William III, From Prince of Orange to King of England tells the story of William of Orange before he became King of England, and tells of the clan, family, patron and client relationships across Europe on which the Prince's political and diplomatic influences rested. His skilful ability to put these at the disposal of the political elites in ......
Tobias Capwell continues his history of jousting through surviving artefacts at the Royal Armouries. He reveals how the jousts and tournaments of the Renaissance transported knightly combat into a performance art, with demonstrations of aristocratic skill, superhuman strength and cutting-edge equipment.
An exploration of the life, work, and historical background of Aphra Behn: seventeenth-century dramatist, poet, novelist, political propagandist, bisexual and spy.
Exploring the significant influences of Turkish dress on French fashion While French fashion has historically set the bar across the Western world, the cultural influences that inspired it are often obscured. Dressing a la Turque examines the theatrical depictions of Ottoman costumes, or Turkish dress, and demonstrates the French fascination ......
The Story of the Barbary Corsair Raid on Iceland in 1627
In the summer of 1627, Barbary corsairs raided Iceland, killing dozens of people and abducting close to four hundred to sell into slavery in North Africa. Among those taken were the Lutheran minister Reverend Olafur Egilsson. Reverend Olafur (born in the same year as William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei) wrote The Travels to chronicle his ......
There have always been mail-order brides in America-but we haven't always thought about them in the same ways. In Buying a Bride, Marcia A. Zug starts with the so-called "Tobacco Wives" of the Jamestown colony and moves all the way forward to today's modern same-sex mail-order grooms to explore the advantages and disadvantages of mail-order ......
Slavery and Political Conflict in the British Atlantic World
How American slavery engendered a new political vocabulary used on both sides of the Atlantic How is it, Samuel Johnson famously asked on the eve of the Revolution, that Americans could so vociferously demand freedom for themselves while so conspicuously continuing to deny it to those they held in slavery? With Seeking the High Ground, Matthew ......
A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate
A little-know story of mutiny and murder illustrating the centrality of smuggling and slavery in early American society On the night of June 1, 1743, terror struck the schooner Rising Sun. After completing a routine smuggling voyage where the crew sold enslaved Africans in exchange for chocolate, sugar, and coffee in the Dutch colony of ......
The Early Influence of Jewish Thought in the New World
Explores the influence of Kabbalah in shaping Americas religious identity. In 1688, a leading Quaker thinker and activist in what is now New Jersey penned a letter to one of his closest disciples concerning Kabbalah, or what he called the mystical theology of the Jews.
