One of the most powerful and enduring legends in British culture is the story of King Arthur. Indeed, so captivating was this legend that Arthur’s story spread widely throughout medieval Europe. Not only British but… Read More »The Legend of King Arthur
By the mid-C15th Florence had become the centre of an artistic, architectural, philosophical, and scientific golden age we now call the Renaissance. And all this had happened under the stewardship of one man, Cosimo de’… Read More »The Medici – Part 2 – Machiavellian Intrigue
Modern British democracy was born in the medieval parliament. However, in their nascent form, early parliaments were very far from democratic. Indeed, originally, they weren’t even called ‘Parliament’. Instead, they began life as the… Read More »Parliament and the Birth of Democracy
It was 22nd July 1403. Henry IV had just won the battle of Shrewsbury. He had been in power for less than four years and already endured considerable dissent and rebellion. Nevertheless, in defeating Hotspur… Read More »Henry IV Part 2 – The Founding of a Dynasty
Henry IV became king in the autumn of 1399 after the violent overthrow of Richard II. At the time he assumed the throne with huge popular support. However, much of this support was born… Read More »Henry IV Part 1 – The Elected King
In April 1396 a crusade set out from Dijon in France, bound for the Balkans. Its aim was to free the Balkans from the threat of the Turks and relieve the besieged city of Constantinople. … Read More »Crusade of Last Hopes
In the late 1398, Henry Bolingbroke fell out of favour with King Richard II and was exiled. Within a year he returned and seized the throne to become King Henry IV. The story of… Read More »The Adventures of Young Henry of Bolingbroke
It was the morning of Friday 13th October 1307. Without warning, the baillis and sénéchaux of the King of France stormed the properties of the Order of the Knights Templar. Within the space of a… Read More »The Trial of the Templars
On 11 November 1215, in the Lateran Palace in Rome, the largest council of church leaders the world had yet witnessed convened. 400 bishops, 800 abbots along with observers from the Eastern Patriarchs were all… Read More »The Rise of the Medieval Church
On 4th September 476 CE, the barbarian warlord Odoacer deposed the boy Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. Convention has it that this act marked the end of the Roman Empire in the west. Odoacer would go on to… Read More »After Rome: The New Western Empire