-
Magna Carta and the Origins of Parliament
Historian article
In February this year the four surviving originals of Magna Carta were briefly brought together in the Houses of Parliament. John Maddicott, examining the Charter's role in the early development of Parliament, shows that the setting was well chosen.
What did Magna Carta contribute to the origins of parliament? If...
Magna Carta and the Origins of Parliament
-
Filmed Interviews: The Women of Bletchley Park
The Women of Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park was the most important of the top secret intelligence sites during the Second World War. The quiet Buckinghamshire village hosted 10,000 people dedicated to defeating the Nazis, 75% of those were women.
In this podcast we are lucky enough to have some of those women talking about their...
Filmed Interviews: The Women of Bletchley Park
-
The Council of the North
Classic Pamphlet
"The king, intending also the suppression of the greater Monasteries, which he effected in the 31st of his Reign for the preventing of future Dangers and keeping those Northern Counties in Quiet, raised a President and Council at York, and gave them his several Powers and Authorities, under one great...
The Council of the North
-
The War of American Independence
Classic Pamphlet
In the two-hundredth year of American Independence, it is proper to ask: why did it occur? It need not have happened; it was the act of men, not immutable forces. But once the tensions became acute, the three thousand miles of ocean were a difficult chasm to bridge. The War...
The War of American Independence
-
1066: The Limits of our Knowledge
Historian article
As the most pivotal and traumatic event in English history, the Norman Conquest continues to generate controversy and debate, especially among those who know little about it or enjoy passing judgement on the past. Who had the better claim to the English throne, William the Conqueror or Harold Godwineson? Was...
1066: The Limits of our Knowledge
-
The Scottish Parliament by Robert S. Rait
Classic Pamphlet
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.
The Scottish Parliament by Robert S. Rait
-
Captain Thomas and the North West Passage
Classic Pamphlet
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...
Captain Thomas and the North West Passage
-
Revising the Elizabethans at GCSE
Podcast revision guide
In this update to his podcast series, Andy Harmsworth offers some advice and suggestions to help you when revising the Elizabethans for the GCSE 9-1 History Exam. This podcast is suitable for students studying the Elizabethans with any examination board. Andy taught history in Kent for over 30 years with particular...
Revising the Elizabethans at GCSE
-
Polychronicon 136: Interpreting the Beatles
Teaching History feature
‘The Beatles were history-makers from the start,' proclaimed the liner notes for the band's first LP in March 1963. It was a bold claim to make on behalf of a beat combo with one charttopping single, but the Beatles' subsequent impact on 1960s culture put their historical importance (if not...
Polychronicon 136: Interpreting the Beatles
-
The 1650s
Historian article
The 1630s in England began effectively in 1629 with the abrupt dismissal of Charles I’s third parliament and ended in 1640 at the first meeting of what would become the Long Parliament. Similarly we may start the 1650s with the regicide of January 1649 and finish with the surprising return...
The 1650s
-
The Lords of Renaissance Italy
Classic Pamphlet
The Lords of Renaissance Italy: the signori, 1250-1500 Among the many city states into which Italy was divided in the late medieval and early modern period, the republics of Florence and Venice are comparatively well known. Republicanism was not, however, the most common form of government. This pamphlet deals with states...
The Lords of Renaissance Italy
-
The Story of the African Queen
Historian article
Where fact and fiction intercept: the story of The African Queen(s) by C.S. Forester
When the Königin Luise was hull down over the horizon and the dhow was close in-shore the lieutenant left his post and went down to the jetty to meet his senior officer. The dhow ran briskly in,...
The Story of the African Queen
-
Newcastle and the General Strike 1926
Historian article
The nine-day General Strike of May 1926 retains a totemic place in the nation's history nearly 100 years later. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill was among those who attempted to characterise it as anarchy and revolution, but this was hyperbole and largely inaccurate for, as Ellen Wilkinson (then...
Newcastle and the General Strike 1926
-
The Local Community and The Great Rebellion
Classic Pamphlet
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...
The Local Community and The Great Rebellion
-
The Great Revolt of 1381
Classic Pamphlet
The Great Revolt of 1381 began in South-West Essex sometime between late May and 2 June: contemporary narratives and record sources differ irreconcilably about the dates. It all started with the arrival of a royal tax commissioner, John Bampton, at Brentwood inBarnstable Hundred. He came to inquire into the evasion...
The Great Revolt of 1381
-
Podcast Series: The History of Science
Multipage Article
In this series of podcasts we take a look at the history of the Royal Society and the influence it has had on the history and development of science.
This series features: Keith Moore, Head of Libraries and Archives at the Royal Society, Dr Jordan Goodman, Dr Patricia Fara of...
Podcast Series: The History of Science
-
Podcast Series: The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
Multipage Article
In this set of podcasts Emeritus Professor Gerald Hawting of SOAS, University of London provides an introduction to the Umayyad (661-750) and Abbasid (750-1258) Caliphates.
Podcast Series: The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
-
Obituaries: the first verdict in history
Historian article
Last year marked the deaths of two world-renowned historical figures - Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. Their obituaries reflected the marked contrast in the way the pair were viewed. Mandela ended up by being universally admired, while Thatcher was both adored and despised in seemingly equal measure. Writer Nigel Starck...
Obituaries: the first verdict in history
-
The English Domestic Servant in English History
Classic Pamphlet
The history of domestic service in England has yet to be written. Hewers of wood and drawers of water there have always been, but historians have usually been little concerned with them. The material for their history is scattered and difficult to assess; even the word ‘servant' is not easy...
The English Domestic Servant in English History
-
Regional Aspects of the Scottish Reformation
Classic Pamphlet
Reformation Perspective
In recent years studies of the Scottish Reformation have undergone a marked change. Religion is seldom advanced as the sole mainspring of the events of 1560 and explanations have been increasingly sought in political and economic terms. On the political side growing opposition to French influence within Scotland...
Regional Aspects of the Scottish Reformation
-
The Evidence of the Casket Letters
Classic Pamphlet
It has been well said that the last word will never be written on the tragedy of Mary Stuart, for her fate presents problems which invite solution from the historians of successive generations, and yet can never be wholly solved, If the charge brought against the Queen of complicity in...
The Evidence of the Casket Letters
-
The Origins of the First World War
Classic Pamphlet
The First World War broke out suddenly and unexpectedly in midsummer 1914, following the murder of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Hapsburg, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, at Sarajevo, in Bosnia, on 28 June. Since no war involving the European great powers had occurred since 1871, the possibility of...
The Origins of the First World War
-
The world in 1913: friendly societies
Historian article
Friendly societies were designed to help members to cope with the illness, death or unemployment of a household's breadwinner. Each month members, mostly men, paid into the society, often at a meeting in a pub and in return payments from the pooled funds were made to ill members and to...
The world in 1913: friendly societies
-
The Chapel and the Nation
Classic Pamphlet
The Noncoformitst chapel has played a crucial role in the history of the English and Welsh nations. When the great French historian Elie Halevy sought to explain the contrast between the turbulent history of his own country and the peaceful evolution of England in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...
The Chapel and the Nation
-
Podcast Series: The Indus Valley Civilisation
Multipage Article
In this set of podcasts Dr Mark Manuel of the University of Durham looks at the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Podcast Series: The Indus Valley Civilisation
