History Today

Some three hundred years ago, when the English Civil War was brewing, a gifted Bohemian artist settled in London; Joseph Bradac writes that we owe much to his talents.

Under the far-sighted rule of the Five Good Emperors, writes Anthony Birley, the Roman world enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity and peace.

Alex Keller describes how the closing years of the sixteenth century and the early decades of the seventeenth marked the first period in England of important technological advance.

An international merchant, Jacques Coeur became banker to the court of Charles VII of France. By 1450, writes A.R. Myers, Couer had reached a magnificent height of prosperity

Eighteenth-century ambassadors to the Sublime Porte found little to admire in Turkey, writes Lavender Cassels, and suffered many humiliations before they reached the Sultan’s presence.

In the Elizabethan Age feminine extravagance was often satirised by English dramatists and poets. During the seventeenth century, writes Brenda Gourgey, it rose to even more fantastic heights.

Tom H. Inkster describes how, nearly four months after the collapse of the Confederacy, a gallant Confederate naval officer was still bent on the destruction of Union shipping.

During the 17th century commercial and colonial interests embittered Anglo-Dutch relations. In both camps, writes C.R. Boxer, journalists and pamphleteers helped to keep the feud alive.

In 1666, writes Martin Holmes, much of the ancient City of London went up in what Samuel Pepys described as a ‘most horrid malicious bloody flame’.

During the troublous reign that began when he dethroned his cousin Richard, Henry IV encountered a long series of exhausting crises. He met his troubles, writes A.L. Rowse, with resilience and courage.