The English Civil War. We'll talk about England after Elizabeth, in which things didn't go that smoothly. We'll talk about James I, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, and James II, all of whom ruled England, (and tried to rule all...

The House of Habsburg, one of the most influential royal houses in European history, played a pivotal role in shaping the continent's political landscape. Among their many significant contributions, the War of the Spanish...

You know I had high hopes for Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, I really did. In my head I always sort of lumped him in with Maximilian Robespierre. I thought they were each a forward-thinking guy who leapt into action and spearheaded the...

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Usually when a pirate who's plundered numerous cities and exploded his prisoners is captured he's sent to the gallows, but for one Henry Morgan the guy was knighted by the king and sent back to Jamaica to...

National Archives: The Popish Plot is among the most outlandish but serious moments in British political history plunging the body politick into near crisis for over three years and resulting in the executions of dozens of innocent men....

In October of 1678, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, one of the men who had found Philip Herbert guilty of murder was found dead in a ditch. Suspician immediately fell on Philip, but the premeditated nature of the crime was unlike him. Was...

In February of 1678, Philip Herbert attacked Nathaniel Coney in a Haymarket tavern. A few days later, Nathaniel died of his injuries and Philip was found guilty of murder but was soon acquitted. How did a legal loophole allow Earl of...

On the 18th of August, 1680, Philip struck again. It was another unprovoked attack. This time he killed an Officer of the Watch. Once again, he was found guilty and once again, his peers petitioned for him to be pardoned. Learn how the...

Philip Herbert inherited a tenency towards violent, unprovoked outbursts from his grandfather. After a particularly bad attack in 1678, Charles II ordered that Philip be locked in the Tower of London. This brief imprisonment had little...