AUGUST 2016

WELCOME

So often in this magazine we tell the stories of the kings who dominate the history of medieval Europe. In what was a patriarchal society, few women had the opportunity to wield power in the same way as their male counterparts. One of the most remarkable exceptions was Eleanor of Aquitaine. A wife to two kings and a mother to two – arguably three – more, she was also a redoubtable figure in her own right: joining a crusade, rebelling against her husband, and fighting to secure the crown for her sons Richard the Lionheart and King John. In this month’s cover feature (page 28), historian Lindy Grant charts Eleanor’s eventful life.

Not long before we went to press came the momentous news of Britain’s vote in favour of leaving the European Union. While it is of course too soon to know what the full implications of this decision will be, it certainly seems set to become one of the defining episodes of our age. Beginning on page 14, we’ve put together a special feature where a group of experts consider the historical context of Brexit. Whether in or out of the EU, one thing that remains constant is Britain’s propensity for dreary summer weather. We can at least be thankful that we didn’t live through the summer of 1816, when the aftermath of a volcanic eruption left millions of Britons feeling wet and chilly. On page 54 Robert Hume takes the temperature of the rather glum nation 200 years ago.

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Rob Attar Editor BSME Editor of the Year 2015, Special Interest Brand

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Michael Scott History is so o en studied in isolated chunks, but that is not how it was experienced. Instead I want to o er an ancient global history, one that helps us understand how much we have always owed to interaction with one another. P Michael reveals how ancient cultures interacted on page 43

Lindy Grant I have had to think about Eleanor of Aquitaine while writing my book on her granddaughter, Blanche of Castile. Both were such formidably powerful women, even in the ‘man’s world’ of the Middle Ages. P Lindy traces Eleanor of Aquitaine’s remarkable life on page 28

Roger Moorhouse The story of the Wilhelm Gustlo is usually told as a straight disaster tale. However, its wider history tells us much about how the Third Reich functioned; about how it seduced its people. It is this story that I wanted to tell. P Roger discusses Nazi-sponsored summer holidays on page 24

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