The Elizabethans loved news — the stranger, the better. London presses cranked out pamphlets carried by chapmen to every village, to be read out loud beside the hearth in the local public house. Everyone loved reports of marvelous fish washed up in Cornwall or the bizarre tribes encountered in the New World.… Read More »Poets and spies: intelligence work in the sixteenth century by Anna Castle
Lighthouses have been manned since ancient times and most of us feel it must be a very lonely occupation. And indeed it can be and there are terrible tales of lighthouse keepers going mad. The 19th century in particular seemed to have many tales of madness, murder and suicide on… Read More »Are Lonely Lighthouses for Lonely Men? by Loretta Proctor
Everywhere in medieval life, you read about ‘rushes’ on the floor. However, I question the image of women in long gowns walking around on loose rushes, whether or not they were sprinkled with herbs. Wouldn’t the rushes catch in the dress? This page has this to say, and started off… Read More »Rushes on the Floor by Sarah Woodbury
To understand the Chinese mind, we should start with Confucius (552 – 479 BC), who is arguably the most influencial person in Chinese history and by extension the rest of East Asia: Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia—thanks to China being a regional super power for more than two… Read More »The Value of Education – East Asian versus Western thought by Lloyd Lofthouse
Sumptuary laws are way for the upper classes to restrict the symbols of their wealth and power. In rigidly stratified societies, knowing a person’s social status is essential; sumptuary laws allow this vital fact to be determined at a glance. And persons aspiring to be taken for greater than they… Read More »Honored in the breach: sumptuary laws by Anna Castle