The Raphael Cartoons at the V&A are quite impressive works of art in their own right. Roughly four metres wide and three metres high they show scenes from the lives of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, such as The Miraculous Draught of Fishes or The Sacrifice at Lystra. They are powerful reminders of… Continue reading Raphael: Cartoons and Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel at the V&A
Category: Reviews
Charitable Hatred, or the Trouble with Tolerance in Early Modern England
In her book on ‘tolerance and intolerance’ in early modern England Alex Walsham takes a swipe at the Whiggish notion of the ‘rise of toleration’ (7) and the domination of the field by the history of ideas. Emphasisng the point that it was the moral duty of every good Christian at the time to correct… Continue reading Charitable Hatred, or the Trouble with Tolerance in Early Modern England
The ‘Monarchical Republic’ and its Critics
Patrick Collinson first set out his idea of ‘The Monarchical Republic of Queen Elizabeth I’ in a journal article in 1987. In this article he emphasised in particular two ways in which Elizabethan subjects conceived themselves as ‘citizens’ and displayed considerable self-governing capacities. First, there were Elizabeth’s Privy Councillors at the centre, who were hatching… Continue reading The ‘Monarchical Republic’ and its Critics
Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill at the V&A
The little blue-enamelled toothpick case left quite an impression. Not because it was so remarkably beautiful, but because it seemed so random, useless even – in a good way. Many of the items currently on display in the V&A’s exhibition on Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill are of that quality, and that’s their attraction. There… Continue reading Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill at the V&A
The fun of deceiving your readers – and being found out
It must have been so much fun being a C17th wit hanging around your favourite tavern or coffee-house thinking up tall stories, scribbling them down and waiting to see how your readers reacted. Would they really believe that shepherds had found the remains of Moses his Tombe (1657) on Mount Nebo, or that Dutch sailors… Continue reading The fun of deceiving your readers – and being found out
‘The Paradox of Prosperity’ – Selling books in early modern Leiden
The booksellers of early modern Leiden prospered despite being regulated by a guild. In fact, they petitioned for and received permission to set up a guild as late as 1652 when other trades tried to get rid of the tight constraints such an institution imposed (p. 14). For, contrary to a widespread belief among economic… Continue reading ‘The Paradox of Prosperity’ – Selling books in early modern Leiden
French Revolutionaries & English Republicans: A bridge to the Continent
As its subtitle announces Rachel Hammersley’s French Revolutionaries and English Republicans (Woodbridge, 2005) is a study of the Cordeliers Club in Paris between 1790-1794. It traces the Club’s radical policies and associated writings in the years following the rebellion of 1789 and its attempts to influence the National Assembly as it forged a new constitution… Continue reading French Revolutionaries & English Republicans: A bridge to the Continent
Worden’s ‘Roundhead Reputations’: Every age writes its own history
I’ve just finished reading Blair Worden’s Roundhead Reputations (London, 2001), which had been cautiously recommended to me as more a ‘popular history’ book than a scholarly account. Popular it might be but it does not lack any of the accurate scholarship one is used to find in Worden’s work. Roundhead Reputations tells the fascinating story… Continue reading Worden’s ‘Roundhead Reputations’: Every age writes its own history
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