by David West | Jan 29, 2026 | News
Usually I am spoilt for choice and I have to check that I haven’t written about the subject before. However the 29th of January offers me only two topics in the pre-1600 category. Sergios III came out of retirement to be elected pope from the deposed antipope...
by David West | Jan 28, 2026 | News
Looking for subjects to write about today, I can hardly believe that I am going to pass over the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in favour of Walter Arnold of East Peckham. Don’t tell my wife, Claire, or I’ll be in trouble. I’ll make it up to Jane...
by David West | Jan 27, 2026 | News
On the 27th of January, 1302, Dante Alighieri was condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence. Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–1321) is one of the towering figures of Western literature, a poet whose life of political turmoil, exile, and intellectual ambition gave rise to...
by David West | Jan 26, 2026 | News
The Battle of Ula was fought on the 26th of January, 1564, between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and (guess who) Russia. Guess who won, (spoiler alert) Lithuania. It was one of the most important Lithuanian victories over Tsardom of Muscovy in the sixteenth century....
by David West | Jan 25, 2026 | News
On the 25th of January, 1890, Nellie Bly completed her round-the-world journey in 72 days. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne was published in 1872, and Nellie was trying to emulate the hero, Phileas Fogg. I have posted about Sir Francis Drake’s...
