Early modern Europe was a hotbed of espionage, where spies, spy-catchers, and conspirators pitted their wits against each other in deadly games of hide and seek. Theirs was a dangerous trade–only those who mastered the latest techniques would survive. This book explores the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and […]
The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman
In March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen’s ministers cluster round her bedside, urging her to name her successor — something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. Or so we’ve […]
The Jacobites and the Grand Tour by Jérémy Filet
In the first monograph to fully examine the intersecting networks of Jacobites and travellers to the continent, Filet considers how small states used official diplomacy and deployed soft power — embodied by educational academies — to achieve foreign policy goals. This work uses little-known archival materials to explain how and why certain small states secretly […]
Five surprising facts about Henry Benedict Stuart
To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Henry Benedict Stuart, also known as Cardinal York, on 6 March, 1725, our guest authors Calum E Cunningham and Stefano Baccolo offer five surprising facts about this influential man, now largely unknown outside Italy. You’ll have heard of his elder brother, though: Charles Edward Stuart, better […]
Review: Later Stuart Queens, 1660–1735
Linda Porter reviews a new and timely book about the later Stuart queens. This is an important and interesting collection of essays, she says — but how many will be able to afford to read it? Historia readers may be taken aback by a review of a book with the eye-watering price of more than […]
The Messenger of Measham Hall
For Nicholas Hawthorne, the Catholic heir to Measham Hall in Derbyshire, subterfuge is part of everyday life. But there are deeper and darker secrets even than his family’s outlawed religion: why is his father, Sir William, so reclusive? What became of his mother, and his aunt Alethea? And who fatally betrayed his cousin Matthew? Nicholas […]
Five memorable coronations
To put the coronation of Charles III in a historical context, I’m listing five coronations which are memorable for being the first, or the last, of their kind, or which took place in unusually difficult times. Some were also (unintentionally) amusing. And there are echoes, or perhaps foreshadowings, of the rituals followed in 2023. Edgar: […]
Christmas reading 2022 – our pick of top historical books
We asked nine well-loved authors to each recommend two historical books for Christmas 2022 to give, receive, or treat yourself with. These include many of the most absorbing books, fiction and non-fiction, published recently. We hope these suggestions inspire you. DV Bishop The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola. A winter’s tale full of mystery and […]