Historyland Ferdaws

 Reputations rise and fall over the course of time – even those of national icons. For much of Winston Churchill‘s life, he was a deeply controversial figure. As he himself well knew, though, changed perspectives on such people invariably bring changed interpretations. This is what he wrote of his father, Lord Randolph, and of politicians in general, at the close of his filial biography: “The eulogies and censures of partisans are powerless to affect his ultimate reputation. The scales wherein he was weighed are broken. The years to come bring weights and measures of their own.” A third of a century later, Churchill made the same point, more elaborately, in his speech in the House of Commons on the death of Neville Chamberlain: “In one phase, men seem to have been right; in another, they seem to have been wrong. Then again, when the perspective of time has lengthened, all stands in a different setting. There is a new proportion, there is another scale of values.” Such changes in interp

  Thatcher was Britain’s most important politician of the postwar era, her only rival for that title being Clement Attlee, creator of the welfare state. Her critics forget or ignore just how parlous was the state of Britain in 1979, and offer no credible policy alternatives about how the country could have been saved from union tyranny, hugely inefficient and loss-making state-owned industries, the stagnation of enterprise. Her contribution to making Britain once more a viable proposition is almost impossible to overstate, but nor will history ignore the brutality and insensitivity with which she imposed some of her policies, especially in Wales and Scotland. She failed, or never seriously attempted, to reform state institutions unfit for privatisation: health, education, the prisons and police. Most of her great achievements took place in her second term, when she had the confidence and momentum generated first by victory in the Falklands, then by defeating the miners’ union. By her t

Roxelana, also spelled Roxolana, also called Hürrem Sultan, original name  Aleksandra Lisovska, (born c. 1505, Rohatyn, Poland —died April 1558, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]), Slavic woman who was forced into concubinage and later became the wife of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Through her influence on the sultan and her mastery of palace intrigue, Roxelana wielded considerable power. Roxelana was born about 1505 in the town of Rohatyn, in what is now western Ukraine. According to some sources, her Christian name was Aleksandra Lisovska. The moniker Roxelana, by which she became known in Europe, probably originated as a reference to her Rusyn, or Ruthenian, roots. She was captured as a young girl by Crimean Tatar raiders and taken to Constantinople (now Istanbul), the Ottoman capital, where she was sold in a slave market to someone connected to Süleyman, who became sultan in 1520. She was then made to convert to Islam and entered the harem, the

  Henry 2 and Richard 1 are among England's most celebrated kings. But when it came to resourcefulness, political nous and sheer staying power, neither were the equal of the woman that bound them, Eleanor of Aquitaine. When Richard the Lionheart inherited his father’s realms in 1189, 
one of his first acts as king was to release his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, from imprisonment. But Richard did a lot more than just free Eleanor from the house arrest under which she had languished for 15 years: he entrusted her with the governance of England while he secured his continental realms. And so the newly liberated queen-mother was soon progressing around the kingdom with a ‘regal’ court, judging cases and organising the release of prisoners – a traditional demonstration of magnanimity by a new ruler. The contrast between Richard and his immediate predecessor as king couldn’t have been more stark. For it was Henry , Richard’s father, who had imprisoned Eleanor, as a punishment for suppor

  Mary Boleyn is best-known as the sister of Anne Boleyn, who spurred Henry VIII to end his first marriage and break with Rome to become his second queen. Yet Anne was not the first Boleyn to catch the eye of the king. She has been the subject of biographies, romanticised (and denigrated) in historical novels, movies, TV shows  –  and yet the real Mary Boleyn remains an elusive Tudor personality, flitting in and out of the sources. With only a small handful of textual evidence, we have tried in vain to colour her life and flesh out the scant facts that we  do  have. Mary Boleyn’s early life Mary was the eldest of three surviving children of Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn. Much like her siblings, Anne and George, many details regarding Mary’s formative years remain something of a mystery, and we cannot be exactly certain in which order the siblings were born. We can, however, be fairly certain that the children were born between 1500 and 1507, at the Boleyn estate of Blickling Hall, in Nor

  Catherine de Medici: the ‘Serpent Queen’ who became one of France’s most powerful 16th-century rulers Often regarded as brutal and calculating, the powerful Catherine de Medici is much maligned. But how should we regard her actions and power? Estelle Paranque considers the life and legacy of the fascinating royal, from her historical unpopularity to her influence on the history of Europe… Catherine de Medici was never meant to be queen. The ‘orphan of Florence’ suffered more losses during her childhood than most people do in a lifetime. Yet fate struck, and the ‘duchessina’ – as she went on to be called by the Florentine people – ended up marrying into the French royal family. Little did she know that, one day, she would become queen of France.   Catherine was born in Florence on 13 April 1519 to Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of the kingdom of Florence, and his wife Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne. Within three weeks of her birth, Madeleine died from a violent fever and Catherine was

  In the new  Downton Abbey  film, one storyline references a long-standing question: was Mary of Teck partial to stealing from the grand houses that she visited? Writing for History Extra, historian Carolyn Harris explores the life of George V’s wife, and her habits as a collector of precious trinkets Downton Abbey  has arrived in cinemas around the world, treating viewers to sumptuous 1920s fashion, upstairs/downstairs drama, and sweeping scenes of  Highclere Castle . The film sees the Crawleys honoured by a 1927 royal visit from the current Queen’s grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary. The royals stay overnight at the fictional country estate during their Yorkshire tour to Harewood House, the home of their only daughter, Princess Mary, and son-in-law, Viscount Lascelles. The Downton Abbey household faces various struggles during the royal visit, as the family and their servants encounter imperious royal household staff and the prospect of frequent changes of clothing in keepin