Who was the man who became Henry VIII’s confidant after Thomas Cromwell?
In Henry VIII's famous reign the 1540s is a strangely neglected decade. Central to an understanding of it, argues Andrew Johnston, is William Paget – 'The King's Secretary'.
16th Century
A collection of 6 Posts
'Strange Shaped Beasts & Glorious Feathered Birds': The Tudor and Stuart Craze for American Animals
From Anne Boleyn's South American monkey to jaguar claws and parrots, Lauren Working explains how the Early Modern England sought to import the treasures of America.
Gabriele Tadino Goes to Rhodes
Edoardo Albert pinpoints a critical moment in the contest between the Venetians, the Knights Hospitaller and the Ottomans
Shakespeare’s Lost Years
Tinker? Tailor? Soldier? Spy? Howard Linskey looks back at the most mysterious phase of Shakespeare's life
Before the Tourists: The Unseen History of the Venice Ghetto
Harry Freedman on a 'dark and unhappy' chapter in Venetian history
A Thousand Golden Cities
Justin Marozzi introduces us to a ‘Description of Kabul’ from the Bāburnāma, the memoirs of Bābur