Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Music and Musicians

Zadok the Priest

Handel’s anthem sets to glorious music words sung at English coronations for over a thousand years.

Length: 54 words

Mediaeval History

Black Agnes Dunbar

When Edward III sent the Earl of Salisbury to take her absent husband’s castle, Agnes brushed his attack aside - literally.

Length: 57 words

Angevin & Plantagenet Era

The Peasants’ Revolt

In 1381, fourteen-year-old King Richard II was faced with a popular uprising against excessive taxation and government meddling in the labour market.

Length: 57 words

The Hundred Years’ War

The Battle of Neville’s Cross

Ralph Neville spoiled David of Scotland’s alliance with France in the Hundred Years’ War

Length: 56 words

Classical History

Hannibal’s Passage of the Alps

Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps with nearly 50,000 men and 38 elephants is the stuff of legend.

Length: 52 words

Classical History

A Bird in the Hand is Worth...

The Roman Emperor Honorius, so the story goes, had more on his mind than the impending sack of one of Europe’s iconic cities.

Length: 58 words