History & Biography

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
“The Life of Reason” by George Santayana 1905, paraphrased by Winston Churchill in a 1948 speech to the House of Commons


History of England

Pre-Roman Britain
Roman Britain – Julius Caesar Invades Britannia (55-54 BC)

Roman Britain – Claudius Invades Britannia (AD 43) & the End of Roman Britain
Anglo-Saxon England, Part I
Anglo-Saxon England, Part II
Alfred the Great (871-899)
Anglo-Saxon England, Part III
Anglo-Saxon England, Part IV
William the Conqueror & The Norman Invasion of 1066
The Norman Kings: William II, Henry I, Stephen & Matilda (1066-1154)
The Plantagenets (Angevin): Henry II (1154-1189)
The Plantagenets (Angevin): Richard I “Coeur de Lion” (1189-1199)
The Plantagenets (Angevin): John and Magna Carta (1199-1216)
The Plantagenets: Henry III (1216-1272)
The Plantagenets: Edward I “Longshanks” (1272-1307)
The Plantagenets: Edward II (1307-1327)
The Plantagenets: Edward III & the Hundred Years War (1327-1377)
Who Is Geoffrey Chaucer?
The Plantagenets: Richard II (1377-1399)
The Plantagenets: Henry IV (1399-1413)
The Plantagenets: Henry V (1413-1422)
The Plantagenets: Henry VI, Edward IV, & The Wars of the Roses (1422-1483)
The Plantagenets: Edward V & Richard III (1483-1485)
The Tudors: Henry VII (1485-1509)
The Tudors: Henry VIII & The English Reformation (1509-1547)
The Tudors: Edward VI & Lady Jane Grey (1547-1553)
The Tudors: Mary I (1553-1558)
The Tudors: Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Who Is William Shakespeare?
On Stephen Greenblatt’s “Will in the World”
On “The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606” by James Shapiro
The Stuarts: James I (1603-1625)
The Story of the King James Bible
The Stuarts: Charles I & The English Civil War (1625-1649)
Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell, The Commonwealth, & The Lord Protectorate (1649-1660)
The Stuarts: Charles II & The Restoration (1660-1685)
The Stuarts: James II & The Glorious Revolution (1685-1689)
The Stuarts: William and Mary (1689-1702)
The Stuarts: Anne & The United Kingdom of Great Britain (1702-1714)
The Hanoverians: George I (1714-1727)
The Hanoverians: George II (1727-1760)
The Hanoverians: George III (1760-1820)
The Hanoverians: George IV (1820-1830)
The Hanoverians: William IV (1830-1837)
The Hanoverians: Victoria (1837-1901)
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Edward VII (1901-1910)
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/Windsor: George V (1910-1936)
The House of Windsor: Edward VIII (1936)
The House of Windsor: George VI (1936-1952)
The House of Windsor: Elizabeth II (1952-2022)


History of the Papacy

The Papacy: St. Peter (1st Century)
The Papacy: 2nd-5th Centuries
The Papacy: Vigilius (537-555)
The Papacy: Gregory the Great (590-604)
The Papacy: Leo III and Charlemagne (795-861)
The Papacy: The Legend of Pope Joan (9th Century)
The Papacy: Nicholas I and the Pornocracy (855-964)
The Papacy: The Great Schism (964-1054)
The Papacy: Gregory VII and the Normans (1054-1085)
The Papacy: The First Crusade, The Concordat of Worms, and Schism (1086-1143)
The Papacy: The Second Crusade and An English Pope (1144-1159)
The Papacy: Alexander III, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Third Crusade (1181-1198)
The Papacy: Innocent III (1198-1216)