Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1153

The Battle of Brunanburh

Athelstan confirmed himself as King of the English, and also reawakened a feeling that all Britain should be a united people.

The Battle of Brunanburh in 937 - location unknown — confirmed Athelstan, a grandson of Alfred the Great, as the first King of a united England. It also saw him accorded (albeit rather grudgingly) an almost imperial authority across Great Britain, and for the first time since the Romans left in 410 people began to think of Britain as a single political entity again.

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Picture: © Robert Graham, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1154

St Chad and the Invisible Choir

Chad, the seventh-century Bishop of Mercia, seemed to be making a lot of music for one man.

After St Chad was consecrated Bishop of Mercia in 669, he took up residence in Lichfield at a monastery of his own foundation, and soon people were coming from miles around for his advice and healing prayers. He also built himself a little private chapel, and spent many hours there alone.

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Picture: © Leon Hawley, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

1155

Mysore’s Golden Age

The Princely State of Mysore (today in Karnataka) was hailed as an example of good governance to all the world.

The Indian Kingdom of Mysore is associated with two remarkable figures, Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), ‘the Tiger of Mysore’, and Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV (1884-1940). Tipu fought the British and anyone else for nearly twenty years of unrelenting bloodshed; Krishnaraja made Mysore a world leader in industrial, artistic and social advancement.

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Picture: © Bikashrd, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

1156

The Night-time Disciple

Nicodemus did not allow intellectual doubts to get in the way of what he knew in his heart.

Nicodemus is remembered as the man whom Jesus urged to be ‘born again’. Some scold him for his hesitation, much as they scold Thomas for his ‘doubt’; but the Byzantine churches honour both for letting love carry them through, and remember Nicodemus on the second Sunday after Easter, together with the women who brought spices to Christ’s tomb.

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Picture: © shakko, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

1157

The Tempest

A duke with a passion for the art of enchantment is stranded by his enemies on a deserted island.

The play begins in Milan, where Prospero, the Duke, is buried among the parchments of his library, studying the magical arts. His brother Antonio, however, feels that what Milan needs is not a wizard but a decent Duke, and Antonio thinks he knows just who that should be.

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Picture: By J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), via the National Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1158

Francesco Geminiani

The most brilliant violinist of his generation, whose finely-crafted compositions showed off bravura and spoke tenderness.

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was overshadowed in the country of his birth by Antonio Vivaldi, and in his adopted nation by George Frideric Handel. He deserves recognition, though, both as a brilliant violinist who challenged his fellow performers to surpass themselves, and as a composer of high merit in his own right.

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Picture: Held at the Royal College of Music. Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.