English philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that life would be "nasty, brutish and short" without a strong government. IDEAS explores how a new take on Hobbes offers a surprising perspective on the ...

What was it like living in the 17th century? A family in late 17th-century England led a simple, not to mention laborious, life. A majority of the population lived in a one- or two-room house, which ...

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, wrote of an unspecified great matter of state said to bear directly on the Queen’s life.

Cocker’s lessons covered addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as calculation with pre-decimal British currency and a gentle introduction to 17th-century England’s ...

the number of slaves transported on English ships would increase dramatically -- to an average of over 20,000 a year. By the end of the 17th century, England led the world in the trafficking of ...

A witchcraft trial in England, 17th century. A suspected witch is lowered into the water to find out whether she would survive. If she did, she would be regarded as a witch. Witchcraft was a ...

In a volume entitled "New England's First Fruits", published in London in 1643, an article on Harvard College, the College being evidently numbered among New England's "first fruits", a brief ...

James I ordered that Catholics who did not attend Church of England (Protestant) services should be fined, and was reported to detest the Catholic religion. This led to greater opposition to him ...