16th Century… Gamaliel Ratsey (d.1605): The Man whose Life Kick-started the “True Crime” Genre 18 Mar 2020 By Stephen Basdeo Gamaliel Ratsey was born in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, during the late sixteenth century.[1] Little is known of Ratsey’s early life; his father, Richard, and his wife had…
14th Century… Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudeslie 20 Feb 2020 By Stephen Basdeo Stories of Robin Hood have been popular since at least the late fourteenth century, as we know from William Langland’s Vision of Piers Plowman (c.1377). However, around…
1381… The History of Thomas Walsingham’s Historia Anglicana traced through Reappearances of Jack Straw’s Last Dying Speech 5 Jul 2019 A paper delivered at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 1–5 July 2019 by Stephen Basdeo The so-called Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was widely reported in various chronicles. The…
14th Century… The Flemish Revolt: Pierce Egan’s “Quintin Matsys” (1838) 28 Dec 2018 By Stephen Basdeo Pierce Egan the Younger (1814–80) is one of my most favourite Victorian authors. The son of the more famous Regency journalist and writer, Pierce Egan (1772–1849), he…
1381… The Last Dying Speech and Confession of Jack Straw 23 Sep 201723 Sep 2017 In 1381, one of the most important events in English medieval history occurred: the Peasants’ Revolt. Under the leadership of a former soldier, Wat Tyler (d. 1381), a radical priest,…
11th Century… Hang’d, Drawn, and Quartered! “Spectacular Justice” during the Medieval and Early Modern Period 31 Aug 20173 May 2018 Katherine Royer’s new book, The English Execution Narrative, 1200-1700 (2015) analyses the meanings behind the often gruesome executions carried out in the medieval and early modern period. Reviewed by Stephen…
