Shakespeare’s First Folio: Politics, People & Printing
Shakespeare’s First Folio — the first book to contain 36 of his plays, 18 of which had not been in print before — was published in 1623.In the second of her special series marking its 400th anniversar...
12 Jun 202343min
Elizabethan 'Travel Liar': The Truth about David Ingram
In 1567, a sailor named David Ingram sailed from Plymouth with 400 others on a slaving expedition. The ensuing events read like a fantastic adventure story: shipwrecked in a hurricane off Mexico, a ba...
8 Jun 202344min
Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine de' Medici & Elisabeth de Valois
Three powerful Renaissance queens all lived together at the French court for many years. They were bound together through blood and marriage, alliance and friendship — bonds that were tested when they...
5 Jun 202347min
Shakespeare's First Folio
Four hundred years ago in 1623, the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays was printed. Known as the First Folio, the book was integral to establishing Shakespeare's posthumous reputation just...
1 Jun 202344min
Great Fire of London
Why do we call the Great Fire of London in 1666 “great”? Was it because of the significant challenge it posed to authorities and residents as they sought to bring it under control? Was it because of t...
29 Mai 202342min
Tudors in Ireland
King Henry VII and his Tudor heirs knew very little about Ireland, over which they ruled in name at least. During the 118 years of Tudor rule, not one of its monarchs ever set foot in the Emerald Isle...
25 Mai 202350min
Obscene Jokes in the Early Modern Period
In the 16th Century, rude jokes and scatological humour were just as much a feature of life as they are today. Between 1529 and 1539, a Swiss linen trader called Johannes Rütiner included many jokes a...
22 Mai 202340min
Anne Boleyn & Katherine of Aragon: Rival Queens?
History has painted Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in two very different hues: one wife, one mistress; one Spanish, one French; one committed Catholic, one radical reformer. But a new exhibition ...
18 Mai 202320min
