Joseph Glanvill was born in 1636 in Plymouth. His family were Puritans and, like the rest of these English reforming Protestants, sought to ‘purify’ the Church of England from its Catholic practices. Glanvill attended Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied religion, logic and philosophy, and graduated in 1655. He later obtained an MA from Lincoln College. By the time… Read on
Carina McNally’s debut novel, Mithim, was released last week. Mercier Press contacted me with an ARC (Advanced Review Copy), and I am delighted to say this book was very absorbing, well-written, and wonderfully Irish. Set in 1657 Wexford, Ireland, through the eyes of Mithim, a woman who has known great loss, and who is acquainted with ancient wisdom… Read on
Child’s Play to Charles II – a guest post by Claire Hobson A periwig is usually prominent in our minds when we think of Charles II. With those long black curls, he’s recognised as the English king restored to power by a counterrevolutionary parliament in 1660, but he actually sported his natural hair for more than half his… Read on
Happy New Year! Well, 2025 certainly seems to have sped by, with work on the successful Stuart History Festival in the gorgeous and historic city of Worcester in July. It was great to reunite with people I had worked with before or admired before: Jonathan Healey, with whom I had previously been in the BBC4 history documentary series,… Read on
Hear ye! I’m so pleased to announce that we have recently released a new audiobook: To celebrate this new release, I have the privilege of welcoming the author, Eleanor Swift-Hook, for an EXCLUSIVE interview today. Welcome to my salon, Eleanor! Before we go into the book itself, what is it about the seventeenth century that inspires you? I… Read on
Dr Erica Canela’s debut history work, Zealous: A Darker Side of the Early Quakers, published by Pen & Sword History in the UK in late September 2025, focuses on the oft-sidelined history of the early Quakers, bringing to life these unconventional and fascinating people in Stuart Britain – with their many trials and tribulations. This period was at… Read on
Catherine of Braganza managed to exercise her agency as queen under difficult circumstances. Her first duty as Queen was to provide her husband with an heir and she made numerous attempts at treatments and pilgrimages to become pregnant. We have proof of a pregnancy and a miscarriage at least once, with two other pregnancies mentioned by Charles to… Read on
Why write about the Stuarts? Well, they were the Kennedys of the seventeenth century. Attractive, powerful, marked by tragedy. For a novelist, they are a glittering temptation of a subject. But the long, grinding years of exile cast a long shadow over their later history. Did that put me off? On the contrary, I have long been fascinated by the period… Read on