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.

Magna Carta

Selections from the Great Charter

By the Great Charter of 1215, King John promised that his ministers would not meddle in the Church or stuff his Treasury with taxes on trade.

Length: 117 words

The British Constitution

Wait and See

Edmund Burke urged Englishmen not to congratulate the French revolutionaries on their new-found liberty until they knew what they would do with it.

Length: 116 words

Lives of the Saints

Felgeld’s Face

A monk living in the tumbledown hermitage that had once belonged to St Cuthbert reluctantly decided that it needed more than repairs.

Length: 118 words

Sport and Sportsmen

A Matter of National Security

As various ball sports began to take hold in England, King Edward III became convinced that Government action was required.

Length: 107 words

Lives of the Saints

The Thrice-Holy Hymn

When the capital of the Roman Empire was in the grip of a violent earthquake, it fell to one small child to save all the people.

Length: 118 words

Mediaeval History

The Coronation of Henry IV

On October 13th, 1399, Henry Bolingbroke was crowned King Henry IV of England in Westminster Abbey.

Length: 113 words