William Cecil’s Succession Plan
Elizabeth I’s brief illness made the question of the succession top priority for William Cecil and the Privy Council.
England
Runaway Nuns in Norman England
Anglo-Saxon noblewomen took shelter from the invading Normans in nunneries. Did that make them brides of Christ?
The East India Company in Japan
Although the reception was not always warm, the English East India Company made several attempts to trade in Japan in the 17th century.
African Princes Between the Companies
In 1717 two African princes were sold into slavery. Navigating London society and the machinations of the East India and Royal African Companies, they negotiated a path home.
Good News: The Afterlife of Tyndale’s Bible
William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament transformed the English language, but the text itself was almost erased.
If Anglo-Saxon Stones Could Talk
In some corners of England, the last Anglo-Saxon relics are looking down on us.
Alfred the Great’s Indian Embassy
How likely is it that Alfred the Great sent two emissaries to India in the ninth century?
How Important was the Battle of Hastings?
The Norman Conquest is credited with reshaping England, but was 1066 really all that?
The Contagious Taste of Cancer
Early modern cancer experiments such as that undertaken by English surgeon Samuel Smith privileged the senses, but the effects could be fatal.
‘Hard Streets’ by Jacqueline Riding review
Hard Streets: Working-Class Lives in Charlie Chaplin’s London by Jacqueline Riding goes where few historians dare: south of the river.