Search Results: Francis Drake

Fireships being sent into the Spanish Armada by Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) in July 1588 CE. A 1796 CE painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England)

Margaret of Valois' eyewitness account of St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre is among the most famous and the only written record of the event left by a member of the royal family of France at the time. Her account appears in her memoirs as Letter...

Pubs remain a prominent feature of the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, but their names very often date back to medieval times. Red lions, white horses, and colourful characters peer from pub signs as landlords choose names to represent...

The Spanish Main refers, in its widest sense, to the Spanish Empire in the Americas from Florida in the north to the northern coast of Brazil in the south, including the Caribbean. The term was initially more limited and referred only to...

The Elizabethan founders of the British Empire have long been considered heroes of great personal genius and skill who civilised the natives and founded one of the greatest empires in the history of the world. In fact they were a bunch of...

Warren Hastings (1732-1818) was appointed the Governor of Bengal by the British East India Company (EIC) in 1772 and became its first Governor-General in India from 1774 to 1785. Under his tenure, the EIC ruthlessly expanded its territory...

Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was an Anglo-Irish chemist, physicist, and experimental philosopher. Boyle was a prolific author, made significant experiments with air pumps, and presented the first litmus test. A founding member of the Royal Society...

A 1626 CE engraving by Friedrich van Hulsen showing the Golden Hind of Francis Drake capturing the Cacafuego treasure ship (real name: Nuestra Senora de la Concepćion) in March 1579 CE off the coast of Peru. The capture of the galleon was...

Simon Forman (1552-1611) was an Elizabethan physician, astrologer, magician, and alchemist who lived and worked in both London and Wiltshire, England. He was unusual in that despite receiving no formal training in medicine or astrology, and...

Elizabethan theatre, sometimes called English Renaissance theatre, refers to that style of performance plays which blossomed during the reign of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603) and which continued under her Stuart successors. Elizabethan...