Created in 1540, by Jean Mallard who was an émigré from Francis I of France’s Court, Henry VIII’s Psalter was a luxurious but private treasure of the king. For Psalm 52 which is about the fool who states there is no…
“I saw the first transport of wounded soldiers and hear their moans. Terrible visions arose before me. How would these many thousands endure the crippledom that had befallen them?” So wrote the 66-year old Prussian…
“When I have thus anatomised myself, I hope my heart will be found untainted, and my intentions honest and sincere.”(p.3) So expresses William Hay at the start of his Deformity: An Essay. A milestone in the history of…
He was buried millennia ago with all the dignity his position warranted. He had dwarfism and was close to his ruler. Over 5000 years ago in the Egyptian Pre-dynastic Naqada IC-IIA Period, before Egypt was unified, a…
We’re as old as humanity itself. Disabled people. From Homo Erectus, living two million years ago in Africa and Eurasia, Homo Heidelbergensis down to Homo Sapiens in Africa and Homo Neanderthalensis in Europe and…
The new Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560 led the Scottish adoption of a Protestant confession of faith while rejecting the Catholic Church and its representative, the pope. Inspired particularly by Calvinism,…
Looking at their wedding photo you wouldn’t be able to guess that my paternal grandparents, my nana and gaga, had been married on the so-called “most wonderful time of year”, Christmas Day. The reason? Until 1958,…
This will be my history blog while undertaking my PhD at St. Andrews. You’ll be able to read personal accounts of my progress, travels and work, read parts of my previously written research and get access to videos and…
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