Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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397

Bergen’s Blessings

In the days of Henry II, relations with our cross-Channel neighbours were fractious, but we were fast friends with the people of Norway.

398

A Debt to a Hero

A veteran of the Battle of Salamanca in 1812 was boasting of his lieutenant’s bravery when his wife sprung some unwelcome news upon him.

399

An Odious Monopoly

The privileges granted to European merchants in fifteenth-century London led to seething resentment in the City.

400

Lord Great Novgorod

The city of Great Novgorod in Russia was a mediaeval pioneer of a decidedly rumbustious kind of parliamentary democracy.

401

Mistress Liberty

Lord Halifax tacks gratefully into the Winds of Liberty, though he trims his sails to avoid being blown into republicanism.

402

Dominion and Liberty

Following the Restoration of King Charles II, the country charted a well-planned course between the extremes of civil licence and Government control.