Political

Under the far-sighted rule of the Five Good Emperors, writes Anthony Birley, the Roman world enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity and peace.

Eighteenth-century ambassadors to the Sublime Porte found little to admire in Turkey, writes Lavender Cassels, and suffered many humiliations before they reached the Sultan’s presence.

During the 17th century commercial and colonial interests embittered Anglo-Dutch relations. In both camps, writes C.R. Boxer, journalists and pamphleteers helped to keep the feud alive.

During the troublous reign that began when he dethroned his cousin Richard, Henry IV encountered a long series of exhausting crises. He met his troubles, writes A.L. Rowse, with resilience and courage.

Hugh Ross Williamson describes how, in the fierce dynastic struggles of the later fifteenth century, Edward IV’s brother, George Plantagenet, played a devious and ill-fated part.

Though ill-famed, even in his own day, Louis XI was also described as “the wisest and most dexterous” of medieval rulers. By J.H.M. Salmon.

J.B. James relates how, during the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign, Mountjoy played a leading role as courtier, soldier and faithful lover of Essex’s sister, Penelope Rich.

R.B. Landolt describes how Moliere’s comedy, Le Tartuffe, which portrays religious hypocrisy, involved him in troubles with devout persons at Court and with his patron, Louis XIV.

J.H.M. Salmon describes the rivalry between these two remarkable royal ladies—both strongly ambitious and fiercely self-willed—who played an important part in the history of France.