‘Fenwomen’ by Mary Chamberlain review
Mary Chamberlain’s groundbreaking oral history turns 50. This new edition of Fenwomen: A Portrait of Women in an English Village invites reflection on half a century of change.
England
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
On 25 September 1066 the ‘Viking Age’ came to a close when Harold Hardrada was slain at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
‘The Rage of Party’ by George Owers review
They go low, we go lower. The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain by George Owers offers up the origins of Britain’s fractious political culture.
‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman review
The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom by David Woodman looks beyond the empty tomb to find perhaps the most consequential monarch of the Anglo-Saxon age.
Get Out: Excommunicated in Medieval England
In 13th-century England excommunication was akin to spiritual leprosy. How did it work?
Did It Matter That Elizabeth I Was a Woman?
Whether as ‘Gloriana’ or ‘Good Queen Bess’ Elizabeth I is one of England’s most iconic monarchs, but did her gender shape her reign?
The Church of England’s Great Ejection
On 24 August 1662 those clergy who refused to accept the Book of Common Prayer were to be ejected from the Church of England. How many paid the price for their non-conformity?
The Hunt for Martin Marprelate
Who was Martin Marprelate, seditious pamphleteer and enemy of the Elizabethan Church and state? And, more importantly, how could he be stopped?
What Birmingham Taught Muslim India
Industrial Birmingham was an important stop on the grand tours of various Muslim rulers, all eager to learn from the city of a thousand trades.
‘The Graces’ by Breeze Barrington review
The Graces: The Extraordinary Untold Lives of Women at the Restoration Court by Breeze Barrington looks beyond the warming pan to the real Mary of Modena.