Enlightenment

The French Encyclopedia of 1751

R.V. Sampson charts the philosophical battles that the philosophes fought to publish their Enlightenment masterwork of human knowledge.

Vauxhall Gardens: Patriotism and Pleasure

In 1729 a young entrepreneur, Jonathan Tyers, took over the failing management of the pleasure gardens at Vauxhall. During his long tenure he was able to make it a resounding success, as David Coke  explains.

The Flowering of Scotland

David Torrance examines a pioneering article, first published in History Today in 1990, which argued that the Scottish Enlightenment was not restricted to Edinburgh but was a genuinely national phenomenon.

The Great Experiment: The Royal Society

The Royal Society was founded in 1660 to promote scientific research. Through a process of trial and error, this completely new kind of institution slowly discovered how its ambitions might be achieved – often in ways unforeseen by its founders, writes Michael Hunter.