Anniversaries

  • Three radicals, two anniversaries… and one Great Charter

    By Dr Rachel Foxley This year I’ve been involved in events marking two anniversaries, four hundred years apart: the birth of the radical pamphleteer John Lilburne in 1615, and the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215.… Continue reading

  • Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species 155th anniversary

    By Professor David Stack On 24 November 1859 a book containing ‘the best idea anybody ever had’ was published. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection had been twenty-one years in the making and was… Continue reading

  • Who Was the First White Knight?

    By Dr. Anne Mathers-Lawrence   In this season of remembrance for those who fought and died in wars and battles, it is worth commemorating Whiteknights’ very own White Knight – the first on record. He was John of Earley, who… Continue reading

  • The post-Reformation history of Hallowmass

    By Professor Helen Parish Earlier this week, my colleague Anne Mathers-Lawrence posted a blog with the provocative title Who Invented Hallowe’en? It is a fantastic overview of the medieval origins of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, and a… Continue reading

  • Who Invented Halloween?

    Professor Anne Lawrence-Mathers Was Halloween a medieval festival? The origins of Halloween have often been traced back to the middle ages, and the usual ‘early witness’ is Bede. His The Reckoning of Time, an extremely influential book on the calculation… Continue reading

    Who Invented Halloween?