Political

J.B. James relates how, during the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign, Mountjoy played a leading role as courtier, soldier and faithful lover of Essex’s sister, Penelope Rich.

R.B. Landolt describes how Moliere’s comedy, Le Tartuffe, which portrays religious hypocrisy, involved him in troubles with devout persons at Court and with his patron, Louis XIV.

J.H.M. Salmon describes the rivalry between these two remarkable royal ladies—both strongly ambitious and fiercely self-willed—who played an important part in the history of France.

H.T. Dickinson reflects on the Abbe Guiscard’s assassination attempt on Queen Anne’s chief Minister had long-term effects on the Tory party.

Sidney Z. Elher describes how, for a decade, during the Thirty Years War, Wallenstein dominated the scene in the Holy Roman Empire.

It was Wriothesley, as Lord Chancellor, who tearfully announced to Parliament the death of King Henry VIII; under the Protectorate that followed, his career was chequered. By A.L. Rowse.

J.P. Kenyon describes how the Exclusion movement of 1679-81 revealed a widespread frustration among the Parliamentary classes, their distrust of Charles II, and their hatred of Popery. You can find the first part of this article here.

Many events in Ivan's reign, writes Ian Grey, seem merely the first stages of developments that have been continued in the twentieth century. Today his greatness is generally recognized by historians.

Once described as “the first Whig,” the great Christian philosopher of the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, is here introduced by Maurice Cranston as an exponent of order, justice and government.

Unlike Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar had to deal with rivals as ambitious and influential as himself; and S. Usher finds that he has left a lucid account of his rise to greatness.