We’re sure that, just like the History of Parliament’s staff who are all working from home, the reality of the government imposed lock down due to the Covid-19 outbreak is starting to set in for you. In an effort to provide some light relief to brighten your day at home, today’s blog offering from Dr Paul Hunneyball, Assistant Editor of our Lords 1558-1603 project, is … Continue reading Port’s indelible mark on British history
In the second half of her series on exiting the English Republic (part one available here) Dr Vivienne Larminie, Assistant Editor of the Commons 1640-1660 project, explores the dissolution of the Long Parliament… On 16 March 1660 the Parliament which had begun nearly twenty years earlier, on 3 November 1640, agreed to dissolve itself. After well over 3,000 days of sitting, several forcible interruptions and … Continue reading Exiting the English Republic part 2: the end of the Long Parliament
As we face challenges unfamiliar in modern times, our director, Dr Stephen Roberts, looks back at one parliamentary diarist’s response to disease in the community around him. Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1602-50) is now best known for his parliamentary journal. MP for the Suffolk borough of Sudbury, he entered the House of Commons in November 1640 and kept up a diary in English from day one. … Continue reading An MP and an Epidemic in Civil War London
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today’s Irish themed blog from Dr Patrick Little of our House of Commons 1640-60 project considers the difficulties of governing Ireland during the restoration of the Monarchy and the General Convention of Ireland … The restoration of the Rump Parliament in May 1659 had thrown Ireland into disarray. The long-established settlers, known as the ‘Old Protestants’, had generally been supporters of … Continue reading Ourselves alone? The General Convention of Ireland of 1660
Continuing the theme of LGBTQ+ History Month, Dr Paul Hunneyball, assistant editor of the Lords 1558-1603 section, explores the problem of interpreting evidence from the early modern period… ‘I dreamed that K.B. sent to me in Westminster church, that he was now as desirous to see me, as I him, and that he was then entering into the church. I went with joy, but met … Continue reading Archbishop Laud’s secret ‘misfortunes’: decoding sexual identity in the seventeenth century
Continuing the series on the turmoil of 1659-1660, which saw a retreat from radicalism and political experiment, Dr Vivienne Larminie, assistant editor of the Commons 1640-1660 section, looks at the manoeuvrings of politicians and army officers in a period of great tension and uncertainty… By late January 1660 the English republic had entered its last days – although its imminent extinction was probably not inevitable, … Continue reading Exiting the English Republic, part 1: political flux in early 1660
In a previous blog our director, Dr Stephen Roberts, explored legislation by which parliamentarians of the 1640s tried to promote what they saw as more appropriate ways of celebrating Christmas; contrary to popular historical myth, Oliver Cromwell was not the driving force. As Dr Vivienne Larminie of our Commons 1640-1660 section explains, Parliament itself began cutting back on the Yuletide festivities some years before Cromwell … Continue reading Sitting at Christmas: getting business done, 1643
