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1600-1700

Time Traveller's Guide to Stuart
England
All you need to know to survive the filthy, dangerous streets of Civil War and Restoration London and beyond.

Cities and disaster
An examination of the calamities that befell seven cities: London (1666), Lisbon (1755), Chicago (1871), San Francisco (1906), Tokyo/Yokohama (1923), Florence (1966), New Orleans (2005).

• Monarchy
  Dynamic timeline charts how England evolved from a land of warlords to one where dynasties could be built.
• The British Slave Trade: A chronology
  From the first British slave trader Sir John Hawkins to the Slavery Abolition Act and US Emancipation Proclamation.
• The monarchs we never had
  The death of the heir to the throne has had important consequences throughout British history – sometimes immediately, sometimes obvious only in retrospect.
• Matt's Old Masters: Rubens
  One of the most influential painters of Baroque Europe, whose visual vocabulary for artistic message-making, classical mythology and allegory is sometimes difficult to appreciate.
• The Search for the Northwest Passage
  From the 15th century, European mariners sought to find a seaway through the ice-bound Arctic to the Orient. This website examines attempts including the fatal Franklin expedition and Amundsen’s success.
• Matt's Old Masters: Velázquez
  The first great Spanish painter and, for many major artists, the most inspiring and relevant 'old master' of all.
• The Medici: A chronology
  These Florentine bankers led a city-state, occupied the Vatican and married into many powerful European families. They also inspired and supported some of the greatest artists, thinkers and pioneers of the Renaissance.
• Galileo Galilei
  A brief account of the Italian scientist who challenged the Catholic Church and lost.
• Galileo's Daughter
  An extract from Dava Sobel's book about the relationship between Galileo and Sister Marie Celeste, his illegitimate daughter.
• The Worst Jobs in History: Stuart jobs
  The period produces some exceptionally awful jobs, which fall to the unfortunate poor or the downright deranged.
• Treason
  The story of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and what might have happened if it had succeeded.
• Gunpowder, Treason and Plot: Interviews
  Interviews with historians Ronald Hutton and Alison Weir on the Gunpowder Plot.
• The Gunpowder Plot: Ask the experts
  Historians Ronald Hutton and Pauline Croft answer questions about the Gunpowder Plot.
• The Gunpowder Plot: Filling in the gaps
  Historical novelist Christie Dickason shows how the story of the plot isn’t as straightforward as we might have been led to believe.
• Pioneer House
  Modern-day colonists striving to make it in 1628 America. The website reveals why the original pioneers left England, how they set up the first colonies and coped with their demanding daily lives, and examines their troubled relations with the Native Americans.
• War
  The story of the English Civil Wars and the controversy surrounding Cromwell.
• The Legacy of the Levellers
  Tony Benn remembers the contribution of the Levellers to British democracy and socialism.
• Cromwell: New Model Englishman – Interviews
  Interviews with historians Angela Anderson and Blair Worden on Oliver Cromwell.
• Cromwell and the English Civil Wars: Ask the expert
  Historian Blair Worden answers questions about the Lord Protector and the Puritans.
• Cromwell
  Historian Blair Worden reviews the 1970 film.
• The Devil in Essex: Witch-hunting in Old and New England
  Dr Malcolm Gaskill reveals how witch-hunts in Cromwellian England led to similar atrocities in the New World.
• Witchfinder General
  According to Malcolm Gaskill, this 1968 film set in Civil War England – a period-piece about love and loss, exploitation and vengeance – self-consciously manipulates the known facts.
• Witchfinder General: Interview
  Interview with historian Malcolm Gaskill on various aspects of the witchcraft hysteria in 17th-century Essex.
• Plague
  The story of the Great Plague of 1665, plus an explanation of the disease and its spread in London and the rest of England.
• The Great Plague: Interviews
  Interviews with historians Justin Champion, Vanessa Harding and Carole Rawcliffe on the Great Plague of 1665.
• The Great Plague: Ask the expert
  Historian Justin Champion answers questions on the Great Plague of 1665.
• Restoration
  A fun film that, according to Justin Champion, gives a slightly more plausible account of the culture of Charles II’s court than many others.
• Fire
  The story of the Great Fire of London – and its legacy – and how its devastation spread.
• The Great Fire of London: Interviews
  Interviews with historians Lisa Jardine and Simon Thurley on the Great Fire and the rebuilding of London.
• The Great Fire of London: Ask the experts
  Dr Simon Thurley and the experts at the Museum of London answer questions about the Great Fire of London of 1666.
• Cities and disaster
  An examination of the calamities that befell seven cities: London (1666), Lisbon (1755), Chicago (1871), San Francisco (1906), Tokyo/Yokohama (1923), Florence (1966), New Orleans (2005).
• Crime Team: A parliamentary killing
  The year is 1682. As MP Thomas Thynn rides in a carriage down Pall Mall, he is shot dead...
• The Scots Detective
  This website challenges historical accounts of the Scottish wars of independence, the Reformation, the Act of Union, Scottish exile and the Irish in Scotland (Channel 4 Learning).

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