Medieval

Four years after William I's conquest of England, writes J.J.N. McGurk, a Lincolnshire thegn named Hereward led a fierce resistance movement against Norman rule.

This cultured but energetic ruler left behind him ‘a governmental machine that was the wonder and envy of Europe’.

Colin Davies describes how, in the sixth century B.C., two philosophers emerged upon the Asian shore of the Aegean Sea to develop the ideas of Thales.

Hilda Hookham introduces an astronomer prince who was a grandson of Tamburlaine.

Stewart Perowne describes how, in the fourteenth century ‘the last of the Roman tribunes’, but one of the first of political liberators.

Cecil Parrott describes how the elderly monarch from a Christmas carol was based on the character of a young and vigorous sovereign, assassinated on his birthday by his own brother.

C.A. Usher describes how, during the thirteenth century, the divided Principality of Wales succumbed to English Conquest.

Alan Rogers describes how the Welsh fortresses founded by the English King were ‘outlying strongholds thrust into the heart of enemy country.’

The Tower of London, writes E.A. Humphrey Fenn, contains on its walls an extensive collection of prisoners’ graffiti.

W.N. Bryant introduces Bede, the ‘Father of English History’, a Northumbrian Monk who devoted his life to study, teaching and church services.