Britain & Ireland 1509-1745

In this section you will find articles to help you unpick the truths from the myths of the Tudor period, examine how Cromwell took the country to war and explore how some the most important political thinkers began to shape the modern world. There is also guidance for teaching some of the information collected here to pupils and different age ranges.

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  • Seeing beyond the frame

    Article

    History teachers frequently show pupils visual images and often expect pupils to interrogate such images as evidence. But confusions arise and opportunities are missed when pupils do this without guidance on how to ‘read’ the image systematically and how to place it in context. Barbara Ormond gives a detailed account...

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  • Using sites for insights

    Article

    Working alongside local history teachers to prepare for the new GCSE specifications Steve Illingworth and Emma Manners were struck that many teachers were concerned about two issues in particular: the breadth and depth of knowledge demanded and new forms of assessment, especially the historic environment paper. In this article they...

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  • Polychronicon 161: John Lilburne

    Article

    John Lilburne might have been destined for obscurity in less interesting times. He was the second son of a minor gentry family, apprenticed to a London woollen merchant in 1632. It was his master’s connections that drew him into religious opposition to Charles I and the illegal book trade, resulting...

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  • Podcast Series: The Tudors

    Multipage Article

    An HA Podcasted History of the Tudors featuring Dr Sue Doran, Dr Steven Gunn, Dr Michael Everett & Dr Anna Whitelock.

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  • HA Podcast Series: James VI & I to Anne

    Multipage Article

    In this series of podcasts we look at British and Irish History from the Union of the Crowns to Queen Anne. This series features: Mr Simon Healy, Dr Frank Tallett, Professor Jackie Eales, Dr Andrew Hopper, Professor Michael Braddick, Dr Jason Peacey, Professor Peter Gaunt, Professor Barry Coward, Professor John...

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  • Bristol and the Slave Trade

    Article

    Captain Thomas Wyndham of Marshfield Park in Somerset was on voyage to Barbary where he sailed from Kingroad, near Bristol, with three ships full of goods and slaves thus beginning the association of African Trade and Bristol. In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Bristol was not a place of...

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  • Religion and Politics 1559-1642

    Article

    It is a truism to say that religion and politics were inextricably mixed in the seventeenth century. "So natural" wrote Richard Hooker,"is the union of religion with Justice, that we may boldly deem there is neither where both are not" Sir John Eliot observed that in the House of Commons...

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  • Podcast Series: The British Empire 1600-1800

    Multipage Article

    An HA Podcasted History of the early British Empire featuring Professor Trevor Burnard of the University of Warwick, Professor Stephen Conway of University College London, Dr Jon Wilson of King's College London, Professor Gad Heuman of the University of Warwick.

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  • Queen Anne

    Podcast

    In this podcast Lady Anne Somerset looks at the life, reputation and legacy of Queen Anne – the last of the Stuart monarchs, and the first sovereign of Great Britain. Anne was born on 6 February 1665 in London, the second daughter of James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II. Like many...

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  • The Cromwell Discussions: podcast series

    Multipage Article

    On the 30th June 2015, The Cromwell Association, held a series of round table discussions at Selwyn College, Cambridge. This set of podcasts feature Professor Ronald Hutton of the University of Bristol, Professor John Morrill and Dr David Smith of the University of Cambridge and Dr Patrick Little from the...

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  • A Mid-Tudor Crisis?

    Article

    This classic pamphlet takes you through the Mid-Tudor period focusing on foreign affairs and finance, the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, the risings of 1549, coups and commissions 1549-53, Edwardian Protestantism success and failure, Mary and the Catholic Restoration, the Marian Administration and the Spanish Marriage.

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  • Daniel Defoe, public opinion and the Anglo-Scottish Union

    Article

    There is a tendency to represent Daniel Defoe as a novelist and satirical journalist who was at one point placed in the London stocks as a punishment. Ted Vallance's article broadens our perspective to appreciate Defoe's activities as a propagandist in both England and Scotland... The September 2014 referendum on...

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  • John Knox

    Article

    During his own lifetime John Knox was engaged in violent disputes, and throughout the succeeding ages his character has been the subject of acrimonious controversy. While there is an infinite variety of opinion as to his character, there is complete unanimity as to his importance. This pamphlet discusses the life,...

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  • The Scottish Parliament by Robert S. Rait

    Article

    This short pamphlet by the former Historiographer Royal for Scotland, Robert S. Rait, provides an introduction to the Scottish Parliament from its early origins to the Acts of Union of 1707.

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  • Captain Thomas and the North West Passage

    Article

    In the early years of the seventeenth century Englishmen vigorously prosecuted the search for a North West Passage to the Pacific. The fabled wealth of India and Cathay beckoned to them as enticingly as it had attracted their sixteenth century predecessors. The foundation of the English East India Company in...

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  • Scottish Diplomatists 1689-1789

    Article

    The object of this pamphlet is to show the gradual penetration of Scotsmen after the Union into a particular branch of the public service - what may be conveniently though not very accurately described as the diplomatic service. This essay makes a study of the actual negotiations conducted by Scottish...

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  • Why did the prosecution of witches cease in England?

    Article

    This lucid survey of the history of witch trials in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth century focuses on the question of ‘why did the formal prosecution of witches cease?' Accusations of witchcraft can be found throughout the nineteenth century yet the last conviction was in 1712. Clive Holmes explores...

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  • The Local Community and The Great Rebellion

    Article

    A.M. Everitt goes past a normal look at The English Civil War, and examines individual communities and resurgence in popular interest in it. More than that, how the Civil War has been documented and what the effect of this flawed teaching and writing on the subject has had on popular...

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  • The Darien Scheme - Pamphlet

    Article

    The colonisation project that became known as the Darien Scheme or Darien Disaster was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s. This pamphlet...

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  • Helping Year 9s explore multiple narratives through the history of a house

    Article

    A host of histories: helping Year 9s explore multiple narratives through the history of a house Described by the author Monica Ali as a building that ‘sparks the imagination and sparks conversations', 19 Princelet Street, now a Museum of Diversity and Immigration, captivated the imagination of teacher David Waters. He...

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