Literature and terrorism
The go-to guy for an understanding of the ways in which terrorism has been represented in literature is Peter C. Herman, author of Terrorism and Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and Unspeakable: Literature and Terrorism from the Gunpowder Plot to 9/11 (Routledge, 2019). Although his scope is broader than the early modern period, he dev…
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
Wentworth's path from Lord Deputy of Ireland to the executioner's axe is well enough known in its broad outlines, but with so many twists and nuances that it is hard to evaluate. The decisive change in his fortunes came when the king, Charles I, recalled him from Ireland and charged him with putting down the…
Archbiship Laud: A History of the Troubles and Tryal
The scanning continues! I had some technical problems that needed dealing with, so I'm two or three months behind with the early modern book scans, but I'm back in production now. Henry Wharton's 1695 edition of Laud's account of his imprisonment and trial, published as A History of the Troubles and Tryal of the most…
The Gunpowder-Treason: with a discourse of the manner of its discovery
Go straight to the scanned book Although this work was published many years after the events it describes, and its main content is reprinted, it also contains the first printing of a number of letters relating to the plot. It is not a scarce work, and there is at least one other online copy (in…
Titus Oates and the Popish Plot
Edited, with thanks to Dr. Jonathan Oates for comments and corrections. One of the ironies of English history is that the landmark 1689 Bill of Rights, with its prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment, was prompted, in part, by the ill-treatment of one of the great villains of the seventeenth century. In 1678, for want…
Blog round-up
First off, I should say I was in the middle of writing a blog post on a lecture on ecstasy (the emotion, rather than the drug, though the latter did get a couple of mentions!) that I'd been to in London when there was a bereavement in the family and everything got put on hold…
Remember, remember…
Harald Braun on the real victims of the gunpowder Plot - the vast majority of law-abiding English Catholics. Is there a lesson in this for modern times? Too right there is! And here's a little something from my early modern bookshelf: Happy Guy Fawkes Night, everyone!…