1715… Poking Fun at Rebels 1 May 20201 May 2020 By Stephen Basdeo In 1715 the newly-united Kingdom of Great Britain had a new monarch: George I of Hanover. He had inherited the throne the year before because Queen Anne’s…
18th century… “If they must have a British Worthy, they would have Robin Hood” 7 Jul 2019 By Stephen Basdeo This post originally appeared on the IARHS website Amongst the great writers of eighteenth-century literature, the names of two men stand out: Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729) and…
Folklore… Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood 20 Feb 201520 Feb 2015 In an issue of The Spectator in 1711 the aristocratic writer, Joseph Addison (1689-1729) remarked upon an old English nursery rhyme entitled The Two Children in the Wood, saying that…
History… Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Robin Hood’s History 8 Jan 20158 Jan 2015 Whilst re-organising my home work space, I came across my undergraduate dissertation. I focused upon representations of polite society in eighteenth-century print culture, with a particular focus upon the periodicals…
