England

Lords in the Light

The House of Lords, often in the shadow of the Commons, asserted its power during the reigns of James I and his son, Charles I. But it would be eclipsed by civil war. 

Stop Press

It is often claimed that press censorship came to an end in England at the close of the 17th century. But it persisted, thanks to an unsavoury network of government spies.

Springs Eternal

The image of Roman Bath was the creation of 18th- and 19th-century archaeologists. Only now are new perspectives revealing a more complex and accurate history of the city. 

Abbots Ascendant

William Chester Jordan’s study of one of medieval Europe’s great monastic rivalries suggests that social mobility may have been more common in the Middle Ages than historians previously thought.

A Few Bad Apples

Brutality, corruption and abuses of power in the Metropolitan Police at the turn of the 20th century led to an inquiry – but no reform.

The Air of Freedom

Before the British Empire and the Atlantic slave trade, Africans lived freely in Tudor England.

The Last Death of Catholic England

The grand funeral of Anne of Cleves, the neglected fourth queen of Henry VIII, took place during the reign of Mary Tudor, when English Catholicism was resurgent.