Gevoelloze dienaar

[Recensie] Het fenomeen butler is misschien niet uitsluitend Brits, maar is wel typerend. Zelfingenomenheid, conservatisme, afstandelijkheid  en onderdanigheid die neigt naar kadaverdiscipline zijn zo van die eigenschappen waarover je moet beschikken om geschikt te zijn om dat beroep te kunnen uitoefenen. In De rest van de dag beschrijft Kazuo Ishiguro hoe het leven van zo’n gevoelloze dienaar eruit kan hebben gezien.

The transition of Medieval Britain

[Recensie] Few subjects have fuelled as much discussion and caused the writing of so many books as the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. Viewed by some as marking the end of the true English state, and by others as its proper beginning, there is no doubt about the enormous consequences the Norman invasion and battle of Hastings had for Britain,

The First Life of St Samson of Dol and its use as a historical source

[Recensie] Samson of Dol was an early medieval monk, abbot and later bishop who preached the Christian faith in the Celtic lands of what is now Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. He was probably born at the end of the fifth century and died in the middle of the sixth century.

The life of Alfred the Great

[Recensie] The medieval Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great (848/49-899) still commands wide interest in Britain and beyond, and has been subject of legends and myths, as well as numerous historical studies. In her concise biography of Alfred the Great, emeritus professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester Barbara Yorke discerns three main reasons for his legendary status nowadays: his successful defence of his kingdom against the Vikings,