It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
My choir is singing a lot of Britten this term, as it is his 100th anniversary. Most of our repertoire would be fairly well-known to Britten fans, but one very strange piece came as a surprise to me: 'Advance Democracy'. It was written in response to the Munich Crisis of 1938, when the Allies, in …
Continuing on from 17th century romantic compliments, here is some advice from 1679 on how not to behave in public. The book, The Refin'd Courtier, or, A Correction of several Indecencies crept into Civil Conversation, criticises the foul manners of some of the author's high-born contemporaries. It provides an interesting insight into the social etiquette of …
This illustration is from the Codex Manesse, or Großer Heidelberger Handschrift, a 14th century anthology of Middle High German poetry. The Codex contains 140 texts including works by the famous poets Wolfram von Eschenbach (the author of Parzival), Heinrich von Morungen and Walther von der Vogelweide. The manuscript was produced in Zürich for the wealthy …