the influential Catholic Robert Catesby - a plot planned by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in order to rid the nation of an oppressive Protestant monarch.

London, 1605. Robert Catesby, a 33-year-old Warwickshire gentleman, devises a plot to blow up Parliament and and kill the king.

A violent and gritty retelling of the life of Grainne Uaile, the 16th century Pirate Queen from Ireland. She was a fighter, a pirate and a tough woman, carving her mark in a mans world. This exciting film is violent, dark, brutal, exciting and often darkly comic. The ultimate female action hero steeped in ancient Irish history.

Love, ambition, treason and death clash in a neverending search for a city built with gold.

A dramatized biography of William Tyndale, the 16th Century reformer determined to translate the Bible into English, which illegal act set him at odds with the Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII.