Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© Ethan Doyle White, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Embarrassed by the behaviour of his Norman bishops and abbots, King William I asked monk Guitmond to come over and set an example.
Read
Charles Dickens tells the story of Hereward the Wake, the last Englishman to stand up to William the Conqueror.
By Anonymous, via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ?Public domain.
Jack Curran’s career as a defender of victims of political prejudice got off to a stuttering start.
© Andrew Curtis, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Sheriff of Northumberland allows wealth and power to go to his head — and his digestion.
Attributed to Charles Le Brun (1619–1690)
Louis XIV picked up the reins of power in France vowing to drive the national economy in the common interest, not his own.
Kazimierz Alchimowicz (1840–1916)
Naomi lost her husband and two sons in Moab, and returned to Bethlehem with only one comfort in her bitterness, her daughter-in-law Ruth.