Social

A.L. Rowse analyses heraldry as an essential element in the social history of England in the later middle ages and early modern period.

In the early eighteenth century, writes Robert Halsband, the marriage of an aristocratic young widow and a Drury Lane singer caused violent surprise among her friends.

H.A. Monckton offers a taste of the beer of Elizabethan England, a beverage reportedly, ‘dark in colour, not very heavily hopped, and probably rather sweet and vinous’.

Joan Hasler describes how, as controller of Calais in 1558, Edward Grimston was captured when the town surrendered to the Duke of Guise and held to ransom in the Bastille.

A.N. Marlow describes how city-life in India, four thousand years ago, bore a striking resemblance to that of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

W.L.F. Nuttall describes how, when the Star Chamber was abolished in 1641 it became easier to print home news, and many newspapers appeared, supporting both sides in the Civil Wars.

Tzykanion, or polo, formed part of the ritual of life at the court of the Emperors in Constantinople. Expertise on horseback, writes Anthony Bryer, was one of the requirements of Imperial dignity.

In the Elizabethan Age feminine extravagance was often satirised by English dramatists and poets. During the seventeenth century, writes Brenda Gourgey, it rose to even more fantastic heights.

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.

Between the coming of St. Patrick and the arrival of the Normans art, literature and religion flourished in a country that had no organised central government.