by Helen Kain | Mar 8, 2026 | Carousel Ideas & Systems, Themes in History
The conflict known as the Wars of the Roses was not a single war but a long struggle for the English crown fought between rival branches of the royal family. The two houses were House of Lancaster and House of York. Both traced their ancestry to Edward III, and both...
by Helen Kain | Mar 8, 2026 | Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
In the summer of 2012 archaeologists began excavating a small municipal parking lot in the city of Leicester. The site had once been occupied by the medieval Greyfriars Friary, though centuries of urban change had long since erased any visible trace of the monastery....
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Castles & Stately Houses, Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
It was quiet the day we visited Lincoln Castle. The sun bounced off the high curtain walls, the grass in the old motte was lush and soft, and the Victorian prison—now a museum—hummed faintly with the sounds of schoolchildren and subdued commentary. But make no...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Carousel Ideas & Systems, Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
There’s something thrillingly unassuming about Lincoln’s copy of the Magna Carta. For such an iconic document, it’s not much to look at—just a modest sheet of medieval vellum covered in cramped Latin script. But don’t let its size fool you. This unpretentious...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
In medieval England, justice was more than a legal process—it was a performance of power. Punishment often took place in full public view, and frequently within the kingdom’s most symbolic spaces. These rituals reinforced divine-right monarchy and served as...
by Helen Kain | Jun 28, 2025 | Castles & Stately Houses, England, Themes in History
Set high on the hill beside the Cathedral, Lincoln Castle has always loomed large—both literally and symbolically. , On a recent visit with my husband, Glenn, and our youngest daughter, Lauren, as we wandered its stone walls and peered into the prison cells, I...
