Early Modern (16th-18thC)

Nicholas Mee recalls Jeremiah Horrocks, the first astronomer to observe Venus cross in front of the Sun, whose discoveries paved the way for the achievements of Isaac Newton.

The last person burned to death at the stake for heresy was executed on April 11th, 1612.

Frederick the Great, the man who made Prussia a leading European power, was born on January 24th, 1712.

Dunia Garcia Ontiveros charts the little-known history of the Sami population and the life of Knud Leem, the first person to study their language and culture.

The Duke of Marlborough was dismissed from the office of captain-general on December 31st 1711.

The first performance of The Tempest on record was at court on All Hallows’ Day, on November 1st 1611.

Colin Jones and Emily Richardson reveal a little-known collection of obscene and irreverent 18th-century drawings targetting Madame de Pompadour, the favourite mistress of Louis XV of France.

An insight into the London Library's remarkable collection of early English versions of the Bible, at the heart of which is a copy of the King James Bible of 1611.

What was behind Colonel Thomas Blood’s failed attempt to steal the Crown Jewels during the cash-strapped reign of Charles II and how did he survive such a treasonable act? Nigel Jones questions the motives of a notorious 17th-century schemer.

There is nothing new or exceptional about the recent English riots and they will have little long-term impact, argues Tim Stanley.

Jez Ross corrects misunderstandings about the origins and significance of disturbances in 1549.

William Beckford was the model of an 18th-century progressive and aesthete. But the wealth that allowed him to live such a lifestyle came from the slaves he exploited in his Caribbean holdings. Robert J. Gemmett looks at how an apparently civilised man sought to justify his hypocrisy.

Ben Sandell examines the origins, influence and significance of a group of often misunderstood radicals.