Tag: British history
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Empress Matilda: What Happened to England’s First Female Heir?
In 1135, with the death of Henry I, England was plunged into civil war over a succession crisis, at the heart of which lie the question: should a woman be able to sit on the throne? Megan Crutchley explores the life and legacy of Empress Matilda, the woman who almost became the first ruling Queen…
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Little Freedoms: So-Called ‘Liberation’ in the Wake of the Black Death
Written by Ailsa Fraser. In the aftermath of the Black Death, a lower population allowed those at the lowest social strata to demand higher higher wages. But did this equate to greater liberation for the peasantry? Ailsa Fraser discusses the changing landscape of Britain and the legislations which impacted their lives.
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All’s Unfair in Marriage and Divorce
Written by Sophie Whitehead. How has gender inequality historically been expressed in marriage and divorce law? Sophie Whitehead examines how deep-seated, yet often subtle, discrepancies have evolved, and in some cases remain, in England and Wales.
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The Last Wolf in the UK
Written by Megan Crutchley. The lore of the wolf has always had an integral connection to British folklore and mythology, but where did these ideas and connections arise?
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Sealand: Radio to Royalty
Written by Sam Marks. The history of radio in the UK may seem a simple trajectory, but few people remember the political turmoil associated with pirate radio, especially in the case of Sealand. What was the importance of this land, and how did radio create a new sovereign nation?
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Masseur, Minister, Showgirl, Spy – Christine Keeler and the Affair That Has It All
Written by Sophie Whitehead. The Profumo scandal has been written about and re-interpreted in dozens of ways throughout the last seventy years, but what do we know about it now? And how can it offer insight into British society in the 1960s?
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Redefining Humanity: Political Philosophy in African British Anti-Slavery Literature
Written by Charlie Horlick. Ottobah Cugoano’s writing has been typically framed as a slave narrative, yet it is perhaps more than that. Part political economy, part meditation on morality, it should be integrated into the canon of eighteenth-century philosophy.
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Through the Looking Glass: Photography and Imperialism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Written by Jack Bennett. The technology of photography has been deeply entangled with imperial expansion. However it has been a contested technology too and used by colonised peoples.
Retrospect Journal 