Category: Archive

  • Crying Wolf in the early middle ages?

    Crying Wolf in the early middle ages?

    By Robert Evans @R_AH_Evans The chronicles and histories of the early middle ages have a reputation for describing somewhat unusual events. In his history of contemporary events, for example, Prudentius, bishop of Troyes (d.861) describes how, in 846 ‘Wolves attacked and devoured with complete audacity the inhabitants of the western part of Gaul. Indeed, in some…

  • In praise of history teachers

    In praise of history teachers

    By Carys Brown @HistoryCarys I learned more about the nature of the discipline of history during my PGCE and year as a Newly Qualified Teacher than I have in all of the rest of my academic study combined. It might be that I’m a poor academic historian, but rather I think it says something about the immense…

  • Editorial: DHP’s top historical novels

    Editorial: DHP’s top historical novels

    Summer may be decidedly over, but reading for pleasure doesn’t have to be confined to the beach. Here are some of the DHP team’s favourite historical novels to keep you going as the evenings draw in.

  • The Public House – the struggle to find privacy in the eighteenth century home

    The Public House – the struggle to find privacy in the eighteenth century home

    By Alex Wakelam – @A_Wakelam Around two o’clock in the morning of February 15th 1732, Robert Atkinson, a sadler, returned home drunk from the alehouse. His mother Ann Atkinson, having sent the maid to bed at midnight, had sat up to wait for him so that she could lock the door behind him (the symbolic ending of the…

  • Healing History? The Reformation 500 years on

    Healing History? The Reformation 500 years on

    By Fred Smith | @Fred_E_Smith On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther (supposedly) nailed 95 criticisms of the Catholic Church to the door of a Wittenburg church. His actions, alongside those of many other ‘reformers’, helped catalyse events which would ultimately splinter Catholic Christendom into a myriad of diverse, often antagonistic, sects. Fast-forward 499 years, and there…