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Samuel Pepys is as much a paragon of literature as Chaucer and Shakespeare. His Diary is one of the principal sources for many aspects of the history of its period. In spite of its significance, all previous editions were inadequately edited and suffered from a number of omissions--until Robert Latham and William Matthews went back to the 300-year-old original manuscript and deciphered each passage and phrase, no matter how obscure or indiscreet. The Diary deals with some of the most dramatic ev...

The Female Baroque in Early Modern English Literary Culture is a contribution to the revival of early modern women's writings and cultural production in English that began in the 1980s. Its originality is twofold: it links women's writing in English with the wider context of Baroque culture, and it introduces the issue of gender into discussion of the Baroque. The title comes from Julia Kristeva's study of Teresa of Avila, that 'the secrets of Baroque civilization are female'. The book is built...

Originally published in 1967, this book is a history of church puritanism as a movement and as a political and ecclesiastical organism; of its membership structure and internal contradictions; of the quest for 'a further reformation'. It tells the fascinating story of the rise of a revolutionary moment and its ultimate destruction.

The Revolution in Time explores the idea that people in Western Europe changed the way they thought about the concept of time over the early modern period, by examining reactions to the 1688-1689 revolution in England. The study examines how those who lived through the extraordinary collapse of James II's regime perceived this event as it unfolded, and how they set it within their understanding of history. It questions whether a new understanding of chronology - one which allowed fundamental a...

This wide-ranging book looks at the reality of how pirates lived and operated, from the ancient world right up to the pirates of today's cargo ships or luxury yachts in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The History of Pirates also examines the actions and pirate ethics of less famous pirates and their eras, such as the Japanese pirates of the 13th-16th centuries and Zheng Yi and his wife's pirate alliance in 19th century China. With features on particular pirates such as Blackbeard and...

Following a youth of poverty and bitter exile after his father's execution, the ousted king first challenged, then made his magnificent escape from, Cromwell's troops before he was eventually restored to his throne in triumph in 1660.Spanning his life both before and after the Restoration, Antonia Fraser's lively and fascinating biography captures all the vitality of the man and the expansiveness of the age.

Built on sugar, slaves, and piracy, Jamaica's Port Royal was the jewel in England's quest for Empire until a devastating earthquake sank the city beneath the sea A haven for pirates and the center of the New World's frenzied trade in slaves and sugar, Port Royal, Jamaica, was a notorious cutthroat settlement where enormous fortunes were gained for the fledgling English empire. But on June 7, 1692, it all came to a catastrophic end. Drawing on research carried out in Europe, the Caribbean, and t...

The first biography of Lettice Knollys, one of the most prominent women of the Elizabethan era. Cousin to Elizabeth I - and very likely also Henry VIII's illegitimate granddaughter - Lettice Knollys had a life of dizzying highs and pitiful lows. Darling of the court, entangled in a love triangle with Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I, banished from court, plagued by scandals of affairs and murder, embroiled in treason, Lettice would go on to lose a husband and beloved son to the executioner's axe....

The story of Isaac Newton's decades in London - as ambitious cosmopolitan gentleman, President of London's Royal Society, Master of the Mint, and investor in the slave trade. Isaac Newton is celebrated throughout the world as a great scientific genius who conceived the theory of gravity. But in his early fifties, he abandoned his life as a reclusive university scholar to spend three decades in London, a long period of metropolitan activity that is often overlooked. Enmeshed in Enlightenment pol...

King James II was the Catholic king of a Protestant nation, but he had inherited a secure crown and was able to put down the rebellion by his nephew the Duke of Monmouth. In just over three years James had been deserted by those he loved and trusted and had to flee to France in exile. His throne was seized by his son-in-law and daughter, and when they died, his younger daughter succeeded. For James it was a personal tragedy of King Lear proportions; for most of his subjects it was a Glorious Re...

Queen Anne (1665-1714) was not charismatic, brilliant or beautiful, but under her rule, England rose from the chaos of regicide, civil war and revolution to the cusp of global supremacy. She fought a successful overseas war against Europe's superpower and her moderation kept the crown independent of party warfare at home. This biography reveals Anne Stuart as resolute, kind and practical-a woman who surmounted personal tragedy and poor health to become a popular and effective ruler.

This book argues that coffeehouses and the coffee trade were central to the making of the Atlantic world in the century leading up to the American Revolution. Fostering international finance and commerce, spreading transatlantic news, building military might, determining political fortunes and promoting status and consumption, coffeehouses created a web of social networks stretching from Britain to its colonies in North America. As polite alternatives to taverns, coffeehouses have been hailed...

Covering the period from the accession of James I to the death of Queen Anne, this Companion provides a magisterial overview of the 'long' seventeenth century in British history. The Companion's chapters, each written by a leading expert, guide readers through the maze of scholarly debates about Stuart Britain. They offer new insights into the enormous changes that occurred during this time; not only the Civil War and the establishment of a Protectorate, but also the intense intellectual and rel...

Scandalous Liaisons tells the story of the most hedonistic, loose-living court in English history, from Charles II's youthful years and mistresses in France, to his tempestuous relationship with the hot-tempered, sexually and financially voracious Barbara Villiers. Of Charles's mistresses, everybody's favourite was the perky Cockney actress, Nell Gwyn. Nell and the French aristocrat (and not-sovery secret agent) Louise de Keroualle were the two women he would remember on his deathbed. The court...

The greatest questions of our future can be answered by twelve crucial moments in Britain's history.It wasn't long-ago that Britons could have been as at home in Varanasi as they could have been in Wolverhampton - why? - because the shape and location of Britain's land-mass has not always been the same, and with large parts of Britain scattered across the globe, British borders and its identity has always been on the move.But, by knowing more about the twelve pivotal moments that occurred over a...

Early modern; women; Europe; gender

Based on a major Radio 4 series, this is an account of British history from the Roman invasion to the death of Queen Victoria. It focuses on the significant events and personalities that shaped Britain over nearly 2000 years, tracing its emergence from the Dark Ages which followed the Romans' departure, through the great flowering of culture in medieval times and the gradual evolution of the modern state, to the making of an empire and the huge changes brought about by the industrial revolution.

September 1613.In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England’s great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. His body is ‘tormented’ with violent convulsions. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive.It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland’s sons will not be the last to die.Witches traces the dramatic events whi...

The English troops serving in Ireland were vital source of experienced and possibly war-winning manpower sought after by both King and Parliament in the Civil War. The "cessation" or truce which King Charles reached with the Irish Confederates in September 1643 enabled him to begin shipping over troops fro Ireland to reinforce the Royalist armies. During the following year the "Irish", as they were frequently if inaccurately known by both sides were an important factor in the war. The Nantwich...