Top articles

• GoT: The Ironborn and the Viking Warrior

  30 septembre 2014 ( #Beowulf, #Game of Thrones, #Harold, #Henry V, #kingship, #Tolkien, #Vikings, #warfare, #warrior )

  ne of the more direct parallels between George R.R. Martin’s characters and historical cultures is that of the Ironborn and Vikings. Theon Greyjoy spent his formative years away from Pyke, in a foreign land amongst a society that could not be more different...

• Les deux Irlande à l'heure du Brexit

  07 février 2017 ( #border, #Brexit, #Eire, #Nationalists, #Northern Ireland, #Republic of Ireland, #Sinn Fein, #Unionists )

  La sortie de l'Union européenne a ravivé les vieilles haines entre unionistes protestants et nationalistes catholiques : reportage à Newry, à la frontière entre Nord et Sud. Façades de maison en hommage aux habitants morts pendant les affrontements à...

• Magna Carta

  15 juin 2015 ( #1215, #American Founding Fathers, #barons, #Justice, #King john, #Magna Carta, #Rule of Law, #Runnymede )

  On the dotted line: King John signing Magna Carta at Runnymeade 15 June 1215. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Un/REX T his year, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. It was on 15 June 1215 that King John, in the meadow of Runnymede beside...

• In French: the EU and devolution take centre stage in the Queen's Speech

  27 mai 2015 ( #David Cameron, #devolution, #EU, #European Union, #Euroskeptics, #Queen's Speech, #Scotland, #State Opening of Parliament )

  Cameron, mandat deux. Le traditionnel discours de la reine, rédigé par les services du premier ministre, ouvrira officiellement mercredi 27 mai la nouvelle législature issue des élections britanniques du 7 mai. Cette tradition, remontant à 1536, détaille...

• L'Economie selon Jane Austen

  20 avril 2023 ( #Austen, #Burke, #class, #economy, #entail, #gender, #gentry, #heir, #land, #Luddites, #marriage, #money, #Napoleon, #Paine, #primogeniture, #Wollstencraft, #women )

  Loin d'être des bluettes, les romans de Jane Austen révèlent les rapports de domination qui sous-tendent la petite noblesse anglaise. Comment la romancière est-elle parvenue, en 6 romans, à produire une critique aussi fine des règles qui régissent les...

• Alfred the Great's Southwark statue is partly Roman goddess

  14 novembre 2021 ( #Bath stone, #Eleanor Coade, #King Alfred, #Minerva, #Roman Britain, #Roman statue, #Sir John Soane )

  Alfred the Great, in Trinity Church Square, Southwark, was thought medieval until recent conservation work. The lower half was then discovered to be part of a colossal ancient sculpture dedicated to the goddess Minerva. It is typical of the 2nd Century,...

• The Execution of Charles I, 1649

  18 janvier 2017 ( #charles 1st, #death, #english civil war, #monarchy, #parliament, #stuart, #whitehall )

  The Execution of Charles I, 1649 King Charles I was his own worst enemy. Self-righteous, arrogant, and unscrupulous; he had a penchant for making bad decisions. His troubles began the moment he ascended the throne in 1625 upon the death of his father...

• French radio show: The Falklands War

  19 mai 2016 ( #archive, #BBC, #falklands, #falklands war, #guerre des Malouines, #QEII, #Thatcher )

  Aujourd’hui dans Affaires sensibles, la Guerre des Malouines. Première grande bataille aéronavale depuis la fin de la Seconde guerre mondiale, le conflit des Malouines a laissé une trace indélébile dans notre histoire récente. Explosion de la frégate...

• Blackadder in the classroom

  29 novembre 2014 ( #ben elton, #blackadder, #First World War, #michael gove, #Oxbridge, #teaching ww1, #WW1 )

  What did you make of Michael Gove’s remark that Blackadder Goes Forth depicted the First World War as “a misbegotten shambles – a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite”? Self-evidently it was a catastrophe – as we speak...

• The tomb of the Black Prince reveals its secrets

  02 novembre 2021 ( #Black Prince, #Canterbury Cathedral, #Edward III, #Edward of Woodstock, #HYW, #Richard II )

  A team of researchers, led by The Courtauld Institute of Art , used the latest scientific techniques and medical imaging technology to discover how the effigy, one of only six large-scale cast metal sculptures to survive from medieval England, was made......

• Who was the real Robert Catesby?

  22 octobre 2017 ( #BBC, #Gunpowwder Plot, #Guy Fawkes, #November 5th, #Robert Catesby, #TV )

  New BBC drama Gunpowder comes with an interesting hook. Not only does it tell the surprisingly little-known story of the failed plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament (and King James I), but it also allows star and executive producer Kit Harington to...

• How Utopia Shaped the World

  26 janvier 2017 ( #Daniel Defoe, #Jonathan Swift, #Robert Owen, #Thomas More, #Utopia, #William Morris )

  An English lawyer, statesman, writer and saint, Thomas More was a strange character. Born in 1478, he was progressive in some ways (he educated his daughters to a very high level) while also clinging to archaic customs (he wore hair shirts). An establishment...

• Britain's longest reigning monarch

  30 décembre 2015 ( #Elizabeth II, #George V, #George VI, #Henry VIII, #Queen Victoria, #Richard III )

  Congratulations Britain: God is clearly on your side, and paying attention every time you sing the national anthem. For today is an historic day. Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on 6 February 1952. As of today, she’s reigned for...

• In French: Bleuets? Poppies?

  11 novembre 2014 ( #armistice, #bleuets, #In Flanders Fields, #poppies, #remembrance day, #ww1 )

  Si l'automne n'est pas la saison de la floraison, à l'occasion des célébrations du 11-Novembre, de nombreuses fleurs décorent les monuments aux morts, les vestons et même la Tour de Londres, presque ensevelie sous une avalanche de coquelicots. Si outre-Manche...

• Bletchley Park codebreakers

  03 février 2015 ( #Alan Turing, #Bletchley Park, #Second World War, #the Enigma code, #The Imitation Game, #WW2 )

  There are secrets and there are secrets. The work done during the Second World War at Bletchley Park , a Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire, was so secret, the people who worked there didn't talk about it even to their parents, let alone their husbands...

• What happened to England's stately homes?

  29 novembre 2014 ( #aristocracy, #BBC, #England, #estate, #mansion, #stately home )

  Evocative of an aristocratic and glorious history, there are many mansions around England that now stand empty or abandoned. These impressive buildings may look lonely and forlorn but behind every mansion is a story. Winstanley Hall in Winstanley, Wigan...

• Compagnies des Indes : la ruée vers l'Orient

  04 mai 2023 ( #Asia, #British Empire, #capitalism, #china, #Dutch, #England, #France, #India, #joint-stock company, #LEA, #Portugal, #sea power, #sugar, #tea, #trade )

  Compagnies des Indes: Fondées sur des principes d'économie libérale, les Compagnies des Indes ont contribué à dessiner les contours de la mondialisation commerciale contemporaine. Au XVIIe siècle, elles vont faire la richesse des ports hollandais... alors...

• Sycamore Gap: Hadrian's Wall tree cut down

  30 septembre 2023 ( #Hadrian's Wall, #National Trust, #Northumberland, #Robin Hood, #Sycamore Gap )

  The Sycamore Gap tree is one of the most photographed in the country. It stands in a dramatic dip in Hadrian’s Wall in the Northumberland National Park. In late 2016 it took the crown for English Tree of the Year in the Woodland Trust’s awards Northumberland...

• Story of Henry VIII’s Black trumpeter

  20 avril 2022 ( #Black trumpeter, #Henry VIII, #John Blanke, #Tudor, #Tudor court )

  He is the most famous Black person from the Tudor era, a court trumpeter who performed at important regal celebrations and was highly rewarded for his skill by Henry VIII. Now the story of John Blanke, one of the first people of African descent to have...

• Is this how a Pictish fort looked 1,000 years ago?

  05 novembre 2021 ( #archeology, #Burghead, #fort, #Picts, #Scotland )

  A three-dimensional reconstruction has depicted how a significant Scottish Pictish fort may have looked more than 1,000 years ago. Images of Burghead Fort in Moray have been created based on excavations by the University of Aberdeen. It is thought the...

• 2021 autumn equinox at Stonehenge

  23 septembre 2021 ( #Ancient Britain, #equinox, #prehistory, #solstice, #Stonehenge )

  Hundreds of people have gathered at Stonehenge to watch the sunrise on the first official day of autumn. About 250 druids, pagans and visitors were given access to the stones to mark the autumn equinox for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic....

• Agincourt (1415)

  26 octobre 2015 ( #Agincourt, #Henry IV, #Henry V, #Hundred Years' War, #Richard II )

  Henry V © Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy Now, in the 600th anniversary year of the famous battle, Teresa Cole explores the life and legacy of the medieval warrior king in her new book, Henry V: The Life of the Warrior King & the Battle...

• Brexit and Fact checking

  05 juillet 2016 ( #Brexit, #EU, #Fact checking, #leave, #remain )

  Reality Check: Have Leave campaigners changed their tune? 28 June 2016 From the section EU Referendum Share Image copyright PA The Reality Check team looks at some of the claims and promises made during the campaign by Leave campaigners who now appear...

• Supersize British History in Game of Thrones

  22 octobre 2014 ( #Hadrian's Wall, #King Arthur, #The Black Death, #The Little Ice Age, #The Tudors )

  Hadrian’s Wall Becomes a 90 Foot Ice Wall Hadrian’s Wall looks a little puny next to the Wall in Game of Thrones. When George RR Martin reincarnated Hadrian’s Wall in his novels, he made the 20 foot Roman wall into a 90 foot tall ice barrier. As John...

• L'Economie selon Charles Dickens

  20 avril 2023 ( #Bentham, #Dickens, #Industrial Revolution, #John Stuart Mill, #London, #Malthus, #Marx, #pollution, #poor law, #poverty, #slums, #smog, #Victorian, #workhouse )

  Comment Dickens, tout en dénonçant fermement les effets pervers d’une économie qu’il juge inhumaine et en condamnant les approches utilitaristes de ses contemporains, réussit-il à louer les mérites d’un capitalisme de marché pour penser une économie profondément...