Political

Heian-Kyo: the Golden Age of Kyoto

For nearly four hundred years the “Peaceful and Tranquil City” was the administrative centre of Japan, writes George Woodcock, and for more than a thousand years remained the home of the Japanese Emperors.

The King and His Minister: Louis XIV

“Glory” and “good sense” were the watchwords adopted by Louis XIV for his reign, writes J.H. Salmon, and “good sense” on the whole prevailed so long as Colbert was the King's chief Minister.

The Theocrats of Tibet

Four centuries ago the title of Dalai Lama was conferred on a Tibetan abbot by a Mongol sovereign, writes George Woodcock. Fourteen incarnations of the Compassionate Bodhisattva have since ruled Tibet as priest-kings.

Western Spies in the Levant

Robert H. Schwoebel explains how, in the fifteenth century, the growing power of the Turks prompted a number of European princes to despatch emissaries to the Levant as intelligence officers on the Eastern Question.

Is There A Case For James II?

What was the “black thing” that palsied the character of the brave but highly unpopular monarch who was dethroned in 1688? Maurice Ashley queries a poisoned historical legacy.

Lloyd George’s Expedients, Part II

John Terraine sheds fresh light on the principles at stake in the disputes between generals and politicians during the last year of the First World War.