Portraits

Our writers profile individuals, some of them overlooked, and explore how they shaped the world as we know it.

A portrait of John Clare by William Hilton, 1820.
portraits

John Clare, the peasant poet

An agricultural labourer who shot to literary fame for his rustic verse in the 19th century, John Clare was feted as ‘The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet.’

Tommy Gilhooly August 8, 2024
Gerald of Wales, 1146-1223.
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Gerald of Wales, chronicler of the Celtic world

Gerald of Wales was a 12th century chronicler whose mixed heritage and thwarted ambitions led him to pen vivid, controversial accounts of Ireland and Wales, forever shaping percept..

Katherine Harvey July 25, 2024
Charles IV of France, meeting his sister Isabella of France at the gates of Paris in 1325.
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Queen Isabella, the ‘she-wolf of France’

Queen Isabella, daughter of the king of France and wife and mother to kings of England, was an intelligent and shrewd political operator in an era of conquest and civil war.

Caroline Burt July 10, 2024
Fulvia pierces the tongue of Cicero's severed head
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Fulvia, blazing star of the late Roman Republic

A daring and brilliant figure, Fulvia played an active role in elite politics in the dying days of the Roman Republic.

Daisy Dunn June 28, 2024
Etching of Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.
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Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, the uncrowned King of Poland

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, a major figure in 19th Century European politics, kept the Polish Question alive.

Adam Zamoyski June 12, 2024
Geometric shaped interior in the Jameh Mosque in Isfahan.
portraits

Mullā Ṣadrā, Islam’s greatest modern philosopher

Despite being widely considered the greatest philosopher in modern Islamic thought, the Persian ‘theosopher’ Mullā Ṣadrā (1571-1635), who flourished under the Safavid dynasty, rema..

Josh Mcloughlin May 31, 2024
Keith Murdoch, left, in London in 1941.
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Keith Murdoch, the patriarch

Decades before Rupert Murdoch ruled his news empire, his father, Keith Murdoch, was recognised and feared as a media and political powerbroker.

Michael Crick May 15, 2024
Wenceslas Hollar's map of England with scenes from the beginning of the Civil War.
portraits

Henry Stubbe, early modern champion of ‘Mahometan Christianity’

Henry Stubbe, one of the leading classical scholars of the 17th century, associate of Thomas Hobbes and a radical republican, saw Islam as the ultimate Puritan religion.

Paul Lay April 29, 2024
Earliest printed map of London, 1574.
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Isabella Whitney, England’s first female professional writer

Isabella Whitney is remarkable as a pioneer woman writer, and her poems are finally beginning to gain traction.

Emma Smith April 15, 2024

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