17th C Archives - Aspects of History

Carina McNally on Mithim

The novelist considers the inspiration behind her debut title, which blends history with Irish mythology to explore cultural erasure, the natural world and the forgotten lives of 17th-century women, in her conversation with Sadie Souter.

Carina McNally

Welcome to Aspects of History, Carina. Can you tell me a little about your starting point for Mithim – did you begin from a place of historical rigour or mythic imagination? Among various writing ventures it was definitely my stint reviewing for historical non-fiction...

From Ireland to the Caribbean: Indentured Servitude in the 17th Century

The author of Mithim explores how Cromwellian conquest, forced migration and indentured servitude shaped the world of her novel, weaving together a story of survival, displacement and uncomfortable moral choices.

Carina McNally

For many writers of historical fiction, the whole process of unearthing forgotten stories from the past is often triggered by some contemporary occurrence. A few years ago, during the global conversation around the Black Lives Matter movement, I found myself following...

Episode 288

England’s Forgotten Exotic Spice

Through a university pal, archival research and a visit to the Essex town of Saffron Walden, the author traces how English saffron became a lucrative crop and prized medicinal commodity before its mysterious decline, and inspired his new novel.

T.L. Mogford

‘English-grown saffron’ sounds like the subject of a contemporary, climate-change news story, akin to reports of olive groves thriving on the Lincolnshire fens, or award-winning Kentish vineyards. To learn, therefore, that the saffron in question had been cultivated...

Historical Lincolnshire: Roman Soldiers, Pilgrims and Radical Religious Ideas

Inspired by a trip to the county, the author sketches out Lincolnshire’s rich Roman, medieval and religious history, tracing the county’s independent Puritan tradition from the Reformation to the Pilgrims who founded Boston, Massachusetts.

Karen Haden

Since learning about Thanksgiving in the United States, I was intrigued to know why the Mayflower Pilgrims were revered on one side of the Atlantic but rarely mentioned on the other. Why did they flee Lincolnshire in 1608? What subsequently caused Puritans from...

Fiction Book of the Month: Karen Haden on Paying In Blood

The novelist talks about the real-life experiences behind her Alexander Baxby Mysteries, the resilience of ordinary people in early Stuart England, and the influence of espionage, religion and social upheaval on historical fiction.

Karen Haden

What attracted you to the time and place you write about? When working as a consultant for UK security agencies, I spotted similarities between the Elizabethan and early Stuart periods and our own time. Back then, the printing press was disrupting lives and creating...

How Protestantism Became a Global Religion – An Interview with Alec Ryrie

Protestantism’s early movements across the globe reveal a tangled world of rivalry with Catholicism, complicity with empire and slavery, and failures that exposed the limits of Europe’s religious imagination – all discussed between the author and the Editor.

Alec Ryrie

That word, mission, might make you think of Robert De Niro or Jeremy Irons, perhaps a young Liam Neeson, in Jesuit robes clambering up the Iguazu Falls in deepest South America, but, forgotten and less-documented as their efforts may be, there was a Protestant...

Introducing the New Aspects of History Substack – We’re Revamping!

Pairing a free midweek editorial newsletter with exclusive subscriber-only magazine features, author interviews and other benefits on a Saturday, we are offering history lovers a richer and more rewarding reading experience while supporting independent historical writing.

Aspects of History

Over the last six years, Aspects of History has brought you the best historical writing from established and new authors alike, whether non-fiction or fiction. So we are now excited to outline a new chapter for the Aspects of History Substack. Our website has grown...

Monarchs Anonymous at The Other Palace Theatre

A review of the historical comedy show which forces famous historical figures into a group therapy session.

Richard Foreman

Monarchs Anonymous is a fun, frenetic show that should appeal to a variety of ages. The premise is a therapy session involving multiple monarchs. The figures taking part are Marie Antionette, Mansa Musa, Charles II, Henry VIII and Princess Sophia Duleep Singh....

AoH Book Club: Steven Veerapen on The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I

In conversation with the Editor, the historian reflects on his mission to rescue England’s first Stuart king from centuries of caricature and revealing a politically astute monarch whose skills lay in image-making and peaceful governance.

Steven Veerapen

Hello Steven – thanks for talking to us a few years on from the publication of The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I, our Book Club pick for June. In the book, you set out to strip away the myths around the first Stuart King of England – what was the...