The name of the great Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev is known to everyone in our country - children and adults. However, I.V. Mozheiko, who worked under the pseudonym Kir Bulychev, was not only a master of fiction, but also a scientist - a historian and orientalist, and his books about our past are in no way inferior to his exciting works about the distant future... Before you is a fascinating book in which I. IN. Mozheiko talks about the most interesting and controversial events of the 16th and 17th centuries and reveals many mysteries of this mysterious era. Who were the real Doctor Faustus and Count Cagliostro? Who was hiding under the “iron mask”? Who killed Don Carlos, the son of the ruthless Spanish king Philip II, and Louis XVII, the heir of the executed French king? How did Queen Elizabeth I and her army manage to deal with the invaders - the Invincible Armada? This and much more is described in this wonderful book...