by Helen Kain | Jun 25, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
History is often kinder to victors than to survivors. Margaret of Anjou was neither. For centuries she has appeared in English history as a controversial figure: ambitious, combative, and unwilling to accept defeat. To some contemporaries she was a dangerous woman who...
by Helen Kain | Jun 25, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
Few rulers have benefited more from success than Henry V. To later generations he became the warrior king of Agincourt, the hero of Shakespeare’s plays, and the embodiment of English courage. His reputation grew so large that it sometimes obscures the man...
by Helen Kain | Jun 25, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
Not all kings inherit a crown; some have to take one. Henry IV spent much of his life as Henry Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt and grandson of Edward III. Few would have expected him to become king; indeed, the crown belonged to his cousin Richard II, whose...
by Helen Kain | Jun 21, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
Most revolutions begin long before anyone realizes one has started. John Wycliffe never led an army or overthrew a king. He never saw the Reformation that would transform Europe more than a century after his death. Yet many of the questions he asked would eventually...
by Helen Kain | Jun 21, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
History often remembers revolts for their drama, and the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 certainly provided plenty of that. Crowds marched on London. Government officials were attacked. The young Richard II confronted the rebels in person. Wat Tyler, one of the...
by Helen Kain | Jun 21, 2026 | Act III - The Stress Test, Fascinating People, FP Act III — The Stress Test
History remembers Richard II in two very different ways. One is the brave fourteen-year-old king who rode out to confront the rebels during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 and helped prevent a kingdom from descending into chaos. The other is the deposed monarch...
