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Pope Joan
Pope Joan was a legendary female pope of the Middle Ages said to have reigned from 855 to 858. After her story was popularized by Italian writer Giovanni...
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The Spanish Main & the West Indies c.1720 - Spain, France, England, and the Dutch in a Struggle Over Trade, Treasure, and Empire
This map captures the shifting tides of colonial power in the 1700s, focusing on the strategic coastlines of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico...
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Image Gallery
30 Statues of English Kings & Queens
This statue gallery covers 30 English kings and queens over 1400 years, from the early Anglo-Saxon rulers to Queen Elizabeth II (reign 1952-2022). The...
Article
This Barking Dog - Religion and Homosexuality in the Works of Christopher Marlowe
On 5 May 1593, a series of anti-Protestant bills were posted throughout the city of London. One of the bills was written in iambic pentameter and included...
Article
The Violent and Mysterious Death of Christopher Marlowe
On the evening of 30 May 1593, the sounds of a heated argument could be heard emanating from a boarding house in Deptford, a district of London on the...
Article
Henry Box Brown on Slavery in the United States
The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown (1851) is the autobiography of Henry Box Brown (l. c. 1815-1897), who became the most famous fugitive slave...
Article
The Red Army in WWII
The Red Army of the USSR began the Second World War (1939-45) with a series of shocking defeats, but from late 1942, it rallied and held on to key cities...
Definition
Henry Box Brown - The Man Who Mailed Himself to Freedom
Henry Box Brown (l. c. 1815-1897) was an enslaved African American who became famous as "the man who mailed himself to freedom" after he had himself...
Article
4 Lesser-Known Elizabethan Playwrights and Poets
The Elizabethan era is often regarded as a golden age for English culture, language, and literature. Though William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe...
Article
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery comes from the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, an account of the famous abolitionist's life as given to her friend...
Article
Hegra and Jabal Ikmah, Saudia Arabia
Although 30,000 archaeological sites have been identified in the AlUla area of Saudi Arabia, only 8 are currently open to visitors: Jabal Ikmah, which...
Definition
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth (l. c. 1797-1883) was an African American abolitionist, women's suffrage advocate, and civil rights activist who famously "walked away"...
Article
Battle of Stalingrad - The Destruction of Germany's Sixth Army
The Battle of Stalingrad (now Volgograd, July 1942 to February 1943) was an attempt by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) to control the USSR's access to the...
Definition
Harriet Jacobs
Harriet Jacobs (l. c. 1813-1897) was a former slave, abolitionist, and author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), her autobiography, describing...
Article
Italian Colonialism in Eritrea
Eritrea, located on the Red Sea coast of the Horn of Africa, was the ‘firstborn’ colony of Italy. The potential of a trade centre and naval base at...
Article
Education in Roman Spain
There was no compulsory state education for children in any of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. The primary sources are sparse when it comes...
Article
Battle of Edington
The Battle of Edington, fought in May 878 in southwest England, saw Alfred the Great, King of Wessex (r. 871-899), win a decisive victory over the Viking...
Article
Fear of Insurrection
Fear of Insurrection comes from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs (l. c. 1813-1897) describing the reaction of the White...
