Features THEMES
Crossbones Graveyard
Crossbones graveyard in Southwark is adorned with colourful ribbons, a tribute to those Winchester Geese and others who exist on the margins of society. This burial ground has been in existence since Medieval times.
Read MoreAgricultural Revolution Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull was called the father of the Agricultural Revolution and he should be ranked along with other great thinkers of his time who embraced the agricultural, scientific and industrial revolution.
Read MoreEdward Coke 1552 – 1634
Edward Coke, supreme barrister and politician of the C16th and C17th, whose belief and work in Common Law became part of the English and US Constitution whose name should be known by every child in the UK.
Read MoreConstitutional Crisis People’s Budget 1909
What would cause a king to contemplate the end of the Monarchy and that his son might be the last King? When his Barons, the Lords would rise-up and revolt against the rule of democracy and seek to reinvent the will of the people via its commons from being fulfilled. Lloyd George and Winston Churchill would be the advocates for the poor and common man. Asquith would seek to calm the rage and the King would plead with the Lords to let the Bill pass but it would take two General Elections and never again would this unwritten convention be relied upon without statute to support it.
Read MoreAct of Settlement 1701
Act of Settlement 1701 ensures that preference is given to Sophia and her issues as Elector of Hanover if William or Anne die without a surviving heir. In effect it bypasses the stronger hereditary claim of the Stuarts and ensues that the Enligh Monarch will remain Protestant.
Read MoreWinston Churchills Legacy a balanced perspective
How can you get a balanced view and perspective about this British Prime Minister and what his real legacy is on this (2015) the 50th Anniversary of Winston Churchill’s state funeral. The historians and politician’s literature never mind Winston’s own writings are huge. He never did a single TV interview Professor Vernon Bogdanor does us all proud with this excellent video lecture, in his roles as Emeritus Professor of Law and Visiting Professor of Political History at the excellent Gresham College find a little time and get an excellent balanced view and appraisal of the legacy left to us all by Winston Churchill.
Read MoreTreaty of Troyes 1420
Treaties for peace, to resolve conflict, seal a marriage, create trade opportunities or simply to fuel naked ambition of a king? Treaty of Troyes a wedding and a truce for England or does it seal the fate of the House of Lancaster, see the sun set on York and an early dawn for a new dynasty the Tudors? Sounds far-fetched? Read-on since when did a Treaty actually create the conditions for lasting peace? Part 1 of a series of posts on Treaties and the Trouble that lies ahead.
Read MorePetition of Right 1628
Key legal documents in our history includes the 1628 Petiton of Right
Read MoreElizabeth Woodville Queen of Edward IV
Elizabeth Woodville would marry a King but her sons would end their lives imprisoned by their uncle in the tower who would become the much maligned Richard III. He was this Queen who drove a King to marry in secret and fall out with his own family?
Read MoreEuropes Oldest University
The Medieval universities and the cities in which they sit continue to inspire and engage us. Bologna Italy, lays claim to founding Europe’s oldest university in 1088, how far reaching was this seat of learning?
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