A dangerous secret lies beneath Whitehall Palace… Brother against brother. Father against son. Friends turned into enemies. No one in England wants a return to the bloody days of the Civil War. But Oliver Cromwell’s son, Richard, has abandoned his exile and slipped back into England. The consequences could be catastrophic. James Marwood, a traitor’s […]
The Saracen’s Mark by SW Perry
London, 1593. Five years on from the Armada and England is taking its first faltering steps towards a future as a global power. Nicholas Shelby – reluctant spy and maverick physician – and his companion, Bianca Merton, are settling into a life on Bankside. But in London there is always a plot afoot… Robert Cecil, […]
The Silken Rose by Carol McGrath
1236. Beautiful Ailenor of Provence, cultured and intelligent, is only thirteen when she marries Henry III. Aware of the desperate importance of providing heirs to secure the throne from those who would snatch it away, she is ruthless in her dealings with Henry’s barons. As conflict escalates between them, Ailenor’s shrewd and clever Savoyard uncles come […]
The Puritan Princess by Miranda Malins
London, 1657. The youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, 18-year-old Frances, is finding her place at England’s new centre of power. Following the turmoil of Civil War, a fragile sense of stability has returned to the country. Her father has risen to the unprecedented position of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and Frances has found herself […]
One Week In April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820 by Maggie Craig
In April 1820 a series of dramatic events exploded around Glasgow, central Scotland and Ayrshire. Demanding political reform and better living and working conditions, 60,000 weavers and other workers went on strike. Revolution was in the air. It was the culmination of several years of unrest, which had seen huge mass meetings in Glasgow and […]
The Museum of Broken Promises by Elizabeth Buchan
The Museum of Broken Promises; a place of wonder, sadness … and hope. Inside lies a treasure trove of objects – a baby’s shoe, a wedding veil, a railway ticket – all revealing moments of loss and betrayal. It is a place where people come to speak to the ghosts of the past. The owner, […]
Oliver Cromwell’s daughter Frances, the ‘puritan princess’
Miranda Malins, author of The Puritan Princess, writes for Historia about the extraordinary life of Oliver Cromwell’s youngest daughter, Frances, and how we need to forget everything we thought we knew about the Lord Protector’s rule. The caricature of Oliver Cromwell’s protectorate is that it was a joyless, masculine, military dictatorship presided over by a […]
The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820
Two hundred years ago, a wave of political protest swept through Central Scotland and Ayrshire, part of unrest throughout Britain following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Maggie Craig is the author of a new history of the events, One Week In April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820. By 1820, living and working conditions […]