It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
One of the most important cultural developments in Victorian England was the growth of medievalism. Medievalism was an expression of the yearning for a medieval golden age and as such was very much a reactionary movement. Those who felt alienated by industrialisation and modern capitalism looked back to a mythical past in which romance, chivalry, …
In 1842, William Thackeray published the third of his satirical pieces titled Miss Tickletoby's Lectures on English History, in Punch magazine. They are a hilarious send-up of 19th-century English education, as captured through the lectures of the imaginary schoolmistress/historian, Miss Tickletoby. Readers who can remember Our Island Story may see some similarities in its patriotic and opinionated tone; and …
Continue reading Miss Tickletoby’s Lectures on English History: The Danish Conquest
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