England

Timothy Wilson Smith describes how, in the year 878, Alfred witnessed the conversion to Christianity of the Danish warlord Guthrum, and helped to found the English nation.

Alan Haynes describes how, for just over three centuries, Greek visitors often settled in England and associated with its clerics and learned men.

Joanna Richardson portrays the marriage of Alfred Tennyson and Emily Sellwood, which set the world a ‘radiant example of domestic happiness’.

The problems of later life are always with us, writes Steven R. Smith. Among those who have studied them are both a famous philosopher and a renowned physician.

Stephen Usherwood introduces a remarkable advocate in politics as well as in his practice; Lord Mansfield was Lord Chief Justice for thirty-two years.

Under Kings John and Henry III the Jews were often heavily taxed. By the reign of Edward I, writes J.J.N. McGurk, they had lost their usefulness to the Crown and were expelled from England.

J.R.S. Whiting recalls an era when tokens were used for propaganda rather than as currency.

Anthony Dent describes how, before the reign of Edward II, the office of ‘royal carter’ did not exist; he was then paid threepence a day for the King’s peregrinations.

The Sheriff’s office under the Norman Kings fulfilled its duties of Saxon times, writes Irene Gladwin, and was awarded to the magnates among the Conqueror’s supporters.

Anthony Dent describes how the last wolves of Yorkshire lived on into the reign of Henry VIII, but by then had almost vanished from England.