391
Two monks vying for the abbot’s chair at one of England’s prestigious monasteries each promised King William Rufus handsome rewards for his favour.
William II Rufus became King of England following the death of his father William the Conqueror in 1087. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, prevailed on the Norman barons to crown William instead of his brother Robert, and thereafter kept William on a short leash. The death of his mentor in 1089 marked a sharp decline in William’s character, but memories of better days remained.
Picture: © Tim Green. 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 24 2021
392
A witness appeared before a Calcutta court, only to find that judge and learned counsel were determined to discredit her.
While visiting London in the early 1800s, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan was brazenly but quite legally defrauded of ten shillings by a litigious tailor, and he had heard hair-curling tales of similar judicial malpractice in Calcutta. He had also heard, however, of one occasion when the attorneys were given a taste of their own medicine.
Picture: Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. (1856–1927), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 21 2021
393
When he left Calcutta in February 1799 for a tour of Europe, Abu Taleb Khan scarcely expected to spend so much of his time in England trying to keep out of the courts.
On January 21st, 1800, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan arrived in London, full of eager anticipation. What he never foresaw was the trouble he would get from litigious shopkeepers and tradesmen, who repeatedly defrauded him with the help of a corrupt judicial system. If the Indian ever felt he was being targeted he was quickly disabused: the natives of Jane Austen’s London were being skinned daily too.
Picture: By Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 21 2021
394
Edmund Burke explained to the Duke of Bedford that in politics there is very great difference between change and reform.
In 1789, the leaders of the French Revolution promised liberty, equality and fraternity to the downtrodden people of France, and Francis Russell (1765-1802), 5th Duke of Bedford, admired them for it. But Edmund Burke warned him that to France’s new elite, righting the wrongs of the poor was infinitely less exciting than the chance to conduct a relentless socio-economic experiment on the peoples of Europe.
Picture: © Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted July 18 2021
395
In 1585, English merchant Ralph Fitch found himself at the heart of Mughal India, as a guest at the court of Emperor Akbar the Great.
In 1600, Ralph Fitch was among the advisers engaged in the founding of the East India Company, thanks to his account of a daring tour of Syria, Iran and India from 1583 to 1591 that had gripped Queen Elizabeth I and all London. In July 1585, Fitch had arrived in the Indian city of Agra, which with nearby Fatehpur-Sikri lay at the heart of the realm of Akbar the Great (r. 1556-1605), third Mughal Emperor.
Picture: © Clément Bardot, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted July 16 2021
396
Sir Richard Steele reflects on the ingredients in his recipe for the perfect English gentleman.
Sir Richard Steele came home one day after tea with some very pleasant ladies, feeling he had rather let himself down. Respecting his maxim ‘Never contradict or reason with a sprightly female’ he had allowed himself to agree to a definition of a Gentleman that would hardly do outside a ballroom. Now he felt compelled to redeem himself in the pages of The Guardian.
Picture: By Rudolf Lehmann (1819–1905), via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 15 2021