The Excommunication of Henry VIII
Henry VIII’s break with Rome was a watershed moment for England and for Christendom. Did the papacy have itself to blame?
Religion
Pilgrims and Poverty in Renaissance Rome
Rome welcomed and tended to the vast numbers of pilgrims who arrived in the 16th century, but its attitude to its own poor could be very different.
The Birth of Spiritualism
On 14 November 1848 the Fox sisters conjured up a movement when they made contact with the dead – or so they claimed.
‘Killing the Dead’ by John Blair review
In Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World, John Blair proves that you can’t keep a good corpse down.
Noah’s Ark and the Slave Trade
After the Flood, Noah’s sons were repurposed to support a new worldview justifying racial hierarchy and slavery.
‘The Medieval Moon’ by Ayoush Lazikani review
More than science waiting to be understood, The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing by Ayoush Lazikani illuminates the enchanted orb of poets.
Saint Augustine: An African in the City of God
Saint Augustine was educated for a Roman world, but it was his time in North Africa that shaped his identity, his faith, and Christianity itself.
Zoroastrians in the Great Game
In the early 1900s the small but influential Zoroastrian community in India contemplated establishing a colony in Iran. Could the Parsis rely on British support?
Get Out: Excommunicated in Medieval England
In 13th-century England excommunication was akin to spiritual leprosy. How did it work?
The Church of England’s Great Ejection
On 24 August 1662 those clergy who refused to accept the Book of Common Prayer were to be ejected from the Church of England. How many paid the price for their non-conformity?