New Histories of Anglo-German Diplomacy under Elizabeth I and James VI and I

In his 1569 account of ‘The State of Germany’, the English diplomat Robert Beale recorded that, at mealtimes, the Count Palatine of the Rhine kept twenty-four tables of eight people each in two different rooms.  ‘In the one place … sitteth himself, his wife, and Children standing att one Table, alone … And his gentlewomen …

Restoration Britain: A Post-Conflict Society?

The restoration of Britain’s monarchy in 1660 used to be thought of as just that, a return to social and political quietude after the tumult of the civil wars and Commonwealth.  More recently, though, historians have shown that the restoration of the monarchy and the subsequent consolidation of royal power were by no means inevitable.  …