It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
In August 1328, a priest in Derbyshire was beaten up and his church robbed by a gang of armed thugs. Perhaps that sounds unsurprising; it fits well into the popular view of medieval lawlessness, vigilante justice and endemic violence. However, this particular incident wasn't random violence perpetrated by drunken idiots, but a calculated act carried …
Continue reading The 14th-century Mafia? Folville, Coterel & Co
In June 1940, the French government surrendered to the German army at Compiègne. British morale was low, and Hitler hoped that the British government would soon cave in, cowed by the French defeat. Meanwhile, he was also drawing up plans for a potential invasion of Britain, known in English as 'Operation Sealion'. There is still …
Shakespeare's plays have been censored ever since they were first performed. Some, particularly the history plays, were censored in his own time because they were considered unwise, or even treasonous, in the contemporary political climate. In the 19th century, Shakespeare plays were also often censored, though for their racy and 'indecent' passages rather than their …