Enlightenment

The Royal Society was founded in 1660 to promote scientific research. Through a process of trial and error, this completely new kind of institution slowly discovered how its ambitions might be achieved – often in ways unforeseen by its founders, writes Michael Hunter.

Simon Henderson places a key figure into the context of modern Russian history.

A.D. Harvey recalls the career of the Swedish king whose assassination inspired a famous opera.

Malcolm Crook takes a fresh look at the eighteenth-century alliance between philosophers and kings.

Charles C. Noel illustrates how the remodelling of the Spanish capital reflected the new philosophical and cultural concerns of her rulers in the 'Age of Reason'. 

Walter Makin gives two cheers for a sample of the popular Access to History series. 

Glasgow's role in the Enlightenment is often overshadowed by Edinburgh, but Roy Campbell shows that the impetus came from the West with the pioneering work done in the city from the early years of the eighteenth century.