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,…
1381… “The Bondman” (1833): Wat Tyler, Medievalism, and the Great Reform Act of 1832 21 Apr 201710 Sep 2017 In the course of my research for my book The Life and Legend of a Rebel Leader: Wat Tyler, due to be published by Pen & Sword in 2018, I…
18th century… Unruly Apprentices 9 Apr 20179 Apr 2017 During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, many criminals recorded in works such as Alexander Smith’s History of the Highwaymen (1714), and Charles Johnson’s History of the Highwaymen (1734), as…
18th century… Charles Kinnaister: Executed for the Murder of Australian Aborigines (1838) 27 Jan 201727 Jan 2017 Broadly speaking, criminals fall into three types: heroes, buffoons, and brutes.[i] The categories are just as applicable to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as they are today – ‘heroes’ would…
19th Century… E. L. Blanchard’s “The Mysteries of London” (1849-50) 16 Dec 201616 Dec 2016 My previous post was about Thomas Miller’s continuation of G. W. M. Reynolds’ penny blood The Mysteries of London (Reynolds and Miller’s series were published between 1844 – 1848 and…
19th Century… The Peterloo Massacre & Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe” (1819) 2 Nov 20164 Nov 2016 I have written many times about Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819) on this website. It is perhaps the greatest of all Robin Hood novels. Scholars have often been puzzled, however, as…
