England

Wenceslas Hollar in Tangier

Gillian Williams on the promise of watercolourist and engraver, Wenceslaus Hollar, when he petitioned Charles II to allow him to accompany the British Ambassador on an expedition to Morocco, that he 'would examine all and take designs, and give his Majesty much better satisfaction'.

Montagu House

Montagu House was built by the first Duke of Montagu, who 'made money like a rogue and spent it like a gentleman' on his patronage of the arts, the finest examples of which were to be found in this London house which was to become the first home of the British Museum.

The Coronations of Henry VI

The boy-king Henry VI was crowned King in England and in France. But the symbols of regal majesty at his Coronations, argue Dorothy Styles & C.T. Allmand, could not disguise the fragility of the union.

Ordnance Building at the Tower of London

From the Restoration in 1660 until 1714, England was intermittently at war with first the Dutch and then the French - and it became imperative, argues Howard Tomlinson, that the country should have an adequate central armoury for general ordnance equipment.

Prince Rupert, 1619-82

1982 marks the tercentenary of the death of Prince Rupert, the most brilliant of Charles I's generals. As Hugh Trevor-Roper here documents, he was single-minded in his chosen craft of war, but Rupert was never able to grasp the complexities of the contemporary situation.

Royal Favouritism in London Building

London must be transformed into a place 'safe from fire and beautiful and magnificent' decreed James I – and Patrick Youngblood finds it was only the wealthy who were to be entrusted with the privilege of building such a city.

The Mystery of Francis Drake's Californian Voyage

Why was Francis Drake in the Pacific in the 1570s? Was the Golden Hind bound on a trade voyage or was there a deeper political motive? The documents are lost, but David Cressy feels the historian can still speculate.