The First Map of the Moon
At 9pm on 26 July 1609, Thomas Harriot pointed his telescope at a five-day-old crescent moon. It made him the first person to train such an instrument on the skies and map the moon.
Volume 73 Issue 7 July 2023
The Menin Gate is Unveiled
The finished Menin Gate memorial, unveiled on 24 July 1927, recorded 54,896 British and imperial soldiers who died at Ypres between 1914 and 1918, and whose bodies were lost.
‘Love in a Time of Hate’ by Florian Illies review
An account of the sex lives of European intellectuals is full of gossip – and as shallow as the society pages.
Off with Their Heads!
Recent royal crises reveal echoes of discontent in 1870s Britain, when disquiet with monarchy manifested in calls for its abolition.
‘Tudor Liveliness’ by Christina J. Faraday review
Art reveals the past – if you know how to look.
Writing Wrongs
The anti-Russian poetry of Frances Browne, the ‘Blind Poetess of Ulster’.
‘Goodbye Eastern Europe’ by Jacob Mikanowski review
Is it time to say goodbye to Eastern Europe, a world remade so frequently by empires, war and political ideologies that it scarcely stays the same for two generations in a row?
Origins and Originality
What does it mean to be happy? For poets, medieval and modern, joy comes in many forms.
Was Richard III a Bad King?
Child-murderer, arch villain, failed monarch, ‘northern’. Have efforts to redeem Richard III succeeded or is he still one of history’s worst kings?
On the Spot: Feargal Cochrane
Why am I a historian of Irish politics? I grew up in 1970s Belfast, where contested versions of history were literally written on the walls.