England

Early in the 1650s, writes Alan Haynes, this intrepid noblewoman took the ‘extraordinary’ step of publishing her own poems.

Tracked down to a ‘hut in the cavern of a rock’, writes J.J.N. McGurk, Desmond met his death at the hands of fellow Irishmen.

In 1579 James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, cousin to the 14th Earl of Desmond, took up arms against the English foe.

N.M. Sutherland describes how some two hundred English exiles found refuge in Protestant Geneva during the reign of Mary Tudor.

Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall as an estate for the Black Prince; A.L. Rowse describes how it has been held ever since by the sovereign’s heir or lain dormant in the Crown.

During the 1730s, writes Michael Paffard, the modest and unassuming Duck achieved considerable fame.

Once Rowland Hill had launched the Penny Post, many British citizens, it was said, first learned to read that they might enjoy a letter. By Dee Moss.

During the Reformation, writes Christine King, Tudor agents demolished many venerated shrines, and made great use of the frauds and trickeries that they claimed to have detected.

Joanna Richardson profiles a figure who carried her Republicanism to the edge, though not across the border, of Socialism.