aBurntShip

                                                  New Novel by Matt Tipper This novel has been on kindle for a few weeks and the printed book version is due for publication on 16th September 2026 via Amazon. A most impressive novel. The author follows the 'official' narrative. There is no attempt at an 'alternative' history: The conspirators make a deliberate attempt to devastate Westminster with actual gunpowder. There are no claims of any 'framing' of innocent Roman Catholics, or planting of another substance instead of gunpowder. Robert Cecil or other figures in power are not portrayed as having devised or manipulated the conspiracy towards their own ends. And there lies the strength of the novel. It recreates the story that so many readers are broadly familiar with, or have even studied, in such a captivating manner. Certainly Guy Fawkes is moved centre stage ...

                                                              By Tony Morgan  The work of York based author Tony Morgan has already been featured in this blog. Pleased to see that he has now devoted  a whole work to York during the  reign of James VI/ I ( ruling England from 1603-1625) . Certainly this reader learnt a great deal from this quite short book. For example,  Medieval aspects of city life had not completely vanished. Trade guilds were of particular importance. Ecclesiastical courts functioned. The traditional 'Tanton' feast held every three years, where a piglet had been especially reared and fattened  to be slaughtered for a feast organised by the 'Brothers of Saint Anthony', continued until 1625. The Roman Catholic faith had not be completely banished.  York's economic life fluctuated fo...

        And the Invasion Landing at Ferring that Never  Quite Happened                                      This topic does not quite meet the  usual 17th century remit of this blog, but the 1583 Throckmorton Plot, is a much neglected treason conspiracy, overshadowed by both the Babington Plot of 1586  and the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  Sir Francis Throckmorton (1554-1584)  came from a Catholic gentry family. based at Coughton Court, Warwickshire.His father Sir John Throckmorton was a diplomat, and his uncle , Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was the English Ambassador to France and then Scotland. It is not clear whether Francis was raised as a Catholic or converted later. By 1579, he was one of a group of young wealthy gentry dedicated  to 'the commons support of Catholics' along with his brother Edward. Also connected to this group were Sir ...

                                A Lost Classic or 400 Year Old Flop?                                                           Readers of a certain age may remember Patrick Stewart's remarkable portrayal of Sejanus in the BBC television dramatisation of Robert Graves's I Claudius. Lucius Aelius Sejanus was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard during the reign of Tiberius. Famous for becoming the effective ruler of the Empire, whilst Tiberius sunk into a debauched old age and despondency, frequently absent from Rome.  Sejanus tumbled from power during one single day in AD 31 and was delivered up to the mob over a week later.  The whole affair became a subject for Ben Jonson's play Sejanus His Fall, a controversial and much neglected play, performed in 1...

             King James VI / I and Witchcraft Steven Veerapen is a Scottish academic, historian, and successful historical novel writer, focusing largely on the 16th century and early 17th century. His latest book is 'Witches-A king's Obsession' , published by Birlinn, 2025 in hardback.                                    Steven Veerapen is certainly well qualified to write about the Jacobean era : His previous works include biographies of James VI & I, 'The Wisest Fool   (2023) and his wife Anna of Denmark ' Queen in Two Kingdoms  (2022) .  There is a helpful background in this book showing how witchcraft and magic were viewed in past centuries. A turning point was the publication and circulation of the  Witch hunting manual  Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer (1487), aided by the rise of the printing press...

                                            NEW AND IMPROVED SECOND EDITION 2025   Pity for the Guy ( Peter Owen publishers Ltd.)    first appeared in 2010. The revised edition is now available on kindle, but a paperback edition will be available soon, The author , John Paul Davis, is a historian and a successful writer of historical thrillers.  Although there was some interest in the Gunpowder Treason with the 1605-2005 anniversary, biographies of Guy Fawkes were in short supply for such a renowned figure. Pity for the Guy was a welcome addition to Gunpowder Treason studies, being well researched from the perspective of a historian but lively enough for the reader who knows little about the subject. This era is full of conspiracies, spies, intrigue,codes, with a large cast of historical figures. Another Guy Fawkes biography has appeared Nick Holland's The Re...